Mhm. >> Good evening, everyone. Welcome to to the regular meeting of the Lansing School Board of Education for June 4th, 2026. Um Dr. Rodriguez, can you read the
No, please stand for our pledge. >> 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. >> [clears throat]
>> Well, Dr. Rodriguez, trusty of the Dr. Rodriguez, can you please read our mission >> I I had the honor today to read this mission statement. Provide a high-quality education in culturally safe and nurturing environment that supports
all students to lead purposefully and fulfilling lives. >> Thank you. >> Land acknowledgement. >> Thank you. Uh trusty Lemieux Ms. McKissic, can you read our uh land acknowledgement? >> Yes, of course. We collectively
acknowledge that Lansing School District occupies the ancestral, traditional, and contemporary lands of the Anishinaabe. The Three Fires Confederacy of Ojibwe, Ottawa, and Bodéwadmi peoples. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Uh roll call,
please. >> Dr. Cavanaugh. >> Present. >> Dr. Hurd. >> Present. >> Ms. Lemieux-McKissic. >> Present. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Present. >> Mrs. Moore. Ms. Navisky. >> Present. >> Dr. Rodriguez. >> Present.
>> Mrs. Stroud. Ms. Williams. >> Present. >> Quorum is present. >> Okay, just for for your information, uh Trustee Moore will be a little late today. And Trustee Strohde is uh
taking care of a uh an ill child, so that's why they're not here at this point. Do you have any public comment on agenda items? No? Okay. We'll move on to approval of minutes.
>> I make a motion that we approve the minutes as as reported. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the minutes as presented. Uh do you have any discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> All same sign.
Okay. Presentation, uh Superintendent? >> Well, good evening, everyone. Uh I have the privilege to uh introduce Kim Adams. She is our Assistant Superintendent of Budget and Finance, and she is going to be going over with
us this evening Amendment Number Two. >> Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I'm pleased to be here tonight to prevent another or prevent provide another update on our budget. Amendment Number Two, where we started.
With our last amendment from February, we were projecting an ending fund balance of 41.3 million. With this amendment, we're projecting a ending fund balance of 42. almost 2 million, which is an increase or a better than
budget by $800,000. What changed with revenues? Our local revenues went down, primarily due to interest, property taxes. Our state revenues went up 2.7 million, and our federal revenues for special ed
county tuition also went up by about a half a million dollars. So, in total, our increase in revenues was 2.6 million. And then, when we look at our expenditure changes, we had increase in expenditure budgets of 1.8 million for
school devices, special ed subs, wages and benefits, GSRP subs, librarian additional hours and benefits, and CCLP additional hours and benefits. The school device increase portion was
400,000. If you recall, there was a a good deal for buying devices early, so the district purchased 400,000 from the general fund and 400,000 from grant funds. Um SE subs, if you recall earlier conversations at
the beginning of the school year, SE had 40 positions open. And as new IEPs came through and we needed to add staff, we added staff but did not provide budget. We wanted them to work through the budget they had for
all their opens, and that which that meant using their opens to cover subs, and then the remaining opens were used to cover positions when they were funded. So, with these new hires and spending down of their budgets, we
needed to add an additional 1.3 million to cover costs through June 30th. For GSRP substitutes, we added $50,000, librarian additional hours 22,000, and CCLP we added 30,000 for additional
hours. So, the total increase in expenditures was 1.8 million. In summary, you take your ending fund balance from amendment number one, you add in the 814,000
better than budget, and now we're looking at a projected ending fund balance in June at 42.178, which is equivalent to 15.33% of our operating expenditure budget. And then, any questions?
>> Uh Dr. Trustee Ledesma. >> Thank you. Thank you for the presentation. It's so much shorter and clearer. >> Short and sweet. >> Um this $1,806,000 that we increase the expenditure, if we will have all teachers position
by all teachers, then we don't save any money because we have a space subs teachers and all the things, how will be our budget? We cannot I mean, the idea is that every child had in front of him or her a teacher, not a
sub. >> Right. >> Then do we have the projection and how much we won't save if we will have all teachers the first day of the school? How much we'll need to pay? >> So, just for clarity, I I think I'm following, um but please let me know if
I don't answer correctly. Um so, part of this is we fully budget for our teaching staff. The ones that we do not fully budget for are the ones that historically we've not been able to fill. Like, for example, our extensive SE staff that we have, um
and so, those are 50% budgeted, um because we know that those are generally filled by substitute teachers, but our general uh teaching staff, like a third grade teacher, a high school teacher, those are fully budgeted. It's the ones that are historically not able to fill,
and I don't know, Kim, is that number the ones that we half budgeted, was that 30 FTE? >> It was approximately 20 plus, and then we added in several IEP assistants and several specialist in teaching positions
as well. So, the idea was we'll use the budgets we had for all the opens that were sitting there for special ed, and as that bucket started dwindling down, then we would determine what the need was through the end of the year and cover those costs. But with when we
started the school year, we had over 40 open LEA positions, not teachers for special ed, LEA. >> Mhm. They're assistants. >> Yes. >> Mhm. >> Okay. Um, that is what confused me because
increasing expenditures increasing expenditures, that should be ex- expenditure that we didn't spend because we will have a sub people in the positions. Because if we planning
all the staffing, that number probably wasn't was was saving money. More than increasing money. But anyway, I I I am interested in having a a budget that don't count
that we have money because we have sub people and not regular teachers in in the positions. Any other question? And the other one is you say do you have 15%? What is the norm? Is it 13% of the
fund balance? >> The recommendation is 15 to 20%. >> The >> For a healthy one, yes. >> Then we are in the limit right now. >> Yes, right now we are very well. >> We are in the limit right now. >> Yes. >> What I don't think we were thinking
about that 1 year and a half ago. >> No. >> And that bothered me a lot. And I am very concerned that we are taking money from the next budget. And the next budget and I don't know
when we are not going to have money. Unless we do drastic changes right now. No. A month from now, right now, this board to understand if we don't make decisions, we are going to be without
money very soon. >> Any other question? On the budget? Any any other input? No? Okay. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> Appreciate your presentation. >> [clears throat]
>> Reports from officers. Report from the secretary. Um You got Yes. Trustee Williams, please. >> Good evening, everyone. Hope everybody's having a great day. The secretary's report is as follows.
The Lansing School District Class of 2026 graduation ceremony will take place on Saturday, June 6th at Jack Breslin Student Events Center. Yes, I am happy cuz I have a graduating senior. Yay! Comprehensive details are available online. Graduating seniors must coordinate directly with their guidance
counselors to finalize all graduation requirements. The last day of school is June 5th. It's a half a day. August 24th, we look forward to welcoming you opening the doors for our teachers on that day. August 29th is the first day of school. Our next board meeting will be June 11th at 5:30 for
public hearing. June 11th at 6:00 for our regular meeting and our I assess. June 10th and 11th will be a special meeting. More details will come soon. That's the report. >> Thank you very much. Go to committee reports. Equity committee, um
Well, you're part of No. VP You're not in the equity committee? >> I'm on the equity committee, but I don't have an update today. Sorry. Thank >> Okay, no report. Facilities committee
You have in your packet several items that are being presented for approval. Um can I want to ask uh Christina, if she can just do a rundown of those. And um if there's any questions let us know. >> Absolutely. Um happy to report out that
we had a great facilities meeting. Didn't have to be a very long one. Um but uh we just have a couple of items for you tonight. So, the two items that you are going to see before you are the demolition and abatement of Sheridan Road School and then for the temporary fencing for Sheridan Road School. Um one
of the other things that I wanted to point out is that we will be providing schematic designs for the board at the board retreat of what the new Sheridan Road School will be looking like. So, I'll be getting that to um interim Superintendent Benavides um and she'll be sharing that out with you at the board retreat. Um
these were very clear. We had a lot of bids, which is always really good when um we are putting out for bids and we're seeing a lot come in. That means that a lot of people are wanting to work with us and they're very competitive bids. So, um we're happy to take these on and there's no issues with any of the bids.
