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I'd like to call the meeting to order. I'm Superintendent Monica Merritt. Welcome to the July 9th, 2026 PCCS Board of Education meeting. The first portion of this meeting is uh this evening is dedicated to our board organizational meeting. A portion of the organizational

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meeting will allow for the establishment of officers for 2627. So, you will not have to hear my voice much longer and I will gladly turn over this gavvel once that decision of president is made. But I'd like to begin by giving the board members an opportunity to introduce

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themselves. I'm going to begin on my left. Well, both of you begin on my right normally with member V. Sorry. Jennifer Voss, board members. Judy Wester, board member. >> Good evening, Patrick Kio. Thanks for joining us this evening. >> Hi everyone. I'm Lauren Christensen.

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Welcome. >> Good evening. I'm Anupam Sudu. Thanks for being here. >> I'm thank you so much for joining us. >> All right. I'd like to also introduce my executive assistant, Miss Diane Robertson. We want to thank her for being here and capturing our minutes. And I was going to say John Kger, but

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Linda is here this evening to help us with our technology needs. So, we appreciate you for being here. I'd like the remaining members of the team to introduce themselves to you, beginning on my right. >> Good evening, Joe Lennick, CFO. >> Good evening. I'm Jen Curry, chief academic officer.

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>> Good evening. Abdul Man, chief human resource officer. I would like to ask all to stand with me for the pledge of >> allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it

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stands one nation under God indivisible for all. >> All right. At this time, I'd like to invite a motion for the adoption of the agenda for the organizational meeting. This is action item 270701. Is there a motion? Superintendent

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Merritt, I move that we adopt the organizational meeting agenda. Action item number 27-07-01. Is there support? >> Those in favor signify by saying yes. >> Yes. >> Those opposed say no. >> Motion carried.

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Sarah, the agenda for the organizational meeting will be adopted as presented. I would now like to call for a motion for the nomination of the president of the board of education for the 2627 school year. As a reminder, there is not a need

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for a second when it comes to nominations. Are there any nominations for the office of president? Uh, I would like to nominate a Newton church to do to be president. Any other nominations?

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Hearing none, I will call for the vote. Those in favor say yes. >> Those opposed say no. >> Motion carries. 6. Madam President, HERE'S YOUR YEAH, lots of things around here. Thank you. Um, I want to thank my board

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colleagues for their support and I also want to uh thank member Christensen, our past president who's led us through lots of um steady leadership over the last two years. So, thank you for your leadership as president over the last two years.

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At this point, I would like to invite a nomination for the nomination of vice president of the board of education for 2026 27 school year. As a reminder, there's no need for a second. Okay. Madame President, I would actually like to nominate member Boss for vice president.

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Are there any other nominations for vice president? >> Hearing none, I will call for a vote. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> Any oppose say no. Okay. Motion carries 6. CONGRATULATIONS. Now I would like to invite a motion for the nomination of secretary of the board

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of education for the 2026 27 school year. Madam President, I would like to nominate Judy Wester for secretary for the 26 27 school year. >> Thank you. Are there any other nominations for secretary? >> Hearing none, I'll call for a vote. All

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in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> Any oppose? Say no. Motion carries. 6. Congratulations. Now, I would like to invite a motion for a lifetime appointment of I would like to invite a motion for the

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treasure of the school of uh board of education for the 2026 27th school year. Madam President, I'd like to nominate uh Patrick Heo. Thank you. Any other nominations for treasure? >> One more chance. Okay. Hearing none, I'll call for a

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vote. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. Any oppose say no. >> Congratulations for the lifetime appointment. >> All right, we are now moving on to the organizational meeting part of this. Uh just bear with us as we go through in a public meeting our naming of legal council, banks, media among many other

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things. So this is something we have to do every year in July in a public meeting. So, um, we'll just read some of the information that we have in front of us. So, all board members should have a four-page document in front of them, and I'll ask everyone to read portions of that. So, be prepared when it comes to

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it'll be a surprise as I get called. Let's start with number four. There are two parts to this at this point. I'm looking for a motion for the adoption of bylaws 0164.1 and 0164.2, time, place, and notification of meetings. Madame

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President, can you hear me? Madame President, I make a motion that we adopt by laws number 0164.1 and 0164.2, the time and place and notification of our meeting. >> Second.

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>> Okay. It was moved by Secretary Wester, seconded by Treasurer Kho. And can I ask member Ahmed to read that those two fils, please? >> Sure. Um, bylaw number 0164.1

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regular meetings, time, place, and notification. Regular meetings of the board of education of the Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Wayne and Washington counties, Michigan, shall be held on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month beginning at 7 p.m.

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exceptions. There will be only one meeting in July, July 9th, 2026 at 6 p.m., which is right now, and one meeting in December, uh, December 8th, 2026. August meeting dates will be on the 1st and fourth Tuesday, August 4th,

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2026 and August 25th, 2026. All meetings will begin at 7 p.m. at the following location except as agreed herein, unless otherwise directed by a majority vote of the members. The EJ McClendon Educational Center, 454 South Harvey

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Street, Plymouth, Michigan 48170. Uh bylaw number 0164.2 special meetings time, place, and notification. Special meetings of the board of education of the Plymouth Canton Community Schools, Wayne and Washington

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counties, Michigan may be called by the president of the board or any two members thereof by serving on the other members a written notice of the day, time, and place of such special meetings or by a majority vote of the board.

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Public notice of each meeting of the board of education shall be given by posting a copy of the notice on the message board by the front entrance to the EJ McClendon Educational Center, 454 South Harvey, Plymouth, Michigan, at least 18 hours prior to the time of the

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meeting. The executive assistant to the board of education or other central office staff in her absence shall be appointed as a as the design to post meeting notices. Thank you. And now I'm going to call for a vote for bylaws 0164.1

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and 0164.2. All in favor signify by saying yes. >> Yes. >> Any post say no. Motion carries 6. Now I'm looking for a motion to direct the executive assistant to advertise in the Detroit newspaper. >> Madam President, I move that we direct the executive assistant of the board of

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education to advertise bylaws numbers 164.1 and 0164.2 two in the Detroit newspaper agency newspapers >> looking for a second >> second >> it was moved by treasure beles >> correct

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>> I don't know Detroit newspaper agency joint venture between the Detroit press is no longer in place >> I know but I don't know it's actually called the Detroit newspaper agency Yeah, there used to be a joint bench groups.

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>> So, why don't we hold up on that one? We'll come back once we have clarification on that one. Okay, sounds good. >> Thank you. Sorry. >> No, good. >> I just noticed it. >> Good call. >> Someone remind me to come back to that once we have clarification on that.

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>> Now, we're moving on to item five. I'm looking for a motion for the authorization of signatures of for school district business. >> Madam President, I move that we um consider authorization signatures for school district business. >> Looking for a second.

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>> Second. >> Okay. It was moved by member Christensen, seconded by member Alid. And u member Christensen, could you please read that section? >> Sure. Okay. Um documents a administrator contracts. This is uh the authorized

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signatures for president, secretary or superintendent. B teacher contracts. Um probationary would be the president, secretary or superintendent. Continuing tenure, president, secretary or superintendent. C motor vehicle titles,

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superintendent, chief finance and operations officer. D land contracts president, secretary or superintendent. E deeds to real estate. President, Secretary, or Superintendent. F. Leases and easement. President,

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Secretary, Superintendent, or Chief Finance and Operations Officer. G. Deposit and Investment Accounts. President, Treasurer, Superintendent, Chief Finance Officer and Operations Officer, Executive Director of Finance and Accounting. H. Vendor Contracts

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Superintendent, Chief Finance and Operations Officer. >> Thank you. I'm going to call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Any oppose say no. >> The motion passes 6. We do have clarification on the previous item. And

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so I'm going to reread that. Uh looking for a motion to direct the executive assistant of the board of education to advertise bylaws 0164.1 and 0164.2 in the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News. Madam President, I move that we

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move uh to direct the executive assistant of the board of education to advertise bylaws numbers 0164.1 and 0164.2 in the Detroit newspaper as well as the Detroit Free Press newspapers. >> Thank you. Looking for a second. Second.

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>> Okay. It was moved by Treasure Kho, seconded by Secretary Westerro. All in favor say yes. Any post say no. >> Thank you. Motion passes 6. Moving on to number six and we will do part A first. I'm looking

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for a motion for naming depository investment of monies and naming signitories for all funds. >> Madam President, I move that the treasurer and chief finance andor chief finance and operations officer be authorized to deposit all monies for all funds in the Clement Community Schools

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in the following banks. Orsera Credit Union, JP Morgan Chase Bank NA, Michigan Liquid Asset Fund Plus, PNC Bank and PNC Capital Markets LLC, USA Bank NA, and further to invest all monies of all funds of the Plymouth Canton Community

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Schools and investments authorized under section 1223 of the Michigan School Code of 1976 as amended. and further that these banks be requested, authorized and directed to honor checks, drafts, and other orders uh for the payment of money draw the name of fun schools against the

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name funds when bearing faximile signature of the treasurer Patrick Kho and the faximile signature of the president uh a new chuku and further that the argent institutional trust company Bank of New York Melon UN bank NA and US bank NA be designated as the

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paying agents for bonds for the Plymouth and community schools as required. And further, a blanket uh position bond is required for all school district employees in the amount of $100,000. And the cost of the bond to be provided by the school district. >> Thank you. I'm looking for a second.

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>> Second. >> It was seconded by member boss. And since it's been read out loud, I'm going to call for a vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any post say no. Motion carries. 6. >> Moving on to part B. I'm looking for a motion to appoint Collins and Blaha Law

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Firm PC general counsel for the 202627 school year. Madame President, I move that we appoint legal counsel for the 2627 school year of Collins and Blaha Law Firm QC as our general counsel. >> Looking for a second. >> Second.

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>> It was moved by Secretary Wester, second by Treasure Kho. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. Any post say no. >> Motion carries 6. Moving on to part C. Looking for a motion for naming specific legal counsel as appointed by the board of education.

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>> Madam President, I move that we appoint other specific legal counsel as appointed by the board of education for the 2026 2027 school year. In addition, the board of education has the right to name other legal firms during the course of the year is deemed necessary. Those firms are Clark Hill PLC, Lacy and Jones

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LLP, La Point and Associates PC, Miller for C Miller Canfield Paddock and Stone PLC, Miller Johnson PLC, and Thurin Law Firm PC. >> Thank you. I'm looking for a second. Second. It was moved by Treasure Kho, seconded by member Christensen. All in

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favor say yes. >> Yes. Any post say no. >> Motion carries 6. Moving on to part D of this section. I'm looking for a motion to appoint Plant Moran LLC certified public accountants as the school district auditors for the

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202627 school year. Madame President, I move that we appoint Plant Plant Moran LLC certified public accountants as the school district auditors for the 2026 2027 school year. Thank you. Looking for a second. >> Second.

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>> It was moved by Secretary Westeros, second by Treasure Heel. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. Any post say no. >> Motion carries. 6. >> All right. Moving on to part E, naming of school district bond financial advisor. I'm looking for a motion to

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appoint PFM Financial Advisors LLC as a school district bond financial advisor for the 202627 school year. Madam President, I move that we appoint PFM Financial Advisors LLC as the school district's bond financial advisor for

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the 2026 2027 school year. Thank you. Second. >> It was moved by Vice President Paul, seconded by Treasure Kho. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. Any post say no. >> Motion carries 6. Moving on to the last one, part seven. Designate routine

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advertisement. I'm looking for a motion to designate the Detroit newspaper agency. So, should we clarify the two different ones? All right. So, we are going to clarify that that agency is Detroit Free Press and the Detroit News to be designated for routine advertisements.

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>> Michigan Chronicle. >> Oh, and sorry, and the Michigan Chronicle to be designated for the following routine advertisements. Madam President, I move that we designate that the Detroit News and the Detroit Free Press or the uh I'm sorry andor the

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Michigan Chronicle newspapers be designated for the following routine advertisements. Notice of budget hearing and truth and taxation hearing, invitation for bids, request for proposals, and that the bond buyer or the Detroit legal news as required be designated for publication of call for

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redemption of bonds, sale of bonds, sale of tax anticipation note, and the invitation for bids for major renovations, additions, and new construction. Public Act 232 of July 21st, 2004 requires schools to post construction solicitations for a minimum

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of two weeks on the state of Michigan Sikma Michigan website. >> Thank you. Look for a second. Second. It was moved by Treasure Phed. Since it's been read out loud, I'm going to ask for a vote. All in favor say yes. >> Any post say no.

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>> Motion carries. 6. That concludes our business portion of this for today's meeting. >> Organizational meeting. >> I'm sorry, the organizational meeting. We are now moving on to the business meeting which includes several action items. So, at this point, I'm looking for a motion for the adoption of agenda

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and the approval of consent agenda. Action item number 27-07-02. >> Madam President, I move that we adopt and approve our consent agenda. Action 270702. Thank you for a second. Second was moved by treasure heel, seconded by secretary

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Westerro. Dr. Merrick, could you please walk us through that? Thank you, President Sadu. This evening, your consent agenda consists of human resources transaction since our last time together, and I think there's over 40 uh >> 41 >> 41 uh champions that are now coming to

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Pumin Community Schools um for your consideration. We also have leaves and resignations as well as retirements which are coming in fast and furiously. But that date of July 16th, I hope we'll put it into that relatively soon. We're >> slowing down.

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>> It's slowing down. All right. We also have the approval of the minutes from our regular meeting that is on June the 23rd, 2026. And also this evening for your consideration, we have four tenative agreements with our union groups. The following groups are the Plymouth Canton Association of

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Educational Office Personnel, the Plymouth Canton Plant Engineers, the Plymouth Canton Cafeteria Association, and the Plymouth Congress of Administrators. All four of these resolutions have been ratified by the individual union members. And as always,

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we want to thank Mr. Medune and the negotiations team from U district side as well as our presidents and the negotiations team from our unions uh for reaching these agreements that fall within the parameters as established here with the board of education. Thank

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you. I'm going to call for a vote for action item number 27-07-02. All in favor say yes. >> Yes. >> Any say no? Motion carries 6. Mr. Mun, could you please go through our hires and etc. all the HR a little water.

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>> Um first I would like to um recognize the retirements that we have um for the years of service to the district. So for um for tonight um we have Bo Adams who retired as a physical education at elementary level at from his visitor.

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He's been employed the district since 1999. Lori Andrews a teacher consultant at Discovery who's been with the district since 1993. Heidi Avery, a biology teacher at Salem, um has been here since 1995.

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Robert Brody, um a secretary physical education teacher at Salem, has been with the district since 1977. >> I thought I'd get a reaction right here. Yeah. Um Stephanie Carson, elementary classroom teacher at Faren, who's been

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married since 1993. Navara Dunbeck um um um language arts teacher at Pioneer has been here since 1999. Tina Hui who was a math teacher at East has been here since 2001. Phyllis Konaki um

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autistic teacher at Liberty has been here since 1995. Tamika Medley, social studies teacher at Discovery, has been here since 2010. Margaret Morelli, English teacher at Canton, has been here since 2009.

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Tracy Moville, um, a teacher consultant in West has been here since 2000. Kimberly Velosa, a high school principal at Salem, has been with the district since 1995. And Robert Watson, a social studies teacher at West, has been here since

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2004. Can we give them all a round of applause? So, our next part we're going to just um talk about the new hires or the champ new champions that are coming into our ranks. Um so we start off with Marcella Aguilar

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who elementary classroom teacher. Um Anthony um Andras um video production teacher at Plymouth. >> May I just ask if they happen to be here in the audience if they stand? >> I did earlier.

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Um Kayn um B elementary classroom teacher. Um, Luke Bevington, history teacher at Salem. Bailey Brown, elementary classroom teacher at Gallamore. Aaron Carlson, elementary classroom

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teacher. Ella Tigati, another elementary classroom teacher. Amy Clark, elementary classroom teacher. Melissa Courtourtney, elementary classroom teacher. Cassidy Craigs, um, political science

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teacher at Canton. Heather Kraton, a resource room teacher at Pioneer. Jessica Ferris, speech pathologist at Salem. Mariah Ger, speech pathologist at Ericson.

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Andrew Helinan, a physical education teacher at between Datson and Ericson. Avery Huitt, math teacher at Salem. Mark Hipley, language arts teacher at West. Gary Hobbins, a elementary classroom teacher. Jonathan Kip, a elementary

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classroom teacher. Caleb Kipov, um, adaptive physical education teacher at Liberty and Plymouth. Maline Leforest, English teacher at Plymouth. Rebecca Leaf France, elementary classroom teacher.

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Haley McDonald, language arts teacher at East. Titan McCarly, English teacher at Canton. Margaret McCormack, an art teacher that's going to be split between Holing and Field.

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Chadam Maguire, elementary classroom teacher at Gallamore. Megan Newman, elementary classroom teacher. Chad Reed, physical education teacher at Discovery. Rihanna Rice, a classroom teacher,

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elementary classroom teacher. Tanya Roberts, a elementary ASD teacher at Field. Caitlyn Scott, a elementary classroom teacher. Maya Simtowski, another elementary classroom teacher.

