Hello. Good evening everybody. Before we get started, I'm going to pass it over to Dr. Merritt to say a few words. Thank you, President Christensen. It is a he with a heavy heart this evening that I share uh the passing of one of our beloved uh former teachers, former PCEA
president, uniserve director, Mr. Chuck Portelli, who passed away peacefully on January 1st, 2026. To know Chuck is to know a man who is full of life and an abundance of joy. He truly has a legacy
here in Plymouth Canton. If you talk to any of his former students, they will say that he made learning fun and he instilled life lessons along the way. Um his colleagues will will say that he is a person that you truly connected with. Um he just wanted to make the world a
better place. Um, I will say in Chuck fashion, what I've heard is that his wishes for a memorial were simple and heartfelt. No wake for a traditional funeral. Instead, he has asked for a celebration of life filled with jazz music, shared stories, and time
together, honoring the joy, connection, and meaning he brought to those around him. So please, please, please keep his dear wife Rose, his beautiful family and his friends and your thoughts and prayers during this difficult time. And at this time, I would ask that everyone
here within the sound of my voice join me in a moment of silence for Chuck. Thank you. In honor of our dear Chuck, if you don't know, he loved his garden right out here at the board office. And we promise to keep that garden alive in his memory. And I know that we'll be
doing some things to honor him along the way. So, Chuck, we honor you and we thank you and you will always be a part of PCCS. >> Thank you for the question. >> Yeah, thank you for those uh kind and thoughtful words, Dr. Merritt. Okay, at this time I am going to call the meeting
to order at 7:02 p.m. Um, welcome everyone. I'm President Christensen. We're happy to see all of you here in the board uh in the boardroom as well as uh streaming on our YouTube channel. I'll ask my fellow board members to introduce themselves starting with my left.
>> Ahmed, thank you so much for coming. >> Oh, sorry. Cheryl Peard, it's nice to see everyone. >> Good evening. I'm Anubam Sudu. >> Hi, I'm Patrick Kio. Thanks for joining us tonight. >> Judy Wester, your time is valuable and we're glad that you're here with us
tonight. >> Jennifer Voss, happy new year. I'll ask our student co-chair to introduce himself. Hi, I'm Argentinatan, a Canton sophomore and SBA co-chair. I'm glad you're all here and a happy new year. >> And Dr. Merritt, can you introduce yourself and your team? Good evening and
welcome. I'd like to begin by introducing my assistant, Miss Diane Robertson. We want to thank her for being here to capture the minutes each meeting. We also want to thank Mr. John Kger who takes care of our technology needs. I'd like the remaining members of the team to introduce themselves to you. >> Thank you, Dr. Meritt Curtis, assistant
superintendent for student services. Welcome and happy new year to you. Good evening. Jill Minnik. I serve as chief finance and operations officer. >> Good evening. I'm Jen Curry, chief academic officer. >> Good evening. My name is Abdul Madun, chief human resource officer. >> Liz Vartanian Gibbs, assistant
superintendent, student and family engagement. >> Great. At this time, we'll stand for the pledge. us to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it
stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you very much. Um, up next we have the adoption of the agenda and the approval of the consent agenda. Action item. Action item number 26-01-29.
Can I have a motion, please? >> Madam, go ahead, please. >> Madam President, I move that we adopt the agenda, approve the consent agenda, action item number 26-01-29. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> So, it was moved by uh Vice President Sudu and seconded by Treasurer Kho. Um,
Dr. Merritt, can you please take us through the agenda? >> Yes, President Christensen. This evening, our consent agenda consists of human resources transactions. since our last time together. We have new hires as well as leaves and resignations for your consideration. We also have the approval of minutes from our regular meeting that
was on December the 9th, 2025. And we have the final reading of the following policies. Policy 6320, that is a purchasing policy, and policy 6325, procurement of federal grants. >> Thank you very much. Okay, going to call for the vote. Those in favor, please say
yes. >> Yes. >> Yes. Those opposed, say no. Motion carries. 70. Mr. Medum, can you take us through human resources? >> Yes. Hi. Um, I have two hires tonight. One of them you may rem may know of um
um she decided to come back to us. Um Mary um Demerest, she was hired as a social worker. She'll be working at TASBister. And then we also have um Michelle Loysel who was an elementary classroom teacher at Bentley. Are Michelle are you here?
Let's give a round of applause for our our new family member. And that and I do have something for you. A lifelong supply of chocolate. >> And that's all we have for today. >> Okay. Thank you, Mr.
