Good evening. Before we officially begin today's meeting, I am going to kick it off to Dr. Merritt for some news. And thank you, Vice President Sudu. It is with a heavy heart this evening that I share with you that we lost our dear colleague, Miss Sharon Mackey, after a
long battle uh with cancer. She was a beloved teacher at Plymouth High School. Anybody that knows Sharon just knows her deep passion for students. Um truly uh she is one who cared so deeply about each and every one of her students and supporting them, giving them everything
that they need. Uh please keep her family, her friends, her students, her colleagues in your thoughts and your prayers during this difficult time. We know that her legacy will continue to live on through the halls of Plymouth High School. So, I would like to ask you all to just join us in a moment of
silence in honor of Sharon. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Mayor. Our deepest condolences to the family and friends impacted by this loss. Uh we will go ahead and get the meeting started officially at 7:01. My
name is Anupam Chug Sidu. I am the vice president and I'm filling in for President Christensen today. So, I will be um running the meeting. So, we'll go ahead and get started with our introductions with board members with Hi, I'm Cheryl Peard and welcome
everybody tonight. Hi everybody. Patrick Kio, welcome tonight. Hello, I'm Judy Wester. Thank you for coming out tonight. I'm Jennifer Voss. Thank you for being here. Thank you colleagues. And we have a new SBA co-chair.
Hi, my name is Arjun Swaminatan. Uh, I'm a ninth grader at Canton High School and I'm glad I can be here with everyone. Sorry, from here it looked Arun Arjun. Yeah. Thank you. Welcome. Dr. Merritt, would you like to introduce yourself and your staff? Yes. Thank you. Welcome this
evening. Superintendent Monica Merritt. I'd like to begin by introducing my assistant, Miss Diane Robertson. We want to thank her for being here capturing our minutes. Also, Mr. John is hiding over in the back, but wave Creger, who takes care of all of our technology needs. We appreciate you for being here.
Like to ask the remaining members of our staff to introduce themselves to you. Thank you, Dr. Mayor Curtis, assistant superintendent for student services. Welcome. Um, good evening. My name is Abdul Mun, chief human resources officer. Welcome everyone. Liz Vartanian Gibbs, assistant
superintendent, student and family engagement. All right, let's stand for the pledge of 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. All right, moving on to our first item. I'm looking for a motion to adopt the agenda. Approve the consent agenda. Madame Vice President, I move that we adopt the agenda and approve the consent
agenda. Action item 25567. I'll second it. Thank you. It was moved by member Kho, seconded by member Picard. Dr. Mayor, would you like to go through the items here? Uh, thank you, Vice President Sadu. This evening, our consent agenda consists of human
resources transactions since our last time together. We have leaves and retirements for your consideration this evening. We also have the approval of minutes from our regular meeting that was on April the 22nd, 2025. We have quite a few first reading of policies for you this evening. First is policy
1623. That's our section 504 ADA prohibition against disability discrimination. SEC uh policy 2260.01 section 504 ADA prohibition against disability discrimination. and policy
5517 section 504 ADA prohibition against disability discrimination. We also have policy 6110 that's grant funds 611 internal controls 6112 cash management of grants 6114 cost principles spending
federal funds. Finally we have two further items. We have outofcountry field trips that have been reviewed in SPA. And finally, we have an action item, the considering the approval of a resolution. This is for a cooperative agreement between Leavonia Career
Technical Education Program and PCCS. This allows our students to attend and take classes through Leavonia's CTE program. Thank you, Dr. Mayor. I'll call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes.
Any oppose say no. Motion passes 5-0. Mr. Mr. Majun, would you please go through the human resources part of it? Yes, thank you very much. Um, I would just acknowledge um our retirees for this evening. Um, we have Susan Baldin who was a history teacher at Salem and she's been with the district since
1998. Um, Brenda Blakeenship was a food service coordinator here at the admin build um building. She's been with the district since 2006. I have Kimly Del Propasto was a um um college and beyond school um school craft at Starkweather.
um she's been here since 2005. James Gail Jr. is a physics teacher at Plymouth who's been with the district since 2004. Rhonda Newton, who's a math success specialist who's been with the district since 2000. And Christine
Wisnooki, um ASD teacher coordinator at Smith. She has been with the district since 1995. Can we have a round of applause for the um the the time that you all put in our district? And that's all we have today. Okay. Thank you. Congratulations to all the
retirees. Uh thank you for your service and dedication to our students and community. All right. We are now moving on to celebrating success with member Wester. Good evening everyone. On behalf of the board of education, I am honored to
present tonight's celebrating success recognition to an incredible community partner, the Robert Bosch Corporation, whose dedicated volunteers are making a lasting impact on the students of Plymouth Canton Community Schools. Through their innovative STEM mentorship
program, Bosch engineers are working directly with our fifth grade students across the district, helping them build critical thinking skills, learn to solve real world problems, and discover the exciting possibilities of science, technology, engineering, and math. Bosch
mentors come into our innovation classrooms a few time each month, partnering with teachers and students to encourage creativity, collaboration, innovation. They challenge students to approach assignments like engineers by
identifying problems, imagining solutions, testing their ideas, and refining them along the way. But beyond the lessons and the activities, Bosch volunteers are role models. They inspire our students to dream big, to believe in their own ideas, and to see themselves
as the future creators and change makers in our community. At this time, I'd like to invite Joe Amodale, the PCCS math and innovation coordinator to share a few words about Bosch's impact. Good evening. Um, it is an honor to be
here to speak about this partnership. um this and just the relationship that we have with Bosch. Um in the spring there were 60 Bosch associates volunteering in our elementary classrooms. Um and this could not have been accomplished without the shared vision between the innovation classroom teachers and the BOAS
associates. Everybody valued the positive and lasting impact that this was going to have on our young students. I want to recognize first the hard work and the flexibility and the dedication of our innovation teachers to make this happen. Um last fall we had four innovation teachers visit the Bosch
technical center to present to the associates and to to spur up excitement for the volunteer program and that was direct result of that. You if you walked in our classrooms you saw mentors presenting to students um thinking alongside students a real powerful learning experiences for students for
for both the associates and the everybody involved the students and the teachers and I'd also like to thank the Bosch associates for volunteering as innovation mentors as well. And a special thank you to three very important Bosch associates. Um Julian Gabriel Zaber Thomas Schvsky and Chris
Morgan. Um two of which are in in the audience today. Um we met regularly throughout the year uh to plan this event. I think we I counted up we had 25 meetings total this year and anybody who spends 25 meetings on Zoom with me deserves to be recognized for the headache that probably causes. Um but uh
they're just a very dedicated group. I enjoyed working them. a complete joy and just dedicated two guys to the community to our to our students and uh the next steps for us will be to reinvite those teachers back to the Bosch Technical Center um in June to kind of strengthen
the program for next year. But um just I'm so honored to be here to talk about it. So thank you for your time. Appreciate it. Thank you, Joe. Next, I'd like to welcome Xia to say a few words on behalf of Bosch and its volunteer team.
Hi, good evening everybody. Um, just wanted to thank everybody for the opportunity for Robert Bosch to come out and be an active partner in the community. Um, I think we're able to get our parents and u the associates excited about coming out and actually contribute
in class. um helping out with the education and also kindle the the innovation spirit with uh all the students. So we're very happy to do so and uh we're looking forward to expand the partnership next year. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much um to our friends and
partners at Bosch. Your investment in our schools is not only building skills, it's building confidence, curiosity, and a lifelong love of earning learning. Your presence in our classrooms reminds us of the power of partnership and the incredible things that happen when professionals give back. On behalf of
the board of education and our entire school community, thank you to Bosch for being a true partner in education. You are helping our students prepare for a bright future and we are grateful for your ongoing support. This concludes tonight's session. Would you like to
join um Liz Martini? Thank you to the boss. We really appreciate partnerships like that. So, thank you, Member Wester, for leading that, celebrating success. We will now move on to the board committee report, starting with the president's report. Um, President
Christensen and I did collaborate on this. I'm going to go through a little bit of her stuff um added with some of the things I wanted to bring in. So, one, we both wanted to say happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there. Uh whether you're an aunt, grandma, all of that. Thank you for all that you do
for our students and the community. Um the other thing that we just had was teacher appreciation week last week and we want to just thank all the teachers for all that they do do for our students, our families, and our community. Your hard work is what keeps
this district going. And I know Dr. Merritt has a resolution a little bit later that we'll all go through, but I wanted to just just send my deepest gratitude to all the educators out there in whatever role that you play, whether you're a classroom teacher, parapro. Thank you for all that you
do. I also wanted to bring up the mental health fair that was I want to say last weekend or the weekend before, two weekends ago. Wow, what a success. I was not able to go. I was out of town that weekend, but I know a lot of you went and I want to thank Kathleen Grotus for
her leadership, her ongoing leadership for making this bigger and better every year. We got a chance to see the pictures. Thank you, Dr. Merritt for sharing those. And wow, just let's keep that going. Thank you, Dr. Liz, for your input and your collaboration in that. So, and who was there from our team? And
Amina was there also. Amina. Okay. Yeah. So member Picard, Amina, and Judy, Judy, and Patrick Heho. Thank you. The board was also invited to the Bond 2020 updates, which is a walkthrough through the park and I
believe five of our members were able to attend and looking at the pictures and again another amazing experience. So I'm looking to a couple of members to talk about their experience. So, I I was super excited about the work that's happening in the innovation uh space. It's still under construction. We
got a chance to uh ceremonially sign a brick and we're super excited about that space. We'll hear more about some of the work on that this evening. Um I think that all the programs and all the facilities are really starting to shape up. But it also is a recognition we still have a lot of work to do and the
major renovations that are happening at Salem, at Canton, uh, and at Plymouth in the subsequent years is just a testament to the support that we have from the community, uh, in supporting the bond and doing this work as part of the district. Thank you. Anyone else?
Go ahead, member. I'll just say I loved walking into the pool at Plymouth. Been waiting a long time. had a lot of swimmers have to share with Salem and Canton and so it was nice to be able to walk into our own Wildcat pool and um it
just felt great. So, thank you. Thank you. I can see the joy on both of your faces. Thank you for being there and sharing that experience and thank you to the community for that investment and the ongoing investments from Bond 2020. Did you Oh, did you? I was just going to
say I like that uh the stadium is starting to look good with the concession stand and everything. So, that'll help with a lot of the games and things we have. So, thank you. I don't want to leave you up. I just I can't top anything that everybody else has said. I loved it all. I'm really looking forward
to the innovation center being completed and seeing our robotics teams in there and um it's very impressive and I'm very grateful to the community for continuing to support the school district. Thank
you. All right, we'll move on to well actually one last item from the president's report. Um, member Voss and I had a chance to attend behind the scenes in Lancing, which is a legislative update that we get invited to, board members across the state get invited to that once a month,
once every couple of months. And we had an opportunity to hear from our legislators about what's happening in Lancing and after I talked to member Voss about, you know, some updates and we both said there were a lot of uncertainties within the budget discussions, but I do want to go over
some highlights. Um the cell phone policy was discussed. This is Senator Bhanki's bill and she talked about the flexibility built into the Senate version. The Senate version has passed, moved on to the House. The House version is far more restrictive and I would implore all of you to read up on both
House and the Senate version. the K12 budget and funding discussions. Um they have a goal to build the teaching profession through various initiatives and um really keeping higher ed funding within K I'm sorry keeping
higher ed funding out of K12. There was a past precedence I believe with Governor Granholm where some money was allocated out of K12 into higher ed and that pattern just continued and they're trying to break that pattern. And so K12 has its dedicated funding, higher ed has
its dedicated funding. So that's all have just being discussed in Lancing. Um the MASB director of government relations talked about the bills addressing roads. When we shift money out of one pot that impacts education, we have to make sure that we
don't leave a gap in that pot. So they're discussing if some road funding were to change, what would we do with that gap where education gets funded by some of those dollars? So, they're looking at a one-time annual consistent
um amount that would fill that am that gap that this comes out of the road funding. And the we also had an NSBA spokesperson talk about the president's fiscal year 26 skinny budget. And just for reference, skinny budget doesn't mean
that it's not anything. It's basically a smaller version of the larger budget which will come out later. But there are some interesting things happening that I think we all should be aware of. Um there's 15.5% cuts uh to the department of education. Title one and IDEIDA
funding will be at level funding and the proposal also simplifies the K12 budget into fewer programs. The budget did not mention Head Start so that is still an unknown. The biggest budget cuts that could be impacted um for K12 is Title 3 programs,
which is about $900 million for EL learners. And that would be a huge impact on all of the students in so many communities, not just in Michigan, but but across the country. Uh there were also cuts mentioned to the Office of Civil Rights and possible cuts to
Medicaid, which would hurt K12 funding. Keep in mind if we cut Medicaid, some of those services would be paid out of some local funds. Um, anything else, member boss, I missed? Okay, thank you. All right, so that was the behind the scenes and you
can actually find some of that information if you go on to the MASB website and you can get like a brief overview of the budgets and some updates if you are interested in looking at it in further detail. All right, we will move on to committee reports starting with student performance and achievement
committee and chair Wester has asked me to go through that since I led that one with her. So during the spa meeting which occurred last week, May 7th, we went through a multilingual presentation,
multilingual programming. This is what the state and the federal government calls e English learners and but Plymouth Canton is taking a um assetbased approach because many of these students are multilingual and there they are commended for that work.
They are commended for that knowledge. So, director Kimberly May went through the whole program in terms of what's being shifted and what new programs um where the gaps are within the programs and how to support students better. That may come to the whole board for a presentation. We'll have to discuss
that. We also had an exciting new course proposal called understanding and using AI responsibly. We think this is such an important course that's coming out of Plymouth Canton in such a timely fashion. Everyone on the committee was excited, particularly member
Wester because this is what she does. She and her husband do this on a regular basis, so there's a lot um happening there. We also reviewed the advanced placement language and composition course materials. Our current course materials are outdated, so the committee
was presented with updated materials that it that's impacting AP language and composition. We also discussed one outofcountry field trip. And lastly, we did discuss the cell phone policy because the original cell phone discussion came out of SPA last year.