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Elvia Suchi, a history teacher at Canton. Jasmine Tawil, a elementary classroom teacher. Sarah Vest, integrated science teacher at East and Pioneer. Grace Wagner, another elementary classroom teacher.

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Bion Weber, social worker that's going to be split between Pioneer and East. Kristen Wilson, a math teacher at Plymouth. Sel Selena Winkler a speech pathologist at Bentley, Kimberly Wen, a biology teacher at

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Salem, and David Workman, social studies teacher at West. Um, some of the ones that are named as just elementary classroom teachers because they haven't been placed yet. If we're hiring, we're going to replace them at the same time. So, there are places, but they have positions. So, we can't give one. Um,

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one more do hire. Nicholas Ivakco, who is a new um student support coordinator at Field Elementary. Um, I am entering my 10th year in the district, 11 if you count student teaching. Um, and the people of this

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district are second to none. Um, I feel extremely lucky to have gotten to learn and grow um alongside a lot of my peers tonight. Um, and to have your faith um,

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but their faith um, as I step up means means a lot. Um, and I am excited for this next step. Thank you. >> Thank you. Welcome. Congratulations. I also want to give a shout out here to your team and our administrative team.

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Um been working hard over these last few weeks doing multiple interviews coming off sometimes a break to to make this happen. I want to draw your attention to how many PCCS student teachers we were able to hire. So those have been able to spend time here with our teachers

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learning and growing under their toutelage and now um are here as a part of the PCCS family as well as uh our grow your own program. So we have graduates from the talent together program as well as a PCCS paraprofessional now um coming into the

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classroom as full-time teacher. So just kudos and great job to the team for news channel. >> Thank you. I want to say my my HR staff are working their tail off. Every Friday I go get them ice cream

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to try to because we are I mean we are trying to make sure we get all of these process to make sure we the best talent we can in our district and we're going to continue to do so through this whole summer. So I just want to give a shout out to my team. >> Thank you. Appreciate that. I want to thank all of the retirees for everything

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that you've given to our districts in terms of time, talent, and investments. So much more that you've given to our students, families, and community. So, thank you for that. Your legacy will live on in the classrooms with the students and families. And I want to

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welcome the new hires and welcome to the team of champions. So hopefully you'll do great things and looking forward to hearing some wonderful stories from Mr. McGun as we move forward. Any other new hires in the audience should be missed? Okay. All right. Thank you.

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>> That's right. And I want to speak a little bit about the tenative agreements. Um I do have >> I do have members from the PCA here. You can say yeah I'm putting you on the spot. UM

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is hard. um particularly when um on the on the tough um economic times when we're trying to find something that the district that works for the district and work for the group. Um uh I would I would like to give a shout out to the union group because they all came and we

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were all very reasonable and came up something we can all live with. So I'd like to thank them also for the opportunity to negotiate with them. >> That's great. As someone who's lived at both ends of that negotiation, it is a lot of work. It's a lot of work on your own. Um,

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after your full day of work, you're still working. Long evening. So, thank you to everyone that was part of that process. All right, we are now moving on to citizens comments. We have 30 minutes allocated for this section. And if there are any other comments beyond this 30

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minutes, we will do those towards the end of the agenda. As a reminder, each person is three minutes to share their comments, the board will not respond, but if a comment requires a followup from Dr. Merritt or someone from our team, they will do that within the next

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few days to address your concerns. We ask that people respectfully adhere to the time limit and the norms. Please do not mention any names when sharing concerns about a person's work or personnel matters unless you have their permission. We appreciate you being

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engaged in this process. And before I start, I just noticed we have one of our student voice and action co-chairs. Could you please introduce yourself? >> Thank you. I'm Arjun Swami Natan. I'm a rising junior at Kent High School and I'm a co-chair of student voice and

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action. Thank you all for being here. >> Thank you Arjun for spending your summer with us. >> No problem. >> All right, we have four comments for this section. I'm going to first call Michelle Moscatus.

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Good evening. My name is Michelle Mustakis. I'm president of Canton, a member of Capes, and I'm here tonight in support of Joe Tiffson. I don't think there should be any question about who should receive this appointment to the school board. Joe's background is

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stellar. He's been working with youth for years, helping them achieve success when others may have given up on them. For over for over nine months, he's been at every board meeting he can attend and watches them on video on the rare

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occasions when he can't come. That's a real commitment. He knows the issues this district faces. He has been interviewed and answered lengthy questionnaers on his qualifications, his knowledge of the district, and his plans for improvement. What really sets Joe

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apart, though, is the hard work that he has put into earning this seat, not just applying for it. Joe was the first to file to run. And he did it both by gathering enough signatures to get on the ballot and by paying the filing fee.

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He's on several social media sites to introduce himself and give people a way to ask him questions. He's touring playgrounds and parks across the district to meet parents where they are and talk through any concerns. He attends each of the board subcommitting

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meetings when he's able and he's done all of this while working full-time and raising a family. Joe is dedicated to giving this district his best. This is someone with a real passion for the job.

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And I'd also like to make the point while this appointment is only until the end of the year, this is a particularly critical time for the district. Budget decisions need to be made. A campaign of support for the sinking fund will be underway and students will be starting

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new chapters in their lives. We need people on this board who understand the challenges we are facing. So, I'll go back to where I started. I don't mean any disrespect, but when the choices between someone who has worked for over

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a year to learn what this position entails and those who only showed up once a vacancy opened, the best choice for our students is clear. That's Joe. He earned it. Thank you.

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NEXT up is Rachel Hayes. >> Good evening, members of the board. My name is Rachel Hayes and I'm here tonight on behalf of Capes to express our strong support for appointing Joe Toliffson to this vacant board seat. Joe is the Capesendorsed Board of Education

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candidate who excelled throughout our endorsement process, demonstrating a deep understanding of what it means to serve effectively as a school board member. But what impressed us even more was everything he did before the process ever began. Months before he became a

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candidate, Joe committed himself to understanding this district. He studied past district reports, watched board meetings on YouTube, and took the time to learn not just the issues facing Plymouth Canton Community Schools, but the role and responsibilities of a

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school board member. Beginning last winter, he became a regular presence at board meetings, consistently staying through the final agenda item because he believed every discussion and every decision mattered. In March, Joe officially filed to run for the board

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and he has been actively campaigning ever since. His commitment didn't begin with this appointment opportunity. It began months earlier with a genuine desire desire to serve this community well. As part of Kate's endorsement evaluation, Joe demonstrated a strong

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understanding of effective schoolboard governance. He emphasized collaboration, transparency, meaningful community engagement, and supporting students, educators, and district leadership. He thoughtfully addressed the district's financial challenges while keeping the

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focus on ensuring resources are used to strengthen opportunities for students. He also expressed support for safe, welcoming schools and strong special education services. Joe has already shown the qualities we hope to see in a

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board member. Preparation, consistency, humility, and a willingness to listen before leading. This appointment is an opportunity to recognize someone who has not only proven himself to be exceptionally wellqualified, but who has

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also already invested the time, done the homework, and earned the confidence to step into the role and serve effectively. I respectfully encourage you to appoint Joe Talibson to fill this vacancy. Thank you. >> Next up is Lauren Y. Did I say that

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right? >> Was that correct? >> Yes. >> Your kids were very helpful. >> It's a tricky one. Uh hello, my name is Lauren Y. I am a Canton resident and I am also a member of Capes. Um I want to

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be respectful of everyone's time here. And uh since everyone else has already said so much about Joe, I'll keep this short and sweet. I really believe that the board should strongly consider Joe Toliffson for this

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appointment. He's dedicated commitment. He's dedicated, committed, and has shown up. And um I believe he is a strong, capable candidate. So that's my comment. Thank you, and thank you for your time

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tonight. >> Thank you. >> Next up is Lori Mayir. All right. >> Hi, I'm Lori Mays. I'm a resident of Plymouth and a member of Capes. Um, I also want to support uh Joe Toliffson for the appointment. Uh, he's done a ton

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of work. He's dedicated to the community. Uh, he's been dedicated to the board business for more than a year. Uh I think it's a wise choice to pick someone who's shown this dedication and doesn't need a lot of training on the

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board. Uh he also um answered questions from P Flag and Kate's that are very informative and which we're sharing with the community. So I would just add my voice to the our other ones. Thank you. That concludes citizens comments. We are

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now moving on to action items. We have three action items and a couple of other things before we go into the interview. So, just bear with us for a few more minutes. I am looking for a motion for action item number 27-07-03. Consider approval of a resolution to

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establish a syncing fund for district capital improvements. Final reading. Madame President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for I'm sorry. Madame President, I move that we consider approval for of a resolution to establish a syncing fund for district capital improvements. This is action

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item 270703. And this is the final reading. >> Looking for a second. >> It was Tai. >> It was moved by Treasure Kho, seconded by member Christensen. Any questions about this? Anybody want to say anything

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or you want to give a quick context for the people that you >> sure do not know? >> Okay. So just uh to start out apologizing at first the term thinking fund is a very difficult term to uh understand um but it is essentially a

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locally passed millillage that allows us to raise capital money uh without having a debt obligation. So, it is a millage that's done within the community and that money can be used for a lot of the same purposes that we can use the bond for, including renovations and updates

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to our building, transportation, um, technology, uh, >> but most importantly, it can also be used for repairs. Bond money cannot be used for repairs. It is excluded from that process. The syncing fund would provide additional resources for the

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district without incurring any of the uh cost of servicing the debt. So no interest is part of that process. And it's essentially a pay as you go process as every year we capture that additional money from uh the mills and those become available for us and we can spend them as we need them as part of that process.

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And this will help offset some of the rising costs that we've seen for inflation as well as um some of the costs that we've seen for repair costs that have had to come out of the general fund. So being able to do that will help protect our general fund as well as allow us to improve our school security,

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our athletic fields, our buildings, and all of our facilities as part of this. And this is an approval to place this on the ballot for this November to allow the voters in the community to support this or hopefully not. I'm sorry. hopefully support this hopefully support

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this and that we as a board have an opportunity to advocate to say yes. The school district can provide uh factual information around this process but can't say to vote yes or no. They can just encourage people to vote and provide the facts around this. So be on the lookout for those of you that are

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here interviewing for this position. Even if you don't get selected, if you want to help with uh the district, this is a great opportunity to get engaged and help do things to help support the community and uh help support our school district. So, for reference, this is we're going

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for a 10-year um uh sinking fund and it'll be at 1.5 mills. So, the average uh approximate money for this is about $13.5 million a year. So, it's pretty substantial amount of money uh that can go a long way towards helping to address

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some of the uh unanticipated expenses that we've had, some of the bond projects that we weren't able to do um because we didn't have money um and really be able to help make sure that our district is continues to be world class. >> Thank you. Um there was a lot of

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research done on this initiative. If you go back to the last few months and watch the board meetings, you will learn a lot about the research that was done, all the questions that the board members asked. We had some public comments around this. So, I really encourage you to watch those videos, those um past

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meetings to learn more about this, but again, more information will be um put out. Urin, do you have question comment? >> I was just curious if there was a specific list of items that you were planning to use money on for the coming school year. >> That's a great question. We did talk

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about that in terms of what were some high needs items. Um Jill, did you want to speak if you have any of those on the top of your heard? >> We don't we have not yet com we have not yet compiled a specific list of those items, but as um Treasurer Kiho mentioned. Uh we will apply those toward

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repairs to protect the general fund as well as support the projects that had to be eliminated from scope for the bond program due to the rapid rise in cost after COVID. uh as well as other types of things to complement and leverage uh the bomb the bond program. >> Argentin is one of the things that we'll

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be starting is assuming this passes is we'll start a committee and process to be able to help promote this activity. The district will help to identify the things that uh this will be part of and then we can also use those same things as part of a community education program to let the the members of the community

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know the importance of this, the value of this and those kind of specific projects will be included there. Um, as this is a 10-year activity, um, and it is a pay as you or uh, spend as you go type process, we won't be detailing out a 10-year plan, but we'll provide good

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examples to help people to understand the kinds of things that this could be used for, but not necessarily every specific project. Thank you. Yeah, I was just going to say giving a specific list of items would help educate voters on helping take a

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better stance and would also be able to have something to hold the district accountable and see where they're at in terms of they're spending the money wisely. >> We've also committed to providing regular reporting on how these funds are used. So, there's a lot of things that we can do. Those are really good input

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uh input. Thank you. And just as an example, we've had some really big ticket items for repairs over the last few months. You were chillers. >> Chillers. >> Yes. >> Would Jill or uh Patrick, would you like to share the cost of just one?

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>> Well, we just replaced chillers at um at our Pilot Drive location, which was an unexpected expense, and if I remember correctly, were more than $400,000 for that. believe they were about $50,000 each uh

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coming to about $250 $300,000. >> So4 million. >> Okay. >> So those are examples of some of the things that could have been done in this process. And it's really the unexpected expenses that this really can help offset for us. We've always used bond funds where possible to even support

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those unexpected expenses to take make sure we protect the money in the classroom. But this will allow us to have our long range planning activities still continue with uh with without having to deal with those unexpected repairs. >> Also carrying out the district's value of improving accessibility. So

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significant dollars toward EDA uh sidewalks and elevators and ramps and and such. So, uh, significant dollars that we'll be able to now allocate as well. >> Thank you. I know we did an ADA accessibility audit a few years ago and there were things identified and I'm

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hoping that those things can be addressed for our students and community members and I'm I'm seeing you nod. U, but you know, we have lots of buildings, what 28 uh buildings, but something's always coming up, roofs, chillers, um, a lot of unexpected things that we have to

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then think about where is this money going to come from? And generally we're pulling that out of general funds. But we want to say that general funds stays with the classroom, stays with the students and the teachers where it's needed the most. And this additional funds for this thinking fund would

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support those repairs. Have a separate pot of money for those repairs. So any other questions, comments before we vote. Okay. Going to call for a vote. All in favor say yes. >> Any post say no. Motion passes 6 for

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action item number 27-07-03. Now the rest of you have a lot of work to do in terms of learning, educating people. We have a lot of work to do. >> Yes. So quick question. How quickly can the website be updated to provide kind

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of that one sheet overview? We will be immediately begin working. We're already positive. >> I think the one pager is already done. that was sent to us. >> I just want it on a website or any any Canva on an official PCCS >> so I can

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>> direct people there. >> Yes. Thank you. All right. I'm looking for a motion for action item number 27-07-04. Consider approval of a resolution for the purchase of electronic building signs for Fair and Gallamore elementary

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schools. Final reading. Madam President, I move we consider approval of a resolution for the purpose purchase of electronic building signs for Ferin and Galammore Elementary Schools. This is a final reading in the action in the 270704. >> Moving for a second. Second. It was

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moved by treasure, seconded by Secretary Wester. Any questions, comments about this before we vote? >> An example of a bonded program and we thank the community for their support for the 2020 bond to help make this possible. >> Thank you. part of the renovations that

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we're doing for Galammore and >> All right, I'm going to call for vote. All in favor say yes. Any oppose say no. Okay, motion carries 60 for action item 27-07-04. Moving on to our next action item. I'm

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looking for a motion for action item 27-07-05. Consider approval of a resolution for a high school virtual academy revision and subject.com platform provider request. Final reading. Madame President, I move that we consider approval of a

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resolution for a high school virtual academy revision and subject.com platform provider request. Uh action item 270705. Thank you for a second. >> Second. >> It was moved by Secretary Wester,

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seconded by Vice President Boss. Any questions, comments before we vote on this? >> So I appreciate getting the login. It just came this morning. So, we didn't really get much chance to really review the site and to take a look at it. Um,

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>> I'm a little bit anxious um because we one of the things that we had wanted to uh to be able to take a look at there. I don't know if any of my fellow board members did get a chance to review this and they can share their feedback or input. >> No. Um, I share those concerns. I sent

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Dr. a number of questions yesterday which she sent to all of us with responses and um some of my concerns include students having access or being um

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provided instruction through AI modules, AI programs. And I had asked this in a meeting about a month ago that I think it would be helpful to notify families and students that this program is mostly

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generated and um presented through AI programs and I think people need u clarity on that. So pull this up because I want to just make sure we're clarifying that in terms of not a majority of >> Okay. Yes. Please clarify how much AI is

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involved with this >> response. >> Oh yes. So they're gonna have two different teachers accessible to. So there's going to be the course teachers right through subject.com and also our PCCS teacher who is their mentor who will check in them with often and as

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needed along with just general teachers of those courses. Now with the subject.com teacher, right, that could be even later at night or pushin sessions, but they still have access to our PCCS teacher, >> right?