>> All right. Up next we have celebrating success um with member Ahmed. This is always the best job. Good evening. Tonight the board of education is proud to recognize Discovery Middle School plant engineer Keith Pedy as the
extra mileer award recipient. Keith, will you please join me at the podium? Thank you. When the tiger is >> plant engineers across PCCS play a vital role in supporting the educational experience of our students and staff,
and Keith's work at Discovery is no exception. He's a tireless professional who genuinely cares about the Discovery community. His daily efforts to ensure that building systems are operating effectively and that classrooms and common areas are clean and
well-maintained make it possible for students and staff to learn and work in the best environment possible. Mr. Pedy was nominated by the office and administrative staff at Discovery Middle School. In their nomination, staff members highlighted his proactive
approach to his work, noting that he consistently identifies and prevents potentially costly and disruptive building issues through meticulous planning, continuous monitoring of equipment, and exceptional attention to detail. Joining us this evening to share
a few remarks about Keith is Discovery Middle School office aid Elizabeth Berger. Elizabeth, will you please join us? >> She's actually >> Oh, are you taking her place? Okay. Sorry. Come on up. >> Good evening everyone. My name is Alex
Noroyan and I'm the principal at Discovery Middle School. If anyone deserves the extra mile award, it's Mr. Keith Pedy. Mr. Keith, our plan engineer, is the kind of person who doesn't just do his job, he goes above and beyond every single day. Every day,
Keith makes sure that our building is safe, clean, and ready for students, staff, and families. What really sets Keith apart is the pride that he takes in Discovery Middle School and the care that he shows everyone in it. Whether it's fixing a problem before anyone
notices, helping staff without being asked, or greeting students with a smile, Mr. Keith does it all. Keith is also the most popular person on our radios as well. Every few minutes I hear, Keith, what's your 20? Mr. Keith, you available? Um, Keith, what's your
location? Keith, Keith, Keith. And usually I'm turning my walkie off as it's going off. Keith, you handed yourself with such humility, such grace, and you always have everyone's best interest at heart. I could spend all night talking about all the ways that you have made discovery a better place, and I'm truly grateful for that. Keith,
on behalf of the staff at Discovery Middle School, thank you for everything you do and for truly going the extra mile. We are so proud to celebrate you in this well-deserved extra mile award. We can't thank you enough for everything. And go Eagles. [Applause]
Mr. Pedy, your dedication to your job and your commitment to maintaining a safe, clean, and welcoming learning environment at Discovery Middle School are truly exceptional. Thank you for your important and invaluable work. On behalf of the Plymouth Canton Community Schools Board of Education, it is our
honor to recognize Keith Pedy for his outstanding service and extraordinary dedication to the students of Discovery Middle School by presenting him with the Mary Beth Carroll Extra Mileer Award. Congratulations. Thank you.
Um, not yet. >> This concludes tonight's celebrating success segment, but please join Dr. Gibbs and me in the hallway for a photograph. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> He's like, I don't need to speak. The kids speak. Okay, that is truly our favorite part of
every board meeting. Um, up next we have our board committee reports and action. I will uh share out my president's report. Um, I do want to wish everyone a warm welcome back from break. I hope everyone had the opportunity to rest and recharge over the winter break and feel energized to kick off our the remainder
of our 2026 school year. Um, as many of you may already know, one of our board goals is to strengthen the connection and communication between the board of education and the community. And as a part of that goal, we're tracking the team's attendance um at district and
community events. So each meeting I will share um shoutouts for each of my um fellow board members who've attended some of those community uh events. So my first shout out is going to go to members uh BP Sadu Pequard and Voss for
attending lunch at the Rock Cafe last month and supporting our students um in the culinary program. I have another shout out to member Ahmed for representing our district at the Muslim community of western suburbs high schoolformational roundup event last month speaking about all the options
available to our students at PAP. Another shout out goes out to member Wester for attending the PAT multicultural event at Salem last month, having dinner at the Rock Cafe to support their 2026 winter fundraiser and for attending the screening of the
documentary film, a salute to our World War II generation, Let Us Not Forget, that debuted at the Penn Theater this last weekend. What's so special about this film is that it featured students from P or PCCS and it will be aired.
There's going to be an a bridged version of that airing on PBS later this year. So, that's pretty cool. Um, and then we have a couple more shoutouts here. So, I have a member Pequard also attended uh the Music Man musical last uh in December. >> I was there but forgot to log it.