The committee member at that point along with a board member were discussing cell phone policies across the district and we had a deeper discussion on what that means. Well, that led to a conversation across the state where there's legislation being discussed. So, what we tried to do at that meeting was align
the language of the legislation to what we had talked about along with our current policies. And it really looks like our current policy policies are in alignment to current legislation if it passes with the House or the Senate version. The House version is far more
restrictive and we would have to do a lot of fine-tuning of our current policies. So, it was a great discussion. Um, member Wester and I talked with uh, Superintendent Merritt in terms of maybe at some point we would have this be an
open dialogue as a committee of the whole with policy involved, SPA involved because eventually it is going to go to the policy committee. So we want to get both of those committees together with community input so everyone is aware of the changes that are happening if this legislation passes.
All right, that was it. Did I miss anything? No, thank you for covering it. Okay, next is a policy committee update and we have not met since the last report I gave you. So, we're going to move on to finance and operations with Treasure Kho. So, we met last Thursday
and we discussed uh the furniture and equipment for the new innovation hub. So, we're excited about that and there's been a lot of dialogue and discussion on that process. Um we will be also talking about this evening uh the security and infrastructure repairs that were part of
uh some lightning strikes that we had. We got an update and we'll be bringing forward tonight the early childhood playground upgrades at Dodson and Isfister, the field elementary chiller replacement, the monthly financial reports for the month of uh of March uh
2025 and our next FNO meeting is Thursday, May 22nd at 5:00 p.m. and we encourage people to come and join the excitement. Thank you, Treasure Kho. Our next committee report is student voice in action and president Christensen is not
here. So I'm going to ask Oh, are you going to do the update? Yes, please. Thank you. So at our last student voice and action committee meeting which took place in um April, the students worked together to really focus on mental
health awareness month in the month of May. and they decided to promote that we would all wear green on Monday, May 12th, 6th through 12th grade students. Also, at their schools during the lunchtime, the students uh had many mental health awareness stickers available for other students to pick up
and they were affirmation stickers because we are really working on crushing the stigma and supporting May is mental health awareness month. Our next meeting will be on Monday, May 19th. It will be at Pioneer Middle School in the media center and it begins
at 4:30 p.m. Thank you. And again, I want to welcome Urgent as one of the newest co-chairs and you have a two-year term, right? So, thanks for being here. All right, we're moving moving on to the superintendent report. Thank you. I want
to begin tonight by really echoing some earlier comments that we had about the celebration of our teachers. Last week on National Teacher Appreciation uh week, we were able to celebrate our educators. If you know anything about research, it will tell you the number one indicator of student success is that
teacher right there in the classroom before them in front of them and and supporting the wings beneath them as well. And so we are so uh grateful to our teachers that continue to really create the environment where our students can thrive. And so it is appropriate that we celebrate them not
just on National Teachers Appreciation Week, but every single day of the year. Um this evening we actually have a resolution that was passed by the Wayne Resa. Um that's our county uh boards of education in support of National Teacher
Appreciation Week. This proclamation I would like to ask board members to join me maybe in a popcorn and we'll go ahead and read this out loud. I'll start us off. Maybe go to my right. This is the member boss. pick back up um with member Pard. Just keep going. I think I think it's about eight. This way or this way?
We'll go to the right and pick back up. Come back. Okay. Whereas our country's future depends on providing highquality equitable education to all students, ensuring that each scholar can learn, grow, and thrive. And whereas through their dedicated efforts to prepare students for success, Wayne County
teachers and educators are vital contributors to the country's future and to public education, shaping the next generation of leaders, innovators, and engaging engaged citizens who will drive progress in our society. And whereas students, I'm sorry, teachers and
educators play a critical role in influencing academic achievement and improving student outcomes, fostering a love of learning, building confidence, and equipping scholars with the skills necessary to reach their greatest potential while receiving the knowledge
and skills necessary for success in college, careers, and life. And whereas teachers deeply care for the whole child, supporting their social, emotional, physical, and financial well-being, and imparting essential skills in self-awareness,
self-management, social awareness, responsible decision-making, critical thinking, resilience, healthy life choices, socialization strategies, financial literacy awareness, exposure and experiences, and where is the
evolving needs Of our scholars require teachers to constantly expand their learning to adapt their instructional methods and invest infinite time and effort in preparing engaging lessons, monitoring and evaluating student progress, providing mentorship and serving as role models, motivators, and
champions of hope. And whereas the teachers and educators of Wayne County demonstrate an extraordinary commitment to the students they serve, making a profound and lasting impact in their lives by fostering a positive, inclusive, and empowering educational experience. Whereas the board of
education of Wayne Resa recognizes the creativity and perseverance of our teachers and educators and acknowledges them for exhibiting continued focus and resilience amongst the uncertainty. And whereas teacher appreciation week is an opportunity to not only celebrate the
incredible work teachers and educators do, but also to express our gratitude for their contribution to the future of our scholars, our schools, and our communities. Now therefore be it resolved that the Wayne Regional Educational Service Agency Board of
Education hereby proclaims May 5th through 9th, 2025 as teacher appreciation week and encourages all community members, parents, students, and stakeholders to take time throughout this year to recognize thanks and
celebrate the teachers and educators in Wayne County for their tireless efforts, passion, and commitment to excellence. Let this be a reminder that the impact of a teacher educator lasts a lifetime. Presented and adopted the 16th day of
April, 2025, honoring teachers and recognizing the lasting contributions they make to our communities. Everyone, please join me in saluting our teachers here in PCC. All right, as we continue our celebration of our teachers, I want to share that one of our amazing teachers
was recognized on a statewide level for her work with students recently when Starkweather's Gina Scott was named the 2025 Michigan Adult Educator of the Year. Let's clap it up for Gina. Miss
Scott was recognized for her passion, her creativity, and her unwavering dedication to adult education and her students. She received her award at the Michigan Adult Education and Training Conference. And on that was on Wednesday, May the 7th. Congratulations, Miss Scott. Thank you for everything you
do for our district's adult learners. A couple of announcements of some exciting showcases this weekend. I'd like to invite the community to take a part in a pair of outstanding events. First, we want you to join us for the annual PCCS K12 art show that will take place this
Saturday, 11:30 to 3:30. And this will be in the Salem High School cafeteria. As you know, this show highlights the outstanding arts education of our students and what they receive at all grade levels. I had the pleasure of being at the Plymouth Community uh center. Is that the right name? Right
here on Sheldon Arts. Yes. Art. arts council this week and they had displays of our students work on there. I was so proud and impressed by them. Um and again this uh is just a wonderful event. So if you have the opportunity to come, we have celebrity judges. Uh so they'll
receive awards. I always recuse myself of being a judge because I would give a a ribbon to every single student in there. So I'm just not a good judge. They're just fabulous. So please we welcome you to come and uh experience our students. Also, we want to remind our community to tune in to the
district's radio station, 88.1 The Park, this Saturday. This will be uh the station's annual radio auction. The proceeds from the auction will benefit the station's amplification capital campaign that will fund the construction of a new studio space to help students
learn and serve. And I gave a shout out to member Bard, but she gave a further shout out to her husband, Ron. They were at the Carl's cabin, I believe. He was he was channel 7 news was there. So uh he told them about our radio station. We
had this great uh contribution or grant from Rotary and we're going through this match so that the students can have this expanded edition and channel 7 popped over to their event and they were able to film it and it was live on Friday. And then I heard today another uh radio
some kind of station picked up that same story. So getting all this media and hopefully the bell start ringing Mr. and we get some money in there for the students cuz they truly truly deserve it. So, thank you to Mr. Fard and family for giving us that opportunity to get on channel
7. We keep just uh the accolades keep coming for our students and I never miss a chance to really brag about their accomplishments. We want to just shout out and lift up the 2025 Michigan State Champion PC culinary team. They wrapped up its season with a well-earned place
in the national spotlight recently when the team finished in second place at the National ProStart Invitational in Baltimore, Maryland. That is good news. Good evening. I think this is the last week of the Rock Cafe. So, if you want to get over there and get some eats from
the Champion Culinary Team, I think this is the last week to do it. Under the direction of PC culinary program lead instructor Diana Woodward, team members Brandon Knight, Mia Matessi, Justin Anhouser, Kobe Chin, and
Oilia Andrade battled teams from 48 states and beat over 20 programs whose culinary teams are corporately sponsored. The students crafted a three course meal within a 1-hour time limit. I wouldn't have been been able to do that. They had no running water or
electricity, and they used a camp stove to prepare their dishes. Team members received a variety of prizes for their accomplishments, including professional knife sets and thousands of dollars in scholarships. Again, let's congratulate our young. And finally, I believe it was
maybe the last meeting or two meetings ago, I was bragging about the 22 National Merit Scholarship finalists that we had this year. And I shared that in my 10th year here in the seat that was the largest number of finalists that we had had. I am so pleased to announce
today that four PC students through their hard work and dedication have earned one of the country's most prestigious academic honors. They were named winners of the National Merit Scholarship. So let's clap it up and I'm going to give you their names.
They include Hampton High School senior Sherek Doss who intends to pursue a career in medicine. Hannah Thomas who intends to pursue a career in neurology along with Salem seniors Drew Hedge who
intends to pursue a career in mechanical engineering and Roish Mahish who attends intends to pursue a career in engineering. Again, these winners are chosen by a committee of college admissions officers and high school counselors, and they're evaluated by
their academic record, including their difficulty level on all subjects studied in grades earned, their test scores, their contributions, and their leadership in school and community activities. They have essays and letters of recommendation, and so on and so on
and so on. So, once again, we are so proud of our students for this accomplishment. for the remainder of my soups report. I'm going to turn it over. I'm looking at you, Mr. Obsik, but I don't know if I'm turning it over to you or someone else on your team. I can start it. All
right. We have an opportunity to just hear and see our students under the guidance of this amazing man coming to the podium right now who continue to shine in the world of robotics. Um, Mr. Obnik, I'm gonna turn OBnik, I'm gonna turn it over to you. Um, I just want to
say it first. We started with Bosch back in 2004 and Julian here is a past president and alumni and Chris Morgan who wasn't here been mentoring with us since 2004. So Bosch is a great company and I thank them for all they've done for Lightning
Robotics. But we are here today to present just a little bit about the team and some of the things that are going to be happening in the team in the future. So we have here Brennan in front. We have Adipia right behind him. We have me here with the the big ball. We have
Annabelle. And then we have Angela right here. And they're gonna do the presentation. Thank you. Hello, good evening. Thank you to everyone for being here. We are Lightning Robotics Team 862. We're the high school robotics team. We're here to discuss a little bit about who we are as well as an ask we have for the school
board. So, just to introduce ourselves. Hi, I'm Mi here. I'm the president of Lightning Robotics. Hi, my name is Annabelle. I am the co-first programs coordinator as well as the outreach lead on Lightning Robotics. Hello, I'm Angela. I'm the co-first
programs coordinator and business VP. Hi, I'm Brennan. I'm the vice president of engineering for Lightning Robotics. So to start off what Lightning Robotics competes in is something called FIRST. It is comprised of teams from all across the world. Uh a little bit fact about it
is Michigan is the biggest district in first with more football more robotics teams and football teams. Uh our team was established in 1999 and we are consisted of nine different subgroups, five engineering and four business. Uh this season we came in with about a
little around 140 students this year alone. So some notable robots across the years of our team was 2017 Valkyrie that was our world championship robot. 2019 was Gemini when we won state championships. 24 Rap City when we won the Renaissance competition in Detroit.
And 25 Nautilus when we won Belleville and West Michigan and were finalists on our our division at Worlds. Even though Lightning Robotics is a high school team, we strive to support FIRST on all levels in our district. FIRST is an international organization and on the
elementary school level it's calledLLL and on the FTC or on the middle school level it's called FTC. Then we are F FRC at the high school level. All levels of first, regardless of LL, FTC or F FRC, are an extremely rich way for all students in our district of various
interests and learning styles to work together and solve problems and learn life skills. For instance, an FTC team has a maximum of around 15 students with three to four adult mentors. And so students are able to work together with their peers to solve problems like why
won't the code work or how can we better our presentation while also receiving guidance from their adult mentors. They learn both business skills like public speaking and presentational speaking as well as engineering skills like design and programming which they take into FTC
middle school and FRC high school. This is an amazing program for all learners and it helps cultivate the skills they already have and learn new skills as Isla touched on. first let students gain skills that necessarily they might not have in the classroom as
well as use the skills that they learn in the classroom and apply them in new aspects. So for example me I learned CAD through the engineering um STEM academy through the engineering pathway I learned programming via the APCSP and APCSA classes. However, through
robotics, I was able to learn specific applications of this program, like specifically learning CAD for this specific robot or learning programming specifically for the robot, teaching it how to move, how to do vision, certain aspects that allow students to see it in a different dimension, which just
enhances their skill set. And as Angeline touched on, students will also learn soft skills like presentation speaking, public speaking, how to lead a team of subgroups to success, as well as hard skills like continuing to strengthen their CAD skills, strengthen programming, and then these skills will
go with them across their time in robotics as well as into their future careers. So, going a little bit more into those programs that Angela recently discussed. Um so llll is for um it is divided up into two different sections. There's explore which is for
kindergarten through third and then there is also um challenge and this is meant for fourth and fifth graders and then we move on to the first tech challenge which is for middle schoolers and then the F FRC which is for high school. So if you look at the graph on the left that is um the amount of teams in just Michigan and you can see that
that number is was really um rising rapidly and then has begun to level off a little bit whereas on the right that is specifically the FDC middle school teams within our district and that number is continuing to grow rapidly. So uh with that there is about 130 students
um who are interested in specifically just the middle school program right now but we don't have enough resources to place all those kids on to teams because of the limits as well as not having um enough mentor support and other resources like that. And then also thell
programs are continuing to rise and we have about 30 teams right now. Right. As Annabelle mentioned, the areas in which first is growing the most rapidly in our district areLL and FTC, the elementary and middle school levels. We just met last week and we determined
that there are around 130 to 140 interested students, but only around 20 interested spots that are available, only 20 spots that are available for these students. And so that is a problem that we're working to overcome. We have a sample action plan and some goals for
you today. This isn't set in stone, but one of our main goals is to make sure that everyone in our district knows about FIRST. Not every district has a FIRST program or even a robotics program at all. And so the fact that we provide from elementary to high school robotics, it really makes our district stand out.