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>> At least from what I looked at on the on the site, and I did only looked at it briefly, it appears that the content is not AI generated. Exactly. It's not >> the content is instructorled, but when you're asking for assistance off hours,

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that's where the AI comes in to help you with that process. That's my understanding. >> That's 100% >> AI tutor. AI tutor. >> So that's you're getting 24hour access basically. So you have your teacher, your instruction is coming from your certified teacher. Um just like we're currently using within Michigan virtual

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and platforms such as that. But in addition, if a student is up working at 1:00, 2 o'clock in the morning, they would have that assistance through AI. >> Yeah, I think I still think that would be helpful to let families know that the tutor is AI. um but just being completely transparent about the whole

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process and I will I haven't looked at it um to hope but I would like to have a followup on this maybe after six months or a year to share lessons learned what's been successful what hasn't um things to improve and enhance given that this is the first full year of this

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program so Dr. Merit if we can embed that into like a quick update in a future board meeting. >> Just a thought on the AI tutor. Think about it as a search engine on steroids. It is only has that that content that is

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part of subject.com owned. Right. >> Right. It's not going out to any website. >> It's a closed system. Um still we have families that are concerned about how much engagement >> that they have with AI. So just being transparent with families I think is

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just always helpful. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Any other questions, comments? Arjun, >> if I could add, I think it's also important that we tell families that it was time for a change and a lot of students are embracing AI. We use it on the daily. I use it on the daily. And if

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this is something that you can, you know, reach uh good score, standardized scores with uh students feel good about our students who are learning, then something we should embrace. And then also I think I said this last meeting but when you said we should look back at this in a year one thing to look at

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would also be the rate of students who are staying in a district and not moving to other districts. That was a big problem we face and >> if that number is decreasing which would be huge benefit for us. >> Um that can you know show how helpful this program is to students.

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>> That's a great question and feedback. See how great it is to have students at the board table. Thank you. Did you get that? Okay. All right. And um my last question comment that I had sent in yesterday which all board members got and I'll

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just be transparent with the public. It was really around how do you build community with the students that are in a virtual environment. Um I spent 20 years of my life doing research and working with students in online learning environments. And one of the key pieces to success is making sure that they are part of a community, not just a virtual

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community, but if they're PCCS kids, um will there be opportunities for them to come on campus, be part of some events? So my question comments were really, you know, what would that look like? And I know that Dr. Merritt said that there's a plan being developed by the team and should be out by August. So looking

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forward to that and again looking forward to having students great experiences at Plymouth Canton because that's what it's all about. >> Okay. I think we had also asked some questions around like our ability to have other um expanding this program to school of choice. Is that something we

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have to explicitly be able to do? >> Yeah, we talked about that at the last meeting. So, it's just in that same window that we would open up that February >> and then really how are we that's >> Thank you. All right. Going to call for vote. All in favor say yes. Yes. Any

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post say no. >> Motion carries. 6. Okay, now we're moving on to board follow-ups questions. Let me go back to All right. So, from the June 23rd

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meeting, we had member asked if additional language could be added to the November ballot for further clarity on what a syncing fund is. Given that syncing fund is something that many people don't know about and the name sounds kind of weird. Uh we talked with legal counsel and um we are trying to

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stay within the confines of what legal counsel has suggested for the language and um so I don't think there's going to be a whole lot of changes um happening there. By the way, if you want to look at this uh if you go to our website and go under board of education, look at

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today's agenda and that action item that we just voted on has a link to that resolution. So you'll get to have more awareness of the language around it. Um the 202526 spring data presentation board member asked if expulsion data

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could be added um along with about four other questions and I believe Dr. Mayer sent those out July July. >> So if you I don't know if anyone had a followup followup questions but I think

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those were answered in the notes. Okay. from the virtual academy presentation. We asked all of those questions and I think all of those have been addressed as of today. Great. Any questions from today that we need to come back to?

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I'm hearing none short term, but some of the questions about subject.com that Arjun and some of us shared at a later time. Okay. Now we are moving on to part B which is the school board candidate interviews.

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Um before since we have about 16 and we are going to have two rounds of interviews, why don't we take a three minute recess break, stretch your legs and then we will regroup here at 7 o'clock. Three minute recess.

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Okay, >> welcome back everyone. >> We will now move on to part E of today's agenda which includes filling the vacant schoolboard seat uh from the resignation of uh Cheryl Picard on June 11th, 2026.

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According to district policy 142.5, the board has the responsibility of advertising, interviewing applicants, and appointing a candidate to fill that vacancy within 30 days of that vacancy. Uh, beginning June 17th, the position was posted on the district website in

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all media social platforms. It was also emailed to district families and employees, and we also discussed it at a couple of board meetings, public board meetings that were televised. The application window closed on July 2nd, 2026. And the board received lots of applications. Uh, but we have 15 here

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with us today for the interview process. So, I want to thank everyone for being here and being part of this, sharing your enthusiasm and passion and interest for filling the seat. Um, as you know, we're only going to be able to pick one, but I encourage everyone to stay engaged in so many other ways. As you just

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heard, one of the biggest things that's going to be coming up is the scing fund millillage. We're going to need everyone involved to make sure that people know why that's out there, what we need it for, and we will be looking for volunteers. So, uh, maybe you can step up for that as well.

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So, uh, this evening we will begin with a process of introducing with introductory question for all candidates along with two follow-ups. So, there's two rounds. The first round has three questions and then after the first round, the board will tally up to their

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top three. Those top three will come back for round two and in round two we will have about eight questions. So it's going to be a little bit of a lengthy process. >> So just I ask for clarity and because I'm slow sometimes um we're only voting

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for our top three. So um people so you might score as you go along but at the end you'll only have three people that have scores on >> right. So all board members have a tally sheet along with their scoring guide. So right right now colleagues we are in

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this lime green tally sheet for round one. So if you could make sure I have that ready for you. >> Mine is special. Okay. >> Thank you. So you have your tally sheets for round one along with a scoring guide.

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Um so all candidate names were entered into a random name generator program. So we are randomly selecting the order of candidates that will be interviewed today. After round one, board members, again I said board members will vote for their top three and then from there

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we'll narrow down to top three to come back for round two. And after the final round of interviews of both are tallied, the person with the highest score after round two will be recommended as a candidate to be

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appointed to fill the vacant schoolboard seat. Superintendent Merritt will swear that person in at the conclusion of that meeting. So be ready, whoever you are. All right. Let's see.

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All right. So at this point, so at this point, we are going to ask all the people, all the candidates to leave the room. Carly is going to direct you and we'll call you one by one again using a random generator. That's right.

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Okay. One question. >> Sure. when we bring our candidates in and we have them interview after they allowed the same or we >> I think we've said in the past >> I think historically we've had them

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scared but honestly I'm not sure that that's fair because they get a chance to see how all the other candidates um uh react and perform. So when they get to their sec if they get to their second round then they've got a a potential

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advantages. >> I'd suggest that we have them >> go back >> go back out. >> Colleagues, are you okay with that? >> I agree with that. I think that's a good idea. >> All right. So, uh, we will notify Carly that we will make sure that every

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candidate that's interviewed is back in the room and then the next candidate brought forward. So, we're going to do this one by one. >> Okay. So, we are ready for candidate one for round one. So, if I have my list correctly, Catherine Brewer. >> Yes. Thank you.

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>> You're welcome. >> We have a few questions and I think there's a copy of those questions in front of you. Those should be taped there so no one can walk off with them. And we will limit the responses to no more than two minutes. >> Sure. Yes.

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So, if you could be concise as possible and I know this is a a pretty fast time frame. >> Yeah. >> So, I'm going to ask my board colleagues to read the questions and we'll uh start with Vice President Boss for the first question of round one.

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>> Should we each read one question or are we reading all three? >> One. We're going to wait for that first response and then we'll go to the next question. >> Welcome. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS Board of Education and how you are

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qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee project or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom

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or school. Yes. Okay. Well, thank you so much for um having me allowing me to speak. Um, yes. My name is Katherine Brewer and I'm a parent to two kids in the district, the only district I've ever attended. Um, first and foremost, I'm interested in serving because I am very proud of our district. Um, I am

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always advocating for the district to anyone I can talk to. Um, when we were during the bond proposal, I was often talking with other community members and trying to sell them on that initiative, which is a hard cell to do that to someone that doesn't have children in

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the district, but just encouraging them to look at the bigger picture. Um, I think we all know that a thriving school district is really the backbone of our community. Um, so I spent a lot of time talking with people, especially people that didn't have like a vested interest as far as children in the district. Um,

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personally I work uh as a building manager for a large cooperative building run by a board of directors. Um, part of my job is to prepare the annual budget, operate within that budget, allowing for unexpected, uh, expenses like chillers

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and elevators that we didn't forecast for. Um, uh, part of my, uh, job is to present proposals, projects, and have the board vote on those and then carry those out. Um, as far as being involved in the in the district, I've been

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actively involved in every school my children have attended, I've also sat in on some of the bond committee meetings talking about how the money was going to be used. Um, and and kind of how that worked and it was a really great experience. Um, and it let me know all the hard work that went into that, but

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exactly where it was going and then I was able to share with other PE members of the community. So, that was nice. Um so and lastly I think that um just my experience uh working for a cooperative run by a board of directors and having

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kind of that background uh financially would would make me a great athlete. >> Thank you. Um Secretary Wester number two please discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on

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the role of a school board member. >> Sure. So I think um some of the important responsibilities of the school board is to not really look and focus at individual issues but look at the larger long range goals. Right? So I think you

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know we're all people and sometimes we get caught up in the in the little decisions but I think it's important to make informed decisions that will benefit our students and staff uh 10 years from now, 15 years from now. I want this district to thrive in the future, not just today. So, I think um

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you know having that long range plan focus thought would be great as a board member. Um staying informed, being able to talk to community members about current issues, proposal projects um and kind of being um comfortable enough to talk to those community members um and

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and talk to them about what's going on in our district. Um and I think that's important just for my personal experience. Um, and so, yeah, again, just to to wrap that up, I think the the role of a board member is to be

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informed, to share ideas, um, to think of decisions that's going to impact our district long term. >> Thank you, number three, please. >> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. after you

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share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions. >> Sure. Yeah. So, I think one of our our biggest challenges here at Plymouth Canton is our decreased student population, right? We can't we can't really change that right now, per se, and that directly affects our funding.

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So, um, that's our one of our biggest challenges, I think, for the district moving forward is just trying to balance that budget and trying to operate and then do all the extra things that we all want to do, but we it may not be feasible with the current the current funds. Um, I think that

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Canton does a really good job about offering things to people uh, students that a lot of other districts don't. For example, all themies at the high school, the dual enrollment things um, the fact that we have Gallamore is a gem. I mean, that's amazing. So, I think continuing those types of things will lure people

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into this district and hopefully increase our our our student population. >> Thank you. >> But that concludes round one. >> Okay. >> All right. And so, we're going to ask you to go back into the room. >> Okay. >> And um if you make it to round two, we'll call you back to round two. Perfect.

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>> Thank you guys for your time. >> We'll call everybody. >> Are we gonna call every I'm sorry. Everyone is going to come back. Good point. Good point. >> No. >> All right. Our next candidate is Joe Tolson. Welcome.

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We have three questions for you. If you could limit your response to no more than two minutes for each question. And I'm gonna have my board colleagues read the question and I'm gonna ask number Ahmed to read number one.

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Okay. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you

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worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Uh, I was not uh prepared for a two-minut time limit, so I will I will do my best to get through this. By the

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way, we received all of the information that every candidate sent. So, we have all of the background information that you shared via email in your cover letter and resume. >> Perfect. All right. Uh well, thank you so much. Good evening. Uh it's a privilege uh to be here with you all

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tonight and to be considered for this vacancy. Uh I want to briefly uh begin with some gratitude to all of the trustees for the time and consideration this evening. Uh as well as Dr. Merritt and her team uh for all the work and dedication towards supporting our schools and the work in facilitating

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this process. Uh my name is Joe Tolson. I am the parent uh a parent in the district of a rising first grader. Uh I am a youth advocate and I've spent the last 18 years in my uh professional capacity supporting public schools and providing opportunities for young people to find their passion, their self-worth

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and plan their future. Uh I am the proud product of public schools and began my career working with little ones in early childhood education. Uh but it wasn't until I started working with economically disadvantaged high school students in Chicago public schools uh that I truly understood the power of

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public education and its ability to change the tra trajectory of life for individuals uh and their families. Uh over 11 years at Genesis Works, a workforce development nonprofit uh that partnered with public schools uh uh systems as a CT work study class. Uh I

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started by working directly with high school juniors and seniors as an instructor, a coach, a supervisor. Uh these kids were phenomenal and many were still looking for their path and needed trusted adults, uh a sense of belonging and and someone to open a door for them. Uh we tended to attract kids uh that

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were still looking for their path and not feeling like they'd found it yet. And I had the privilege of working with immigrant students, LGBTQ students, ESL students, students with IEPs, students that were considered independent on their FAFSAs. And I know we created a sense of belonging because late in the

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evening after our weekly college and career readiness sessions, they would hang out at our office late into the evening on a Tuesday night. Uh, as my leadership responsibilities grew, so did the scope of my work. I worked with teachers, counselors, student uh on student interventions, school administrators on program

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implementation, district leaders, local two-year and four-year colleges uh and 14,000 companies. I placed 1,130 high school seniors into paid year-long work study internships and paid out over 11.8 million in wages directly into

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student pockets. As a member of the leadership team uh responsible for 75% of our revenue. I managed a large team contracts systems administration partner stewardship and financial projections. I worked closely with our board on strategy financial oversight and the

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long-term health of the organization. And through it all, the work stayed grounded in the same thing that drew me in from the beginning. Making sure students have people who believe in them, a place where they can see themselves and real opportunities for their future. Outside of my professional work for the

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past six years, I've served as a appointed special advocate for children in foster care. Again, I see how my kids struggle with what can be a cold, unreliable system for youth and care, but receive invaluable support and resources from their schools. I carry

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these experiences with me daily and I'm confident that this experience not only provides me with the qualification for this role, but the unique it uniquely qualifies me for this role. My application for this role did not start with the vacancy notice from the district a few weeks ago as it has for many others. Uh my candidacy for this

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role began nine months ago, last October. Uh after spending months watching board meetings on YouTube and reporting out on uh information to inform members of the Plymouth Community Collective on what was going on at at PCCS, uh I learned that there was a consequential election coming up in

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November and wanted to help out in any way that I could uh to elect strong public education champions. >> Joe, >> yeah. Um can you just uh finish up in the next 30 seconds? So the next 30 seconds. >> Yeah. So give each candidate a fair amount of time. >> Uh sure.

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>> And if you want to address uh the second part which is identifying a time where you worked on a committee project initiative that benefited the district as a whole and not individual classrooms or schools. >> Sure. Um anyway, fast forwarding through those remarks, I've been on two missions.

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First, learn how to be a productive and effective school board member. Since October, I've attended 146 meetings, trainings, or events. 30 of those have been PCS board or subcommittee meetings. My quick math is about 66 hours live with you all, sometimes with my kindergarten sidekick, learning how this

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district operates. Uh, I've spent time with the district's dynamic plan. I've reviewed board policy with community groups, attended every kind of district meeting from the PCCF parent council to special education parent advisory. I attended the first ever PEP student town hall, provided public support uh comment in support of

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the sinking fund. I've even gone to Lancing with the Michigan Education Coalition to advocate for better school funding for Plymouth Canon uh as well as across the state. Uh I've been on a mission to become a better advocate on behalf of PCCS. I've been building relationships with

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district uh the district's local state representatives and I'm proud to uh the endorsement of every single one of them. Um, when I kicked off my campaign, I made three promises. To advocate for all kids, to ensure PCCS remains the destination district, and to show up. My background demonstrates that I will

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advocate for every student. And that work I've put in over the last year proves that I will uh when I say I'll show up, I mean it. And if appointed today, I and hopefully elected by this community in November, I'm ready to bring the same commitment, preparation, and hard work to keeping PCCS uh

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district families uh choose and a community that we can be proud of. Uh thank you again for the time opportunity and I look forward to answering your questions. >> Thank you. Uh question two, member Christian, could you please ask that? >> Sure. Discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the

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school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. I think the three most important responsibilities of a school board member uh first is uh governance and oversight of policies and finances. Uh hiring, evaluating and partnering with the superintendent to provide support in

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pursuit of success with the dynamic plan uh and community representation. I think a schoolboard member both represents the community in the district that uh it serves uh as well as ask good questions that educate the community. And I also believe a good schoolboard member should be a champion and a booster uh for the

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school district. Thank you. I'll ask the last question for round one. What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific in that response. And after you share some opportunities and challenges,

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please share a suggestion for possible solutions. >> Absolutely. Uh in the opportunities, I see a lot of opportunities for this district. Uh the first would be uh increasing enrollment through uh higher rates of capture of students that are in this district that are attending other

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schools outside of PTC. Um I also see opportunities for closing uh achievement gaps. I see opportunities for passing things like the sinking fund to provide some budgetary relief uh and allow the district to utilize its dollars more efficiently. Um some of the challenges

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that I see in public schools right now uh public school economics between rising costs uh chronic state underfunding and the pressure of just generational uh demographic changes resulting in declining enrollment. Uh that is a very difficult uh economic

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environment for public schools to operate in. Uh I also see a challenge in public education detractors. people who do not believe in the core tenants of public education uh like serving all students adequately funding educational uh initiatives um or siphoning public

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dollars away from schools with things like voucher programs. Uh I also see a challenge in tech innovation and adoption. uh it's moving at scary speeds and tech companies are oriented towards profits and industry positioning uh over child safety and product efficacy and I

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think that is something that in this uh day and age is is something to just take very cons care careful consideration about how technology is being adopted in in the classroom. um I guess opportunities for or possible solutions there. Uh on the economics, I do think

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the syncing fund uh is a fantastic opportunity to uh insulate our general fund a little bit from unexpected expenses. Uh I think it's a great way to have the local community invest local dollars in their local schools. Uh, and I also love that it is a debt-free way

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for us to introduce revenue, uh, and take care of our buildings, take care of our repairs, and just run run our schools more efficiently. Uh, and I also see, uh, you know, opportunities for, uh, understanding why we are losing students to compete other districts,

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other um, private schools, charter schools. Um, you know, what are the marketing opportunities there? We have a lot of amazing programs here within PCCS that a lot of people just don't know about. Um and so finding ways to again increase that capture I think uh would be very helpful. Um in terms of kind of

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uh public education detractors I think uh education is very important there. Um you know being able to do initiatives around the why why are why are decisions being made? Why are these budget cuts the cuts that are being made? Why is it

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important to really emphasize and invest in student belonging? Uh I think if we bring the community along in in those questions uh you know we we'll get much better results and in terms of tech uh innovation and adoption uh I'd love to see uh just taking a very researchdriven

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approach um that's not hyped driven um that is not driven by uh tech uh uh companies and their kind of marketing uh prowess. Um I've been reading a lot about um performance-based contracts with tech platforms. Um so if there are

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promises about outcomes that are coming from a vendor like that being able to structure contracts where um it's built in where we know we need to see those educational achievement outcomes in order to pay the full uh the full value of that contract. Um those would be kind

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of three things just right out of the right out of the gate that that I'd like to explore. >> Thank you so much. That concludes round one and we're we're gonna ask you to go back into the room and we'll wait for round two for everybody. So, we'll bring out candidate number three.