>> Okay. See, so so if you don't log it, you don't get the shout outs. Miss member Kho. Fair enough. >> So, no. That's And okay, I'll give you a little shout out there, too. And then uh member Pequard also attended the uh PCCS choir concert in December. >> And the salute. >> The salute.
>> And the salute. Okay. Hey, great. Great. And so as a reminder to my board colleagues, we have our our link in which we can log those things that um that Dr. Merritt shares in our board notes so that we can track that. We can make sure that we're um you know out and about visiting our community and uh and
seeing all of our students you know thrive here at PCCS. >> I love it. A+ guys. Yeah, nice, nice work. Um, but last but not least, I also want to wish our students the best of luck on their finals this week. And that concludes my president's report.
Okay. And then up next, we have student performance and achievements with member Wester. >> Good evening, Madame President. Uh, we last met on um, and I'm drawing a blank on the date on January 7th. And at that meeting, we um reviewed the benchmark
assessment pilot. We had an update on that. Um the committee of consisting of students and staff, I'm sorry, students, teachers, and staff and community members uh reviewed all the material, had presentations from three different
companies, and selected a um package to uh pilot. Um, and the hope is if this meets if this meets the community or meets the district's um goals for benchmark assessment um better than the
NWA, we would replace the NWA with a newer um package that would provide more information, more useful contextual information on the assessments. Uh we also had a course revision that will come up for review tonight um for
digital media arts 1 and two. And our next meeting is on Wednesday, February 4th at 5:00 p.m. in this room. I hope that everyone can join us. It's we always have a good time. So
thank you very much, Member Westerm. Okay, up next we have policy committee with member Sadu. >> Thank you, Madam President. We actually had to cancel our December meeting due to the district closing for severe weather. So, I have no updates on previous meetings, but we do have a meeting coming up at the end of this
month on January 27th at 5:30 p.m. down the hall. Please join us. >> Thank you. Finance and Operations Committee with member Kho. >> So, we met last Thursday and had a riveting discussion uh about uh the preliminaries of the playground upgrades at Fen Elementary. and then I'll have
more details on that in subsequent uh um board meetings and things. We also went a review of the Gallomore edition and renovation and the Hoben renovation which will be on the agenda this evening. The Salem High School edition including the uh Canton High School baseball and soccer concession upgrades.
Uh so those will be also on the agenda this evening. We had a discussion about the um the filter first legislation and the upgrade that will happen across the district for the water filtration and and bubblers there and the different options that we've got available as part
of that. And lastly, we had a discussion about the uh 2020 bond third series which will be issued and it's on the agenda this evening. Our next meeting will be on Thursday, January 22nd at 5:00 pm and we encourage the community to come out and join the fund.
Thank you very much. And last but not least, we have our student voice and action committee. And Arjun, will you give us an update, please? >> Uh, we have not met since last board meeting. Uh, we're really excited for our next meeting, which will be on Tuesday, February 17th. A little out of the ordinary because that Monday is
taken up by uh mid- winter break, but we're excited to see everyone there. >> Great. Thank you very much. And that concludes our board committee reports and action. We'll move on to the superintendent report. Dr. Merritt. Thank you, President Christensen. Now, you always talk about celebrating successes being one of our favorite
times of the board meeting. Well, I will tell you the month of January is one of our favorite times because we have the opportunity to celebrate and amplify that work that you do as our esteemed board members. This is school board recognition month and we truly recognize
the important role that you play advocating for our students every single day for our staff as well as our families. If you would allow me a moment, I'd like to read a recognition resolution that was passed by the Wayne Reesa Board of Education. This was in their meeting in December and in
December in honor of all that you do. Whereas the promise of education shapes the future of 43 communities across Wayne County and strengthens the prosperity of our state and nation and the boards of education entrusted with the education of more than 260,000
students play an essential role in ensuring excellence, equity, and opportunity for every student. And whereas these committed public servants give generously of their time and expertise and service to the students, families, educators, and community of
Wayne County, exercising thoughtful leadership in shaping policies, programs, and resources that ensure educational excellence. And whereas local leaders, Wayne County school board members provide steadfast leadership and advocacy on behalf of students, working
collaboratively with policymakers in Lancing and Washington DC to advance educational priorities. And whereas understanding the critical importance of access, opportunity, equity, and excellence, Wayne County school boards work diligently to advance student
achievement, promote student well-being, and uphold safe, supportive, and inclusive learning environments. And whereas boards of education across Wayne County through strategic partnerships with families, community organizations, local industries, and higher education