And lightning gets a lot of emails saying, you know, is there a middle school robotics team or can my third grader join Lightning even though Lightning is a high school team? And so making sure that everyone is on the same page helps them gain access to these enlightening program programs.
Additionally, we'd also like to propose a coordinator position. And we'll elaborate more on this later, but who would essentially not do the coach's job, but help teams help students get placed and help the help the coaches do their jobs. We'd also like to
periodically meet to assess how FIRST is growing in our district as well as if we need to adjust our goals or actions to align with that. Further elaborating on what we mentioned, our vision is a coordinator who helps oversee the elementary and
middle school first programs, so FTC. We are open to receiving feedback and other ideas of course from you, but we envision that being an adult who likely already has a position, but who would take on this role and receive a stipens that is funded through the school. The
coordinator responsibilities could involve hosting anformational meeting for interested parents once a year, as well as responding to emails or other communications if parents are interested and looking for information about first. This is something that Lightning could help with as we have resources
describing what first is, how to start a team, how to join a team, but we need help getting these resources out there and making sure people have access to them. For existing coaches and teams, this coordinator could help remind them of upcoming grants as well as securing meeting space. For instance, if there's
a team at work, then maybe the coordinator helps that team secure meeting space at the school every Tuesday and Wednesday or something like that. And of course, if the coordinator were to step down, then they would train the incoming person. On the other hand, the coaches would still retain their
main responsibilities like running meetings, being responsible for the team finances, teaching the kids, applying for grants, answering questions about their specific team, and more. The coordinator would just be there to help elementary and middle school
teams thrive, and also to help interested families learn more about First. So through this presentation, we hope that you can see the value that first brings to students at all levels in our district. And we wanted to hear some feedback from you. As well as if we
decide to go forward with another plan that isn't this, we wanted to ask, can we count on you in supporting the growth of first programs in our district? Are are we going to get a sample of the robot before discussion or are we discussing first?
So, we did talk about the possibility of running the robot here today, but we just had a worry that uh how high up the robot actually reaches that it would hit the ceiling and we didn't want to damage the ceiling and the uh certain uh wheels that are on the bottom of it have a tendency to uh mess up the carpet a
little bit. So, we didn't want to mess that up. Uh we were planning on changing them out eventually, but we have some offseason competitions that we plan to attend. So we try to keep the robot as it was at World Championship just so we stay as high fidelity as we were there. Thank you. Explain what it does. I
could. Yeah. So uh so the main goal of the season this year was to pick up these uh PVC pipes that's inside of the robot. It's about uh a foot long and 4 and 12 in wide. Uh, and then we had to put those on some metal poles that were at different levels about one, four, and
six feet high, I believe, or something like that. And then we had to take that big uh, uh, kickball kind of thing. We had to take it off of the structure in the middle and put it up in a 7t high net in the on the in the air. And then at the end of the game, we had to climb
on a 11in x 11 in wide metal cage that was also swinging by a chain. So that was probably the hardest struggle because it was only about three and an eigh inches off the ground. Wow. So member Voss, I'm sorry, member Picard and I had a chance to go to the
spring showcase and we saw a little bit of that in action and we saw the entire presentation, your u plan for the year and all the things that you do. So impressed by all of you. I mean, every one of you has a role and you are very you're an expert in that work and so
when you present there are no notes and I'm and you go on for like an hour and I'm so impressed that they are very clear, concise and they have just like today they have an action plan. Um so they present problems along with solutions. So I appreciate that. Um I'll
open it up for discussion and then we can talk about uh the request in a different format with Dr. Merritt. So, I'll open it up. Uh, member boss, we'll start with you if you have any questions, comments. I think it's great. I've been
to the park when you have had your last was it last summer where you Okay. And I thought it was amazing. It inspired my daughter to join the group at workman. And so, I applaud you. I think it's an
amazing program. Thank you. Um, so I just wanted to say thank you. Um, my son was actually in um the FTC program and it was entirely we were we were one of the founding families of West's Tech Dogs back when they began
and uh it was entirely because of the Lightning's student mentors and Steve Derry and the other support from Mr. Oh, you know, everything um that that team
got up and got going and we were su as successful as we were because it's intimidating. So, and that's true at the at theLLL level too at the elementary level. Um, and you guys have done an amazing job of supporting and growing
the robotics program throughout the district. And I would love to see this board support the request for a coordinator at the lower levels in at all ways possible. So that's all I've got. Thank you. Mhm. So much like uh um
member Westerm, my daughter was in the LL program at East and she helped start the uh the program there um a number of years ago and uh it was a very challenging process finding mentors and figuring out what to do and but it was really a great program for for those
kids and for them to understand the engineering principles and I think that's one of the testaments of the robotics program that we have throughout the district. Certainly the lightning program at the high school is fantastic and the number of students that you touch and the things that you do there, the world championships, uh the
collaboration, the work that you do, but I think it the real testament is the work that you do um throughout the district through uh the lower levels to the middle schools, the programs like lightning or I'm sorry, robotics and robots in the park and all of those programs. Those really are the things
that help build those principles and help students to feel welcomed as they go forward. So, I think this is really a a crown jewel uh that we have across the district and I would love to see us continue to do more. I think the innov dedicated innovation space is going to help instead of having to shle around to
the uh to the cafeteria all the time. You have a normal place that you can work with. But, um I think this is just a great program. I'd love to see us do more. Remember? Okay. Yeah. I was um as I was looking into the program and stuff, I was I what I really liked was that you
had different areas where the students could be involved in. It wasn't just the building the robot. It was the business side of it, the marketing and fundraising and that so many different um things to learn in different areas. It wasn't just engineering also. But I
think that was really a a nice thing about the program is that it does can involve other all students. So nice job. Yeah, I'd like to add on. Sure. So, um I mean already you can see how well robotics has helped them and uh but I
think my job as a SBA co-chair is to give you guys like some insight on a daily student's life. And I think as someone who's been in robotics as a elementary schooler and have friends and um people I know in high school and in middle school in robotics, I can really say that not only does it help you
develop these skills, but it gives people a sense of community, especially in middle school where there aren't as many clubs as there are in high school where you can really find people to make friends and people who like the same things that you like. Robotics helps with that. Um, I know a lot of people who look forward to going to robotics
competitions, going to the clubs and we met people through robotics. So, I think pushing to open robotics up to more people really sticks to the core values of PCCS. Thank you for sharing that. And I actually had a chance to um be a judge in some first competitions a couple
years ago. Um, and just the amount of work that goes into just the competitions alone. And I want to thank Mr. Opsik for his leadership and his team. I this could not happen without him and his team. So I want to give a
round of applause to Mr. O. Next year will be my 27th year running the team. Would you mind coming up to the speaker, please? Next year will be my 27th year running the team, and it's going to be time for me to end pretty soon. So, if you know anybody who wants to spend $400 a year after school with
kids and not counting competition, have them see me cuz you can replace a football coach because they played football and they know the thing. But nobody really knows what goes on what I do and I love to teach somebody so they can fill my shoes. So, if anybody out there is interested, I know there's a
bunch of teachers there. It's open. Come on up, Mrs. Johnson. Come do it. And look, you get to work with all these amazing students. Absolutely. I do have a question uh with regard to member Peicard mentioned something about the business part of it. So a couple years
ago when the students presented they talked about I think they showcased a business plan and you had received an award for that and at that point uh my son was actually in the business academy not in robotics as much as I wanted him to go into that but there were conversations about uh the robotics
students working with the business academy for those business plans and some overlap within programs. Has that happened? Yeah. So, this past school year in September, we visited Miss Route's uh freshman and sophomore business academy classes to present what we do and
recruit members from the academy to join our team and apply their knowledge. And we also went to arts academy classes for freshman and sophomores as part of our recruiting efforts. Wonderful. Thank you for that update. Any other questions, comments?
I do appreciate your action plan with the solution and again we will discuss that with Dr. Mayor as we look at positions. Um but we definitely support all the work that you do. So thank you for being here. Dr. Mayor, I don't want to leave without you sharing comments.
No, absolutely. The uh students and staff know how much I support the program. I'm so proud of you and your advocacy. Um just really as I heard uh Vice President Seduce say, you always come with the problem but also the solution and um who can't help but
support that level of advocacy. So continue to shine, continue to do what you're doing and uh by all means having the ability to support that program throughout our elementary and middle school um is something that we all are are interested and encouraged to to see
how we can explore. So uh thank you again for just sharing your time and your talents with us this year. One more thing. Sure. There's stuff too. So, like they design their t-shirts, too. They do all their designs and all. Where can we get those? I was a little jealous of member Peard coming in. They do all the
designing each year on their different little t-shirts and what they're going to put on them. So, I thought that was really cool. So, a lot of art um medium if anybody we can coordinate your So, thank you. Thank you, Jay. Thank you so much for coming here, showcasing the
robot, showcasing your work. We're so proud of you. Thank you. And then one final note, if you do want to keep in touch and see just firsthand the work that we do, we do have our robots in the park event coming up this August 10th, 2025 from 10:00 a.m. to 400
p.m. at Kellogg Park. So, this event we just have a bunch of STEM stations. So, it's fun for the whole family. So, if you're interested and want to see what we do, I strongly suggest that you show up. Yeah, it's a great event. Thank you. I will give them a moment to clear
out the robot. Thank you. Bye. All right, we are moving on to the citizens comments. The first part of the citizens comments, we have two parts on our agenda. The first part goes on for 30 minutes and if we go over that, we will have the remaining comments toward
the end of the agenda. So, as a reminder, uh you have three minutes and we would uh appreciate if you respected the time. Diane is going to have a clock that gets started as soon as you start to talk. And also as a reminder, please do not mention any names when sharing
concerns or problems or regarding someone's behavior or work practices unless you have their permission. And if there's a comment that requires a follow-up, Dr. Mayor and her team will follow up with you and the board does not engage in a back and forth. So, this
is your time for three minutes to share your concerns or comments that you may have. So, we'll go ahead and get started with the first one. I have Gloria Logan. Good evening. Um, I'm Gloria Logan and I was a 30-year teacher at the
park, now long retired, but I'm very grateful to be here tonight to share with you some very positive news about a 1992 Plymouth Park graduate, Melanie Pharaoh. Melanie was a major asset to the Plymouth Park Players in the entire
theater program throughout her high school career. She's now mother of three and has long been and continues to be a much soughtafter professional singer in New York. She's been featured on New York stages,
television, co-star with Robin Williams. She's played at the Brooklyn Bowl, the Capitol Theater, opening for Eric Clapton, and sings in many, many, many soldout solo performances. She has graciously agreed
to return home to Plymouth to perform with both the Plymouth Community Band and the Michigan Phil in the free summer concerts in Kellogg Park on June 26th and 28, respectively. I'm here tonight to ask for your help in
promoting these concerts because Melanie is the perfect example of how our Plymouth schools provide an arts education that serves both our students and the community in the present and the
future. We all know how easily and quickly negative news spreads. So, here's an opportunity to share some positivity and highlight the value of an arts education in Plymouth. Please,
please take this opportunity and share this good news in any way you can. To facilitate this sharing, I've brought some little printed um save the date cards that I hope you use to remind you of the dates. We don't want anyone to
miss this very unique opportunity to hear Melanie Frell perform right here in her hometown of Plymouth. Thank you. I hope you guys will avail yourself of this. Thank you. If you want to leave those,
I'll I'll make sure that Diane G gets one to all of us. Oh, excellent. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. Next up is Rachel Hayes. Hello, I'm Rachel Hayes, a P Flag board member and member of Western Wayne Indivisible. We at P Flag and
Indivisible support our our district's teachers and staff and recognize the challenges they face daily. We believe that most care about the safety and well-being of their students and have heard of some excellent teachers doing a great job. And yet, there is a bullying
problem in our schools. Kids from elementary through high school have told us slurs are used regularly in classrooms and that there are teachers and staff turning a blind eye to discriminatory behavior. Why is this happening? No doubt there are some who are indifferent. But when most teachers
are good teachers, why are some failing to protect their students? We have been hearing time and again that they are afraid to do so. Olivia Foster, Pep's queer youth committee adviser, told us that there is quote genuine fear. Fear of student backlash, fear of parent
backlash, and most notably, fear of being ultimately left unsupported by their school's administrators or district officials. End quote. Fear in today's political climate is understandable. There is a faction of our community quick to raise angry
voices against inclusivity. It is easier and safer to not hear slurs, to not see bullying, to not defend LGBTQ plus students. But children are suffering. If adults are fearful, imagine how kids feel and it is dangerous. The 2024 US
National Survey on the Mental Health of LGBTQ plus young people states that these youth quote are not inherently prone to higher suicide risk because of their sexual orientation or gender identity. Rather, they are placed at higher risk because of how they are
mistreated and stigmatized in society. End quote. Safe spaces are imperative to the emotional and physical well-being of these kids. When the world is not safe and even home may not be safe, our schools can and should be. A clear and
firm expectation must be set that our comprehensive policies be learned, that there is training on how to implement them, and that when doing so, district officials and administration will fully support teachers and staff and will stand by them when facing blowback. Miss Foster points out, quote, "No kid should
be wondering whether or not the adults in the building will protect them. our teachers shouldn't feel doubtful and certainly not fearful of whether administrators support them or not in addressing LGBTQ plus issues. End quote. Fear is contagious, but we also know
that so is bravery. We thank those on the board and in administration who are bravely stepping up to put in the work necessary to make our schools a safe, welcoming environment for all. We are confident that strategic goal B and the PCCS dynamic plan can be accomplished
that all PCCS students and staff will report they feel physically, psychologically, and emotionally safe and represented at school. Thank you. Thank you. Next up is Michelle West. Good evening. My name is Michelle West
and I was a teacher at Bentley Elementary for 29 years. I stand here with concerned Bentley parents as current and former teachers with effective and highly effective teaching records to address a serious concern that we have about Bentley. For the past
two years, there has been harassment, intimidation, and bullying toward teachers that is both pervasive and severe. We have with us today teachers from Ann Arbor public schools who suffered the same harassment by this person and they worked under him before
he was hired in Plymouth Canton. Please note there are many other teachers who are afraid to stand up with us today for fear of retaliation. In the last two years, here's some facts. 15 staff members have left
Bentley. Teachers in Paris. Seven teachers have taken a medical leave of absence mid year. These same teachers chose to resign, retire from a school they called home several years before they wanted, losing years of pay, which
greatly affected their retirement and their pension. Many of these teachers have sought doctor's care for anxiety and emotional and physical care. After highly qualified teachers took the medical leave, many unqualified
substitutes filled the classrooms of the absent teachers for over 30 months, which greatly affected our students. Many teachers who were absent due to personnel or medical issues, but had days in their sick bank, were told in
the office or in writing that this could impact their pay, their evaluation up to and including termination for being absent. When the principal requested meetings with the staff, the email usually ended with you
may bring representation and or this meeting could lead to disciplinary action. This led teachers to be anxious and stressed knowing that whatever the meeting was about, it was going to be confrontational. Two teachers returned from a medical leave the last week of
school to see their students, but they were told they could not resume their positions. They had to work as substitutes and work in the cafeteria and on recess duty. A classroom teacher inquired as to why her students with legal IEP
documents were not receiving the support time as scheduled. She was told it was none of her business and that she was creating a hostile work environment. We believe we were targeted, bullied by a person who habitually sought to
imitate intimidate us, inflict mental anguish. The ex executives of dedicated teachers and an atmosphere described as very toxic and the frustration among the remaining staff and parents are a call
to action. Thank you. Next up is Julie Casar. Or did I say that incorrect? Could you tell us how it's casar? Casar. My name is Julie Milo. I was a I'm a former student uh former teacher
in Plymouth Canton Plymouth Canton Community Schools. I was an ELD teacher at Bentley Elementary for 5 years. I was forced to resign and take an early retirement. Here's some more facts. During an evaluation meeting in our building with our union rep, a teacher was belittled and degraded so bad that
she had a panic attack and fell on the ground crying and soon after that quit. Teacher peers have often been heard with interactions where their colleagues were yelled at in the office. Teachers would be watched on the security cameras intended for the safety of the students for the sole purpose purpose of later
questioning teachers. One teacher on a leave was given permission to gather items they had purchased and aid had let them in the building and was then questioned and instructed not to let the teacher back in again to make sure district property was not taken. Last school year, a 9-year effectively rated 20-year veteran
teacher was humiliated humiliated after 20-minute observation. They were informed that they were being put on an IDP. An IDP is a degrading plan where a teacher writes detailed lesson plans, meets with a coach weekly, and meets with an administrator bi-weekly. For months, an
aid covered covered paid lunch duty during her workday as standard. The aid was told those hours were never authorized to be paid for by HR, and so the aid walked out and quit. Another teacher was accused of data not being accurate and was advised to think about their actions and then be given the opportunity to admit that they made up
the data or face disciplinary action. One teacher filed harassment charges with HR. One week later, HR stated there was not enough evidence to support age substantiate age discrimination. Not one teacher in the building was ever interviewed to substantiate the
harassment. Our voices were unheard by HR. Only one out of 15 staff members that left the building were given a Google form exit interview. And the one teacher that completed the form asked HR to contact them but never heard back. Over 100 students the last two years
have been affected. These students miss out on a quality Plymouth can education that we believed in, taught by extremely impactful, highly effective educators. We've been treated unjustly. Some of us have suffered extreme emotional and physical distress and our voices were
silenced. We were here to fight for the rights of our colleagues that we've left behind. As educators, we decided to live our lives shaping the future of students. We are here fighting for a system that values its educators, supports them, and ultimately puts what's best for students above all else.