Um, we've worked with them before and we are happy to continue working with them. So, I look forward to bringing you more information about what Sheridan Road will look like in the very near future. >> Any questions on on those? Okay, we'll move on. Um, to our next
report is uh finance. >> Well, Mr. President, >> Sorry. >> I'll move that the Board of Education accept items A and B as presented. >> Second. >> Thank you. It's been moved second that we approve the recommended bids. Are there any questions?
Concern? Okay. All those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed, same sign. Thank you. Just a question, um, and I know that that this did happen. Uh, so the community of of um Sheridan Road, they were
presented with a schematic of of the buildings and you had some community meetings in those? >> Yes, so we had separate meetings both with um the staff at the building and then parents and students of the building. So, when we first were in our design
process, just like we did with Willow and with Luton, um, we held meetings, got their input, things that they liked, things that they didn't like, um, have made adjustments based on the commentary that was provided to us. Um, and then we moved forward with our design.
>> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, move on to Finance Committee, um, Trustee Luiski. >> Thank you. The Finance Committee met on May 18th and reviewed the April financial reports. The detailed Treasurer's report for the period of
April 1st through April 30th, 2026 is attached to this evening's agenda. The following are the highlights of the report. The beginning cash and investment balance was $65,173,895. Receipts totaled $17,536,462, while disbursements equaled $31,668,878. Net interfund transfers totaled
$10,796,662 and interest from fund investments to the student and bond funds, as well as journal entries to remove the due to / due to due from and all funds, monthly transfer to the general fund for bond expenses was $0. The ending general fund cash and
investment balance on April 30th, 2026 was $61,838,141. Uh donations received during the month of April totaled $4,688. Um thank you to uh Wild Ones Natural Landscapes, Dr. Ruth Ellen Fry, Paul M.
Grosberg, Setseg Educational Foundation, which was a large donation to the Everett Drums for Hands, uh LaFontaine Automotive Group uh to an athletic banner sponsorship, and Carmen Branster to the Latino Advisory Council.
Mr. President, this concludes the April 2026 Treasurer's reports. >> Thank you very much. Were there any questions for Trusted Nowicki on the report? Hearing none. Thank you very much. We're going to
>> Uh Mr. President, >> Yes. >> I move that the Board of Education approve the expenditures as presented for April 2026. >> Second. >> It's been moved and seconded to approve the expenditures as noted. Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. >> Aye.
>> Opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Okay. Personnel Committee, Dr. Kavena, Trustee Kevana. >> Um Personnel Committee met on May 11th. Um our next meeting, for those that are interested, is this coming Monday, June
8th at noon here in the Spark Room. You're always welcome to attend our committee meetings. Um so, in terms of what the Personnel Committee has been working on, we have been reviewing our board policies um kind of in conjunction with our staff and employee handbook to make sure that
those two things are aligned. So, that review is ongoing and when we have kind of a final product, we will bring that to the board. Um we've also been consulting with Trune, who is our um our legal counsel, um to make sure that we are understanding our employment and
termination policies. Um and so, we we recently received a legal opinion from Trune that we will discuss at the next meeting. Um and then finally, y'all know I love a graph and so, I've been working with the Personnel Committee team um for a new way to display to the board and to
the public um our new hires. Um and so, what you're going to see in your board packet today, you're going to see some some beautiful, beautiful graphs like this. And so, I want to walk you through what we're looking at here. Um so, I'm starting with the page that says new
hires non-teachers. So, these are any positions where we've made a new hire that are not teachers. We've got our new hires, we've got our retirement um or resignations. And this is just for the non-teachers. And so, what we're looking at here is what the position is, where
that position is, um their bargaining group, whether this was a new position or a replacement, um their FTEs, and then the either the hire date or the effective date. Um and so, that is information that I requested that um we receive moving forward. Now, coming to
the graphs. So, the bottom left graph that has kind of a bunch of colors, that is the demographic makeup of um the school district as of last year. So, what I want to do from now on is compare kind of each quarter, who are we hiring
relative to what the what the professional makeup already looks like so that we can better understand whether we're moving toward our goal of diversifying diversifying our hiring base. So, this way we have a comparison to look at because in isolation it
doesn't mean a lot to me to be like and then we hired like one person of this race or ethnicity. I know what that means relative to the district as a whole. So, that bottom left group that or that that pie chart, that's our comparison group. So, that is the demographic makeup of all of the non-teachers in the district as of last
year. And so, we're comparing this year to last year. If anyone has a different way that they'd like this to be displayed, we are just piloting this. This was just my idea that I put forward to the personnel committee. Then the other two smaller graphs on the right side, those
are the new teacher hires and then resignations. So, that we can see kind of the demographic makeup of who is being hired, who are we losing, and we can compare that to relative to what the district demographic makeup as a whole has looked like in the past. And so, I'm
hoping that this will provide us with some more actionable information than we've had in the past as far as kind of what direction are we moving with who we're bringing in and who we are losing relative to what what last year looked like. Does that make sense to everybody?
I hope. Okay. And so, then we've got our second page, this is teachers. This one's a little thin right now cuz it's the end of the year, but I'm told that there's going to be a big boom of them for us to review next time. And so, what I want you to pay attention to here in the graphs is the very tiny
N. So, N means the number of people represented in the graph. So, in our comparison graph on the left, our N is 638. So, we got 638 teachers as of last year um are that are reflected in this pie chart, right? But then in our new teacher hires and then resignations,
retirements, that n is only one and two, right? So, we're only talking about one or two people. Um and so, if we're like, "Oh my gosh, wow, we hired 100% um you know, of whatever race ethnicity." If that's only one person, that's only one person. So, I want you to make sure that you're taking this
with a grain of salt um and looking at sometimes those small ns. Again, this month is a little bit unusual because there is only one teacher who was hired this quarter, um but in the future, again, I'm hoping that this will give us some more actionable information about who's joining the district, who's leaving the district, how that shifts
our numbers both in terms of teachers and non-teachers. Is everyone with me so far? Cool. Okay. If there are any If anyone, truly, anyone in the community, anyone on the board has a different idea about how they might like to see this represented, or you're not totally sure
what I'm talking about and this doesn't make sense to you, please do reach out to me. Like I said, this was just my idea for the personnel committee and that doesn't mean it was the best idea. So, I welcome other thoughts, other ideas. I just want to make sure that we can transparently and cleanly and like
in a data-driven way see what direction that we are moving. Um so, if anyone has any thoughts, I welcome them um and that concludes the personnel committee report. Uh I'm happy to take questions um or make a motion. Yeah.
>> Trustee Hurt. Um Trustee Hurt. >> One [clears throat] one question. Um first of all, thank you for this cuz even I can chew this. Yay. Um One one piece of the picture that I am interested in is teachers or staff who
have transferred from school to school within the school year. >> Oh, interesting. Okay. >> that that paints another story for me as well, um or adds to the tapestry. Um if it's if we we any faculty who started in
one school community, but then before the school year ended moved to another school community and within the law why? Just because they wanted to move or had to be moved or whatever would tell me a lot about how people are
the experience that faculty and staff are having. So love the charts. Nice colors. I think I when [clears throat] it's presented this way, I don't necessarily need a written narrative. Looks good. Thank you. >> Awesome. That's the goal. And yeah,
thank you for raising that point about teachers moving kind of within the district. That's I see Christina taking notes over there. So we'll definitely chat about that in our meeting on Monday. >> Any other question? Go ahead. >> Thank you also for this being very easy to understand. I love the full picture
of the district from last year. This graph right here. I'm wondering I don't know how like readily available the information is, but if we could have the same graph of like the same date this year maybe and then maybe in the fall, but maybe you're already working on that and that's coming in the future.