institutions have expanded opportunities, strengthened career pathways, and prepared students to excel in a complex and competitive global economy. hand. Whereas the mission of public education is to honor the diverse strengths and needs of all students,
empowering them to become informed, engaged, and productive citizens in a dynamic and everchanging world. And whereas the state of Michigan and the state board of education recognized January 2026 as school board recognition
month, acknowledging, celebrating, and honoring the commitment, vision, and resilience of school board members across the state. And whereas school board recognition month celebrates the champions serving on Wayne County Boards of Education whose oversight of preK
through 12th grade and beyond helps to ensure that all students are prepared to excel in a globally connected and competitive society. Now therefore, be it resolved that the Wayne County Regional Educational Service Agency Board of Education in celebration of
School Board Recognition Month expresses its deep appreciation for the commitment, vision, and exemplary leadership of the Wayne County School Boards of Education, presented and adopted the 17th day of December, 2025 by the Wayne Resa Board of Education. So
again, members of Plymouth Canton Community Schools Board of Education, on behalf of our entire PCCS community, we thank you for all of the work you do. Please accept a small token of our appreciation as you represent and rock that name of PCCS around the community
at all of your events. This little bit of love from us, please join me in thanking our school board for the work that they do. [Applause] You're very welcome. >> Thank you.
>> All right, just a few more pieces to highlight. I will never miss an opportunity to celebrate also the works around the district. First and foremost, next week the nation will honor the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. here in Plymouth Kenton, we will celebrate the message behind Dr. King's
lifetime of service when Canton Township, the Village Arts Factory, and PCCS will team to present the MLK Day of Celebration that will be on January the 19th. This free event is open to all community members, and it will be held at the Village Arts Factory on Cherry
Hill Road. It will begin at 6:30 p.m. and will include PCCS student performances, an art exhibit, a keynote address, and scholarship presentations. Again, this celebration is free and open to the public. So, I encourage all to come out and attend. This evening, I
also want to take an opportunity to share some student achievements and salute the hard work of robotics teams at both the middle school and elementary school levels at recent competitions across the state. Want you to listen to this because we're always bragging about
our high school team, but let's listen to our younger students. East Middle School's Infinity Tech Robotics team became the first PCCS middle school team ever to qualify for the first robotics world championship after finishing
fourth out of 72 teams in its competition division at a state championship in Grand Blanc. Other PCCS middle school teams at the Grand Block event included East Middle School's Bionic Beans, which finished 11 and finished second in the Reach Award,
judging in recognition of their outreach efforts, and Rocket Robotics, which placed 16th and won the Think Award for engineering documentation. East Robo Challengers, Liberty's Bees, and Pioneers Red Panthers also finished
among the top 55 teams at the competition. At the Moskegegan Cha State Championship event, West Bionic Bulldogs finished 11 and East Indis devices placed 38.
At the elementary level, Gallamore's Robo Relic Hunters, these names are outstanding, took first place honors for robot design in a recent first Lego League competition. Their win qualified them for an invitational world
championship competition. The success of our robotics teams across the district is an indication of the strong emphasis placed on STEM programs for our students both in and out of the classroom. Please join me in celebrating OUR
[Applause] I will finish up this uh evening with congratulations that are in order for the members of the Canton High School esports teams which won a state championship at the Michigan High School Esports League fall playoff events at
Michigan State University in December. Ken took the championship in the Super Smash Brothers Ultimate Division after surviving close match matches at the quarterfinal and semifinal stages before beating Novi in the final. The esports team success is another example of the
outstanding extracurricular opportunities offered to students as a part of the PC and PCCS education. again. Let's join in congratulating. That concludes my report for this evening. >> All right. Thank you, Dr. Merritt. Up
next, we have citizens comments. This is um the first segment of our citizens comment that comments that will last for 30 minutes. If we have citizens comments that move us past that 30 minute time limit, we will hear the remaining comments later in the agenda. Each
citizen has three minutes to speak. The board will not respond. This is your time to share. The administration will follow up with each individual who participates in citizens comments. As a reminder, please do not share any names when sharing concerns or criticisms
unless you have their permission to do so. Okay. Okay. Up first we have Heather Gatney. [Applause] Good evening. I'm Heather Gatne and I live in Plymouth and have two kids in the district. First, I'd like to follow
up on my previous comments regarding the professional development day training that occurred last November and focused on the district's anti-harassment and bullying policy and the transgender and gender non-conforming student policy. I understand the training was extensive
involving principles and administrators and included scenario-based role- playinging components. I also heard the district prioritized training high school staff before expanding to middle and elementary schools. I really appreciate these efforts.