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>> Welcome, Joe or Joseph. >> Uh, either one's fine. I usually go by Joe. >> Joe Bina. Uh, Bezna, >> Beza, welcome. For round one, we have three questions and you could limit each response to two minutes and we're going to go around and ask each of those questions.

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>> So, I'm going to ask uh, Vice President Boss to begin number one. >> Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PC PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please

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include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school.

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>> And by the way, you have a question sheet in front of you in case you need to refer to that. Um, the reason why I would like to join the board is I think I want to bring my history, my education, and my background. Um, just to provide any

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service that I can to the community. Um, one of the reasons why my wife and I, I mean, my wife has, uh, grew up in Canon. She's lived in Canon her entire life, but one of the reasons why I was really excited to move to Canon was because of how strong the schools are and an

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opportunity to be a part of that, um, is something that really spoke to me. Um, as far as uh impacting anything beyond the individual classroom, um, I've only been in the Plymouth Can School District since uh, 2022. So, I haven't had much

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of an opportunity um, outside of helping out teachers at the beginning and end of year and just helping out whenever I can. Um, so unfortunately, I don't have any experience with committees or anything beyond that uh, to help out on a broader scale, but I'm always interested and looking forward to seeing

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more opportunities. Thank you, Secretary Wester. Number two, please discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member.

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>> Um, so this the role of a school board member um I come from private industry. So when I think of the school board, I think of board of directors and in general that falls under the role of governance. So, one of the things would be uh coming from my finance background,

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um adopting and approving the final budget. Um that is something that I think I can bring some expertise to and I think that that's one of the primary uh roles of the school board. Um developing the educational goals. Um I know that Dr. Merritt is in charge of um

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developing the actual curriculum. Um but the as far as establishing the long-term goals like that falls under more of the governance uh side of the house. Um and then uh finally I think the board is a primary outlet for um holding the

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district accountable to the to the public. Um and that is a primary responsibility for the board and as the officials it's it's something that should be taken very serious. >> Thank you. Number three, please.

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>> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions. >> Um, I think one of the primary challenges that that the district is

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going to be facing in the near and long term is the u obviously we read out um over 40 teachers and staff members who are retiring. Um I think I read somewhere around 60 or 65% of the teachers are getting closer to

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retirement. So um attracting the young talent that's going to be able to carry our schools forward and continue their excellence into the next 20 30 40 years that's going to be a primary challenge for the for the for the district in the

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long term and in the near term. Um I know that there's constant rounds of of negotiations with the the various um unions and that's going to be something that's going to be um an ongoing challenge. Um I know that the teachers

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union is yet to um ratify theirs. So that I think will be the last one for you know this term um ending in in December. Um, so I think being able to bring my finance background into play

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will help kind of establish a way forward to really attract the best teachers and ensure that we have a good transfer of knowledge from the current staff to the future staff as we sort of go through the natural progression of of

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the careers and the staff. >> Thank you. That concludes round one. Um, we're going to ask you to go back to the other room and we will call everyone back after round one is completed. >> Welcome. Uh, is it Stephen Cassani? >> Yes.

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>> Okay. Welcome to round one. We have three questions prepared for you and there's a copy of that in front of you and u please limit your response to two minutes per question for the response and we'll go around and ask each question. So I'm going to ask member

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Ahmed to read question one. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school

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district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Thank you so much for that question. Um, good evening everyone. My name is

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Stephen Cassani and thank you for the opportunity uh to be here tonight. I have been a Canton resident since 1995. Uh I attended East Middle School and Canton High School. Uh I have spent my uh career leading organizations in both

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the private and public sectors. Before becoming an educator, uh I own a business. Uh so uh for 20 years or so, I owned a small business right out of high school and it was a

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marketing services bureau. Um after that I uh spent time raising my children. I I had the good fortune of of being uh independently financially secure. And so I stayed home

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and uh raised my children, one of whom uh Miss Merritt knows uh Nicholas uh who is still uh at 22 involved in Pum Canton's uh autistic uh self-contained

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uh uh classroom. Um, so I I have been uh that I'm currently teaching at Castc High School in Detroit, Michigan, where I am a certified teacher. I teach computer systems, networking, and

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telecommunications. Um, I've been doing that for the last seven years. I also have a lot of volunteer service as a FEMA contract instructor where I interfaced with teaching emergency services and pre

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preparedness to local officials to teach them how the federal government would interface with them during a disaster. A particular interest was working with uh folks uh police, fire, and uh other

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municipal services to teach them about how to help uh individuals with uh access and functional needs uh during emergencies. So to answer the question about um to

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answer the question of of something I've done that has impacted the whole district, I have been very active in the special needs uh community to ensure that our students, all of our students

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uh that are in the special needs community have receive the attention and care that they deserve uh while being uh receiving services from the district. Um if there's been any issues, I make sure

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to push back to ensure that um IDEA and and all of their federal and state protections are being um honored. Uh, one project that I did work upon was, uh, I did secure a grant that allowed

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Liberty Middle School to receive some robotics, um, some robotics tools uh, back during the first year that Liberty opened. My, uh, daughter was in attendance. >> Thank you.

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>> Uh, number two, remember, please, excuse me. to uh discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. >> Well, I think the school board are

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legislators. The the school board should establish the policies and the administration should implement those policies in the best ways that they see fit. Um so as as a as a responsibility

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of the school board is to be well informed on all of the issues that come before it. That means reading the whole packet and I know the packet can be voluminous. Uh so I think the number one uh number

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one is to um be informed be an informed board member and understand the issues that come before the board. The second is to ensure equity for all of our families and to meet them where they are at so that they receive uh services. And

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a lot of times things come may come before the board where the board has to decide uh an individual issue and I think that during those times the board has to make a good decision. I think the

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board also owes a duty to the taxpayers to ensure that the school district is spending the taxpayer funds in the mo the mo the safest the most effective and the most efficient way possible. Now, sometimes we can't always do efficient. Sometimes

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in order to be safe and effective, we can't be as efficient. And sometimes, uh, that will play out in the, um, will play out in the special education services, especially when one-on- ons

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are needed uh, with those children. One-on- ones are very expensive. they're not efficient, but it's safety and effectiveness comes before the efficiency in in that case. So, I I

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think a potential board member needs to be well read on the subjects that are before the board and I think that the board should represent the community. Thank you. >> Thank you. I have the last question for

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round one. What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district moving forward? And please be specific in those responses. And after you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions.

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>> Well, I think declining enrollment is always a challenge. I think attracting and retaining uh talent that is um uh at a rate that we can afford

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is a real challenge. Uh I was heartened to hear that 40 new teachers uh educators were hired, champions as as you call them here uh were were hired and that was put before the board. But I

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think that uh the opportunities are that we have uh uh school choice here in Michigan and so we can attract students from other districts if they will come. But I think that some of the some of the schools some of the students

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specifically in the IIA category the international uh baloria program they're going to other districts. I know for certain. I know some of them are going to Cass Tech. I know others are going to the International Academy

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in Troy. Why would parents who live in Canton choose to go to school so far away? And so I think an opportunity will be to shore up that hey, Pum Canton needs to be the best at what we do. And

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we live in we live in this community. I mean, that's why I settled in Canton 30 years ago. I settled in Canton because I wanted the schools. I attended the schools. I wanted my kids to go to the schools. And so, for me, it's just unfathomable that anybody

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would drive 30, 40 miles every day to take their kid to a school that's not in this district. So, I think that's an opportunity. Um, what could we do? Well, I think we have to look at we have to figure out why. We have to do the why

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before we can before I have a specific suggestion as to how to solve that problem. >> Thank you. All right, that concludes round one. We'll ask you to go back to the room and bring everyone back after round one. >> Great. Thank you so much.

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>> Thank you. Okay. >> Good evening, >> Mike. >> Yes, >> this is Michael Dowski. >> That's me. Yes. Thank you. >> Did I say that right? >> You did. Yes. >> Welcome. Thanks for being here. >> All right. We have three questions for round one and we'll go around ask those

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questions from the board members. >> Pardon me. >> Yes. Yeah. So, as this is an everchanging list, thank you Diane for keeping up with the last 24 hours. This list has changed every five minutes. So, so bear

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with us board colleagues. Um, so this is Michael. >> We're on your list. Whatever you have on your >> He's number five so far, right? >> That'll be the fifth. >> Yes. Fifth for us. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> Uhhuh. >> Well, we get the logistics. Sure.

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>> All right. So, we have three questions for round one. We'll go around asking those questions. Please keep your response to two minutes for each question. >> Very good. >> All right. And you have a copy of the questions in front of you as well. Okay. So, I will have member boss read the first question. Please

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begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a

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committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Very good. First and foremost, thank you all for the invitation to come in apply for this position. I first became aware, as many did, through the email that was sent out to parents in the school

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district. And over the past year, my wife and I have been on a process by which we're trying to figure out ways in which we've become more involved in the community. My wife is was interested in being serving as the clerk for Clint Township. And when this email came about, I thought to myself, I've served

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the my university community in Dearbornne for the past eight years. And now, as my daughter is a rising fifth grader and I've worked in in Smith Elementary in her class at a local level, how can I take that local involvement with our school district and

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expand it to serve in a broader capacity? How can I ensure that our school district, which I've come to see as a remarkable place for learning and achievements can continue to strengthen itself and grow it beyond its current capacity in an era where there is financial constraints, an era where

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there's there's challenges with artificial intelligence. I come from the perspective of saying I'm a university mathematician. I'm accredited from the side of actuaries taking the first seven actuarial exams learning about risk management, financial problems. I'm aware of this environment. I've built

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curriculum around artificial intelligence. I've come to develop summer free summer programs, after school programs for local schools in Dearbornne. And I thought to myself, yes, I've engaged in the city of Dearborn as part of my work as a university professor. Now is the time in

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my life when my daughter is going to be going into fifth grade, going to going to middle school after that, high school after that. How can I bring my perspective as a higher educator admin as a higher educator as a professor? How can I bring these experiences which I've crafted in Dearbornne to Plymouth Canton Community Schools? And so in particular,

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I have not engaged in as of yet in any large-scale grant proposal for Plymouth Canton. I've not engaged in any broad overarching program for the school district in general. But what I can say is I've done these things in Dearbornne. I've worked in middle schools, elementary schools,

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high schools. I've hired high school students. I've engaged with middle school students to bring them to free summer programming. I've worked with community centers with the Jefferson Barnes Community Center to run a free organized after school programming in the summer for atrisisk kids. And I understand that that community is different than our community. That being

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said, I feel that I have requisite experience to bring those policies from what I've been doing previously in Dearbornne to PCCS to be an active member of this board and to say what are the pitfalls with some of these some of these ideas? How can we engage with some of these larger scale grant organizations like the Balmer Grant

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Institution, like the Master Organization, all of these programs exist? How can I bring my knowledge from what I've done over the past seven or eight years to this school district which I've come to love over the past five years? Thank you. Uh to number two, Secretary

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Westerro, please discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. >> The first priority which I value above all else is transparency. As a member of

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the school board, I would make sure that the board was transparent and communicative with the community in general. the decisions we make here and they may seem like we're just approving action item 1 2 3 4 5 the reality is is how can we be effective communicators and transparent with the policies if we take for example there might be

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potentially some angst around AI with these with these with the role of these new programs how can we communicate to parents that yes your teacher is still part of this program AI is enga you're working with AI later in the day when your parents and your teachers are asleep getting sleep for the next day of

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work how can we make it be transparent and clear and say we're in a different era and we want to make sure that we are available to you. We're transparent and clear with you. That's the first and foremost thing. We have to be transparent with the community with we communicate with the community in general. How do we reach out to teachers? How do we reach out to administrators? How do we reach out to

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parents? Making sure the decisions that are made here are clear are widely disseminated and easily accessible. That's the first priority we have here. The second priority in my view is the financial component of this. As this has is happening at every level of education

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right now, financial constraints are on the minds of every ac of every person in academia from from from kindergarten all the way through the university level. Understanding the structure of how the state appropriation how the state appropriations come in the most recent budget. Understanding the term structure

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of the syncing fund that's going to be put into place. understanding how we can how we can basically very carefully again disseminate this information about something that's a complicated notion in the syncing fund. I know this because I teach this in my math 335 class. I teach sync funds in that class. It's a hard

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concept even for very very bright actuial students. How do we make that idea clear to the public? That will be a challenge that is going to be one of the fundamental challenges because people care about at the end of the day they care about mills they care about bonds and when you throw a term like syncing fund in there most people will probably get a little bit wobbly than me. So how

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do we clearly communicate what is going to happen and how are we using this fund to basically help us to make sure we have deferred maintenance projects that are taken care of and in other words how can we make sure that we are financially responsible under this board. And then the third priority is simply just to

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sort of broadly look at our district and reflect and say yes this is a place this is a desirable place to learn. This is a place for students learn and grow but then understanding that that's not the end of the road. The motto of the University of Wisconsin is forward forever. That's a motto I hold dear to

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my heart. Forward forever, never walk backwards. How do we improve our already exceedingly good district? Right? Our our district is great. What's the next level of our district? How can that board broadly look at and that of course is sort of an omnipresent thing. How do you look at our district as a whole and say where are the areas we can improve

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understanding that we're a great district in the in the in the current staff. >> Thank you. Last question is going to be by treasure vihole. What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges, please

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share suggestions for possible solutions. As with almost every arena of life, I believe the biggest challenge is going to be the artificial intelligence challenge. This is something I see in my day-to-day life as a professor, the use of artificial intelligence both in a positive way and a negative way. And

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understanding that crafting a policy that this board will have to work tread carefully but you know caut cautiously carefully and also with purpose in order to say here are the pros of artificial intelligence here are the cons of artificial intelligence understanding

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that parents might also be a little bit concerned about this to say how can we be open engaged and how can we be good listeners and to say yes we understand these are the issues and how can we stay up to date as part of my consulting business I've worked with some with several AI firms training these models.