>> Yeah, yeah, we talked about kind of different like what should the comparison group be, right? And so this was just what we started with, but we talked about should it be this day last year, should it be like January 1st of last year. And so this is what we landed on for now, but that's that's absolutely
something that we can talk about is you know, what exactly are we comparing to. I just for me as a data person, I need a comparison group. Like if you're just showing me a list of hires, it doesn't mean anything to me. I need a comparison group. But yeah, I welcome ideas about what that comparison group should be. >> Okay, yeah, cool. Thank you.
>> Any other question? Okay, may I have a motion to approve the new hires? >> I make a motion that the Board of Education approves new hires from April 6th to April 20th, 2026 as presented. >> We moved to second to approve new hires.
Any other discussion? Hearing none, all those in favor say aye. >> Aye. >> Opposed, same sign. Motion carries. Um again, I will go to policy. Uh Trustee Dr. Rodriguez.
>> Thank you very much. The Luling [clears throat] School District Policy Committee met on May 12, 2026 at 12:16. Committee member present was Dr. Mrs. Stroud, Dr. Nino
Rodriguez, and Dr. Labonte. Um we was a long meeting with Neola, and we reviewed you have in front of you all the revised uh policies They are very interesting policies here
that maybe is going to be recommended for the first reading. There are some changes, and there are some um new ideas in how we are going to deal with especially with the communication devices.
The policy 100 is definitions, policies uh we revised blended learning programs uh volunteers um we revised purchasing um federal grants and funds, and so on.
That you will have all of them in front of you. Uh maybe this is not a lot, but maybe you didn't see everything. That I think some board member can see when they read it. And we can bring this back to us because
um all together we have better knowledge than just a group of two or three people all this time. Then please when we are recommending the first reading I know it takes time, but um see that you can we can do it together and and approve something that maybe is
is going to direct that the the district for the future and that one or two policies here that need that need your your input. Um I I that is the report Madam President unless you want to ask something else.
Okay. I will motion motion [clears throat] if I can. I made a motion that the Board of Education um receive the policies for the first reading as presented. >> Second school
to accept the policies for the first reading. Is there any questions? >> Uh >> Question is there >> Yeah, so I'm just curious. Did NEOLA provide uh like a rationale packet to go with these? Okay. So is that something the board could get cuz I read them I So that way it'd be helpful
to have what the things are. Okay. >> Um Mr. President, there are a couple of these that because um there are changes due to the law being changed. I think it's the ones that say rescind. Um we have to do something because the the
letter of the law is now different uh regarding volunteers as well as um replacing policy 5136 now in the legislature what that looks like for wireless communication devices. Um the law is now different and so that
language has to um you know, we're going to take it the first reading and second reading, but no matter what, we've got to change it uh because now the law is different. So having that um rationale packet would be nice as well. >> I >> I
>> Dr. Hurt. Um, we were initially scheduled to meet on Monday at 5:00 for Zoom, but with >> [clears throat] >> this being graduation week and everything and a lot of things going on, we will be uh meeting after graduation. So, they all we will be meeting all summer. They will be all Zoom meetings
and staff is excited about that. So, that's what happened on Monday. >> Okay. Thank you for that update. Then we move on to student achievement committee, uh trust Dr. Rodriguez. And >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much, uh President. The
board with the achievement committee met Wednesday, May 20 7, 2026. The board members present was um myself and Mrs. Williams and also the interim
superintendent Mrs. Benavidez and Dr. Stelter and our secretary. Number one, the district we was the district staff development plan and curriculum teaching. That was the first topic that
we discussed. Um and the committee asked about the assistance of the formal staff development plan. Uh when you talking about formal, it it has a a plan that really referred to the
student achievement. And this plan is equal is for everybody. No um uh development plan in in pieces, you know, all together. Um the committee members emphasized the
importance of ensuring the to the whole board uh they dis- the the school safety and the what is going on in the schools and safety. Number two, we talk about Lansing strategic plan.
The inter superintendent uh provides an overview of the current strategic plan. And you know the present strategic plan is going is 22 to 27. We ask him for a review, update, and
planning maybe to 2030. They will be and then we ask him the superintendent to review and I think it they are going to inform us in the in the retreat. Uh the second one that we discussed is
the student achievement strategic plan. I think we don't have too much in the expression, but maybe we have to have an addendum. Add something about the student achievement. They we need to have a plan, but the committee is emphasizing not the
strategic plan. We are emphasizing the action plan. That is completely is is different and the superintendent promised us they will have both the strategic plan and action plan. Number three, we discussed about the
grades. We celebrate the 3.5 and up number of grades. We want to know the percentage that the students are having zero to two, two to three, and so on. Then we can see our students level of
of no knowledge because we don't know, but at least level of what grades are having during the ninth grade or so on. Um And they promised that they will see if they can do something about that and
refer to us in the future. Also, we suggest them recognize the junior achievement honor a society that we have the net and revise and how we can honor in these students that are in the
honor society. And I think that Mrs. Williams will continue the report. >> Immediately after that, we talked about the steering committee and the student outcomes. And we asked that how the steering committee is related to the student achievement. Um, more details
will be provided to us in how they're worked and how they're shared. Um, so that will be handled at our next meeting. Um, we also talked about review of prior meeting agendas and how we're going to start building the student achievement based upon that and how it's going to be aligned with the strategic
plan and the uh and the mission statement and everything. Then we talked about the literacy plan, which is something is really, really everybody's heart, the reading of our children. So we looked at that. Um, the district maintains an extensive multi-year reading and literacy plan
developed within the last one to three years. The plan was presented to the board. There was some discussion about literacy while we were there, some things that we can do um, that's not too that that shouldn't cost a lot, but could be fun for everybody involved in the district. Um, one of the things that
was mentioned when it comes to literacy is providing [clears throat] the students the books that we're reading for the year. And if for those of us who's old, we talked about Battle of the Books and the competitions within the schools, within the grades. So we talked about some things like that to make reading and learning fun for our
students. So those are the some of the things we talked about. We'll be having our next meeting soon. That will probably come out next week. We'll give you that date then. But that is our report. >> Thank you. Thank you both. Anything else, doctor? >> Um, we talked here the recommendation.
I prefer yesterday until October 3rd, maybe, because the the the recommendation, the motion is to empower the student achievement committee to work with the superintendent
to collaborate and drafting a specific language concerning achievement goal and bringing to the board for approval. I prefer just to wait on after the the meeting because the superintendent and
her team are working on that at this time. Then I will table that motion until we have more knowledge and more information about what we want to >> Okay. Um we won't take any action on it
anyway. So it's just just goes >> So we're withdrawing our first motion. >> Yeah. Yeah. Okay. All right. So that that was under the inner superintendent's report or under unfinished business. Let's go to the
superintendent's report. Next. >> All right. Good evening everyone. There are a couple of things I I want to start with and I did write some of my thoughts down this evening cuz there's some things I wanted to definitely capture [clears throat] before the end of the school year. Um one of the things
that I wanted to lift um are some people in our district who I truly believe are unsung heroes um every day who commit more time uh in the evening and on weekends than I think people realize. Those people are public safety staff. Um
they quite literally are um people who are in the background of our schools. Um there are times that they're out front. They welcome our students. They build really meaningful relationships with students. They're the eyes and ears of our staff. They see uh when children come in the morning what kind of day
they might be having. They greet them. I've seen hugs, fist bumps, inside jokes. Um they just build wonderful relationships with our students and they're always looking out for them. We often These are the things that even sometimes our school board doesn't even realize happen. Um it's not like we lift
these these items up. Um but there are times in the evening where we will get calls frantic from parents that will say, "My child did not come home from school today." Um they were supposed to walk home or get a ride with a friend and I don't they're not at their friend's house where they said they were going to be.
And immediately our public safety who are at home jump in their cars. They go to the CATS station. They review footage. They um talk to neighbors. They go where they need to go and they do it without question.