My questions are these. Why were we allowed to be treated so callously and despicably without someone being held up accountable? Why did our union not protect and fight for us while we were being disrespected and harassed? And why were our valid concerns brushed aside and our dedication to our job met with
blatant disregard by our school district? Thank you. Thank you. Again, comments that have questions um or concerns, we'll make sure that Dr. Merritt follows up um after the
meeting. Sarah, next up is Sarah Krosinski. Good evening. Um, I am here today to add my voice to the ongoing discussion surrounding the protection of our immigrant students. I believe this is not just a policy issue, but a moral imperative for our school district to
ensure the well-being of the students that are entrusted to our care. In recent months, we have witnessed a growing atmosphere of fear and uncertainty among immigrant students and their families due to the current administration's policies. These policies and the anxiety they create
pose a direct threat to the safety, mental and emotional health, academic performance, and the attendance of immigrant students. It is critical that we as a community send a clear and unequivocal message of safety and
support. Our schools are places where every child should feel safe, valued, and empowered to learn. However, many immigrant children are living in fear of the growing calls for mass deportations. We have seen college students visas revoked with no warning
or justification. We have seen a sharp escalation in ICE raids with people being snatched off the streets. We've even seen families being separated and deported regardless of DACA status. These actions are a source of deep
terror for our immigrant community and cannot be minimized. I urge the board to take a strong stance on this issue and adopt the resolution and implement the accompanying policy that we will be presenting to the policy committee.
These policies will ensure the safety and well-being of all of our students regardless of their immigration status. We must publicly declare in no uncertain terms that Canton Public Community Schools will not cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement or
any other federal immigration agency unless required by law. Now, I believe this policy should be shared widely with students, parents, and staff to reassure our immigrant families that they are safe within our walls. We should also
provide regular training for our teachers, administrators, and staff so that they understand their rights and responsibility when it comes to immigration enforcement on school property. These actions will show that our priorities are to protect students
and to reinforce the fundamental values of education, that schools should be places of inclusion, support, and growth for all students regardless of background. Thank you so much. Thank you.
Next up, next up is Michelle Mustakas. Good evening. I'm Michelle Mustakis and I am a 10 and a half year resident of Canton. Love it there. And um I'm with the Western Wayne chapter of
Indivisible. And I'm here tonight to it's a wonderful thing to follow Sarah because I am here tonight to talk about the next steps that we uh can take that uh the district can take in order to um
implement to develop and implement adopt a policy and a resolution that will um protect our immigrant students. I'd like to thank Kurt Tisnookski for Tis Tisniski for our um
we did meet with him last week and he was very he took a lot of time and we discussed our concerns and he was very very good about that. Um he suggested that um as far as moving forward, one of the things that we should do is to take
our um draft resolution and uh policy to the um policy committee. Um and we will be doing that. Um I'm not going to go through the uh particulars of the policy. Um that would take too much
time. But it is clear that all of you do want to make sure that our immigrant students are protected. But it's also clear that there is some real concern about putting this out publicly. And that's what I'm here to
talk to you about tonight. I don't think it's hyperbole to say that our constitution is in real trouble in this country. In the last since we were here last time, we have seen an immigrant woman
who was taken off the street with a baby in her arms by masked agents with no identification that had semi-automatic guns and taken to who knows where. We
have had our government say that habius corpus that due process should be eliminated. We have seen just in the last day or so 59 white Africaners come and be welcomed
into our country at our expense, taxpayer expense, while tens of thousands of Ganis who helped our government be stripped of their protected status and sent back to Afghanistan or likely
they'll be killed because they helped. They're here because they help the Americans. Our democracy is in danger. Our schools are the little democracies. It is really important for you to show
courage and commitment to openly openly let our communities know, let our students know that they will be protected. Thank you. Next up is Fanna Luring. Please correct me if I mispronounce
Fiana. Fiana. Okay. Sorry. Fiana. Uh, okay. Hello. I am Warren. I'm a 17-year-old uh queer woman. I'm a student of the neighboring county of Washington who's speaking with the
Plymouth branch of P Flag. I come to you today to let you know how important of a decision you can make. First, I would like to explain where I live in county. The town I come from is conservative, a small town called Milin and Milin High
School is not much different. Now, my school has bullying protections, but they only have punishments for when I go in front of my school and advocate for change. I will be pointing to our neighbors and how they all have
protections and ways to educate. I hope I will be able to point to this school as an example. But when that chance to use this place as an example can be stripped away over something like budget, that is disheartening. And frankly, to do
something like that is to go against the belief statements students were given in their handbooks. Quote, "All voices, experiences, opinions, and cultures within our community must be respected and valued. So please, I ask you today, don't back away from the people who need
your support. If you stand up today, others outside of this community will also stand up. They will continue to fight for what they believe they deserve as humans. Thank you for letting me bring my own perspective with me and thank you for letting me briefly speak with your community.
Thank you. Next up is Pamela Morgan. Good evening. I've had a really long day. I had kindergarten round up today after teaching kindergarten. Um, I'm a veteran teacher. I've been in the district since
1986. I have gone through many cycles of curriculum diligently and working hard. Um, I spent the last 25 years teaching first grade, perfecting my curriculum, which was new. Um, I am a victim of age
discrimination. Also, um I was told at the very last minute of last year that um I principal had something very uncomfortable to tell me uh that I would be teaching kindergarten. And I was like, I don't have a kindergarten classroom. I don't
have kindergarten materials, but I'm 66 years old. And I'm thinking, I think age has something to do with it. Because one of my first encounters with my administrator was, "How long you've been teaching? How much longer do you think you're going to teach? Well, I've been
through seven years of being frozen on the salary schedule. We gave up a raise. Do you remember, Liz, for our students to play sports and how much are they paying for sports now? That affected my retirement. People are not retiring at
66 anymore. And it is so disheartening to allow this to continue to happen. I've seen a cycle with the last 20 years of my career of people that have been bounced from kindergarten to fifth grade or fifth grade to
kindergarten. And it's with the intention that they're going to say, "Oh, I'm going to retire." Well, I didn't say I was going to retire. And I asked the reason why. I'm still waiting. A year later, I have not
been told the reason why I was flipped. The colleague that flipped with me, did she want to teach first grade? No. Do you know what I got when I taught kindergarten? The manuals. I was moved out of a room four years
ago that I'd been in for 20 years. He put kindergarten in there. Now, three years later, I'm teaching kindergarten in a room that's small. I don't have materials. Um, you talked about a problem and a solution. This is a
problem. We are your crown jewels. Yes, the friends and educators that have been here for over 25 years. We've gone through co constant changes in curriculum and you want to get rid of us so you can replace us with two
teachers. We're your crown jewels. It's a problem. What's the solution? I have friends that have gone through emotional distress, physical distress, and it's embarrassing when parents are coming up to me and asking me, "Why are you
teaching kindergarten?" And I say, "I don't know. I'm still waiting." Thank you. You need to do something. It's despicable to treat your employees that have been here for over 30 years like this. And we're highly effective people.
Time. Time's up. Thank you. Next up is Nicole McCain. And again, please correct me if I mispronounce your name. Nicole McInn. Hi, I'm Nicole McInn. I am here um as not an educator,
but as an educator, I mean, of this district. I actually teach in my own area schools. I've been a teacher for 20 years, but I'm here as a citizen. and I'm here to read a letter that was written um from a parent of a her students that go to Bentley Elementary.
Says, "Dear school board members, good evening. Unfortunately, I am unable to be here this evening as we have sadly lost a member of our family. I am the mother of two children currently attending Bentley Elementary. Upon learning the unbelievably negative
treatment the teachers and staff have been enduring since a new principal became principal, I found it to be not only unacceptable but absolutely disheartening. I'm appalled. Bentley has this great policy named the pause which is a great system and practice which
helps and reminds the children to act responsibly and respectfully to one another. Because this policy is in place, I fully expected and assumed it was going to be practiced by everyone in the building. Being caught off guard, this does not begin to describe how
blindsided I felt when learning this was not the case. I want my daughter's teachers to feel protected and treated with respect, the respect that they deserve, as they are enriching the lives of little humans every day by continuously having verbal attacks on
the teachers. These are the attacks that Bentley teachers are experiencing. Is there any other description for it than bullying? My daughter's seasoned teacher felt there was no other option but to retire early in the middle of the school year, which has hindered some of her
funds monthly for the rest of her life. As a result, this has not only plagued the morale of Bentley, it has directly affected my children along with countless other children as well. As for my daughter, she does not have one certified teacher in her classroom at
the moment. Not one. If nearly 10 seasoned teachers have left in the middle of the school year because of this new principle, shouldn't we look at the trends? They should speak for themselves. These complaints seem to
follow this man everywhere, which also speaks volumes as to what character what type of character are we all dealing with. The parents of Bentley Elementary are beyond confused because of how he interacts with us. He puts on a good show. However, you see that other
districts who have complaints that are similar, if not identical. These complaints should not be disregarded. There is excessive verbal abuse and intimidation that does not factor in well with us parents. We need to ask what has been changing in
these last two years of him being principal. Aside from the horrendous treatment many of us are unaware of or aware of, we are heartbroken over this and we need to all think about the children. It is all for the children, is it not? If she was here, she probably could
continue. I'm sorry. Thank you. We are done with citizens comments and there are no uh comments remaining for the second part Diane. So we are good. I want to thank everyone for taking time to share your comments and concerns. We are moving on to administrative reports and
recommendations with student and family engagement. Thank you, Vice President Sadu. this evening. Caitlyn Affirman, coordinator of early childhood, and Kitty Yelmroot, special education supervisor of early childhood and speech language
pathologists will be sharing highlights of the early childhood program in our school district. We are extremely fortunate to have these dedicated leaders serving in their positions. both bring exceptional knowledge and expertise to their roles, consistently
focusing on providing the very best programs and services for our youngest youngest learners. Thank you and good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you tonight. We are very very excited to share with you the wonderful things
happening in early childhood. Whatever. Everything we do in the early childhood program is focused around the dynamic plan. The early childhood program is aligned to the dynamic plan with a specific focus on increasing achievement
for all students and closing achievement gaps, ensuring all students feel physically and emotionally safe, and a strong focus on family engagement and student enrollment opportunities. The purpose of the early childhood program is to enhance achievement by
strengthening three interconnected areas. Executive function and self-regulation, language and communication development, and early problem solving and reasoning skills in order to address the diverse academic and developmental needs of all students.