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I understand that they're they are evolving very very quickly. They're evolving quicker than most people can even keep up with in the academic field. So if there are academics, the highest caliber academics who have not solved mathematical conjectures that are now being solved by artificial intelligence models, h how do we answer parents and say there's a rationalization for your

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student to take four years of mathematics in high school? That is a legitimate question that parents can ask. That is a question that we as a board have to have a concise answer to. a concise answer that is strong and a concise answer that's also caring and compassionate that says yes, we understand the issues that are around this. We understand the the the

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strengths. We understand the pitfalls of this. How can we convey to you that we are going to use this new technology in a positive way that only helps your children grow. >> Thank you. That concludes round one. So, we're going to ask you to go back into

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the room and we'll call you back after round one is completed. >> Thank you very much for your time. >> Thanks. Hi, please make sure uh Tak Raman. >> T Roman. Yes. >> Okay. Welcome. >> Thank you. >> We have three questions for you for round one. >> Okay. And those questions are also in

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front of you as we read them out loud. You will have two minutes for each question and the board members will go around asking each of the questions. >> Okay. >> Okay. So, I'm going to ask uh member Aed to read question one. Please begin by sharing why you were interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board

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of education and how you were qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not

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an individual classroom or school. >> First and foremost, I am new to Michigan. I moved here from Massachusetts 5 years ago. My two sons are at the school right now, so I'm trying to get to know the school much better than I used to. uh and uh what

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interests me here is that the fact that I have not been involved in any school activities uh but I am very interested in identifying ways that artificial intelligence can help the school system. my professional experience as a IT management person for world's second

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best healthcare company. I do in the governance side of IT management where I deal with uh all these different aspects of of IT where artificial intelligence could help but

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there is a big bias. We are more focused political side and economic side of artificial intelligence than actually what it can do for us. So I'm not going to get into detail but just one quick point at the end of the day artificial

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intelligence is a statistics. It's not a human being that is analyzing multiple different dimensions of things which makes it tougher for younger students who are addicted to video games and all of the other components to really understand and differentiate themsel

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from whatever they're seeing or whatever they're observing or whatever they're learning. So combining those two is going to be critical for our future generation. >> Thank you. Member Christensen is going to ask number two. discuss what you see as the three most

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important responsibilities of the b of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. What I see as a potential opportunity and I heard the meeting that he had about uh the virtual classroom situations. I think that is probably

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going to be one of the most exciting thing to happen. But again, I take a cautious approach to it. If you take the students away from interfacing with each other, are we creating the right environment? I'm not expecting the answer from myself, but we need to talk through

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that. So, that's what I'm expecting first. >> Thank you. Um, last question. What do you see as opportunities and challenges for this district moving forward? And please be specific in that response. And after you share some opportunities and

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challenges, please share some suggestions for possible solutions. the opportunities again technologydriven education challenges we see cost associated with it you know the if you try to do

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something I just looked at the virtual classrooms of $2500 I forget the exact number but it's over $2,000 try to how do you bring in families who are already struggling with economic pressures

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How do you, you know, bring those in and help educate those challenged students who cannot afford everything else at the higher level of society can afford bringing those two challenges, you know, and try to figure out an opportunity to

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do it. And how would I like to do it? I like to figure out a way of engaging the students in not necessarily fundraising but opportunities for them to help us see outside of normal day-to-day ways of

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doing creating in innovative environment where they can support us and they can engage their parents maybe the banks who volunteer more to reduce some of the cost aspects of education. >> Thank you. This concludes round one.

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We're going to ask you to go back to the room and we'll call everyone back after round one. >> Thank you. >> Thank you so much. >> Hi. Just to make sure we have the right person on our list. Bryant Nun. >> That's right. >> Welcome. >> Thank you so much. How are you today? >> Good. How are you >> doing? Well, congratulations on your appointment.

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>> Oh, thank you. Thanks for being here. So round one consists of three questions. And those questions are also in front of you. Taped to the desk. >> Okay. >> We're going to go around the table and ask each of those three questions. And please limit your response to two minutes for each question. >> For sure.

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>> Thank you. So I'm going to ask member boss for question number one. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please

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include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school.

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>> Okay. Uh, fantastic. Well, first of all, good afternoon. I'm Bryant Nun. Uh, I'm a retired Navy pilot, moved back to, uh, Plymouth uh, in 2020. um born and raised in actually and in Detroit um and uh

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retired after about 29 years of military service. Um so uh Canton was our our nest, right? We were able to land here during COVID. Uh I was invited back from my last tour to the University of Michigan to teach and lead their Navy

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ROC unit. Uh and my wife and all my boys were Fidian. So you can imagine the first winter, right? Um but uh for my my my life and my family's lives, I've been shaped

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uh so much by education. Uh and uh it absolutely saved me. I'm the most fortunate person I ever met. Uh went from, like I said, uh just enlisting in the Marine Corps to go to school somehow is what my father did before he passed away. um and uh graduated from the Naval

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Academy, made it to Annapolis and had a career as a Navy pilot. Um so, uh I believe that, you know, after teaching at Michigan and leading some of the brightest minds, uh and seeing two of my boys graduate from uh the park, uh I um

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I'm excited to to serve the community by by serving on the school board. Um, as far as uh I've never worked on a committee or project. Um, but

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uh I I believe I've benefited the district uh in the support of my boys and their uh their extracurricular activities at the park. Um my my youngest uh was a four-year band member. Uh and after serving in in in various

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capacities with the band and crew and setting up uh and in these six years that we've been here, we've had a chance to just see the park grow immeasurably. Um speaking to him, I would ask how he

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thought it happened. And uh to him he said that the teachers were great and they were always so supportive and uh so I wondered how that happened and I know it happens due to the hard work of the people in this room and the people sitting here. Uh and I'd like to

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volunteer my service to be a part of that. >> Thank you. I'm going to ask Secretary Wester for question number two. Discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member.

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Well, uh the school board has has absolutely got to serve the superintendent and the people of the community. Um this this board, these are the eyes and ears of

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the community. Um, this board is the reason why Loth Ken schools uh shine just as much as schools to the north. Uh, uh, schools, you know, in Arbor. Um,

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this is an amazing community. So, uh, now what does that mean? Uh, it means that there are responsibilities. We've got to have vision. We've got to see around corners. We've got to not create horizon problems. So things that are going to be good today but not good for

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good, right? We've got to we've got to parse through those. Um and when we see smiling faces come in uh and the community comes in and we have we have students here who are articulate. I mean what better proof do we have right?

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I think that's a direct uh result of the board's hard work. Um so that's one having vision. uh two supporting the superintendent uh I think and three uh the diverse group of people in this room have to be

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the pulse of the community. Um what matters in Canton and Plymouth I I think we largely know that because of our our support structures uh and we can bring that into this room. Um I think it's

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extremely important. Uh, and it's uh I mean it from what I've uh seen in the in the meetings I've watched this this group is a team and it's a it's remarkable to watch.

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>> Thank you. I'm going to ask Treasure Kho to have question three. >> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions.

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>> Wow. Um, so I I can't imagine the challenges this board has dealt with in the last four years, five years. um just responding to the world and where

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it is and attempting to insulate uh or embrace our students uh or embrace where the world's going, right? Or insulate our students from where the world's going uh is uh is extremely important. Uh, I see opportunities. Um,

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when I when I ask my I asked my sons, uh, so you had a great time in high school. How could we get better? Um, and after they finished talking about how like, oh, the path and snowballs and stuff,

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uh, my youngest mentioned his favorite teacher, Mr. Rothwell at the park and how an AP Chem teacher made time to talk about the importance of investing. Uh to talk about the importance of

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mental health being being a good person and how that affects the world around you. Um and I said son, it sounds like it's your favorite teacher. Uh I I'd love to give him a shout out in this meeting. Um what's his first name? He goes, "William

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or Bill." I don't know why Bill's short for William. Um but um but he knows his teacher's first name. Has never used it, right? Um and it's just because that teacher showed he cared

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um and was so brave that he was able to bring himself in things that matter to the classroom, not just teaching the test scores. And again, so I believe that one of the opportunities and this this is a challenge, right? Making all of our

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teachers feel so supported that they can really bring themselves, right? Um they're not we're not just teaching the test scores and promoting children and getting them to the next level, whatever that is. We need to empower these children to have better lives. And each

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of the adults in this room can leverage lessons, right? So, uh, that's one of the great challenges I think, you know, we're in and in this economy, how do we make people feel so confident that they'll be supported that they can really be themselves and they don't have

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to, you know, uh, just make the numbers look good and, you know, just struggle and be stressed about keeping my job, right? Um, so I think that's probably the greatest

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challenge. Um, and again, it's it's fighting it's fighting gravity. It's fighting human nature. It's fighting everything to support people so that they can be their best selves for our most valuable resource, right, our students.

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Um, I think there are opportunities for growth. Um, I've had a chance to read through uh the dynamic plan. Um, and the materials on the website are

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fantastic. I I was I'm uh you know, I I I wish I was smart or good-looking. I'm neither. But I was able to wrap my arms around what the goals of this organization is. Um I I couldn't find any sort of progress on the dynamic plan. Right. Here's where we were.

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Here's where we are. Here's where we're going. Here are the next measurable uh identifiable places that you know we need to achieve this year that keep us on schedule. Um so that's probably another challenge. Um did I answer the

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question? >> Great. >> Thank you so much. This concludes round one. We're going to ask you to go back and we'll call everyone back after round one is completed. Thank you. >> Thank you so much for having me. Have a good day. Bye. There's a couple of members standing in the hallway. Could Could we invite them

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in? >> Members, >> people standing in the hallway. Could we invite them to come in and sit down? >> I think it's just I think it's just Carly. >> Oh, okay. >> Carly's just in the hallway. what's going on in this room for

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>> I got it. I got it. Okay. >> Thank you for being here. >> Welcome Katie. >> Hi. >> Hi. Welcome to round one. We're going to go around and we have three questions for round one. And those questions are also pasted on the table in front of you. >> And each board member is going to ask

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each of the questions and you'll have two minutes to respond to each question. Okay. Can I forget? Are we starting this side now? Okay. All right. I'm gonna ask member Ahmed to read number one, please. >> Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the

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PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district

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as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Hi everyone. Um, I think most of you guys already know me, but I'm Katie Bennett. Um, I'm a graduate of this district and I also have three kids in the district, a first grader, a seventh grader, and an eighth grader. Um but my

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my connection to PCSF PCCS extends beyond being an alumni and a parent. Um the first the first board meeting I ever attended. Um my oldest son who's now 13 was three. Um he was in the stay and play program. I came wearing a red shirt. Um and I spoke out in support of

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the teachers at the time when they were renegotiating their contract. um and it was a very contentious contract year because there was a lot of um regaining of some of the uh money that they have lost during the great recession. So anyway, so it's been a long time. I've been to over dozens of board meetings.

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Um I am currently serving as the vice president on the PCCS parent council. Um I was also spent two years on the student performance and achievement committee um as well. And then I also was on the PC spirit committee um for a

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couple years. Um that committee, if you guys recall, is the committee that successfully implemented moving the um uh assignment of high school from sixth grader to point of entry, which we're almost at, I think, which is exciting. Um and so in addition to the work that

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I've done in in these committees, um I also serve as the director of Say Yes to Recess Michigan. Um and so I advocate for um recess for children um ensuring that they have enough high quality recess every single school day. Um I uh through this work I've developed a deep

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understanding of school funding, education policy um and the challenges that public schools are facing throughout Michigan. Um I've worked collaboratively with educators and policy makers, parents, and advocacy organizations throughout Michigan for the last two years. Um and we just

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successfully um have introduced a bill um House Bill 5794 in the House of Representatives to guarantee that all kids have 40 minutes of recess in the state of Michigan. Um and so through all of this work um that is why I I believe

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that I'm the the right candidate um to to be the next school board candidate. Thank you. We're moving on to question two with member Christensen. Okay. discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role

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of a school board member. I think number one, the most important responsibility is to listen. Um I think that there's a lot of concerned parents out there. Um and I think that the number one thing that you need to do is to listen to them and hear them and understand where

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they're at and where they're coming from. Um I think the uh second important responsibility is to be an ongoing advocate of the school district and public education. Um you know I grew up in this district. I'm a graduate of this

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district. I we moved back here my husband graduated from this district. We moved back here to um because we wanted our kids to go to PCC schools. Um and I think that as a board member um I think that that that shows a lot. I think that you have to continually um kind of

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advocate and have that message around like why this is the community and why our public education system matters and why our district is great. Um the third responsibility I think is to um you know we have a lot of budget challenges coming up and I think that there's a lot

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of concerns around how money is being spent in the district and um therefore being a good steward of the tax dollars that are provided to this district. >> Thank you. I have the last question for you for round one. What do you see as

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the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. in that response and after you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions. Okay. Um I already alluded to the to challenge you know a moment ago

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in terms of the budget challenge. I think that um I mean the the money coming from the state's not that much as I think it was like a two and a half% increase next year per pupil. So clearly that's not going to solve some of the budget challenges that um the district's

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facing. I think that um the syncing fund is one option, but I think that there's um you know, I think we need to look closely. I think there's a lot of um parents concerned about the number of administrators in the district and what that ratio looks like compared to other districts and whether or not um we have

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the right ratio of kind of non uh what's the right word like non people in the classroom with our kids, right? So like what is that ratio? Is that the right ratio? Um so ensuring that um again we're kind of overcoming some of those budget challenges while preserving the

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classroom environment and the level of education that we should expect out of the district. So I think that's one challenge. Um I think on we have a huge opportunity to win kids back to the district right like we lost a lot of families during COVID. um enrollment is

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down. Um and I think with the the enhancements of the bond, I think there have been some changes in terms of how we're funding some of the sports, the athletic programs. I think that all of those are really great positive things. And I think that gives us the opportunity to kind of win back some of

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those families, which can also help solve some of the budget problems as well as you increase enrollment again. Um, the challenge that I'm most concerned about as a parent right now in the district is staffing. Um, you know, some of my most favorite teachers in the

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world just retired, right? Um, just some incredible people. And it's sad to see some of the incredible knowledge that has is walking out the door. Um, and I think that yes, we have this great new generation of teachers coming in. Um, but I'm I'm genuinely concerned about

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the training of those teachers, ensuring that they're the right teachers to be in this community. Um, and and making sure that they can kind of be at the level that we want them to be given that you have to hire so many. Um, you know, at Smith last year, um, you know, we didn't

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even have a music teacher the whole year. We have no music teacher. Like, we had a long-term sub. Um, so if we can't fill that one spot last school year, it's concerning that we, you know, we need to be able to fill all of these spots that are now open. Um, how you

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solve that, I think, you know, we don't pay our first year teachers as well as other surrounding districts, right? Um, I think it's either North Hill or Novi. I think they're they're paying first year teachers, I think, $6,000 more dollars a year. That's a lot of money. Um, and so when you're paying back

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student loans, like we want to be able to get those best new teachers out of school. And so we need to make sure that we're um paying teachers, you know, first year teachers and senior teachers um what the other districts in the area are are doing. >> Thank you. That concludes round one. So

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we're going to ask you to go back to the room and we'll call everyone back after round one is completed. Okay. >> Thanks for being here. Good evening. >> Good evening. Welcome. Tracy McDade. >> Yes. >> Did I say that right? You did. >> Oh, good. Thank you. Welcome. Thanks for being here.

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>> Thank you for having me. >> We are at round one where we have three questions. Board members will go around asking each question and please u make sure that you respond to each question with no more than two minutes. >> Okay? And the questions are also in front of you tape to the table if you want an extra reference to what the

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questions are. >> Okay. Question. Am I able to refer back to my my notes or >> Oh, absolutely. Yes. Use whatever notes you have. And also keep in mind that we did receive all the materials that all uh applicants sent and the board members have reviewed all those materials.

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>> Okay. All right. So, I'm going to ask um Vice President Boss to read number one, please. Welcome. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS Board of Education and how you are qualified. In your

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response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee project or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school.

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>> Thank you for your question. Um, my name is Tracy McDeo. I have been a resident in the district for over 30 years. Um, and I am invested in the community. I've raised two sets of children. Um, my daughter and then also my now my

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grandchildren, five of them. So because of all this involvement, I have been heavily involved in the schools, not to the level of a school board per se, but in the individual schools whenever there was a need that was um that they needed the school, whether it was the

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fundraising capacity or in the classroom itself or just whatever be that the teachers may reach out outside of the standard regular schedule things that they need, I was always there willing to uh lend my time, lend my resources, just

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do whatever I can to support the district. Uh this is a as I said before um I'm ser well I'm interested in serving because I'm invested 32 years here. I I've had kids in this school district every day since 1995. I should

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be tired but actually I feel like this is actually a next step for me because I've been involved in the lower levels and I would like to see you know be a part of making policy um for the future. I have so out of the five children, two of them have graduated already and I

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have three left. So I'm invested and as I get older and more mature, I realize how important it is to really be invested in your school district, especially when you have children. So I'm actually older, but I have young children. So it's kind of a twofer for me. Thank you.

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All right. Uh Secretary Wester, question number two, please. discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. Certainly. Um, so if you review my resume, I am a real estate

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investor, developer. Well, I'm an investor personally, but I've also worked on teams of develop real estate development teams as well as project management. So, what that has opened up my eyes to are sources and uses of funds. You have to have enough resources

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to do what you need to do. And even listening to you talk about the sync funding. This is very important. You have a board member has to understand financing funding, how you going to get there, um how you going to uh make your budget budget and what happens when it

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doesn't budget because because sometimes overruns happen. And I've experienced it in my project management experience that it can happen. It's not fun. It's not good. But because I also have a lot of experience in um stakeholder management, relationship management, and

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understanding uh sources and financing, I believe I'd be a good candidate to help the school board see if that were to happen, see approve. Thank you. Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't thought I guess

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I didn't answer all three. the most. So that would be understanding finances, relationship management, stakeholder management because we are responsible for the district as well as bridging the gap between the district and the in the residents. So to me those are most important things.

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Thank you. I'm going to ask u >> yesho number three. >> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions.

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>> Wow, that's a lot. So, since I've been here since 1995, the district has definitely changed, but I'm always impressed with how well they've handled it. I'm I'm actually still amazed that this district can handle 6,200 students

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at a high school. No one would think that' be possible, but I've experienced how well they do it. So, um, and it it looks like it should be a challenge, but they've done it well. So, um, opportunities and challenges. I've

468
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experienced nothing but great opportunities at the lower levels, uh, the the middle school as well as the elementary. The only challenges might be the district going forward because my understanding is it's kind of retracting a little bit um, from population. So, I

469
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guess the the the district needs to figure out how to continue to grow the district, making it continue to be attractive. The homeowners want to move into the district without um taking anything away. It's it's a balancing act. Everything is a balancing act because it's really always about funding

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and everything is tied to it. So, how do we balance the budget, give a quality service, educate the children, and uh have people want to move into the district? Thank you. Did you Did you want to

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finish any I thought I saw you opportunities and challenges? >> No, I think that's >> okay. Thank you. That concludes round one. We're going to ask you to go back to the room and we'll call everyone back after round one is completed. Thank you.