Um there was an evening, I would say about 2 weeks ago, a situation very similar to this. Very positive. The student ended up going to a different friend's house, right? And so it all worked out, but we were quite literally on the phone um back and forth texting and and uh
administrators were driving the building and meeting with LPD. We're talking between the hours of 5:00 to 10:00 p.m. So these are just people that I want to lift up. I think throughout the school year we often talk about our educators. We talk about our nurses. We talk about our assistants and our secretaries and
amazing people that work for our staff, but I think one staff or group of people that we rarely talk about are public safety and they quite literally are keeping our students safe, happy, um but they really always are going above and beyond. And so I just want to lift that
as we end the school year to think about all of the individuals, not just our public safety, but all of the staff members that day in and day out really go above and beyond and it's because they have a true love for our students and for our community. And so I just want to lift up the people that we don't
as often talk about as as always our teachers. And so those are just some individuals that I wanted to make sure that we did not leave um you know, unnoticed as the school year goes on. So as you see public safety officers tomorrow, give them a high five and tell them
thank you for keeping your kids safe and welcoming them and spending countless hours even in the evening when they really are off the clock, um, keeping our kids safe. And so, I just from my heart I want to say thank you. And I know that I extend that to all of our
staff and especially our executive team. So, bravo to public safety. >> [applause] >> Um, we are concluding our Yondr pouch, um, pilot at Sexton High School. It has been a very successful 20 days.
We have learned a lot through the pilot. We have students now swiping in every day with their ID cards because they are quite literally inside their Yondr pouch. So, where we've had students who have had manually key in or they can't remember their IDs, it's their phone is right there with their ID, they swipe
right in, and it's been quite wonderful. Um, I asked, uh, our senior director, Mitch Foster, what are some highlights that he's heard from our teaching staff based on the Yondr pouches, and things like students at lunch are talking to each other and looking at each other
during lunch. They're interacting socially in a much different way than they have in the past. Um, we asked public safety, speaking of which, in the hallways, how are the hallways been with no phones, having, you know, phones in these pouches at Sexton, and they said, "Have you had to confiscate any phones
or has it been an issue where kids may have not put them in the pouch or those kinds of things?" And they'll say, "Maybe one or two." Um, kids are quite literally talking to each other in the hallway. They're getting to class on time. We're also hearing from teachers that kids are just more much more engaged in class. So, we
are very proud of the Yondr pouch, um, pilot, and we do think that the 20 days that we've spent at Sexton High School has been really imperative to working out all of the kinks or the bugs and making sure that we're ready in the fall to launch this for grades 5 through 12.
And so we will be expanding our use of cell phone pouches to 5th through 12th grade next year. We will continue with our off and away all day cuz that seems to be working quite well with our kindergarteners through 4th graders. Um but we have um wonderful training. We've had all the
principals from or the majority of principals from our K-8 schools and our other high schools visit Sexton High School in the morning to see how that flow goes. Ask any questions of the administrators there. And I will say that the relationships of Sexton staff is bar none.
Uh when they what have kids come in it's just wonderful to watch the interaction between the staff and the students. They know those students inside out. They'll say back pocket. They already know, right? So those relationships I just don't think that we can underestimate
the power of that in our schools. So I just want to tell everyone, parents you will be receiving lots of information over the summer time. We are not going to wait till August to give you that information. We are going to be putting out information all throughout the summer. What does that look like? We have video for example from Sexton
students going into school and how that process looks. So you can kind of see and feel, you know, what that would look like. You can begin those conversations with your child. So those are things that we're really committed as a district to do better on is not waiting till August to let parents know about certain things. We want to make sure
that you can quite literally prepare all summer long with those con- conversations with students. Then you'll also come to open house with really great questions when you see us, too. So I just want to say kudos to Sexton. You quite literally um led the district in this initiative and we're really proud
of our J-Dubs. So thank you, Sexton. Um this is the part I wrote down because I wanted to make sure that I captured all of my thoughts because I think it's just um a really impactful time of year. And so um I'm going to I'm going to quite literally read my report.
>> [laughter] >> Uh, as we close out another school year, I want to take a moment to recognize the incredible work happening across the Lansing School District. Tomorrow is the last day of school for our students. And like many educators, I've always found this time of year to be both exciting
and a little bittersweet. As a former teacher and principal, I remember looking forward to the slower pace of summer, time with family, and a chance to recharge. At the same time, there was always a sense of sadness as students moved on and another chapter came to an end. I do remember often times having
some tears from a lot of our teachers on the last day of school because we make really meaningful relationships with students and they really do feel like family. The last day of school reminds us that education is ultimately about relationships. Throughout the year, our staff members have celebrated successes,
helped students overcome challenges, encouraged them when they needed support, and cheered them on as they grew academically, socially, and emotionally. And these moments often do not show up in a data report, but are the foundation of the work that we do. As I reflect on the year, there is so
much to be proud of. Across the schools, staff members remained focused on improving instruction. That's our number one. Supporting student well-being, strengthening school culture, and creating opportunities for student success. From classrooms to cafeterias, buses to athletic fields, and offices to
libraries, our employees make a difference in the lives of children every single day. This weekend, we will celebrate one of the most visible outcomes of that work as our seniors cross the stage for graduation. Graduation is not simply the completion
of a high school diploma or of high school. It represents years of encouragement, support, high expectations, and care from countless adults who helped students reach this milestone. Every graduate carries carries with them the impact of teachers, support staff, administrators,
coaches, and mentors who believed in them along the way. So, as summer begins, I hope our staff takes time to celebrate what they've accomplished this year. The work of educating children is demanding, but it's also deeply meaningful. Our students are better because of the dedication and commitment
of the people who serve them. So, I just want to say thank you to all of our employees for another remarkable school year. And I hope each of you finds this summer a time to rest, recharge, and enjoy the beauty of Michigan. I love Michigan. I think it's the best summers in the nation, personally. Um
and of course, spend time with those who maybe you don't get to spend as much time with because of your dedication to our students during the school year. Uh we have much to celebrate in the Lansing School District, and I'm truly excited about all that lies ahead for the next school year in the Lansing School District. And of course, that's
what makes us proud to be LSD. So, thank you to all of you for a wonderful school year. I'm very proud to be able to sit at this horseshoe with a very dedicated board. We often will talk about stronger as 10. And I really think the people that are sitting here
and are really embodied in what I even talked about, the dedication that you give, the time that you give, the care to our community, the conversations with each other. And I'll be really proud to be on that stage with you this weekend celebrating all of our graduates from our high schools. So, if you can join
us, all of you that are out there, make sure you have a ticket cuz you will not get in without one. >> [laughter] >> But we gave plenty to families. So, if you're interested in going, please make sure you do. It's a It's a long day for all of us. We have four ceremonies. I don't think people in the Ingham County understand what that's like because we're the biggest school district. Um
but it is a day that I know that we all look forward to. And like I said, I will be carrying all of the employees that have carried our students um on that day on that stage. So, I just want to say thank you to all of you. And truly, it's been a really remarkable school year,
and I think the best is yet to come. >> Thank you. I think that deserves an applause for you. >> [applause] >> For you and all the staff and employees of the district. Trustee Williams. >> Madam Superintendent, where would they
get the tickets if they need additional tickets for our students? Can you guys hear me? I'm sorry. Where will they get the tickets for additional for the students if they need additional tickets? >> If you didn't hear it, she said, "Where can you get >> [laughter] >> Where can you get those tickets?" Um if the if students that are go to our high
schools need additional tickets, they have 20 tickets each cuz we are at Breslin, so it's wonderful cuz you can have grandma, grandpa, aunt, uncle, neighbor, anybody you want to have come, but we always tell uh students if they need additional tickets or parents, please call the administrator at the school. They have additional tickets in the main office.