We have a lot we want to celebrate with you this evening of our fabulous, fabulous program. The first is full enrollment in our Plymouth Canton great start readiness program that's also known as GSRP. We are working handinhand with
Wayne Rhysa to continue to provide free preschool to the Plymouth Canton community. This year we partnered with Wayne Rhysa to welcome an early childhood specialist. The ECS coach works with the teachers in the classroom
to provide instructional and student support. The GSRP preschool buildings partnered with the food and nutrition department to offer preschoolers familystyle dining for both breakfast and lunch. We have seen a 55% increase
in the number of children participating in the school lunch program since starting the family style dining this year. We also worked together to apply for the child and adult care food program which will provide free snacks for all preschoolers. That's a program
expense right now. All meals are provided free to the program and families through Michigan Meals. Just that last month, PCCS was selected to be filmed for PreK for AllAll advertising through GSRP. These videos, photos, and interviews will be
used across the state of Michigan. The photo in the top right shows the videographer teaching some of our preschoolers about different types of camera lenses. It was an amazing opportunity. In 2024, all of Allen completed training in early childhood
positive behavior intervention supports with Wayne Resa Consultants. Our team learned how to teach positive behaviors, learned how to reinforce the positive behaviors, and then prioritized what pri what positive behaviors we wanted to target in all areas of our school from
the classroom, playground, gym, and in the hallway. Alan started implementing the multi-tered system of support MTSS program in 2023 with our early childhood classrooms. Our team has been working with our preschool teachers and GSRP and
tuition to coach tier 1 and tier 2 strategies to increase student engagement, learning opportunities, positive behavior, and independence. Our early childhood special education inclusion program has been in place for 5 years. This year we
have over 20% of our students with IEPs moving from our early childhood special education classrooms to participate in GSRP with 1755 special education services. Our general education teachers have shown an increase in
differentiating their teaching to meet the needs of all learners in their classrooms and students are growing in their academic skills and independence. Students are more prepared to go to kindergarten and teams have confidence that students are ready. Another shining part of the prek
program at PCCS is our partnership with the career and technical education program at PAP. We have prek classrooms right at Canton High School where the CTE students can observe and support in the classroom as they move toward their
child development associates degree. This year we have 12 high school students with two advanced students who will earn their CDA. We are looking to increase partnership opportunities as our GSRP program grows. We also have the incredible opportunity of partnering
with a variety of other career tech programs for demonstrations and lessons. This year we have had visits or visited many of the programs including automotive technology, computer technology, graphics, health sciences, hospitality, and the culinary arts
program. Our current preK program hosts 428 students in a total of eight locations across the district. We offer both tuition and tuitionfree prek for our families. PCCS has 10 early childhood special
education classrooms, eight early childhood and two autism spectrum disorder classrooms, all located at Allen Early Learning Academy for children who are ages three and four years old. We have over 105 students with IEPs.
We have 32 staff members made up of early childhood special educating educating teachers, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists and paraprofessionals. We also have early on. Uh this is an inhome uh family-based training where
providers, speech language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, and special educ uh with Plymouth Canton Community Schools and our families. It's a great program to be involved with. Here are a few data points from our
winter data checkpoint. Our program uses the teaching strategies curriculum and the gold assessment tool. This tracker assesses students at the beginning of the year and determines a personalized growth plan for their success. In preK, there's a heavy focus on social
emotional development, looking at skills like regulating emotions and developing positive relationships. We also teach gross motor such as kicking a ball or balancing, and fine motor skills such as a pencil grasp. We look at literacy skills such as letter sound recognition,
rhyming, and story sequencing. In math, we teach number recognition, counting, and shapes. We are very excited to see the growth and progress our students have made once the spring data point is complete. GSRP provides highquality
preschool opportunities for all four-year-olds. This program offers a per pupil funding amount and this upcoming school year they are offering $40,000 startup grant for each new GSRP classroom that opens. The state of
Michigan hopes to have a 75% hopes to have 75% of four-year-olds participating in the program by 2027. Registration for the 2526 school year started on March 17th, and we continue to register prek students. We are excited to expand our program
offerings to include more GSRP classrooms. As I spoke of before, early on special education programs are emphasize early identification and early referral of families and students. Our goal is to minimize minimalize delays and maximize
development outcomes. We use we teach families daily routines to work on the growth and development of their babies and toddlers in their homes. Since July 1st of 2024, we have had 299 referrals and we currently have 30
referrals that are in process. Referrals come from hospitals, pediatricians, community agencies, and family members. Like I said, we're our first connection with Plymouth Canton Community Schools. The early program early on program has 23 staff members who are early childhood
education specialist, speech language pathologist, occupational therapist, physical therapist. We have a nurse, social worker, and a school psychologist. We service 92 part C early on students who are um automatic
qualifiers based on maybe um low birth weight. and we have over 135 early on mandated Michigan special education students. Students exit early on when they turn three. Once a student turns three, they may qualify for special
education programs and services right there at Allen or they may participate in general education programming either through our PCCS3's tuition stay and play private preschools or they might just stay home with their caretaker.
I also supervise the early childhood special education classrooms. These uh we have five three-year-old classrooms with 43 students who attend half the day. I also have five four-year-old classrooms where students attend half the day. We also have 24 students
participating in threes tuition and GSRP. Those students have IEPs and they receive 1755 special education services right in the general education classroom. What's unique about Plymouth Canton is that we do provide those
special education services that are designated in the IEP in the classroom by a special education teacher. Currently those we have two early childhood special ed teachers who are pushing into those preschool classrooms
2 to three hours a week working on goals and objectives from students. The nice and unique thing is that those teachers can also coach the classroom teachers pair professionals and work with the teams on what positive behavior strategies or other learning
strategies that might be needed that the MTSS team is working on. As you can tell, we're really passionate about early childhood education and have a phenomenal team that we're working with. Here are some of our goals for the future of early childhood at Plymouth Canton Community Schools. They're
certainly vast. We hope that every four-year-old in the community can start their educational career in our program. This will create a seamless transition to kindergarten and beyond. We hope to create early childhood hubs where staff can collaborate and plan together. This
will also help our early childhood inclusion model continue to be successful. Hubs will allow us to have licensed playgrounds at all locations so our youngest learners can work on their gross motor and social skills. We plan to work with the extended day department to offer prek summer programming
starting the summer of 2026. As we create these hubs for our early childhood program, we will be able to increase our inclusion opportunities and experiences with the early childhood special education department. At this time, um we're available for any questions or comments.
Thank you. Thank you so much. We'll do um one round of comment or question. We'll start with member Vicard. Um I'm still processing. So if you want us to go around that'd be fine. So great program. Uh uh thank you for this
informative presentation. With respect to the GSRP program, what's the limitation for us in expanding that program? Is it classrooms? Is it teachers? It sounds like there's demand. Our biggest limitation would be space for our programming. Okay. So it's the
space that that we have. Okay. Yes. Got it. So, um I know we've made a number of additions uh throughout the district where we've added more space uh in our elementary schools. Is that freed up space or are we are we maximized in our
GSRP uh space utilization? So, what we would do moving into the 2526 school year is we would look at all of our early childhood programming and we would not have many as many tuition classes and we would flip the tuition
class to be a GSRP class. Got it. And so the tuition classes, what's the how's the funding process for uh for GSRP? Is it a full um foundation allowance? Mhm. Yes.
There's a per pupil a allotment for each of our students in GSRP. Is is is a full-time program then or is it 10 month? No, sorry. Is it all day? Yes. Our program runs from 8:15 to 3:15 Monday through Thursday. Okay. So then do we get the normal foundation
allowance for that program then? Yes, there's a 4-day and a 5-day aotment. We get the full 4-day allotment. Okay, great. And so um you said the 4-day aotment. Can you are we running a 4-day program or a 5-day program? We have programming Monday through
Thursday. So, the reason we have programming Monday through Thursday is because our teachers in the GSRP program are PCEA teachers and they as part of their contract get a 50minute planning every day and we are not able to offer
50 minutes of planning. So, they do all their planning on Friday. So Monday through Thursday they teach all day except for their break at lunch and then on Friday they do all their planning. Got it. Thank you so much for explaining that. Okay, Secretary Wester. Um member
Kho asked a lot of the same questions I had. Um, are there limits for the if we're going to flip from the tuition paid to the GSRP, are there uh qualification requirements to be in the GS uh
GSRP program or can all students? So, all students can attend, but there are some qualifying factors and we kind of break it down into three phases. So, everyone applies and then we have a screening appointment and in that screening appointment we determine which phase the family falls in. Phase one
acceptance um is families that fall 400% above the federal poverty line or below and that's based off their income and that's part of the screening appointment that we do at Allen. Phase two is families that are above the 400 uh%
federal poverty line and have children with birthdays September 1st or earlier. That's the phase two. Those are the school appropriate without waiverss four year olds. And then phase three, if we still have space on September 1st is
when phase three opens. And that's for the children with waiver birthdays. September 2nd to December 1st. So depending on how many spots we have available is how many children we can let in from phase 1 through three.
Okay. So I'm I'm just wondering then so then basically phase one today is the tuition program. Is that correct or not? Our current program currently we have
eight GSRP classrooms and the remaining classrooms are tuition preschool. We are looking to um a large chunk of our tuition preschool programs and move them to GSRP. Okay. We're still working on all
the details of funding and um Okay, I think I understand. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, member Voss. My only question was, did I hear you say that students that um maybe have special
ed that they are moved and included into a general ed classroom or was that did I mishar that students actually apply for GSRP and because of their IEP and recommendations from the early childhood special education staff recommend that
that would be their least restrictive environment. Okay. And so when they're in the general ed classroom, they have specialed ed teachers with them in addition to the general ed teachers that are there with
the general ed population. Is that right? The they're in they're a regular GSRP student and their special ed student um services are pushed into the classroom. So their teacher is the GSRP teacher, but they do receive additional uh help two to three hours a week where
a special ed teacher pushes in. Do you find that is really beneficial for them? We do because students may have come to us from early on is you know 0 to three where we've been working with families doing a ton of coaching. uh they might come to our early childhood specialed
classroom, might be with us for a year, and we will say, "Oh my gosh, this student is starting to talk more. They're starting to be more social. They're starting to be more independent." And so the two special ed teachers that I have pushing into the general education classrooms really will
kind of go in and do a lot of observations and talk to the special ed teacher so that we can make that recommendation. I've been here 3 years and about 20% every year we will move from the special ed basically um center-based classroom to that GSRP
classroom. It's it is a real big point of pride. Um I come from I worked in Leavonia public schools for 20 years and we never used GSRP this way. So, it is something that I'm very um have been very excited to be able to partner with Caitlyn and to be able to see the growth
of our students because as we know most of our students will go to kindergarten and kindergarten is fast-paced. You have to be very independent and so the opportunities that our students get in GSRP is a it's an amazing opportunity for them. Have
you had a chance to look at those students in kindergarten and see how you know they've evolved? Yeah, we we definitely have families that come back to us, but we also go out and do observations. You know, as we know, we get a lot of new teachers. And so one of
the first things I encourage is our teachers to go out and see what kindergarten looks like because as um supervisors and as we are coaches to our teachers, I really want them to have perspective of what students need to know to become independent. But I also
want our teachers to know how to teach that too. So um we do get followup from families and also in our observations to hear how students are doing and a lot of them are are successful. Great. Thank you. Yep. Arjun, if you have any questions, comments. Um, so I don't know
if I heard it right, but I want to uh just ask again. So, are there any uh opportunities for underprivileged families to uh have their children join these programs? Absolutely. Yes. The first phase of enrollment is for families at 400% above
the federal federal poverty line or below. So, those are the first families that are welcomed into our program. I also forgot to mention in phase one are also children with IEPs. So that provides that opportunity to be the first enrolled in the program.