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Welcome Sarah Khan. >> Hi, thanks for being here. Thank you for having me. So, we are at round one where we have three questions and board members will ask those questions uh one by one. For each question, please limit your response to two minutes and a copy of those questions are at the table in

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front of you. Okay. So, member Amnner, I'm going to ask you to read number one, please. >> Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the ECCS Board of Education and how you were qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the

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school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Okay. Thank you so much for having me.

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Um I am the CEO and founder of Go Playrooms here in Canton. Uh we opened in August 2024 uh after I left my career in technology. So I was uh leading cyber security at AWS at Microsoft. And then I decided to

476
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pivot because I had three young kids who are now PCCS kiddos. Um so I am directly involved with PCCS. I get to work directly with all of the kids. We directly target ages 0 to 8. That's primarily what we focus on. We are an

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early learning center and a playroom. Um so that's my dayto-day. Um and that spans over I would say we have people that come all the way from Ohio. So definitely um Plymouth and Canton, but personally um all three of my kids are currently PCCS kids. Um, and as a

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parent, uh, my eldest is six, my second is five, and my youngest is three. Um, who's very in the throws of toddlerhood and works with over 5,000 families in the PCCS district. I get to see every day the impact, um, a great school

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system like PCCS and district can have on families. So, that's really what drew me to apply and want to be involved is to be kind of at the forefront of making that impact that I see every day. um at Gold. >> Thank you. I'm gonna ask member

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Christensen for number two, please. Thank you. Discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. Yeah. Um so in my email, I identified

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three things that I find incredibly important at the current place we're at. Um, as someone who works in technology, one of the things that I see at the forefront of school boards today is technology. Um, how to implement that into a classroom, how to work with your

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educators and parents. And then the other two I would say is uh health and responsibility. Um, health has been a big focus. One of my primary degrees is in kinesiology. So, I put a huge focus on making sure that our early education

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both at GoPro um at and at home um emphasizes both mental health and physical health. Um and then responsibility both to our community u parents and educators. Um I am the child of a public school educator so I

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understand how important that role is and as a board you are basically curating their experience. Um so I take that very seriously as well. Thank you. I have the last question for round one. What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this

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district going forward? And please be specific in that response. And after you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions. Okay. So, I touched earlier on the integration

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of technology in education. Um I see that as being uh one of the greater challenges of the current school board as we touched on earlier in this meeting um when you did bring up the integration of AI in the classroom and now virtual learning has been integrated to a degree

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that students are um using that as their primary learning mechanism. So that's what I see as a big challenge. Technology has always advanced at a greater rate than the general public is able to catch up with. And because of that, I see that as being, um, probably

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the biggest hurdle for the school board going forward. Um, but I think that with the current policies and everything that's in place, um, that can be solved and addressed. And I'm positive that with my experience, I can bring experience to help, um, navigate those

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challenges. Thank you. That concludes round one. We're going to ask you to go back to the room and we'll bring everyone back after round one is completed. Thanks for being here. If we have our listing correct, you are Jennifer McDow. >> That's correct. >> Great. Thanks for being here. >> Thanks for having me.

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>> So, we are at round one where we have three questions for you and if you could limit your response to each question to two minutes and I will have board membersh ask each of the questions one by one. So we will start with is it side or that side that that's it. We will

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start with vice president boss for question number one. Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS board of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has

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impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> Great. Thank you. Um, so I'll begin by sharing that I'm a Plymouth resident, a

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parent of two children in Plymouth Hampton Schools. And I have spent the last 20 years working for other cities, districts, and states supporting uh how do we get amazing education outcomes for young people. I

494
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started my career first um at the afterchool program level and most recently have been supporting capacity building uh systems in uh state education agencies um across the country. I have a master's of education

495
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and a graduate certificate in leadership for school family community collaboration. Um but my interest is not professional. It's really personal. Um, my parents really taught me that education was a place that you go into

496
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school and it can change your life. Um, my mom left school in middle school to actually help her kids, I mean her siblings, uh, and support her family and she never allowed that to define my experience. Um, every day she and my dad when I

497
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walked out the door reminded me to make good choices. first I was never able to be absent uh make good choices um and learn something new and um school became the place where I really did get to change my own trajectory. So I'll skip a

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little bit ahead and share that I am here as a you know first generation college student graduate. Um and I'm so grateful that I had that experience and I really believe that education should not be something that you know because of an amazing teacher

499
02:22:15.520 --> 02:22:32.080
who told me Jennifer you really should apply to college um and a program called Micro Society where I got to be a fourth grade teacher when I was in fourth grade and applied for that. uh it it shouldn't be an accident. And what I've learned over the years in my work is that great

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programs like school classrooms and um education uh experiences are really built off of an infrastructure of support, strong policies, strong um investments in resources um and strong

501
02:22:48.240 --> 02:23:04.399
decision- making. So I'm new to Plymouth, so I'm clear about that. Um, I've only been here two years. I have been aching to find a way to find to contribute to this district. I've been to the coffee with the superintendent. I've been able to have coffee with a

502
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couple of the board members. Um, and I haven't yet found my way uh into that. So, part of this interest for me is how can I contribute in this six months the kind of ways I've been contributing the last 20 years to other districts where

503
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it's home for me and where it's home for my children. Um, and I haven't been able to contribute to a project that's benefited the district as a whole, but I am really proud of some school level support that I've been able to offer my

504
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elementary school through a partnership with our library. Um, my child is biracial and we learned uh that he was coming home every day commenting. I think I mentioned this to you uh about I'm white, right? I I I should be Why am

505
02:23:51.439 --> 02:24:09.120
I turning so dark in the sun? And um I was able to go to a summer camp and see flags that represented other cultures and countries and worked with our school librarian to survey the identities and backgrounds of the children that attend our school and volunteer to create flags

506
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um as part of the windows, doors, and mirrors curriculum in the library. We also created a jet setter program inside the library that um allowed non-fiction books um representing different countries to be checked out and be

507
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rewarded with a passport stamped um and then celebrated with prizes. And it wasn't about being able to say like, oh, this represents your identity and your family. It was about normalizing that we get to celebrate and honor and

508
02:24:40.560 --> 02:24:56.640
acknowledge the global uh you know globally focused um classroom that we have. So uh I think that's why this is important to me. I I will acknowledge I'm not running publicly for a six-year

509
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um you know board seat. I see this as a real opportunity to dig in deep um and uh and and put my attention in the system. >> Thank you. Gonna ask Secretary Wester for question number two. Discuss what you see as the three most important

510
02:25:12.479 --> 02:25:28.240
responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. >> Yeah, I've been doing a lot of listening to understand that role. Um, and from my understanding, I think the responsibilities of the school board are

511
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first to promote and encourage inclusive decision-making. Um, how do we leverage uh getting more seat more voices into the seat to share their experiences to inform the kinds of decisions that the board makes? Um, I believe that the

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board uh the board's role in allocating dollars makes a tremendous impact in terms of what happens in the budget because I think about my own story and the fact that a teacher had a small enough class size to notice me and be able to say, "Dennifer, you should go to

513
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college." That was due to an investment that the board in my district at the time made to ensure that teachers had the opportunity to create those relationships. Um so uh inclusive decision- making um making

514
02:26:17.040 --> 02:26:34.240
sure that we are um reviewing and uh contributing to policy at the end of the day. Um every single thing that happens in the classroom is sort of backed by a decision further down the line. Um and it either helps or hinders our ability

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to meet the mission of educating our young people. >> Thank you. Question number three is treasure. >> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges,

516
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please share suggestions for possible solutions. >> Yeah. Um, so I've had the opportunity to work in a number of districts across the country. And moving here, one of the opportunities that I first understood and acknowledged was um the opportunity

517
02:27:06.319 --> 02:27:22.240
to recognize that the you know, Plymouth Canton is changing just like every other, you know, demographic uh every other jurisdiction in the country and we have an opportunity to be at the forefront of providing

518
02:27:22.240 --> 02:27:37.840
um not accidental experiences of support, not one-off experiences of support. I think the district is doing a tremendous job right now through um the family engagement office and there are models across the country that really

519
02:27:37.840 --> 02:27:54.960
amp up that support um like community schools for example um to make sure that we are providing incredible wraparound services, incredible enriched learning experiences, career connected learning experiences all um centered around this

520
02:27:54.960 --> 02:28:10.479
idea that every child no matter where their background is like me um gets that support that they need and the opportunity that they deserve to thrive. I think the second opportunity um is

521
02:28:10.479 --> 02:28:26.479
quite frankly around belonging. Um and I don't say that as a judgment. I say it as an opportunity. I think that every child who walks through our schools should be known, loved, and inspired.

522
02:28:26.479 --> 02:28:43.600
they should be honored for who they are and the unique gifts that they bring. Um, and the unique gifts that are part of their family and cultural and community heritage. And there are so many small ways that that happens already. And I just get

523
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curious about the ways that we can strengthen that um for every child so it doesn't look different at Bird than Smith, for example. Um, and those are two things I care deeply about and have, um, quite a bit of experience thinking

524
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about how do we implement both a system of wraparound support? Um, and also how do we engage families and communities to create places of true meaning and belonging and partnership, right? At the end of the day, what is belonging if not

525
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to invite you to the table to work together? >> Thank you. This concludes round one of our interviews. We're going to ask you to go back into the other room and we'll call everyone back after round one. >> Appreciate that. >> Thank you for being here. >> We're just making sure we're on the

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right list. Bradley Gray, >> welcome to round one. We have three questions for round one and we're going to have each board member read each question and you also have a copy of that in front of you on the table and please uh make sure that you try to stay within the two-minute limit for each

527
02:30:00.880 --> 02:30:16.160
response for each question and we have all your material. So we've looked through that in terms of background. So I'm going to ask member Aman to read question number one. Please, please begin by sharing why you're interested in serving as a member of the PCPS board

528
02:30:16.160 --> 02:30:32.479
of education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you worked on a committee, project, or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not

529
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an individual classroom or school. >> Sure. Sure. And I I'm interested in serving as a member of the PCSCS board of education because I believe that I bring uh experience that is necessary, especially in situation where you're filling a vacancy. Uh when you're filling a vacancy, when you come on to a

530
02:30:50.479 --> 02:31:06.080
school board at the beginning of a term, you know, there's kind of a process that you go through. People go through certain trainings through MSV through district. Um but when you're filling a vacancy, you kind of need to hit the ground running. The school year starting, you know, the things are moving forward. Um, and I bring that

531
02:31:06.080 --> 02:31:22.399
experience, uh, my experience in education. I worked for the Senate Education Committee and Michigan Association of Secondary School Principles. And, uh, most recently, I did serve on the school board of Wayne Mustang Community Schools prior to, uh, relocating to, uh, Canton last year, uh,

532
02:31:22.399 --> 02:31:39.040
entirely to get my kids into the school district. Um, so, you know, I I do know I'm a little newer to the district than some. Um, so my involvement in the school community here isn't something I can speak as much about. Although I was involved by the kindergartenner at workman this year and we went to as many

533
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events as we can. We're involved as we can um with PTO and um I did attend a meeting of the parent council. Um but prior to coming to Punan schools um like I mentioned you know I served on a school board while we were going through a financial crisis um as president of

534
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that school board helped guide the uh board through that process um where we came out with a much better financial outlook on the other side um and as part of that I can say that I understand the importance of the scing fund because uh had we gone through that financial crisis and had to worry about what would

535
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happen if a boiler went out in one of our buildings and we couldn't afford to fix um we would have had to make harder choices about taking money out of the classroom um and I know understand how important uh moving forward with the scing fund is to the district. >> Thank you member Christensen. Question

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number two, please. >> Thank you. Number two, discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member. >> Sure. Um you know, as on a school board, your your role is going to be that

537
02:32:43.600 --> 02:32:59.600
thousand foot view. you know, you're not doing the day-to-day work of the building. You know, that's what these other wonderful people are here for. Um, so the important role is going to be to have that oversight from that thousand foot view is to keep So, if I want to put numbers on it, you know, you're going to want to keep the administration accountable. You want to ask questions

538
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to understand and you want to be a voice for your community. >> Thank you. I have the last question for round one. U, what do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? And please be specific in that response and after you

539
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share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions. >> Sure. Like I mentioned, my family moved to this district uh moved to Kenton just for this school district. Um very proud to have my kids in these schools. I've been impressed by everything we've seen

540
02:33:32.399 --> 02:33:47.520
so far. Um how you know the programming that this district has is second to none. Um, you know, I've spoken with other parents that I know in other great districts across the state that don't have what we have here in Plymouth County. Um, that being said, I think that our facilities could use a little

541
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bit of work. Um, you know, the the district does lose kids to all the the charter schools that are popping up in every field of the cities. uh and some of these charter schools have beautiful facilities and uh some has great facilities that have a lot a lot of potential but I think there is some

542
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opportunity with some of the facilities to be upgraded you know um and also be maintained a little better uh and as far as uh you know the suggestion for possible solutions on number one is the syncing fund especially when it comes to repairs you don't want to have to think

543
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about where that money is coming from or if it's coming out of the classroom it's impacting students it gives you that rainy day fund there um as well as the bond work that's already being done and is continuing to be done. Uh the other challenges are to not stay stagnant. You know, again, this is a great district. It's known throughout the state as being

544
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one of the best districts in the state. Um but when you're a district that is uh so well respected, there is that temptation to rest on your laurels, think we're great. We're doing just keep doing what we're doing. But um you know, time keeps moving on. So, uh, my suggestion there would be to make sure

545
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that we do have board members in place that are, you know, forward thinking, uh, to think about not just how great the district is at maintaining what the district has, but also asking questions and bringing in people to work for the district that bring that move things forward, people that, you

546
02:35:07.200 --> 02:35:23.040
know, represent the community, people that um, you know, are have forward thinking ideas and are able to provide our students education that are going to move them into the the 21st century. Um I know the student here spoke about AI earlier that you know

547
02:35:23.040 --> 02:35:37.760
there are parent concerns about use of AI but it is helping to educate those parents on the fact that their students are going to be using AI someday and that uh the district should be getting involved in AI to an extent to a safe extent to make sure that students know the world that they're entering into

548
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when they leave. >> Thank you. This concludes round one. We're going to ask you to go back to the room and we'll call everyone back after round one is completed. Thank you for being here. Good evening. >> Good evening. Just want to make sure we have the correct U numbers. Lester

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Brown, welcome. >> Oh, Lester Booker, sorry, Lester Booker Jr., >> thank you for being here. >> Absolutely. Thanks for having me. and we're going to go through round one and where all board members will be asking one question. So round one has three questions and those questions are also

550
02:36:23.120 --> 02:36:39.439
in front of you on the table and uh please try to keep your responses for each question to two minutes >> and I'm going to ask for vice president. >> I'm going to ask Vice President Boss to read question number one. Welcome.

551
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Please begin by sharing why you are interested in serving as a member of the PCCS Board of Education and how you are qualified. In your response, please include how your involvement in the school community has impacted the school district by identifying a time when you

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worked on a committee project or initiative that benefited the district as a whole, not an individual classroom or school. >> And thank you all for again having me. Um I've been in this community for over 30 years now. Um, I moved from the inner

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city of Detroit. Um, and the education system is what anchored my family to do so. Uh, from there I went to East Middle School and I'm a successful product of this district. Um, so again, it's a passion point for me. Um, I'm a former letterman from Canton High School. I

554
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played football. Um, I wrestled as well as ran track and field. So I did graduate and went to Central Michigan University. And I say all that because I also came back and gave back. So again, I went and mentored the young man that played football at Canton High School. I

555
02:37:40.560 --> 02:37:57.439
also uh Mrs. uh Johnson who was the marketing instructor. Um I come back to her class um and I speak to the students. So making sure that again they're prepared um and have that pipeline of being able to see what college can be is really really something that's important. So this

556
02:37:57.439 --> 02:38:13.840
district really has anchored me and allowed me really to have the opportunities that I've had in the corporate world 20 years in uh various sectors. So again, it's very very important. So for me, um leaning into at Canton High School, being able to support, um those marketing students,

557
02:38:13.840 --> 02:38:30.399
coming back and supporting the football team, um and speaking and mentoring, those are things that have anchored me and connected me to this district, as well as being able to listen to the feedback um in the community at the various things I've done, including um anchoring me in some of the things I did with Kent's leadership when uh Tommy Yak

558
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was the supervisor. >> Thank you. U Secretary Bester question number two please discuss what you see as the three most important responsibilities of the school board and your perspective on the role of a school board member.