>> Thank you so much for that. >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on. Yeah, yes, uh Trustee Dr. Hurd. >> Thank you, uh and uh congratulations on um transitioning into this interim role and
getting us through the last part of the year, um you and your team. Um what I have found is that Lansing School District has many amazing things happening, and I follow us on socials
and things, um but I feel like we're not quite getting the word out about some of the amazing things that we're doing. Um at the retreat, I would love to speak with you um and whoever is with you about inundating the algorithm with these
amazing things, including um new initiatives like our pouches. I would love to have seen footage of how well it went. Um I would love to see um footage of um not not our performances and games, um but also seeing our students
speaking about their experience in Lansing schools. I would love to see those kinds of things going out. A community member stopped me at the Meijer's as they do. And no problem, anytime.
And she said, "Hey, you know, I don't really watch the board meetings. And even when I do, y'all go so long by the time you talk about anything I want to hear, I've already gone to bed. How am I supposed to know if you're saying good things are happening in
Lansing school district? I'm on Facebook and Instagram all the time. I never see anything good that y'all are doing." And I'm thinking, "Huh, do you follow us?" She said, "Yeah, I you know, I see a couple of pictures, but what's going on in Lansing schools?" You've We've seen so many triumphs.
And so I'd like to talk about that. The second thing that has been burning the back of my skull is um this room. I wondered at the retreat, could we talk about perhaps setting up um
maybe a mural contest for our artists here in Lansing schools to get rid of that and put artwork something that represents proud to be LSD in this room.
So that when the community comes here they see our students' work and they see that this is a space where kids are the most important. I wouldn't mind the old heads going as well. Where we can have things that showcase
we talk about kids here. We serve the community, yes, but we serve the community for the benefit of our future in this space. Um beside that, thank you for your
leadership and thank your team. Any other comments? All right. Then we'll move on to we don't have any unfinished business. >> Um Mr. President, I move that we table the motion that the Board of Education empower the Student Achievement Committee to work with the
Superintendent to collaborate on drafting specific language for a student achievement goal. It's been Oh, postpone. I'm being told by the parliamentarian not table, postpone. That's what I meant. Sorry. >> It's been moved to postpone
the Student Achievement Committee and the superintendent will work on a uh language of student achievement goals and and bring them at the board for approval. So, that's been postponed. Uh any questions? Oh, y'all want to postpone it. Yes. So,
do you have any comment? No? Anybody else? Okay. So, again, we're postponing this uh this item for future. And I don't know when that will come, but for the future. Um Yeah, we're going to take a vote. So,
all those in favor of the motion, say I. Opposed, same sign. Okay. Motion carries. New business. Budget Amendment 2. >> Mr. President, I move that the Board of Education approve Budget Amendment 2 as detailed in the attachment.
>> It's been moved second to approve the um Budget Amendment 2. Uh are there any questions? President, comments? Uh Dr. Tristao Rodriguez. >> Thank you very much and one more time, thanks to
the presentation that we had was short but clear. Um I think that we we need to work together and and see how we can the budget can be presented again to the board, but I think at this time
the presentation was really acceptable and I am glad to vote yes on this on this recommendation. >> Okay. Thank you. Any any other comment? I think do we need to take a roll call
vote on this? Yeah. Yeah, let's let's do a roll call vote, too. Um please. Dr. Cavanaugh? >> Yes. >> Dr. Hurd? >> Yes. >> Ms. LaMia McChesney? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez? >> Yes. >> Mrs. Moore? >> Yes.
>> Mr. Navecky? >> Yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez? >> Yes. >> Ms. Williams? >> 8-0. >> Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you very much. We now move on to item B, approval of the FY 2026-2027 tax levies
resolution. >> Mr. President, I make a motion that we >> That's a >> Be it resolved that the Lansing School District levy 100% of its 2026 school operating taxes on July 1st, 2026 in the city of Lansing and in the city of East Lansing and 50% in each township, Delta, DeWitt, and Lansing in which the district has prior agreements to levy such an amount and 50%
Sorry. I'mma start over cuz I I know you all can hear me. Sorry. The Lansing's Be it resolved that the Lansing School District levy 100% of its 2026 school operating taxes on July 1st, 2026 in the city of Lansing and in the city of East Lansing and 50% in each township, Delta,
DeWitt, and Lansing in which the district has prior agreements to levy such an amount and amount and further that 100% of the district property taxes shall continue to be collected in December 2026 in the remaining townships, Delhi, Waterford,
and Windsor located within the Lansing school district boundary. All resolutions and part of resolutions in so far as they conflict with the provisions of this resolution be and the same are hereby rescinded. >> Is there a second?
It's moved and seconded. To approve the resolution as read. Are there any questions? Yes, sir. >> I just lift up. I know that we need to do this tonight and I support it, but that we continue to look at the possibility of transitioning 100% of the levy for all of the jurisdictions to the
summer so that it's equitable. In particular for the 50% relationships, I don't think there would be any additional cost cuz we already are levying some in the summer in those places. It's more of a timeline for communication and notice with those jurisdictions. For the three that we're doing in the winter, there may be a cost
to the district if if we're the only one levying in the summer, so we have to look more closely at that, but I would like to see for equity's sake that we take the steps and I know it will take coordination with those jurisdictions and and there'll be communication needed to those taxpayers, but I'd like to see that process continue to be pursued,
which I know staff are already looking into. >> Okay. >> Any other comment? Question. Yes, sir. Trustee. >> Where are we with that? Cuz I remember Trustee Nowitsky bringing that up before. Um and he's saying that staff
are already working on it, but what have we done? Where are we with that? >> I know we've gotten a report on all of that and I think Assistant Superintendent Adams can speak more. I don't remember that, but >> Sorry about that.
>> Well, there we go. Um so yes, we did reach out to the other counties and townships and we will be working on the transition plan effective for next fall. Um there was some concern by a couple of
the taxing authorities, um but we can work on the other ones. The amount of money that we're talking about that comes in the winter versus what comes in in the summer is a small percentage, but I understand the request. So, yes, we will continue
working on that. >> Awesome. >> Any other question? Hearing none, we're going to um vote on this um a roll call vote. Dr. Cavanagh? >> Yes. >> Dr. Heard? >> Yes.
>> Ms. Lamia Makicek? >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez? >> Yes. >> She said yes, too. She said yes. >> Mr. Navisky? >> Yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez? >> Yes. >> Ms. Williams?
>> Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you very much. Now, we're to item C, parallel learning contract. Uh >> Mr. President, >> learning contract. >> that the Board of Education accept
parallel learning contract as presented. >> Just a second. Who second? Dina, okay. Seconded by Dr. Rodriguez. Okay, um would you like to give us a little bit >> I'm going to actually turn this over to our Deputy Superintendent Cack, and I
know that we also have our senior director, um Tanya Brewer here for special education, and I I think this would be an important contract to know a little bit more about, so they came prepared to give you just a a little bit more information. If that's okay with the board.
>> So, I have a question. Before they do that, can we rescind the the no motions or do we have to wait? >> For what? >> Can we pull the motion back off the table until they do their presentation? >> No, they're in discussion. >> They're in it's not going to be a
presentation. They're just going to explain the contract. Just I just want to be clear about that part, too. >> Good evening. Um next to me is our senior director of special education, Ms. Tanya Brewer. Um Joy working with her in the good ones
and in the challenges, but um we're here today to um explain what the parallel learning contract is and what kind of services they provide to our children with IEPs. Um Ms. Tanya, if you would like to start, uh feel free to go at it.