Thank you. Oh yeah, I have a question about young fives. So that's a whole separate thing then, right? If they're that's a whole different they're not put in. Okay. I was curious on where that kind of fit in there. So if they're held back like a for students that are held
back, you know, that aren't ready to go into kindergarten. So that's at the regular kindergarten program, right? Yes. is correct. Okay, that's okay. All right. Thank you. Thank you. I actually uh know a lot about this working at Wayne Rhysa. We've had
families that have benefited from GSRP and with specialized services from 0 to three and then going into a general ed classroom. Lots of successes. So, thank you for your work. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We will now move on
to a huge agenda. So, let's keep it moving. Our next one is student services. Thank you. Um, I'm pleased to welcome our director of school safety and security, Josh Meyer. Uh, this evening uh he will be sharing key updates and highlights from the department's ongoing
efforts to keep our schools safe and secure and uh welcome him today. All right. Good evening. Um, talk a little bit first about our staffing uh current staffing model. Um, we've been able to uh build a kind of a robust staffing
from when I first came here to the district. We are short three three positions currently, but looking to get those filled here pretty quick. Um, dayshift is typically staffed at the at the PAP uh in Starkweather with full-time positions and then we have a
dis district float position who uh is available to go to other buildings across the district when we have uh situations. We often are asked to go assist with drills um and other things across the district at our elementary and middle school levels. And so we try to pull our staff to do that. Afternoon
is staffed with two float positions and then currently our midnight is staffed with one float position. Um float meaning that they're responsible districtwide primarily with responsibility at the park. Um but are able to go to other places across the district for building alarms and things like that outside of the school day
hours. uh security operations center is currently staffed with two positions. One during the day shift from 6:30 in the morning until 2:30 in the afternoon and then an afternoon position from 2:30 in the afternoon till 10:30 at night Monday through Friday. And then we are we currently have a security manager and
obviously our K9 handler and Echo. Those are district-wide positions uh to support the entire district. And then me I'm here too somewhere. I don't know what's going on here. Okay. Logic model. Um we take into account district policies, procedures, direction of the
board, direction of superintendent when we make decisions to um that impact the safety and security of our students. We try to look at best practices nationwide and across the state. Um and then al obviously we look at our outcomes and our outputs every year. So we try to
look at what what we're implementing a lot of the integration and the stuff that we've implemented over the last couple years. Has it made a difference? Is it helping? Is there ways that we can improve Matt? Is there ways that we can enhance that across the district? And then obviously we also look to our assessments that we do on an annual
basis to try to make determinations of where we can improve security infrastructures across the district. And then of course the board goals are important to us. So goal board goal B and E um are what are guiding principles when we look at making
security uh improvements across the district. So, a little bit about what we're doing currently right now is with um 31A funds. Those are state of Michigan funds that were provided to school districts for security and mental health improvements. Um right now, the
projects that we currently have underway under 31A or getting underway are CTE program camera enhancements to um meet FURPA compliance. So, a lot of our CTE programs, our school stores, and some of those other have camera systems that were installed a long time ago, those
systems are outdated and they don't necessarily meet FURPA compliance. So, we're bringing those into our infrastructure um to comply with all the FURPA statutes and make it a little bit more um robust while still meeting the needs of those CTE programs. Uh building intercom and access control systems. So,
the intercoms are those intercoms that our our parents interface with on a daily basis when they come to schools to get led into the building. Most of our intercom systems are old, outdated, and are failing. Um, and so we are uh going around and replacing all of our intercom
systems. Those will now have an integration with our security operations center, which they don't currently have, but they will uh under the new system. They'll also have an integration into our current camera system. uh access control upgrades. Those are adding card readers across the district for all buildings. We worked with the building
principles to understand their needs where they needed additional card readers. Um and then the most important part about that upgrade is upgrading the system itself with encrypted technology um to avoid uh what we're currently um vulnerable to cyber attacks and also um
cloning what they call cloning of a of a of a card. uh so somebody can use devices reg uh that are are legally purchased in Michigan to clone ID cards and then gain access into our building. So the new system uh as as an encrypted system would prevent somebody from doing that. We have put some uh security
measures on the back end to minimize our risks. Um but the risks still exist today until we till we totally transition over to the encrypted side of the system. Camera server additions. We added two new servers um to our robust system of servers. We now uh have a
little bit more camera storage, but we also have the ability to do the visible firearm detection uh which we'll talk about in just a minute. And then exterior camera upgrades. So through our uh thirdparty assessments that we did previously under 97 funding, um the company SEC that came out and did those
third-party assessments concurred with our internal assessments that there were areas that were lacking, particularly parking lots um at the park and some other areas where we where we had to um build up our exterior camera coverage. And so over the course of the last two
years, we've we've we've spent some 97 and 31A considerable amount of funds uh to do that. Um we're going to wrap up some of those uh dead spots, if you will, uh this year with the rest with the remainder of the 31A
funds. Uh weapon detection. So this is something that is a primary focus of mine right now. It's kind of near and dear to my heart because I see what's going on nationwide. I see some of the pitfalls that that have we've had and I I try not to point fingers at other schools or other districts and say,
"Well, this happened there." Uh we try to learn from it. We try to look at what's happened, for example, the Michigan State shooting and other things. How can we prevent that from occurring within our own buildings and within our own district? And as I watch the news, as we all do, we see an uptick uptick of weapons being introduced into
schools and after school activities. And that's concerning and alarming to me, especially with a school district on campus the size that we have. And so we're proactively making a effort to try to reduce the the chances of a weapon being introduced into our schools. And so we've we partnered with Motorola
uh about last year um 2024, we partnered with Motorola working on a visible firearm detection system utilizing our existing camera system. We're in a beta test phase right now for Motorola. Um Kurt and I were fortunate enough, we were invited to Motorola's world headquarters in April of this year. We
spent some time with Motorola uh executives and their engineering team going over what we found some of the testing that we've done and they were it was more or less they were intrigued to understand how they could better assist school districts and how they could better implement technology to prevent
school shootings and things that are occurring within schools. So, it was a good partnership. was a good opportunity for us to share uh some of the information that we learned and then also build that partnership with Motorola to hopefully bring some of this technology back to Plymouth Canton Schools uh to make our school district
safer for our students and our staff. Um as we look at uh after school activities, that's a concern. We bring a large amount of people into a football game or after school event. A lot of those folks are not school students. They're coming from the outside. And so we asked we we look at how can we how
can we make our security systems more robust during those events. And so we're looking at a system called Evolve. That's mobile weapon detection system. It's similar to what you see at at the NFL drafts or or at stadiums. Um it's a it's a scanning device similar to a
metal detector that people walk through and it scans for weapons. Um and so we're looking at implementing that uh through the use of 31A funds um with a mobile unit that we can move around to various afterchool activities um and be able to utilize that throughout the
district as as needed. Um we were able to test that while we were at Motorola um with various different weapons and I was um quite pleased with the results that we saw that day. Security assessments. So we continue to do our internal security assessments. This year uh the state of
Michigan opened up some additional 97 funding. So 97 funding is what we used previously to have all 28 buildings uh have a third party assessment done of all 28 buildings. Uh this year the state of Michigan has opened up additional 97 funds for school districts to have
outside facilities um and athletic um complexes done for for third party assessment as well. So, we've done those internally. Um, but again, it's always good to have a third another set of eyes come in and look at those and maybe they see something that we didn't see or they
provide us with feedback that we didn't have. So, we have signed on. Um, I believe we have 20, don't quote me on this, I think it's 23 sites that we're going to get uh, funding for, and that also includes the new Natiatorum edition at Plymouth High
School, the auditorium edition at Salem High School, and they're also going to do an assessment of the busy yard and the transportation site as well. Um, as the board knows, we've had experienced theft from our um, busy yard in the past, and so we want to look at ways that we can um, maximize our security
there at the busyard as well. Um, so that will start um, we just got approval from the state of Michigan last week. So, we're now working with SEC, Secure Education Consultants, uh, to schedule those assessments. And typically what they'll want to do is like on the varsity stadium, they'll want to do that
assessment during a football game uh when there's people there so they can actually see how uh we bring we bring fans into the stadium, how we bring them out. We can work together to kind of coordinate and get get uh advice on our on the full operation of that. So, we're looking forward to beginning those
assessments here um kind of in probably most likely in the fall uh when we can get on to their schedule. AVA enhancements. So I was asked by um Dr. Meritt and assistant superintendent Tiswitz to start doing assist with some of the ADA improvements
across the district. So the bulk of my work from for about a year now has been working to bring all of our elevator equipment, wheelchair lifts, door access, you name it, bring it up to ADA um uh code and and and make it
accessible for our ADA students and and visitors to our district. Um, that has been a a a very large undertaking. It's been a very challenging because the age of some of our elevators, the age of some of our equipment and trying to get those systems to work on on some of the older equipment has been challenging.
But I'm I'm happy to report tonight um that all of our elevators at the high school are now ADA accessible uh to our students. We've we've gotten over that hurdle and we're now working at the middle school level and then the board office elevator here as well to bring that up to ADA accessible standards. Um
we've equipped several doors throughout the district to make those ADA accessible um for students in a wheelchair or visitors in a wheelchair. Um and and we've provided our students that that need have those ADA accessible needs with cards so that they can access our elevators, doors, and other areas of
the building. Uh wheelchair lifts, we have I think seven of those across the district. So, um, when I took this project over, we had several of them that weren't working. Um, as I stand here today, every single one of our wheelchair lifts is operational and working and functioning properly, and
we'll continue to stay on top of those and get those serviced as needed. Um, but it's uh it's a work in progress. We still, as we say, with all of our safety and security um improvements, I'm a continuous improvement kind of guy. So, no matter we accomplish, we check these
off the box. We're going to continue to look for areas that we can improve uh for our ADA students and visitors to the district and see how we can make that better experience for them. And if we can find ways to do that, we're certainly going to do that as a district. Emergency operation planning.
Um this really took a lot of time over the summer to kind of reddraft. The the state of Michigan came out with some new guidelines for emergency operation planning. So, we implemented those within our district. We updated all of our district and building plans last year, uh, culminating at the end of last
year, turning those into the state of Michigan. Those were reviewed by all three of our municipal law enforcement and and first responder partners prior to submission. Um, this year I'm working with technology to take those plans and digitize them so that they're accessible
by our our first responder paps. um and they're a little bit more accessible and user friendly in a time of emergency versus flipping through a giant three- ring binder. Um the next phase of that is reunification. So the state has adopted the I love you guys foundation. So we as a district have also adopted
the I love you guys foundation and we are working to implement that reunification model into our plans and also into our crisis go. And so the way that that would work is if we had to activate a reunification site, we would be able to send an alert out via SMS
message to our parents at that particular building. They would get it on their cell phone if they're an authorized parent to pick that student up. They would get an SMS message with a location of that reunification spot and a QR code. When they arrive at the reunification site, we scan their QR
code. we're able to identify that they're an authorized parent and then we're we a we scan that into our system and it keeps a running log through our crisis go system as to who we turn that parent over the time and all the parameters involved in that. So it'll
it'll when it's all said and done it'll expedite our reunification process should we ever have to to implement that. I I hope and pray and we never have to but we want to be prepared in the event that we do. our law enforcement partners and
first responder partners and our re school resources continue to be a good asset to the school district. Um Plymouth Township was has been very passionate about the reading month in March. Um let me get the data here because I just got a text from Chief Nitel with a number. Um they read to 51
classrooms this March. um had a police officer come and read the 51 classrooms and that that was a that's something that his agency and Chief Nitel are very passionate about and uh I anticipate that they'll probably continue doing that and it's it's been very well received by our our schools across the district. Um traffic related issues
continue to be a concern um particularly at arrival and dismissal time. still seeing an increase in students being picked up and dropped off byes versus using public trans or the the public transportation or the bus system. Um, and so inherently that adds
to our traffic con congestion in and around schools during arrival and dismissal times. And so we continue to work with our our partners to try to address that and try to maximize or minimize the traffic problems that we're having around our schools. um diversion programs. Uh Plymouth Township and
Plymouth City have now um uh now have diversion programs very similar to what Camp Public Safety has had incorporated several years ago. Um we worked very closely with Chief Nital and Chief Cox with the city of Plymouth to make sure that those diversion programs are going to meet the needs of the school
district. Um and and they're structured very similarly to Canton's program and and uh I think they'll be very beneficial to our students should they should they need to use those diversion type programs. Um and then again support and participation and threat assessments. They continue to be good partners when we need to lean on them to
do a threat assessment or work through some of those situations that we sometimes find ourselves in as a district which is not uncommon to to to any school district in in the world we're living in today. So, future projects, um, we're working right now with Puma Township on a tree grant. Ply
Township approached us. They asked if we could use some trees. Uh, we said, "Of course we can use some trees. We can't use some trees." So, what we're going to do is we're going to take those trees and we're going to use them some for some environmental security enhancements across the district. Um, and so we've targeted some areas. We've looked at it and we think that that's going to be
very beneficial. Um, so we're working with them. Um there is no cost to the school district other than we're going to work with Randy and his team to support kind of making sure the trees get watered and and uh they survive the planting. Um can continue the system integration
to improve efficiencies. Again, when we started this adventure, everything was a siloed system. So if we had an emergency, we had to do this. Then we had to go over here and do this. And we're really trying to integrate and streamline our processes so that during an emergency, our our principles and our and our teaching staff, they have a
tough enough job, but during an emergency, we want them to focus on keeping themselves safe and focused on keeping their students safe while we take over that emergency. And we use the integrated systems to make the proper notifications, uh get the proper resources in place and manage that incident.
Um, and then we're uh currently working through exploring updates for our bus camera systems uh with an integration into our current system. So, right now our bus our bus camera systems are antiquated. Um, they they don't uh they don't
transmit the the video over to a server. It's saved on a card. We then have to pull the card out of the bus, take that card. Um, so I have security concerns over that with Furpa protected information and such. So, we're working. and we're trying to find a better vendor uh to where we can actually integrate
that into our servers to have more security uh and a more streamlined protected process for the data that's pulled off of our school buses. With that, I went very fast, so I apologize, but I'm happy to answer any questions that you may have. Thank you.