559
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>> Thank you uh for that question. Um I really think the board obviously from a governance perspective being able to lean into policy being able to give perspective and balance um is very very important but I think listening active listening is very important and someone who's in communications um as someone I

560
02:39:03.920 --> 02:39:20.160
write um for leaders um in various sectors. So being able to listen um and provide feedback in a forum or feedback can be given. We know that every answer um or everything that someone suggests cannot be um implemented. But being able to provide a a atmosphere where people

561
02:39:20.160 --> 02:39:36.479
feel that they can bring their concerns. There's a lot going on in our culture in our community right now. So people want to feel like they can bring those concerns here and have those things. People have lost faith in the government. So they want to be able to bring those things forward and have um uh hope that the leaders that are in

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02:39:36.479 --> 02:39:51.680
place will be able to implement certain things. So I think those are very very important. And then being out in the community. I think it's very important that the board members are out in the community that people can see them. They shouldn't be scared of them. They should be able to see them and be able to have interaction with them um and being able

563
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to bring some of the tough issues up. >> Thank you, Trisha Kho. Question number three, please. >> What do you see as the opportunities and challenges for this district going forward? Please be specific. After you share some opportunities and challenges, please share suggestions for possible solutions.

564
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>> Thank you for that question. I really think um as the district continues to look at finances obviously that is a a very very high problem right now again there's less students in the state of Michigan so um I know the the numbers are are something that's really really

565
02:40:22.800 --> 02:40:39.200
impacting so again financial um and then also the identity of the district so when I was here uh 20 plus years ago this district again was known around the state as continuing to be one of the best districts in the state and providing opportunities so really I think leaning into certain areas and

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02:40:39.200 --> 02:40:55.359
being able to provide um why people should come to Plymouth Canton, why um they should stay here. I know that people go to charter schools or go to other districts. Why should they remain here in Plymouth Kenton? I think that's the challenge and the the thing that we have to focus on and fix. So, I think

567
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there's a lot of opportunities for focus groups um to be able to listen to what students I know we have the young man here. I think that's a great program to be able to listen and get that feedback as well as uh parents as well as guardians. I don't have children of my own. I have five godkids and a great

568
02:41:10.880 --> 02:41:27.280
uncle and again their education is very important to me. So again it doesn't have to just be someone who is um you know has has children that is invested in this. So I think again focus groups I think being able to um innovate we use that word a lot in different environments being able to do things

569
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differently and to challenge the status quo. So those would be some of the things that I think are very important right now during this time and it's a critical time. Education's being attacked. Um, our children are being attacked. So, again, I think school districts really need to step up at this point. >> Thank you. That concludes round one. So,

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we're gonna ask you to go back to the room and we're going to do a little bit of math here for round one and we'll call everyone back after we get our tallies. >> Thank you again and thank you for your service. >> Thank you for being here. We are only supposed to rank. >> So, let me let me clarify, colleagues.

571
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So, we're only supposed to rank the well, we're going to rank our top three with three being the highest score. So you're going to have one, two, and three. >> Okay. >> And remember, >> first choice is three points. >> Three is the highest.

572
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>> The highest points and >> it is very hard. Pardon me. No, I Take care. This is very hard. >> Please give us a few minutes. Um, this is one of

573
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>> select like five or six of them. >> I want the pressure. >> I I want to make sure that we have all the numbers. Okay, that's fine. >> Yes, >> I'm gonna wait till she starts scoring. >> Dr. Could you collect being passed so I

574
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don't get it? You're gonna wait until you're wait. >> I wanted to wait until you >> I think I'm other people who are still working here. M >> I'm still working. This is a kid that would finish right away and expects everyone else to finish.

575
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>> No, I'm not. I'm waiting. >> I was going to change. Yes. Yes. If you are done so you feel free to take a quick break. Can you Great. That's right.

576
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Okay. Wisdom. You are close. Yeah, I am All right, welcome back everyone. First, I want to say this is one of the toughest um four vacancies that I've been a part of and I think my board

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colleagues will agree. I want to thank all of you. This you all did fantastic. I loved listening to your stories, your ideas, your involvement and engagement. So, I want to thank you for putting the time and effort forward to to be here

578
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given that round one. Thank you. So, we have to limit ourselves to the top three based on the scoring guides that were sent um to me by my colleagues and it was double checked by Superintendent Merritt. So, we have the top three, which I'll read off in just a minute. But before I do that, I want to

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make sure that everyone um understands that you are always invited and welcome here. We have four board subcommittees that we would love for you to be a part of at any point. Uh join us for a policy meeting. Join us for curriculum, which is student performance and achievement.

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Um SBA, student voice in action. >> Treasure Key operations. He thinks it's the best best possible committee. >> He thinks it's the best the best. >> Um so and they all vary with the commitment. So finance and operations meets twice a month. Policy for this

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year at the beginning will meet twice a month. Uh but the other committees meet once a month. So if you're at all interested in any of these, we would love for you to be involved in any of those. Um we also seek citizens to be part of those committees and we'll be doing that in January. So keep an eye

582
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out for the email and if you don't get selected today, please put your name in to be a part of one of our board committees. Again, the the caliber in this room is just phenomenal. Um, but the other most important thing that's coming up is the scing fund. We need all of you to be a part of that. So I hope

583
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that you put your name forward when we ask for volunteers to go out and uh educate people or be part of a forum. Many of you talked about bringing the community along. This is a great opportunity to be a part of the community and share the greatness that's happening along with the challenges that

584
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some of you shared and how we can overcome those challenges through a scing fund. So, I want to make sure I put that all out there in case some of you decide to leave if your name is not called and you're welcome to stay for all of this. Um, so our top three candidates after round one are Joe

585
02:55:12.080 --> 02:55:38.319
Toliffson, Katie Bennett, Lester Booker Jr. So, thank you to everyone. Thank you. again. Fantastic uh work and we even looking through your resumes and your cover letters. I'm thinking how are we going to get through this in one night?

586
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Um but we have by law by policy we have to do this by tonight. Um so for the top three candidates I'm going to ask you to leave again and we'll call you one by one. Carly will call you one by one. >> The rest of you are welcome to stay. Yeah, please. >> And watch the fireworks.

587
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>> And you can also catch this on YouTube if you decide to leave Brown. Everything is televised. Um, so in a couple of days, this video will be on YouTube and you can watch it. But thank you so much for being here and being a part of this process. Okay.

588
02:56:40.479 --> 02:58:06.520
Okay. Yeah. Welcome. First candidate is Katie Bennett. Who? Katie Bennett. people have been pretty consistent, but would it be helpful to have a timer? It's up to you all.

589
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>> Dian, would you be able to put up the other two candidates or you read them all? >> I'll read them all. minutes. >> Two minutes per question. Perfect. >> Thank you. >> All right. Welcome back, Katie, for

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round two. >> So, round two has six questions. And again, we'll do the same thing. Each board member will read a question. You should have a copy in front of you. And we put a timer up this time for two minutes for each question. So, you can keep an eye out for that. So, I am going

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to ask Vice President Boss to start with number one. Describe your view of the role of the superintendent and how it is different from the role of the board. What is the ideal relationship between school board members and the superintendent? Please

592
02:59:24.960 --> 02:59:40.399
be specific. >> Um the role of the superintendent I mean that's merit right now is um I mean she's the she oversees everything in the district, right? Like so she is the face of the district, she is the leader of

593
02:59:40.399 --> 02:59:56.160
the district. Um she has an entire team behind her of course but um sets the entire tone for the vision um you know the operations of everything and she's where the buck stops too right so a lot of it

594
02:59:56.160 --> 03:00:13.680
weighs on her shoulders as well there's a lot of pressure in a district of our size on the superintendent um and uh I mean she's really the CEO of the district um in terms of how is it different from the role of the board um the role of the board should um oversee

595
03:00:13.680 --> 03:00:31.359
things um and help um to ensure that again uh the community and the taxpayers are getting what we what we want out of the district. But at the end of the day, it's really Monica that um is the one that um has the the power and the say in terms of how things go. Um that being

596
03:00:31.359 --> 03:00:48.160
said, I think the ideal relationship is one of um trust and communication. I think that um just like a CEO reports to a board um in in the private sector um you got to make sure that you have that that positive relationship and that open

597
03:00:48.160 --> 03:01:03.359
communication and the transparency between both parties um and most importantly respect for one another. Um Monica needs to be able to know that you guys are all in her corner. Um and then all of you need to make sure that she's in your corner and also being on that

598
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same team and supporting one another as well. Thank you. Number two, Secretary Westerro. The school board works to build consensus around decisions and all members are expected to publicly and privately support decisions made by the

599
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body through a majority vote. How would you work to implement a decision you don't agree with? >> I mean, I think this is something I think we all do in the private sector all the time, right? Um I mean I have a job where I do a lot of times I have to make and implement things that I don't

600
03:01:38.080 --> 03:01:55.040
agree with, right? Um and I think the number one thing there comes down to um being a team player, right? Like once you're on that team, that's what you um are going to support and that's what you're going to do. Um, I think that you

601
03:01:55.040 --> 03:02:10.720
need to have that united front um, in order to ensure that community members and staff and parents um, feel confident in what's happening in the district. Um, and so I think that, you know, when you say the work that you would do, I think a lot of it comes down to uh,

602
03:02:10.720 --> 03:02:27.680
communication and transparency, right? um and ensuring that even if it's something you're not 100% in agreeing with, you find those bits and pieces that you do and you can communicate those pieces of that out. Um and um make sure that everyone's comfortable with those and and be transparent around why

603
03:02:27.680 --> 03:02:44.240
you made those decisions. I think that's the other big part of it is I think sometimes when you have to get behind a decision that you don't always agree with, it's understanding the why behind why that why the decision was made that you don't agree with. and being able to find those pieces of it that you do

604
03:02:44.240 --> 03:02:59.840
agree with and then promote those things as well. >> Thank you. Number three, >> when there are difficult decisions to make such as allocating funding or redistricting, how will you make a decision in the best interest of the entire school community regardless of

605
03:02:59.840 --> 03:03:18.080
how of the impact on your own family or school your children attend? >> Um, I think you just do. I guess I'm not that worried about making the type of decision. I think um you know I grew up in this district and I went to FEL and

606
03:03:18.080 --> 03:03:34.800
Wool which as you guys know no longer exists, right? Um and I got bust um you know for it was back in the day I was bus like 30 minutes to go to LOL and everybody in my community was upset because they all thought that we were going to go to a different middle school, right? I think at the time it

607
03:03:34.800 --> 03:03:50.319
was uh I forget it which one else at the time I think. Um, and so we got redistricted and we all went to LOL, right? Um, and it's the reality of public education, right? I mean, I think it's just the reality of like we need to make decisions that are best for the overall district. Um, and sometimes that

608
03:03:50.319 --> 03:04:06.560
does mean a 30 minute bus ride for kids or it may mean your kid going to a different school than their friends are going to. Um, I think it's understanding and relating to parents concerns about those types of decisions, listening to those parents when those types of decisions are made, helping them, guiding them, and supporting them

609
03:04:06.560 --> 03:04:22.880
through the logic and the reasoning around those decisions as well. Um, and you know, we talk a lot about data in all of these meetings and making sure you have the data to support those decisions. So, again, be able to come back out to the community and say, "Hey, we made X decision and this is the data

610
03:04:22.880 --> 03:04:40.880
and this is why." Um I I guess I don't feel like I'm not my own kids or my own children. I'm really not concerned about um those types of decisions. I feel like you know I sat on the student performance and achievement committee for two years. I don't feel like anything I said or did or things that I

611
03:04:40.880 --> 03:04:58.240
talked about were ever about like my own kids, right? It really was about the best interest of what I felt like was for all kids. Um it was never like, oh, this curriculum is going to be best for my kid, right? It was never about that. It really is about making sure that the decisions are for the entire community.

612
03:04:58.240 --> 03:05:15.439
>> Thank you, Alice. The next question, the dynamic plan will be going through updates with a new five-year cycle next year. Please share your thoughts about the district's current dynamic plan. What do you like? What is working? And what would you change? I >> think the thing that I love the most

613
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about the current one is the global learners, right? is the fact that um we do live in a the global society that we do today and I think that we also have a community that is incredibly diverse and so making sure and ensuring that that

614
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continues to be a part of the dynamic plan I think is really important and I think that's one thing that we um as a district do really well and I think that we should continue to double down on making sure that that kids are um global

615
03:05:47.200 --> 03:06:04.000
and are prepared for for the opportunities that lie, you know, ahead of them globally. Um, in terms of what would I change? Um, I think that we need a a technology component. Um, I think everybody on this

616
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board has has received emails from me around um the the concerns I have around the balance of technology. And so, while technology is here to stay, um I think that there the balance is not correct. And so I think we need to have a better

617
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dynamic plan that gets at that balance. Um so I'd love to see that become a part of of that. Um that's all I have to say on that one. >> Okay. Thank you. Member Christensen. Number five, please. Equity is embedded throughout our

618
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dynamic plan. Please explain what equity means to you and how you would help move our district forward in creating an inclusive, welcoming, and safe learning environment for all students. Um, and equity to me is ensuring that we're meeting every student where they are, right? So, ensuring that every

619
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single student has the resources and the opportunities in the district that they need to succeed. Um, and to get the education that that they that they deserve here in our community. Um, I think that we as a district have made a

620
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lot of progress in in um terms of equity. Um, I know that when when I was on the student performance and achievement committee, we talked a lot about the curriculum materials and ensuring that um that they had, you

621
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know, pictures of all the kids in our district and making sure that they covered all types of families and religions and households and all these different values and things. And I think that that's incredibly important. I think we've made some great strides there. I think uh you know great progress and I think that equity should

622
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continue to be a part of the future dynamic plan as well. Um I think one of the things I would love to see a greater focus on in terms of environments for our students is is physical safety. Um and not just for students but also for

623
03:07:58.640 --> 03:08:15.760
staff members. Um, you know, I was in my son's kindergarten classroom this year and, um, you know, there's a student that's, you know, swinging at the teacher. Like, that's not acceptable, right? Um, you know, you don't want teacher, we want teachers to feel

624
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physically safe. We want students to feel physically safe. Um, and so I think that's also this part of this is like when we talk about a safe learning environment, number one, it should be physical safety. Um, and then of course mental safety as well. Um, and I think that every student should feel welcome

625
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and inclusive. Um, and I think we've made some great, again, we've made great progress on that, I think, in the current dynamic plan. Um, but I think there is there are some improvements there that can be made. >> Thank you, member. Number six,

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>> this ends our questions for you. Is there anything else you would like to share with the board about your interest in this position? Um, I think there's probably some questions around like, hey, Katie, like, why haven't you run for a position like this before? Um, and I've interviewed

627
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for a position like this in the past many years ago. Um, but I I just feel like at this stage of my life, like I have no interest in running a political campaign. Um, and I also don't have the ability to commit six years to something. And so I just want to throw

628
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out there that like if there's a question around like why am I not running for something else or why I haven't like that's to be honest why and I feel like I do have the time and the ability um to commit to six months and so that's why um I'm here tonight. Um

629
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otherwise I don't think there's anything else um that I want to share. I just want to thank you all for the opportunity. Um and yeah have a great rest of your interviews. >> Thank you. Thanks for being here and sticking around for round two. We'll again send you back and call you back at the end.

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>> Thanks. >> Number two is Jill Collison. Switch it up a bit. >> I know it's hard. >> Yeah. >> There's a certain operations. >> Welcome Joe to round two. >> Thank you. >> Uh round two has six questions and

631
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they're also in front of you and we have a timer up. So make sure that everyone stays within that two-minute mark and similar we'll go around and have each board member ask a question to you. Okay, we'll start with member Aman number one. >> Welcome back. Describe your view of the

632
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role of the superintendent and how it is different from the role of the board. What is the ideal relationship between school board members and the superintendent? Please be specific. >> Yeah. Uh to me the role of the superintendent is very similar to a CEO.