>> All right. Well, good evening, everybody. Um thank you for having me this evening. Uh the parallel contract is a contract that previously was managed and held by the Ingham ISD on behalf of Lansing School District. Um there was a time 2
to 3 years ago where um Lansing School District was having a really hard time hiring in-house SLPs, and it was I believe a vacancy of eight um speech and language pathologists. That's SLPs. I apologize. Um and so, the ISD decided
to, since they were also having an issue hiring speech and language pathologists to provide to us to serve students, they then decided that a contract would be fitting in order to fill that vacancy and ensure that we remain in compliance and that students are getting served. Um
this past year, in conversations, the ISD had determined that it was now time for Lansing School District to manage that contract themselves instead of the ISD managing it for us. And so, this is really a turning over of that contract to us. We are still in need of that
contract because, as we are seeing nationally, there is a shortage of speech and language pathologists. Um and so that is no different for us here in Lansing. And so while we have done a great deal of work to recruit and retain staff um along with exhausting all other
opportunities like still utilizing the ISD for some of those services, we are still in need to fill some gaps. And so that is what this current contract would be for for the 26-27 school year. >> So basically the school district, in order
to provide the services for our babies, for our students with IEPs, is in need of 30 to 32 pathologists. And the district right now has >> 17. >> 17, which it's a lot of progress that we've done
last couple of years. Very difficult to fill. The ISD also provides other uh pathologists, and they themself cannot obtain enough to support us. So that's why we have this contract. So combining
our employees, ISD, and this contract puts the whole pie together to be able to make sure that our kids get the services and we don't have to provide compensatory education. Compensatory education means that
we did not provide the services that we were supposed to provide during the school year, and then we have to find ways to provide these services during the summer, during spring break, during the Christmas winter break, and that's not fair for our kids. Our kids need to get their services as they need
it, twice a week, or once a week, 30 minutes, and that's what we're trying to achieve with this contract. >> I have a lot of questions. >> Um Trustee Williams. >> So I have a lot of questions because first and foremost, I'm looking at this budget. So is this what we're paying the
ISD right now, or are they paying this? >> Um the So, this is going to be the contract for us. This contract this current year is in the ISD. The ISD pays for this and then they take they subtract that money
from the money that we receive from the ISD. So, it's basically a wash. >> Okay, so you're saying right now currently we have 540 students that have that are supposed to be getting speech and language pathology, right? How many of our students are actually getting it?
>> Um as of right now based on what we have through the ISD, they have provided us I believe it is four and then there are seven additional through parallel. And so the number is a lot less than 540, but because the ISD was experiencing also some issues hiring and then also
parallel was experiencing some issues getting us speech and language pathologists, there are still some students who did not receive services. >> Okay, let me rephrase the question. How many of our students of this 540 are actually getting the services? Because I do know for a fact there's several that
are not getting the services. >> Correct. Yes. >> So, my I'm I'm concerned that we're going to if they can't provide us the service now with this contract, how are they going to provide it in the fall? >> So, the way that it works and the way that it's working currently is let's say that there are 540 students this
particular year. They were able to provide us seven speech and language pathologists. So, that cuts into that 540 students. So, then we may only have to provide let's say 150 students with compensatory ed. If we don't do the contract, then we would still have to
find speech and language pathologists to serve all 540, which would put us in a much different situation as it relates to compensatory ed services. >> Or >> No, and I he he's reading my face because he knows where I'm going with this because my question is still not
being answered. We have 540 students. You're saying they're only providing us with seven. It says that, if I'm reading this right, that the case load is only 60 per student. So, again, not about not about not our students are not all our students are getting
>> Ms. Williams, if I try to let me see if I try to answer this according to the question that you're asking. According to this contract, if we are going to use all the FTEs, all the people they provide,
this is the amount of children we will have we will be able to serve with this contract. So, we are already providing services with it the people that we have working in the districts, the people that we have working for the ISD, and the people that
are here. We had a lack of uh staff to provide the services to all the kids that needed the services. That's why we are now finishing school and next week we have to provide compensatory education for some of these kids that did not receive speech
for the time that they needed. >> Is this number including our autistic children, our non-verbals, our deaf? >> It includes everyone. Every student that would need speech and language services. >> Starting as early as GSRP? >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Okay. >> Uh Trustee Hurt, Dr. Hurt. Um I just want to make sure that I understand. Um and I've got uh lots of special ed questions and I hope that we will have time as a board to really
maybe sit at a round table, maybe not like this, to ask some questions and have a conversations about special ed. I know you've brought up some things about even the transportation cost and who is receiving some services. Maybe they need them, you know, maybe there's extra
things going on. Um but I as I was listening, uh, Mr. Deputy Superintendent, I never did get uh, clarity. So, if there's 540 students eligible for the speech and language pathologists,
did you all ever say the number of students that actually received it? Like a number. Was it 300? Was it 250? Was it 175? >> have to look into my notes to get the exact number to you because we have been, um, scheduling for compensatory
ed, so I have it, so I can send it to you. >> Yeah, I'm not trying to put you in the hot seat. >> It's okay. >> But that's what Trustee Williams was asking you. >> Got you. >> asking you for a number. You're saying 540 students were eligible. What she wanted to know is we were only able to service 225 because we didn't have
staff. >> Okay. >> Um, and I was kind of listening in for that number as well, but it sounds like with this contract it gets us closer to our goal of providing the services necessary for our babies to have what they need. Okay. Thank you. >> Yes, a
a couple of years ago when the department department of education was very close to Lansing School District, the number of children that were not receiving the services were much larger. So, we had to work together with the ISDs, and the ISD had to work
with us to try to find as many professionals as possible to not only, uh, speech and language, we social workers, uh, OTs, and I think, uh, the wonderful thing about this is that our connections right now with Michigan
State Universities and the ones that you're creating with other universities is giving us the opportunity to hire more specialized special ed, uh, professionals. So, our goal is that in a couple of years that we don't need
to have a contract with whoever is going to offer the services, and we don't need to ask the ISD for people. We want our own people. It's much easier to manage them. Trust us. Yeah. >> All right. I don't want to hold up this motion, but one thing that I will want
in the future is a really candid conversation about what exactly we are doing um to get the staff that we're looking for. You talked about um our relationships with higher education institutions. I would love in a very
candid way to sit with you um and to kind of get a picture of um do we already have kind of a pipeline of students that we're trying to get? I know everybody all over the country we're looking for um special education
professionals to meet the growing needs of students. Um but um and even hearing what kind of collaborations you all have done with student achievement um to for us as the board to not do your job for you. We don't want to get in all that,
but to be thought partners. Um you have some pretty remarkable people who sit on this board who care about kids as much as you do that might want to be a sounding board for you um as we look to these things especially because um we are the ones that are going to have to
vote on lots of money being moved around to try to fill in these gaps. And one thing that I'm going to continue to say is if you want my yes vote on stuff, I need very clear pictures, very clear narratives. I'm going to want to know when you say well we talked to a lot of
people and they say this is great. I'm going to want to know who. And what how did you come to that? Who is saying it's great? Why are we doing this? Why are we spending when now we're in kind of leaner times and you're asking us to do this for the benefit of our children, but how does it benefit
them? What are we already doing? What is the shortfall in real numbers so that when you come to us um I just don't want it to feel like I'm putting you on the spot every time. I'm going to want to know in real numbers what are we talking about here cuz that will then inform my
vote. More but I'm glad to support this. Thank you. >> Yeah, just one second. Superintendent wants to inject something. >> Yeah, I just wanted to add just two things. One is I think that this could be a really great conversation for an ISS meeting to robustly talk about special education because I love the
fact that we could then sit at the table together and have those conversations and then also make sure that the community is informed about the things that our team has done. I'm really proud of the special education department and the way that they are piecing together resources to make sure our students are
are getting the services they need but we're still not there as you're pointing out. Um one of the things I do want to lift about this contract that we did not talk about is this does not mean we're stopping to hire. Okay? So, this has nine FTE for speech
and language and this has one FTE for social work. If we hire a social worker, then we can alter this contract and then reduce even by month. I think it's 30 days if I read correctly that we can then So, this is not just
we're all in for 10. It's So, we can say, "Oh my gosh, we've had a windfall of five people that came from Michigan State cuz we had this really great partnership." Then we're able to reduce this contract. So, one of the ways that we're paying for this contract is the money that we're receiving from the ISD but it is also from some of the open
positions that we're not able to fill and this company or this CSA is filling in that gap. But I just want to be really clear that in fact we've just hired a few. We learned about it this morning at ET. We were very excited about. And so,
we are not we are still going to be extremely diligent cuz we'd rather have them be our employees. So, I just want to be really clear about that cuz we hadn't talked about that that this is not just, "Oh, here we go and we're done, right? That we've got this contract now. I know that Tanya and her team, they're diligently making
relationships with departments at universities and trying to build those pipelines, so I really look forward to the conversation we could have at an ISS to deeply talk about what those pipelines are and perhaps you might even have a few that we haven't thought about, so that'd be wonderful. So, thank you for that.