Uh we'll start with Treasure Kiho. Great. Uh a couple questions. Thank you for the presentation. You mentioned earlier that you had three vacancies, but we only saw Stark weather and float. What was the third? I have a it's not on the chart. I have a vacancy effective as yesterday. Okay. So, yeah. And so with
for example Starkweather where there's no other staff that's there in your float position is gone. How do you cover uh that facility? So So the Stark weather position, he will be here for another two weeks. Um and then we're making arrangements uh to have that school covered from from one of our
staff members from PA. And then um uh my my security manager will be at PAP so he can fill in as needed. And when he's off then I go to the building and I fill in as needed. So these haven't been long-term vacancies. No. So so the the um the one position was vacated a week
ago. Starkweather, we got the notification last week. He's he put in two weeks. So he's got two weeks left. He may stay until the end of the school year. That's what we're hoping for. Um and then the the the vacated position yesterday. um was a vacation or vacated
position immediately uh and that we'll be looking to to back fill at another time. Okay, great. Thanks. Um you mentioned the visible weapon systems. Um are any of the technologies that we're doing supporting invisible weapons? Uh you know, concealed weapons. Yeah, so that's the evolve technology. The evolve
is going to focus on concealed weapons whereas the camera system would focus on visible weapon detection. and and is that only used uh periodically at in a in a mobile situation or are we considering that elsewhere? So, I don't
want to go into our I don't want to put our playbook totally out there, but but we will not just use that um at events. We will use that throughout the day as well. When we have technology like that, it's not going to sit in the closet. We're going to put it to use. That's what I was asking for. Thank you. And then the last question is um I love the
idea of the integrated systems and bringing all that stuff together and connecting all the dots with that but it also creates a um a a single point of failure. So do you have disaster recovery programs strong fault tolerance you know when we start to centralize all
those things then you if if it it goes down then you're completely out. Yep. So we have backup plans in place. We have a backup um we have a backup SOC location um at Pilot Drive. So should we lose power or we lose lose connectivity at
Plymouth, we can be up and running at Pilot Drive in in less than 5 minutes. Okay. Um as soon as we get somebody there to boot up the systems, we'd be up and running. Um and then we're continuing to look um at building that backup, if you will, um with assistance
through our technology department so that we have those those backups in place. There are some systems where um if we lose them, we we have to resort not necessarily to technology, but resort back to some of the the the older ways of doing things because we don't
have a I'm sorry, we don't have a technology backup for that piece currently. Okay. Well, thank you. Thanks. I'm going to ask people stick to two to three comments or questions so we can we have a large agenda to cover. So, in the interest of time, I will just say thank you very much for all of your all
that you are doing. It's I you know my my children experienced lockdowns and one was at MSU during the shooting and I thank you for all that you are doing about weapon we weapons recognition and and preventing them from entering the
the schools or the activities around the school. Thank you. Thank you. I would um mirror Judy's words and just say that I know that you're doing everything you can and I appreciate it. Yeah. Thank you,
Urgent. Uh I see like all this work is great, but one thing I want to add is that safety is also a feeling, right? If the people and the students don't feel safe, then this work could have been for nothing. So, I think that a big thing is to show the students, show the community
how much work you're putting in. There's like home room videos, advisory times for middle schoolers that you can show videos and things like I think on Fox News or the local news there was a thing of your AI system I think with the schools detecting uh weapons and just being able to see that can reassure
students and make people feel more safe in our schools. Yeah, I appreciate that comment. it uh it resonates with me because if if I can I can tell the board and and the community all the great things we're doing, but if our students don't feel safe going to school, then then uh we haven't reached our or
accomplished our goal. And so I appreciate that. And there is a limitations to what we can tell publicly about our systems, how they work or where they're integrated. Um, but we do like to share what we can um with our staff or with our staff, with our students and with our community so that
there is a feeling of safety when you come to school to know that we are doing everything we can behind the scenes to make that school safe for you. So, thank you. Thanks. Yeah, I just have one quick question on the traffic because I I don't know how much you're involved with the whole traffic safety, but um about a
year ago or whatever, I was watching the traffic across from um Salem, you know, where the the wraparound exit is and um a lot of students were turning left and it's supposed to just turn right there at both those exits there in that parking lot. and just how unsafe that
and I don't know if they they're not paying attention to the sign or if there's a way of reminding them, but with those buses coming and then there's kids crossing and and just that that trying to get around and they can't really see. I mean, it just seemed like and they were pulling out so fast and
whipping around that it was just like kind of scary. So, I don't know if that that was one spot I noticed it is. So, Joy Road's kind of a kind of a confusing because half of Joy Road is in Plyma Township's jurisdiction. half of Joy Road is in Canton Township's jurisdiction, but we work with them. Um,
we are we are through our Salem renovations. Um, we're going to make some improvements to that turnaround. Um, and we're looking at some signage and some some other ways that we can we can uh improve that and and try to minimize those cars from turning left at
at the conclusion of the school day. Yeah, it was just kind of Yeah. scary. And they pull out really fast. they do because they know they only have so much time and you know so. All right. Thank you. You're welcome. Um so I have two questions but I also want to thank you for in your team for doing all the work
that you're doing. It's a big district a lot of work um that's involved. Um a quick question about the ADA accessibility the fixes that you talked about. Maybe this is a question for Dr. Merritt or you. There were some issues with ADA accessibility with within or
around Canton. Have those been addressed? um to a degree. Yes. So we have uh just a process and a plan um certain things such as the pathway that has been completed, concrete was replaced, the elevators were included in that plans for students that um in the
event that there's a power outage, how are we educating students? So we had to submit a plan um for that. I want to say that was May 5th. So I think that that has been uh submitted. And then other work is just ongoing as a part of the bond. So when we look at, for example, the accessibility for Salem and the gym,
that is something that is going on in this next series, we're actually dropping the floor. There'll be a ramp entrance to that student entrance. So it's not just the front door, but that will be in time. So everything that has come up now has either been accomplished or is in process to be accomplished.
Yeah. I sit on the um on the bond steering committee and with Kurt and with Randy, and I know that ADA accessibility is a topic that is discussed every single Friday. uh in great length and in great detail. And every time we review a set of plans, some of the first questions that we start asking is some of the things that
we first start looking at are those ADA improvements to make sure that early on as as we're looking to see what the scope of that project is going to be that those improvements are incorporated and they're not um we don't get to a point where we say, "Hey, this is the cost of this project. Oh, wait. We
forgot this." And then we have to cut something. So, we're we're bringing those in very early on in those bond discussions to make sure that they're being addressed. Thanks. I know one of the families that offered a walk through with anyone that's interested in terms of where that child was um seeing gaps or inaccess inaccessibility points. So,
um again, hopefully that family has been talked to or addressed. My next question is where your inputs were on the second slide. I appreciate your training and education with conflict resolution, mental health awareness, um, and other
protocols. Do you include restorative practices within your staff within those protocols? Yeah. So, we don't, um, yes, the answer is yes, but we don't administer any discipline. So, I'll be very clear about that because there's a misconception that the security team is an administer of discipline and that is
that is not true. Um, we don't we don't administer any discipline whatsoever. If if we my security team has discretion as to whether to write a referral on a student or whether their conversation the casual conversation that they have with a let's say if it's a student
that's skipping class um the conversation goes well hey you need to go to class don't skip anymore that goes well they have that discretion to not write a referral on that student I give them that discretion um if they do write a referral then yes we we we have training on restorative practices and those are the restorative practices that
we're trying to to implement through that uh discretion. So trying to um you know not put every kid through the referral system for discipline if we can avoid that through through that discretion and restorative practices.
Okay. Thank you for a very thorough report. I know you always are very thorough and I love that you're continuous improvement kind of guy. Thank you. Do my best. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We're moving on to finance and operations section and we have a
first read. Who's going to go through that one since Jill isn't here? Um, treasure Kho, you're going to I can introduce this. Uh, and then we have support uh here. So, the first resolution that we have tonight is consider approval of a resolution to purchase furniture and equipment for bid
packet uh HS4A Canton High School Innovation Hub and Robotics Edition. This is the new furniture that would be in the learning space within that uh uh that environment. And with us today is
Jen Mayo, the interior designer with TMP Architecture. Thank you, Jen. Yeah. So, I'm excited to um talk to you tonight about the Innovation Hub furniture, which is a part of the Innovation Hub and robotics edition at Kant High School. Um, we began the design and
selection process for the furniture package back in February 2024 and it was really designed in tandem with the architectural um package so we could really understand like what those functional requirements of the space
were and how to best support the district's instructional goals. And throughout the process, we engaged um with multiple large um user groups that consisted of students, um staff, the building principal, and we also sought
input from um the other high school principles as well since this will be kind of a this will be a PEP space and not just Canon. Um and so we did receive um furniture quotations. the pricing. We
we used cooperative um bid contracts to get pricing for that. Um and then we're just gonna I want to go through kind of our selections and then we'll talk about the overall um total of the package. So this is just I want to just
clarify with this presentation. This is just for the innovation hub side. Um if you like in this plan immediately adjacent to the right would be that dedicated robotics practice space not pictured here though on the plan. So
this is just one side of that addition. So for the innovation hub after those multiple user groups and this the functions that we wanted to support we kind of broke it up into these um functional zones. So, we have a a lounge, a more casual collaboration
space, small group collaboration, a classroom area, and then a work area, and then um we have some storage along that um bottom wall there. So, a lot of storage for their um supplies and their
manipulatives. The furniture that we selected, everything is very flexible, very agile. Everything's on wheels. So, if you needed to move it out of the space, you are able to do that or rearrange in the work area. We elected
to go with some seated height tables that are accessible for everyone. Those are pictured in the dark orange. And then we also do have some standing height tables that have stools attached. They swing underneath the table or out from the table so you can either stand
or sit. some mobile storage solutions again to easily move around their supplies and manipulatives. For the classroom area, we elected to go with some flip and nest tables, so very compact if you need to clear that space quickly. And then even the lounge
furniture that is all on wheels, so can be rearranged um and is a really great just like casual um collaborative space. And then I just have a very small space, very small package, but I just have some um little teasers for what that could
look like when it's finished. So what you're seeing here is to the left there, that's the innovation hub. And then if you were to walk straight, that would is the dedicated robotic side. In this image, you're standing in the classroom area through looking into
the robotic side through that glass door. And then last image is if you're in the robotic side looking into the innovation hub. So um al together with a five pro 5% contingency that we included to cover
just any potential price increases or tariff search charges the grand total for the furniture package comes to 62,27025. Um there was an all-in allocation for 229,000 for furnishings and equipment associated with the
innovation hub. Um this allocation does encompass more than just furniture and that this furniture package just represents a portion of that, but we wanted to make sure that the the furniture was thoughtful and within that
that allocation. Any questions? Thank you. So, just to add in a couple things that we discussed at FNO, um you'll notice in the renderings they show open uh shelves and that would normally be something that would be included in the furniture. That's actually not what we're
purchasing. We're using uh casework that would be built out as part of the addition. Uh they uh the the teams felt that that was a better addition for the uh for the type of storage and the things that they need there. So, that picture that you see there isn't reflective of what's actually there. Okay. Thanks for the clarification.
Correct. Okay. We'll start with Secretary Wester for question comment. Just wow. I love the teaser pictures and the and all of the light in the innovation center and and I I can't wait to see this based on me too.
Member Voss looks great. Thank you. No, it looks really good. That's all. Member Peard, I don't have any questions. Thank you. Last question, comment and the last thing I just would say is it's a lot of discussion that we had made sure that this was not in the
robotic field space. Uh the robotic field space is completely empty. Uh so plenty of room for that uh full field that they need to do as well as space around them and all of this equipment can easily be moved or shuffled around if they have different innovation or different types of events that they
would do here. So, it's really well thought out and collaborated with both student representation, uh, staff representation, the robotics teams as part of it. So, everybody worked together on this. Excellent. That was my question with the collaboration. Thanks for covering that. Really good work.
Thank you so much. Thank you. All right. U, we're moving on to an action item uh number 25-05-68. Consider approval of a resolution for emergency purchase request for security infrastructure repairs at PAP. This is the first and final. So I need a motion
first. Madame pres Madam Vice President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for emergency purchase request for security infrastructure repairs at PAP. The first and final reading action item 25568. Second it.
Okay, we'll give it to member Picard. All right. Um let's go through this before we vote on it. Who's going to walk us through it? So this is a um emergency purchase that we are bringing forward here this evening. There was a lightning storm that uh
caused substantial damage at the uh number of the cameras as well as other equipment at uh at the high school. And this is uh uh bring forward as a first and final in order to make sure that we get that really necessary equipment uh
replaced right away in this process. This is something that will be paid for from the security budget. But we do expect this to be part of a larger insurance claim that'll be filed by the district and all of these claims to be reimbursed. That's why this is not going through the bond funds because this
would be uh something that's going to be reimbured from the insurance proceeds. And with us this evening, we have uh Josh Meyers that can give any additional details. Okay, we'll do a quick round of question comment. We'll do one. Does Josh have anything? Do you want to add anything to that? No, no, I think that pretty well
covers it. We had a total of four uh lightning strikes that that afternoon. um one to the JB Stadium press box. Uh one to a tree just adjacent to that. One to a light pole on the walking path between uh schools and then one direct hit to Plymouth High School which is
what caused this the the majority of the damage. Um I do know that there was a question that was posed at FNO. Sorry I couldn't I couldn't be here for that. Um whether or not any surge protection would have prevented this and the answer the short answer is no. U Mark myself and the and the engineers looked at it.
A lot of this equipment was on what we call a US USB backup UPS. UPS backup. Uninterruptible power supply. Yes. One of those. And those two units were also uh damaged due to the lightning strike. And it's the reason is because the lightning actually came through instead
of a power surge coming through the electrical system, the lightning strike actually went through the building infrastructure through the wiring. Um and we lost uh uh not only the security equipment, we lost some huddle cameras and some other equipment as well. So,
wow. Strange. Um, we'll start with number Westerro. Secretary Wester, I don't have an Well, the only question that I have is is if we approve this tonight, when can the changes be affected? When can the repairs be affected? We will if if it's approved tonight, we'll order the equipment uh uh
tomorrow. Um, pending the last I checked, the equipment that we're needing to replace is all in stock. So, I would anticipate delivery within the next two weeks. Uh, and security 101 has identified it as a priority for installation. So, probably before the end of the school year. Before the end of the school year, most likely. Yes.
Okay. Thank you. Member Ross, no questions. Urgent, no questions. Member Picard? No, we got it all on FNO. Thank you. Okay, so review through FNO. All right. Um, scary situation. No one was
hurt. No one was around. No, we the school that that was it was during the school day. the students were in a shelter in place due to the storm. Um, everybody was safe. It's it uh fortunately we were we were the security operations center was monitoring the storms and we were able to proactively
put the shelter in place and into effect and and kept the students safe inside the building until the storm went through. Great. Thank you. Okay. If there are no objections, we'll take a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay. Motion passes 5-0.
Thank you. Thank you. We have another first and final action item number 25-05-69. Consider approval of resolution for chiller replacement at Field Elementary. And Treasure Kiho, are you going to walk us through that one as well? Yep. Uh, I'd You want me to make
the motion first? Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, because it's a first and final. Please make a motion. So, I'd like us to consider approval of a resolution for a chiller replacement at Field Elementary School. So this is a first and final reading and the action is 255 25569.
Looking for a second. Second member Voss. Thank you. All right. We'll go ahead and uh get discussions questions with us this evening. We have Randy uh and Randy will give some context and details around this uh this replacement. Actually, if you could you want me to
start it carry away and uh I'll support with any answers I can give to questions. Not a problem. So, this is a chiller replacement that we're doing for Field Elementary. Uh there's been a lot of work that we've done across our HVAC systems throughout the district. This particular one is one that we have not
been able to find a way to solve this uh this problem. So, we've uh reached out to uh to get a replacement for it and we got two uh very strong competitive bids. The first was from Dunar. Uh the second was from Carrier. We're selecting Carrier here which is almost half the
price of the one from Dunar. Carrier's really been disappointed that they have not won our business and they sharpened their pencil substantially in this thing. Uh our HVAC uh technicians have reviewed this entire proposal to make sure that it's comprehensive and that nothing's missing considering the
substantial cost savings. Um and it is exactly what we need uh to support this process. This is unfortunately something that has a long lead time. There's almost uh 14 weeks for the chiller and 15 weeks for the uh condenser. So, we would not be able to have something in
place for this uh this spring, but we are uh anticipating that if we do this as a first and final reading that we can have this in place before uh school returns in in September. So, that's why we're bringing this forward as a first and final. This will be uh done from uh
bond funds uh as part of the 2023 bond funds. Okay. Thanks for the explanation as to why it's a first and final um and needing that lead time. All right, we will start with member Peicard for questions, comments. I do not have any
questions, but yeah, thank you. Talked extensively and effort. Yeah. Yeah, that was a long day. No questions, member boss. No questions. Thank you. Okay. Um yeah, it's it's unfortunate it happened just before the
heat starting, but yeah, we've been lucky. We've had relatively mild uh days and we're fingers crossed on that process. Um there is fans and other things that are available at the school and the administration is going to make sure that all the families are aware of the challenges so they're not surprised
by uh uh if we end up having some hot days left for I think it's 20 some odd days uh of school left this year. You never know. It's Michigan. It could be 100 next week. Let's hope not. Or or it could be snowing. Yes.