633
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Um where a lot of the obviously the board of education is setting the governance, the policy, the budgets, but delegating the day-to-day activities to the superintendent and their team. Um, I think the ideal relationship there is

634
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one of partnership and and trust. Um, I think, you know, schoolboard work is very difficult. It's hard to be innovative. It's hard to try new things if that that trust isn't there. And so, I see kind of that ideal relationship to be one truly of of partnership, support, being sounding board, um, and just

635
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providing that space to to try new things. >> Thank you. Member Christensen, number two. I was still surprised and I moved. I pulled it up. Okay. Um, number two, the school board works to build consensus around decisions and all members are

636
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expected to publicly and privately support decision decisions made by the body through a majority vote. How would you work to implement a decision you don't agree with? >> Yeah, I think for for me a decision I don't agree with, I would just want to

637
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understand the the why. I think uh as long as the deliberation process just allows for people to voice uh concerns, point of views, if if the ultimate outcome is something I disagree with, that's something I can as long as that process is something that uh allowed for

638
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uh you know, my voice to be heard and my viewpoints to be shared. You know, I I can accept an outcome that wasn't my preferred outcome. Uh as long as that's you know, a good a good deliberative process. >> Thank you. Item number three for you. When there are difficult decisions to

639
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make such as allocating funding, redistricting, how will you make a decision in the best interest of the entire school community regardless of the impact on your own family or school your children attend? >> Uh I believe in equity. My entire career

640
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has been based off of equity. Uh I believe that we all do better when we when we all do better. And if difficult decisions were facing, I would take a very student- centered systemwide view of that. Um, and and really try to identify and just watch out for

641
03:13:39.120 --> 03:13:56.399
unintended um uh decisions that could be harmful um inadvertently. Um but yeah, I I think uh again, equity has been a big part and to me that means not everyone needs the same things. So, we need to meet uh

642
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students, meet schools, meet staff where they're at um and and give them the the resources and support that they need. And and again, that's going to look different for for everybody. >> Thank you, >> treasure. Number four, >> the dynamic plan will be going through updates with a new five-year cycle next

643
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year. Please share your thoughts about the district's current dynamic plan. What do you like? What is working? And what would you change? Uh, I really I I I really like the language around closing gaps, um, the

644
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the dynamic plan points about safety, uh, belonging, community engagement, um, student voice. Those are all things that that I' I've seen in my my time uh, at board meetings, at committee meetings. Um, you know, if I'm kind of thinking about

645
03:14:44.880 --> 03:15:01.920
I I really don't have any wholesale changes. I would definitely want to make some tweaks. Uh I think gaps uh when we look at specific demographics uh are not closing fast enough in my opinion. You know, that would be something that I would definitely want to to to lean into. Um I think there's also

646
03:15:01.920 --> 03:15:16.479
opportunities in uh just community survey response rates, you know, with various uh family surveys that have gone out. Um I've seen just response rates that that uh I would hope we would have a much larger sample size of the

647
03:15:16.479 --> 03:15:34.960
community to get that feedback. Um, and uh, I think there's opportunities in just how the district markets itself. Kind of coming back to a point I was making earlier around uh, really trying to capture more of the students in the district and and really uh, championing displaying all the amazing programming that we have in this district. Um, those

648
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are things that that I would want to continue focusing on, but um, I I think it's a very very good dynamic plan. I feel very aligned with it. >> Thank you, Secretary. Equity is embedded throughout our dynamic plan. Please explain what equity

649
03:15:52.160 --> 03:16:07.600
means to you and how you would help move our district forward in creating an inclusive, welcoming, and safe learning environment for all students. Uh just to reiterate my my uh uh answer

650
03:16:07.600 --> 03:16:23.359
from earlier, I I think equity is different than equality in that equity is meeting people where they are at and providing them with those resources. Those are going to look different. Um different community groups, uh different students are going to have different

651
03:16:23.359 --> 03:16:39.279
types of challenges, different learning uh methods. Um, I think equity again is is really just looking at how how do we support all students in the ways that they need that support. Um, how I would do that as a board member, I think just

652
03:16:39.279 --> 03:16:57.200
being really uh visible um and and upfront and about um celebrating the diversity in the communities that that we have represented here. Uh, I think that goes a long long way. Um, I would I would be very very uh out in front. I I

653
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love the vibrancy of of all the the the cultures and the diversity and all the different communities that we have represented here. Um, so I I would spend a lot of time at those events um and and really just lifting up those stories and and

654
03:17:13.120 --> 03:17:30.399
celebrating. >> Thank you. >> This ends our questions for you. Is there anything else you would like to share with the board about your interest in this position? >> Uh, I know this is difficult work. Uh, so I really want to applaud you all for

655
03:17:30.399 --> 03:17:46.399
for doing it. Um, I know it's difficult, though I know the reward that comes with the challenge of of service. Uh, I'm sure you're hearing from a lot of great candidates this evening. Uh, but I feel quite confident that no one has prepared for this opportunity as much as I have.

656
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and preparation and showing up is what I believe our schools deserve and so I really appreciate the time and the opportunity. Thank you. >> Thank you all. That concludes round two. We're going to ask you to go back and after round two is concluded, we'll bring you back with everyone else. Thank

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you. That's >> where we start. >> Power going up. >> Welcome back, Lester. >> Thank you. Um, round two has six questions and they're also in front of you. >> Okay?

658
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>> And similar, we're going to go one by one as board members and we are allocating two minutes for each question with a timer on on the side. Oh, it's on both sides. So, I will start the the questions. Describe your view of the role of the

659
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superintendent and how it is different from the role of the board. What is the ideal relationship between schoolboard members and the superintendent? Please be specific. >> Thank you for that question. I think you know the role of the superintendent really is to execute that leadership

660
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strategy and that it trickles down throughout the district um and being able to meet the teachers and the students on a a local level and being in that that capacity still providing strategic leadership. Um but I think the board um it's important obviously

661
03:19:35.359 --> 03:19:49.520
there's accountability to hold that person accountable for this the goals putting the goals in place and the structure in place. So again I think it's a balance of you know checking in and understanding what is going on the statuses of big uh things in terms of um

662
03:19:49.520 --> 03:20:06.000
student programming and uh finances and uh implementation. So being able to look at those things um and the board really um again being able to hold that person accountable um to those success metrics for the students and being the voice of the community. So I think it really is a

663
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important um relationship. I've had experience doing that on one of the boards I previously was on and we um you know hired the executive director hold health and executive directors a nonprofit in Detroit. Um we held the executive director accountable for the goals and objectives and obviously in

664
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that capacity uh pay was um you know bonus structure and things like that were allocated if um those goals and objectives were met that were originally formatted formulated excuse me. >> Thank you. And member boss I'm going to

665
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ask you for number two. The school board the school board works to build consensus around decisions and all members are expected to publicly and privately support decisions made by the body through a majority vote. How would you work to implement a decision you don't agree with?

666
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>> I think as I shared before, I think again the power of active listening. Um, again, we're always not all going to agree, but being able to understand that and understand that again from uh my lens, um, I'm here to serve and I'm here to make the best decision for the

667
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district and for the students and for the success of the students. So, being able to differentiate that, that is a skill that each board member needs to have. Um, so I would again being able if there was something that I had an issue with per se, I put my feelings aside to

668
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do what's better meant for the students and uh the community. >> I'm sorry. When there are difficult decisions I'm sorry, which we're on question four. >> Yep. >> Three. >> No, >> four. >> Four. The dynamic plan will be going

669
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through updates with a new 5-year cycle next year. Please share your thoughts about the DI district's current dynamic plan. What do you like and what is working and what would you change? >> I think again I know that we're continuing to be focused on student

670
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safety. So again, I think that is a space right now that is very important. Physical safety, but also mental safety, right? So being able to have psychological safety. So again, that's something that's very, very important. So I think that keeping that forward um will be important and I think again assessing the current climate where we

671
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are right now um from an education perspective with all the legislation at the federal level that's coming down. So I think every district um specifically our district um will have to look and say okay what is working not working and what are the opportunities as I used the word before to innovate to really um do

672
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things differently. I think the times that we live in now require a different response and a different um way of thinking um for our students um and again for the legacy of this district. >> Thank you.

673
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>> Um I'm going to ask treasure who was not paying attention to do number three. >> Sorry. When there are difficult decisions to make such as allocating funding or redistricting, how will you make a decision in the best interest of the entire school community regardless of

674
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the impact to your own family for school your children attend? >> I think for me um in this situation um a good old SWAT analysis um always works. So being able to look at the strengths, the opportunities, the threats and the weakness. And I think being able to see

675
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where funding is and where can we make decisions um to delay certain projects. If it's a building project, if it's um an initiative, can we keep things as they are right now to manage through um and look at the look at the um the way that the uh funding would be out. So I

676
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think that's kind of how I would think of it and being able to look um and lean in. And for me at the end of the day, I don't, as I shared, don't have kids in this district. Um, but again, I still have the heart to understand the kids that are in my neighborhood, the kids that I mentor at the school and making

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sure that the decisions that I would make in this seat would center around them and their success. >> Thank you, member Christensen. Number five. >> Okay, number five. Equity is embedded throughout our dynamic plan. Please explain what equity means to you and how

678
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you would help move our district forward in creating an inclusive, welcoming and safe learning environment for all students. >> Absolutely. I think that's it's very important even though again inclusion is under attack right now, making sure that um we create a safe and inclusive environment where our students can be

679
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themselves, they can come and they can thrive. So again, I would look at again what do we have in that plan and again how do we execute it properly um on the local level with our teachers, with our community, with our um programs, with the curriculum. And I think again

680
03:24:41.680 --> 03:24:58.319
inclusion is not just specifically gender or people of color. Inclusion is everyone everyone feeling a sense of belonging that they can thrive and that they can be successful and show up um to school in the proper way. So again, I think that's what I would look at. Um and then I would for me um it's always

681
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important to have people see um this visually. So being able to have speakers and different training um and and having panel discussions have always been successful talk about a topic that sometimes is very uncomfortable.

682
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>> Thank you. Member has the last questions for you. Is there anything else you would like to share with the board about your interest in >> Sure. I I think um the the background that I have and and the board service I've had for over a decade um it really makes me proud and again being able to

683
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come here and to bring that expertise and to serve this community where again I came in the late 90s um and again being one of the only African-Americans in my subdivision and being able to thrive here um joining the Canton Township leadership um youth development

684
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group um under Tom Yak and being able to really see the nuances of the culture here and the power of education. Again, my family came here for the education. So, being able to come serve is full circle and as I said before, I know education is under attack. So, I want to

685
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be part of the solution. So, again, I appreciate this opportunity. >> Thank you so much. >> Thank you. >> I think we can bring everyone back now, right? Okay. So, you can stay in the room just we're going to take a couple minutes to tally up our scores. >> Same, right?

686
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>> Yes. Just as a reminder, three is the top highest score. So, we're ranking three candidates. Three being the highest, one being the lowest. So, Okay, if you all could send me I'm sure

687
03:29:05.439 --> 03:29:40.439
for one position. >> Oh, top three. Like we should have wrote the list. Yeah. Yeah, this is >> I'm not messing with it. >> Okay, so the numbers

688
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Yes. Okay, welcome back everyone. Again, very close. This is again very tough. Um, so after tallying all of the numbers that were submitted on our tally sheets by all board colleagues, the person with

689
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the highest score is Joe Toliffson. So congratulations. >> Congratulations, Joe. I would like to invite you up here to be sworn in by Superintendent Merritt. You got a photo going? >> Oh, um, yes, she's taking Yeah, we have

690
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a photo. Where you want to go? Repeat after me. >> I say your name. >> I do. >> That I will support the Constitution of the United States. >> I support the Constitution of the United

691
03:32:50.640 --> 03:33:05.040
States >> and the Constitution of this state. the constitution of this state >> and that I will faithfully discharge >> that I will faithfully discharge >> the duties of the office of >> duties of the office of >> member of the board of education of

692
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public community schools >> member of the board of education schools >> according to the best Yeah. >> Oh yeah. Everybody else. >> So, um, again, congratulations

693
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on being part of the team of eight. And, um, I want to reiterate, every one of you that was here is fantastic. your involvement, your engagement, what you shared. And for our remaining two candidates that didn't make it to this

694
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level, I hope that you will continue to be involved. There are so many opportunities. In fact, I'm not going to let you walk out uh because we're going to tap you into some of them, some of the opportunities coming up. So before we adjourn today's meeting, I have one last thing that I want to cover for all

695
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board colleagues, and that is board subcommittees. So we will be looking at board member engagement in each of the four subcommittees and I'll reiterate the subcommittees for especially your new member. We have a subcommittee subcommittee of

696
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student performance and achievement also known as spa and Judy do you want to give a quick like 30 second overview of SA? Uh so we are the student performance and achievement committee. We um review the curriculum. uh we do not approve it in

697
03:35:08.880 --> 03:35:24.880
our subcommittee but we review the curriculum decisions made by the um administration. We also review uh academic data and and much of the data that uh that comes before the board but

698
03:35:24.880 --> 03:35:40.880
we review in the committee um prior to it coming to the board and we also get to review the outofcountry field trips. Thank you. The next subcommittee that I'd like to highlight is student voice and action which is our student led team

699
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and I'm going to ask member Christensen to give a quick overview of that committee. >> Yeah. So this is our newest uh board subcommittee and um it meets once a month but it's really a studentled committee. Um we have a district liaison Dr. uh we call her Dr. Liz for short but

700
03:35:57.200 --> 03:36:14.560
Dr. Vartinian Gibbs. Um she supports the students in all of their initiatives. they come up with initiatives each year and projects and they work towards them um and and really bring it to the level of the board whether or not there's some resources that we need to put behind that and so they really have the

701
03:36:14.560 --> 03:36:29.600
autonomy to kind of create this committee and and do the work. >> Thank you. The next committee is the policy committee and member admin can you give a quick overview of the policy committee? >> Sure. The policy committee is the

702
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committee that um reviews all the policies that um that the district is governed by and we don't approve the policies. The polic policies are approved by the school board but we work very hard to make sure that we have

703
03:36:45.520 --> 03:37:02.399
clear policies that uh bring forth the values and vision of the district. >> I would like I'm sorry I I forgot to ask if you don't mind. So part of SBA2 um we have our student two student co-chairs who join us um at the meeting

704
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and so those are two members that are elected out of that subcommittee from their peers. And so they they um you know serve a two-year term but beyond that we also have student uh SBA representatives at each of the other uh

705
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subcommittees that I I failed to mention. So I wanted to add that. >> Great. Thank you for that additional context. And um the next committee is finance and operations. >> So I want everybody to recognize the finance and operations is the most exciting committee that there possibly

706
03:37:32.640 --> 03:37:49.760
could ever be. And I I make this plea every single time because sometimes it can seem quiet and dry and filled with minutia on the the work that we do. But it's really about how we uh spend the money that happens in the district. So all the capital projects go through

707
03:37:49.760 --> 03:38:04.880
finance and operations. Uh the review of the budget presentations goes through finance and operations. Uh the reviews of our operating uh functions, our transportation and our um custodial uh is reviewed through finance and operations. And it's really a good

708
03:38:04.880 --> 03:38:22.160
opportunity to make an impact on the uh the district as a whole. And when we have committees of a whole, which is occasionally, we bring really good snaps. >> He does. So those are the four subcommittees um board colleagues that you can consider.

709
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I want to mention that Lauren Christ member Christensen treasure kiho their term ends in December unless they decide to run again which is up to them but we need continuity in this committee. So I would encourage the rest of the board

710
03:38:38.000 --> 03:38:54.880
colleagues to join FNO shadow the work so that we are prepared for a smooth transition. My biggest fear is these two leave and the replacement is trying to figure out how do we do this? >> Bring the snacks. >> We'll cover the snacks for the first meeting. So, please take that into

711
03:38:54.880 --> 03:39:12.000
consideration and uh email me your top two to three committees that you would like to serve on by the end of next week. Diane will make sure that you know you have an email and we'll send a reminder that please email me your top two to three committees. I will make sure that we formulate committee

712
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membership by the end of July so we can have a calendar of committees meeting by August one. Any questions about the committee structure? Okay. Um I have an additional note. I need to see if all of you are available for a closed session for negotiations

713
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before the next meeting on August 4th. So we're looking at August 4th as a date. >> You're looking at August at >> August 4th. So please pull out your calendars. I won't be in town. >> Okay. >> August

714
03:39:57.439 --> 03:40:13.279
6:00 start. >> We just don't have our new calendars for all the meetings yet. So, it's like I'm looking at this like, wait a minute, I don't have a schoolboard meeting yet >> because after the organizational meeting, they send the calendar. >> Thank you. So we are in a weird time where we have we're still finalizing the calendar for

715
03:40:13.279 --> 03:40:29.920
all the committees but we are we have a full board meeting on the 4th. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> Okay. So that will start at 7. So looking for a 1 hour meeting prior to that 6 to 7 which will be a closed session. Is everyone available with the exception of

716
03:40:29.920 --> 03:40:44.239
>> Yes. >> Okay. Everybody you good with that? >> Yes. Okay. So again, Diane will send out a calendar reminder to everyone for that. All right. Uh that concludes our

717
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business, our our interviews, and everything else that we had to do today. So, thank you everyone for bearing with us for this long meeting. I will adjourn the meeting at 9:40. Nope. >> Oh, the resolution. Thank you. >> Oh, man. Thank you. >> Thank you,

718
03:41:03.680 --> 03:41:19.840
>> Madam President. I'd like to make a motion that we consider approval of resolution for a school board vacancy appointment. This will be a first and final reading and the action item is 270706. >> Thank you. Do I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. It was moved by Kho, seconded by

719
03:41:19.840 --> 03:41:38.239
Secretary Wester for action item 27-07-06. Will someone read the resolution please and complete with the name? >> Sure. >> It was moved by member and seconded by members

720
03:41:38.239 --> 03:41:54.000
to appoint Joe Toliffson to fill the vacancy on the Plymouth Canton Community Schools Board of Education effective July 9th, 2026 to December 31st, 2026. >> Okay, we call for vote. All in favor say yes.

721
03:41:54.000 --> 03:42:10.640
>> Any oppose say no. >> And this is motion carries. Is it 6 or 70? Is he are we good? >> But we've never invited like >> he was he was sworn in already. >> So he was sworn in already. So I think

722
03:42:10.640 --> 03:42:33.760
we're >> Yeah, it is. I would ask that you abstain. >> So we have not voted you in yet. So no voting rights yet. So, I'm going to call for a vote again. All in favor say yes. >> Any oppose say no.

723
03:42:33.760 --> 03:42:44.600
>> Okay, motion carries 6. Congratulations. We are now official and it's turning at 9:47. Thank you guys. >> We thought we were going to go