>> Trustee >> Thank you guys for your presentation. I appreciate it. I just wanted to raise and please correct me if I'm wrong. The way that I'm reading the contract is that the 540 number doesn't really paint a picture of how many students in the
district need these services or are receiving them. This is based on for the nine full-time employees of the SLPs, what their caseload would be able to be. So, we had seven previously, so however many students they're multiplying this
or figuring can manage the caseload would have been That's the number we need to know on what we've already been receiving to be able to have that picture of how many actually received what we've paid for previously, if that makes sense. And then,
um same with the social worker. They have one, so it's a caseload of 60. Um my question Well, I guess this is for the social worker, since it's one position, it'll just be deployed to wherever whichever school needs it or are they going to be based in one
certain area? >> Um so, they would receive a what we call a bundle, which is either a group of schools or one particular school based on the caseload there. >> Okay, thank you. >> Uh Trustee Wisky. >> Yeah, I'll just uh lift up. My wife was a SLP for the district for several
years, so I know how demanding the position is and how difficult it is because uh this field requires not only the master's degree, but then certification through the governing body for speech language pathologist. In order to get that, you have to study all of speech language pathology, which could range
from a traumatic brain disease to something for seniors to school-age children. You have to study all of that, even if you only want to practice in one particular area. So, it is a challenge to get people to go into this field, um and that's why there's such a need. And when she's working for a school, she's getting postcards almost every week to
come to this assisted living facility to do private practice, which are, you know, better paying and better benefits. So, that's what we're facing in education. And then not only that, locally, you know, you could work instead of for the district, for the ISD, and then be assigned back to the same schools you were in, but now have a different employer with different
benefits. So, it's a really kind of strange spot that we're in for this particular field. So, I do I just lift that up for the community as you're hearing this that, yes, we don't have the full numbers, you know, for how many students across the district need this and how many are being serviced by each type of employee um hiring agency, but
that it's been a need for for years and it and it's not going away. And so, I think it's something to consider from an adequacy level, too, that is there a way for the legislator to start to carve out to make it easier. When we talk about grow your own for teachers, this is a particular area where the state might
have to look at, how do we make it easier for someone who wants to work with kids in this field not have to have this very wide um broad-based education and training that may potentially, you know, allow some people to step into this career uh path from some others. So, that's just something to lift up for
all of you and those listening in education community. But, I think it's important we adopt this contract to do as much as we can with this. I I was a little bit concerned about the cancellation cuz it's 90 days into the contract and then another 60 days notice, but it sounds pretty clear we're going to need all
these positions. We're not at the point where we are going to overbudget, you know, um but at some point in the future, hopefully, we might have to try to negotiate something better there or look closer when we think we may not need them. Anyone else?
Okay, I just want to thank you for the clarifications made. I like the fact that we can deduct X number of dollars if we hire our own >> Mhm. >> uh therapist or professional person. I think that those out there they're still in in
college and don't know what to do, they might want to go into this field because it it pays well. The other thing, you know, it pays well, so um thank you for the work and we'll um we'll I do appreciate superintendent talking about a
uh ISS session. >> Yeah. >> So we can be brought up to date as to where you're at. And uh at think of a time that's appropriate once school starts mid school, whatever whatever I think is appropriate. And that there'll be some good numbers
or ideas as to where we're at at that point in time. So thank you very much for all that information. >> Thank you and we welcome the opportunity to have an ISS meeting and >> Mhm. >> uh seeing the the picture of the whole
special ed department and seeing the numbers by the different disabilities that we have in the district and all that will help all of us together make better and easier decisions in the future. >> Just one other question I I had a um
This pathologist, what about language issues? We have refugees and we have other folks that don't speak English necessarily. So is that an added burden? >> We can We can discuss got this for a little
while, but yes, there is a there's a a speech impediment and there's a language acquisition. And we as professionals have to be trained to learn is the child
saying the way the way this child is saying the words because of the language acquisition or is it because of a speech impediment? And that's why we work together to make sure that um that we determine that. And many years ago, as you might know
if people spoke the way I spoke, uh we we went to speech, you know? And it wasn't speech, it was something else. Well, it can be speech, too, but >> [laughter] >> It was phonetics. Excellent. >> Okay. Um there'll be no other questions. We're going to do a roll call vote.
>> Thank you. >> Dr. Cavanagh. >> Yes. >> Dr. Hurd. >> Yes. >> Ms. Lamia Makicek. >> Yes. >> Mr. Lopez. >> Yes. >> Mr. Navisky. >> Yes. >> Dr. Rodriguez. >> Yes.
>> Ms. Williams. >> No. >> Motion carries. Thank you much. We now move on to item nine, public comment on non-agenda items. And I have one. Uh Caitlin Cornell.
LSD parent. Welcome. You have 3 minutes. And the board does not respond to public comment. >> Sounds great. Good evening, everyone. Can you hear me okay? >> Yep. >> And we got clock starting. Oh, thank you.
Yeah, okay, great. Good evening. This is fun because I need these for reading, but then you're all blurry. I need progressives, I think. Anyway, good evening. Those of you who know me know that I'm a critical friend of this district, which means that I love this district, and I'm very focused on ways
for us to do better by our students. Today I am just here as a grateful parent. I want to give credit where credit is due to several people who've played really supportive roles in mine and my kids' lives. It's the end of the year, I'm feeling I think sentimental about this. So, I want to start by shouting
out Miss C, the bus driver that everyone wishes they had. She does all the stuff she should, right? Like I've seen her check a crooked mirror once. She got out of the car and checked or out of the bus and checked it appropriately, you know? And she makes sure that the kids are seated before the bus moves on again. But,
she's so much more than that. When my kids are out sick for a couple of days, she notices and she asks after them. >> [clears throat] >> When we'd made special arrangements for pick up for one kid but not the other kid, she checked with kid one to make sure that kid two got picked up, you know? Um I appreciate I really really
appreciate being able to trust that first person in my kids' district today. And so, that's a really grateful walk home for me in the morning from the bus stop. Next up is Mrs. Dora Lerma. Mrs. Lerma is one of those teachers who really really stays with you. She built the
most tender relationship with my daughter, but she also took the time to build one with me and answered every little fussy question that I came up with and with total respect and empathy. She communicated well and often about my kids' successes and needs. Mrs. Lerma is the one that my
kid runs to when she sees her at the school, and she's the one who gets hugs from the whole family at school events. Miss Gamache told me in conferences this semester that she wished she had more time with her students. She wishes there were built-in
opportunities to connect with students one-on-one so that she could really feel that they're understanding the mathematical concepts that she's charged with teaching them. She's a really great reminder that, as we all know, teachers are doing the most and they still want more time with our kids.
Chulasha is probably my new newest favorite human being ever. So, a tiny bit of context here, I'm going to keep this brief. There's some things that I don't love about rewards systems. Um I think that even though the intention behind them is positive reinforcement, underperforming kids or kids with sort
of atypical behaviors are singled out when they don't get the rewards that other kids end up getting. I also think that anxious kids are constantly worrying they won't qualify for rewards even if maybe that's not true, right? I also think we should pour into intrinsic motivation maybe more than leaning so
heavily on extrinsic motivation. Okay, there's your context. This genius woman did something this year that absolutely floored me. She flipped that rewards concept on its head. So she's trying to use more Chinese language with her students during Chinese class so the kids get more
linguistic input from her. My whole PhD was in second language studies um but I'll say just super briefly that she knows it's important from a second language learning perspective that learners need to get large amounts of what we call authentic and quality input. So that's why she's trying to use
language more. So this woman got a jar and for every time that she uses English in her class the kids put a token in the jar and when the jar is full they get a pizza party. >> Do I have a motion to give her 30 seconds more?