So, I appreciate the comment about communication going out to families because if it does get to that point and it's very hot, we will be proactive. Yes, we want to be proactive. Okay, no other questions, comments. We'll call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay, motion passes.
5-0 for action item number 25-05-69. Thank you so much. Um, we have another first and final. So, I need a motion for action item number 25-05-70. So, this is a I would like to make the motion that we consider approval of a resolution for preschool compliant
playground equipment for Dodson and Isbvester elementary schools. This is a first and final reading. It's action item 25570. Second. Thank you, Member Peard. All right, let's open it up for discussion. So, give you some Sure. Who whoever wants to start? I'll give you
some context. So this is being brought forward as a first and final. It had come forward at our uh the last two FNO meetings. Uh in the first one, there was just a number of things that we had questions on and we wanted to make sure we really understood those before we brought it forward to the to the board.
That being said, uh if we we were bring it forward as a first and final in order to make sure that we can have this equipment uh uh deployed and installed uh for our um before our school year uh begins because of the compliance requirements.
Uh this is part of our uh early uh childhood um programs that we have at the at the elementary schools and we have to have special playground equipment for 2 to 5 year olds. This is unique playground equipment that's different than the K through uh five
playground equipment that we have there and it or K through2 equipment that might be there in some of the the the other cases. This equipment is necessary in order to meet uh the licensing and compliance requirements at these two schools. Our other schools that have the
early childhood programs already have uh compliant playground equipment. There was a lot of discussion on this at FNO in those two meetings. We I want to thank uh Dr. Vanian Gibbs for bringing forward uh the drawings and the other information that we have here. Um so it is something that I would like us to
maybe go through the see I think we have a presentation to support this. So it' be useful for us to to go through that presentation. Sure. Who's gonna do the presentation? Dian's all over you. Oh, thank you. So
this is uh an example of what the equipment that we have installed at the uh the early childhood programs. You notice that this is age appropriate for two to five year olds. This is very specific. This is very specific to have relatively low heights. um and to have
um uh uh many different manipulatives and other things that the the students can do at that level. Uh the the this is not the actual placement of that. One of the questions that we have and you'll see that in the further drawings that we have in here is the placement of this.
You will notice that there is an accessible ramp uh associated with each of these um uh playgrounds and that in the one at uh isbister is directly next to the um the the hard surface that makes that accessible. And then the one at Dodson, they're looking at options on
how they can make that accessible uh for someone that might be a wheelchair user instead of going through the uh the the wood chips um uh that are part of that process. Um if we look at the next slides, the the units are the same at both schools. Um we have chosen what's
considered option four. There were many different options that were considered as part of this process. And those green things that you see there, they're shade. So uh as a requirement uh for lensure is we have to have a certain percentage of the uh the of the
structure is uh shaded. If you go to the if you go to the next slide, um we can see an actual layout of where this uh looks and and the um and how this would be uh done with the different sensory uh components
and the different components as part of that uh process. Um this is designed to provide a really good playground for those uh early childhood programs. So if we go to I think thought that do we pass
the pictures on the playground. Oh yeah, keep you have to keep scrolling. I think this Okay. Yeah. If we keep scrolling down um you can get to the photos that show the placement of these within the schools. Slide 11. Yeah. Yeah. Thank
you. So this one shows uh Dodson and you'll see that this is in the uh the upper corner of the playground right now. uh the exit and entry for the um for the uh the the entrance to this playground is going to be uh to the left
and would they're looking at ways that that they can provide a uh a hard surface path to allow uh accessible uh access to that uh playground. If we look at the next uh slide here, this is a kind of an overhead view of how that
looks in that process. And then the next uh uh page is for uh Isbister Elementary. And you can see that it's directly next to the hard surfaces that we already have present there. This is coming out of our
2023 bond funds and is um got a a total amount uh of $189,354.36. that includes uh u TMP architecture work that they have done to um and others to be able to make sure
that they have got the right site prep and materials that are required there. Originally that was a much higher number. Uh so we've uh gotten that sharpened as part of the process through FNO. That's not to exceed $30,000. Okay. We'll go in any other
presentations. We've covered the whole presentation and the comments. Okay, we will start with member boss for questions, comments. No comments. Member Pard. Yeah, I I mean I was the one who was struggling with it. Um um yeah, I I mean I understand all the
requirements and stuff now that they went through, but I just felt like that the older kids don't really have a whole lot of uh um opportunity on there, I guess, but is because I know that there is definitely some requirements we have to have and the licensing. So that would be
a state thing, I guess. But um so I just was putting a little disclaimer on there for me. I'm going to vote for it. extensive conversation on the difference between two-year-olds and 5y olds. Um 2-year-olds totally appropriate for them, but when you get to five, they're looking for a little bit more adventure
in that process. No opportunities for them to hang or use upper body things, but those are all part of the lenture requirements that we have. Yeah. Okay. So, all right. Um member Wester, no questions. Okay. and
question. What I I understand the first and final read. What would happen if we change this to a first read and go on to the second meeting for a final? We would likely miss our install date that we have for putting this in for the start of school year and we would not be in
compliance with lensure. Got it. They have to have it. Okay. Just want being transparent to the public. Yeah. We had an extensive conversation around this uh this process. So, all right. I mean, the others we understand chiller broke down. We need to get that parts, all that. Um, just wanted to make sure because this was part of bond 2020 um because of the
time needed for ordering and installing. So, this is a first and final. Okay. Um, I'm going to call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay. Motion passes 50 for action item number 25-05-70. Thank you, Mr. Kio.
Okay, we have a final read. So, I need a motion for action item number 25-05-71. Um, Madame Vice President, I move we consider approval of a resolution for a CRG mapping license uh agreement renewal. This is final reading. Action item 25571.
Second. Thank you. Moved by Treasure Kho, seconded by Secretary West. We discussed this at the last meeting. So, any last minute questions, comments? Okay, I'm going to call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay. Motion passes 5-0
for action item number 25-05-71. Approval of resolution for CRG mapping license agreement renewal. Okay. We have another final read. So I'm looking for a motion. Madam President, I move we consider approval of a resolution for the purchase of track and
field equipment for the third PAP stadium. This is a final reading. Action 25572. We'll second. Give it to Okay, we'll give it to member Voss. It was moved by Treasure Kho and
seconded by member Voss. Again, we discussed this um at the last meeting. Any other questions, comments? Okay, I will call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay, motion passes 5-0 for action item
number 25-05-72, approval of resolution to purchase track and field equipment for the third piece of stadium. All right, we are moving to teaching and learning. We have another final read. I'm looking for a motion for action item number 25-05-73.
Madame Vice President, I move we consider approval of a resolution for a fifth grade maturation HIV lessons update. Final reading action item 25573. Second. Okay. It was moved by Treasure Kho, seconded by Secretary Westeraw. And we had this discussion at
the last meeting and I know additional information was provided in board notes. So are there able to open that link? I know that we Yeah. Yeah. The link got Yeah. I I have a question. Well, I have a comment, more of a question. Um, when I watched it and I looked into one, there was two thing two slides I was a
little I mean, it's not a big terrible thing, but I I kind of notice it sometimes in other things, too. But, um, on the presentation script, um, it tells the it it advises the student to I mean, I see that the parent signs written permission. That's fine. But then it
says, "Any questions regarding sex should be talked to a trusted adult at home." And I just wonder why parent was wasn't listed, you know, parent or trusted adult. I I kind of think the fact that leaving parent out kind of bothers is probably not a because sometimes a trusted way a child will
trust an adult isn't always someone they might be should be getting that information from. So, um I just kind of feel like it should kind of be. And then slide number 13, um after the after the video and after it goes over the end of the test and the quiz, um it also talks
about it says if you have any questions to um go to a classroom teacher, school nurse, doctor, another adult you trust. I don't see why I I really think parent should be listed there. I mean, that's who you would go to. that's who you would um and you know and it also should
it could you could say on there another trusted adult but it still seems like that parent should be probably the first one you should go to that's what I would recommend but so I was a little disappointed that parent was left off because this is actually they have to say it's okay to be go to the classroom
or to be in this and I was kind of and I know that's on the video that's not something we produced so um I will I will share with um to your earlier to your point that you have to have the parental sign off in terms of that permission slip and so if there are any
um specific instructions that a parent would have that they would be able to deal with that as well to your point we don't produce the video itself but that give the parents the opportunity yeah that's I just wanted to emphasize that thank you make a comment Kho
secretary Wester uh not right now okay thank you member Voss no Okay. All right. Let's I'm going to call this for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Yes. Any oppose say no. Okay. Motion passes 5-0 for action item
number 25-05-73. Approval of resolution for fifth grade maturation HIV lesson updates. Okay. The next part is citizens comments overflow. We have none. We are moving on to section H. We have uh first
reading for Wayne Ree as election representative. There was information sent in board notes by Dr. Merritt. I hope you all had a chance to look at that. Any questions? Because we will have to vote on this at the next meeting for a
representative. Okay. If you have any questions, please send them to President Christensen and Dr. Merritt. Um do you want to maybe see if anybody's interested? Because you're going to need to designate a representative and an alternate that we would I was going to give him time to think about it but anybody wants to just put their name.
Anybody want to be a representative to go to Wayne Resa on what is it? June 1st Monday of June. The election is June 2nd. June 2nd. Volunteers. I'll be recovering from surgery now. Okay. All right. How about we give you at the
next meeting? One week to think about it or be ready at the next meeting for someone to appoint or you can volunteer yourself. Okay. Wait, did you say Monday? June 2nd. I or the 3. Um the
election is held on June 2nd. I can go. Okay. All right. And we will need a backup. So if anybody wants to consider a backup if member boss cannot go. So again you can let us know at the next meeting we will add
that to um the first appointed person and a backup. Okay. Uh we have another first read. This is Wayne Reese's budget that we approve or discuss every year. Again lots of information was sent by Dr.
Merritt and I think member Picard had a chance to go through one of the presentations as well. Thank you for doing that. I did too. You did too. Thank you, Secretary Wester. So, um anyone want to set the stage for this discussion or uh first read?
So, yeah. This is the budget that we um it is not our budget. It's Wayne Reese's budget. Uh but they are required by law to have all 33 districts uh vote on whether or not to support uh that budget. Um and so that information was made available to all board members.
They've had uh opportunities for the um Zoom meetings. I'm glad you're able to attend have made themselves available uh if there were any questions from uh our group prior to voting. I do believe that one piece that was something that was um I want to say appealing to me as they
looked at and projected future cuts for act 18 funds they decided to keep those stable for this one year. So it gives us that ability to plan for that adjustment knowing that in the future year that would be reduced by and I I want to say it's 50% but 50% 50%. So, I um just
appreciate their ability to let us know in advance so that we're able to properly plan for that in a subsequent um year. And so, again, if there are any questions as you've had an opportunity to review, when you really think about um Reese's budget, it's more of an in
and out. They provide services for uh our school district across the the county, the school districts across the county. So, if there's any further questions prior to our next meeting, you can give those questions to me. We can get those answered for you. But the expectation would then be that you'd have your consideration at the next
board meeting. By law, they have to have that to them by June by all 33 districts weighing in on that. And Dr. Mary, you may have already said this and I haven't had a chance to look at the proposal. Why is acting team being cut? Isn't that um money that's funded by the voters within Wayne County? So it's just in
terms of the um when you have uh the fund that is used, you have the um funds that are not spent at the end of the year. So you have for transportation things along those lines, you could have just like we have in our budget when we have vacancies, unfilled positions, and
so they divide that amount of money by school districts based on transportation numbers. That's the formula that they use. And so each year um really we've had a a significant it's based on the previous year. So, we've had a significant um amount of money that
comes back and is divided to uh the districts and uh looking forward looking at those potential, you know, increases in cost. They're anticipating that they would not have as much money that would be then divided at the end. Uh and so,
um kind of giving us a heads up so that this year that would be approximately the same, but then the previous the next year that there would be a reduction. They're drawing down some of the fund balance to help facilitate and support that. Okay, that's correct. Good question. Any other
questions? Okay. All right. We are now at the follow-up board questions and I know a lot of it was sent in board notes. I'm going to quick go through that. The board requested information
regarding district sustainability and waste management procedures. That was sent in board notes. Um, the board requested information to help explain the lower social studies grades reported for students with IEPs from high school presentation for the first semester of 2023 2024. That is outstanding. I was
going to say that's one of I knew one of the two was outstanding. That is the one that is still outstanding. Okay. Can we expect that? We should have it in this Friday's board notes. Beth is not here, so I'll if not I'll let you know. Okay. Um, another question regarding the sense of belonging data from high school
presentation. The board requested a demographic breakdown to identify which group which groups are represented or underrepresented. That was in board notes. Yes. Appreciate that breakdown of the data. Uh a link to view panorama survey questions will be provided in board
notes. And that was yes. A link to view the five fifth grade ma grade maturation HIV lesson plan update. Again, that was provided and we just voted on that. Okay. Any questions from today that did not get answered that need followup by
Dr. Merritt? I did not record any. No, I just a comment is I appreciate the rotating first speaker. Thank you. I'm glad you noticed because I didn't want people to be like she always comes to me. I think it's I think it's a great thing to do.
All right. Great. I like the rotating during the meeting, not just every time. All right, great. Keep you on your toes. Yeah. All right. We had a um really full agenda, robust discussion. So, thank you for all of that.