>> Yes, I will motion move that she has 45 seconds to finish her story. >> Second. Those in favor? I. Okay. >> Wonderful, thank you. And I promise I'm wrapping up. Okay. So she So these kids get pizza parties because she's putting herself in the hot
seat instead of making the kids anxious about their performance. And that's the kind of reward system that I love to see. I love that that ingenuity. And this is the last part of the shout out. Ms. Edmund has been a steadfast resource to us since I first met her at a movie night she'd hosted for the building's youngest students.
She greets my children with respect that I hope all children feel from the adults around them. She also models a grace that I think we should all strive for. This woman sent me an apology message when she just wasn't able to meet with my kid one day as they had planned and she was like, "I'm so sorry about that. I'll do better
next week." right? She recognized once that she'd used the wrong pronoun for a kid, and she apologized saying, "I will do better next time. I'm going to commit to doing better." She is what it means, I think, to be human and an educator at the same time. I just thought these educators deserve a moment of thanks from a really grateful
mom, and I think also some public recognition for their dedicated work in a really long year. And I have 6 seconds to tell you there's an event happening tomorrow on the last day of school after the half day. It's on the west side of Lansing, and my time is up. Again, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. >> [applause]
>> THANK YOU. WE APPRECIATE that for our teachers. Okay. Uh coming from the board? Trustee Hurd? >> I used to try to go close I know Trustee Williams wants me to go last, but I'm giving a keynote, and I have to leave um closer to 7:30. So, I want to make this
very brief. I I wanted to thank everyone again for um an amazing season of performances. All of the recognition ceremonies have been amazing. Our adult education graduation getting us kickstarted off. All the school uh
building award ceremonies. I was glad to be at Everett's. I know um others went to others. I'm so grateful for all of our students, all of our faculty. As we all know, um we have several um Lansing School District staff um who will no
longer be with us um after June 30th. Um a great number. Um and I I wanted to personally say thank you to them from me um for everything that they've done to serve the district up until now. And there's one that I would like to give a special shout out from the horseshoe
tonight, and that is a close friend of mine and colleague here in the Lansing School District, Gina Eberly. Um as you all might know, I was a choir director, band director, orchestra director, all kind of things in the Lansing School District. And whenever one had performances, even at the last
minute, I could call Jenna when things would go wrong um at Pleasant View or at Dwight Rich, at Sexton, anywhere I was and say, "Hey, I need somebody to come and work lights for me tonight. I need somebody to come and work sound for me tonight." Now, mind you, Jenna was going to get me told the whole time and I
thought a couple of times she might have flipped the table on me, um but she was there and she showed up for our kids for several years. Um she was um very vital to our fundraising efforts. She
single-handedly stage managed, light managed, sound managed um what we called the uh Big Apple Art for Learning in the Big Apple at Pleasant View before we took the kids to Carnegie Hall. Um and I'm so grateful to have been able to work with her on the ground and now that
I'm sitting here as a board member, I want to say to her, "I'm wishing you all the best in whatever is next. Um thank you for your service to the arts and to our students in the Lansing School District." Um I am grateful for our
interim superintendent's leadership in the very hard decisions sometimes that we have to make. And one thing that really stands out to me is something that you've said multiple times and that is the people, faculty, and staff that work at the Lansing School District are not numbers on the page. This is not an
HR spreadsheet, um but these are people, real people. We know them by name. The superintendent This superintendent knows them by name. Knows them by name, knows what they bring to um our district, and knows
their impact on students. And so, thank you um from the bottom of my heart, somebody who's a fanatic about everything Lansing. Thank you for what you've done um to serve the Lansing School District. All the best to you in the future. Um looking forward to
graduation. Thank you to this board um for a great semester. We've had transitions and lots of things. Um but what I see is stronger with 10 happening. And I have to just say that. I I have to say that man, it's starting
to be fun to be on the Board of Education. And even though we have hard things ahead, I am very optimistic. And you should be too at home. You should be thinking right now, I haven't gotten to the pace office yet. Oh my gosh, I might be late. We're still looking for you.
It's high time you come home. Thank you. >> Thank you, Trustee Hurd. Trustee Williams. >> I'm going to finish her announcement for her cuz I I got invited to it. So, tomorrow um the barbecue is lit literacy picnic. Food, fun, and books. Friday,
June 5th from 1:00 to 4:00. Uh it's going to be at Donahue Park, which is at 1001 Stanley Street, 48915. It's sponsored by Lane's Cradle to Career and the Old Oakland Neighborhood Association. If your child needs some books, that's
the place to go tomorrow after that. And they need to have some fun. So, go eat some food, have some hot dogs, and meet some new people over the summer. >> [clears throat] >> That's that. Um I'm going to piggyback on what Trustee Hurd said about all the staff. I'm I got mixed emotions, especially when I
found out Jenna cuz Jenna knew how no matter what day it was, she would be sitting in this room. If I'm having a bad day, she would just know what to say, how to say it, and just to change that. So, I am going to miss you, Jenna, and all the events that we do when we always knock each other over trying to see where we going. But Jenna, I will
miss you as well as the rest of the staff that's at the end of the year, June 30th is their last day. You all have been great. You've been instrumental some form of fashion in my seniors' life who is graduating. Saturday, no tears, no tears, no tears. Um so, I appreciate all of you all and I
look forward. I mean, if this isn't the end, I think this is the beginning cuz there's so many things that still happening in the LSD. We know you're coming back some or form, fashion, or another. So, that's that. Um I also going to continue to trust piggyback on Trustee Heard what he said what he said about
the superintendent. So, I don't have to say all of it no more. Um but, it is. 10 This 10 over the last semester plus five plus four has been really great. It has been fun. The smiles, the the little knickknacks on people's desk just to say, "Hey, I was thinking about
you." It's just it's a family, and family is what you need to make sure that your children, your grandchildren, your your legacy, which is LSD, continues to grow, continues to learn, and continue to strive. And so, I'm going to say that like Trustee Heard
said, "The Pace Office is open." I got a couple of phone calls. They want to go to Willow. Get over there cuz Willow's going to be a hot commodity. So, go to the Pace Office, get in there, get your child registered, and come on back home cuz all we have is us, and we need you. That's it. Until Saturday when I cry.
>> Okay. Trustee Lamie, >> Thank you. Um I just wanted to say that I'm super excited for graduation this Saturday. A huge congratulations to the class of 2026. Um I graduated from Everett four years ago at all right around this time, and I really credit a
lot of the amazing educators and administrators um that I had as a Lansing School District student from kindergarten up until my graduation, including Trustee Heard, who was my choir teacher when I was at Pleasant View. Um but, I credit them for a lot of the success that I've
had in finishing my degree um since then. So, I'm really grateful that our students have that unwavering support from not only the amazing teachers and administrators and district staff, but also the wider Lansing community. So, again, congratulations to class of 2026,
and I am proud to be LSD. Thank you. >> Anyone else? Dr. Okeke? Well, I just want to mention that uh I attended uh the Fire Science Academy graduation. I was there. It was uh a nice program.
And I think 13 graduates. And uh uh I guess they're looking forward to their Science Academy and LCC or other elsewhere. But they're potentially future fire Lansing firefighters in in the
city. So, it was very nice. Um I was uh able to uh to be there and then and just observe the the the the happiness and and the pride they had. Cuz it's a little different. It's a little different than a regular
graduation. They're very uh uh I'm going to use the word strict, but that's not really what I want to say, but they have a a code. A strict code as to how how to come in, how to go out. And uh uh goes along with their uh
uh firefighting experience. So, if there's nobody else and there's no other business to be heard, we adjourn. >> We adjourn. >> [clears throat]