Queer students in particular face bullying and harassment every day at school and training like this sends the message that their school community will stand up for them. Now, I respectfully request confirmation that the trainings occurred. Can you clarify when and how
high school principles delivered this training and which staff members at each high school participated? It's vital that all staff who interact with students are included. I urge you to hold follow-up meetings to assess implementation. Our students deserve to
see these policies translated into meaningful, effective actions, not just words on paper. Second, I need to address an urgent threat, which is ICE. I have been watching what's happening in Minnesota,
where ICE, a disgraceful, outofcrol secret police force, has been terrorizing families in the streets and at schools. It's heartbreaking and terrifying to see our country schools, which should be places of safety and learning, turned into places of fear.
The horror reached a breaking point last week when an ICE agent named Jonathan Ross murdered Renee Good. Renee Good was a 37year-old mother of three, a writer, a poet, and a legal observer. Renee was shot in the face at
close range. Rene's death has devastated her family and community and exposed how dangerous ICE truly is to each and every one of us. We cannot pretend our district is immune. We need real plans in place to
protect our students, support immigrant families, and provide trauma resources if anything like this ever happens here. So, I'm urgently asking, what steps will you take to guarantee that our schools are safe for all children, no matter
their immigration status? Will you create clear district-wide protocols so every staff member knows exactly what to do if ICE shows up? In Minnesota, hundreds of parents form protective perimeters around the schools at drop off and pickup, literally shielding
students with their bodies. Will you organize similar teams to protect our schools and students? As a community, we are ready to step up and help you with anything that you need. We can't afford to be caught off guard. Thank you.
[Applause] >> Okay. Thank you very much. Up next, we have Nancy Farbear. United States. [Applause] >> Good evening. I'm Nancy Farber. I'm a
resident and a member of Western Wayne Indivisible and P Flag. I am horrified by what happened last week. The ICE masked militia was added again, but worse. They were even more brazen, more
unrepentant. Renee Good, a 37year-old mother, was murdered, shot in the face by an ICE agent. Days later, ICE stormed a Minneapolis school, traumatizing students and teachers and forcing a
two-day closure. I've worked on racial reckoning at work and at church. We are seeing a state sanctioned violence that black, brown, Asian, indigenous Americans have seen
before. No matter what your response is in a charged moment, whether you comply, resist, or flee, the outcome is the same. You risk being shot at by an ICE
agent, often with intent to kill. Millions of Americans are now realizing this too and renouncing ICE. ICE must be abolished. Until that happens, until ICE is shut down for good, it is imperative that we
secure our schools against further ICE attacks. The NEA is promoting legislation, the Protective Sensitive Locations Act. Frankly, it's a long shot, but it's a start.
We've been attending schoolboard meetings for a year now. And I can tell you this, creating welcoming, nurturing learning spaces free from danger is not a pipe dream. It's right there just a
little ways ahead of us down the road. Down the road, we are already traveling. You all care about the kids in this district and their families. You care about the teachers and the professional
support staff. You care about each other and you're willing to put in the work. And we care about those same kids, families, teachers, all of you. And we're ready to put in the work as well.
Let's continue to work together and pull in other caring people locally and from across the state. We must move forward on making our schools safe havens protected from the ICE masked militia. Then we'll continue on the road for the
next challenge together. Thank you. >> Thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much. Up next we have Rachel Hayes. Rachel.
[Applause] Hi, my name is Rachel Hayes and I'm a P Flag board member and a member of Western Wayne Indivisible. I hope you all had a restorative holiday break. I'm glad to be back with you as we begin a new year and look ahead to 2026. A new year brings perspective. It's a
chance to reflect on what we've learned, to strengthen what's working, and to recommmit to the values that should guide this district. For most families, those values begin with something basic and non-negotiable that their child feels safe, respected, and supported at school. That is not a political
preference. It is not an optional add-on. It is the foundation that every other aspect of learning is built on. I'm speaking tonight, not just for myself, but as part of a broad community of families and advocates who care deeply about this district and the children it serves. Many of us show up
consistently, speak thoughtfully, and advocate relentlessly because we understand what's at stake. What has been harder to understand is why that same commitment to all students is not reflected uniformly by every single board member. When any member of this
board questions the value of belonging, minimizes student experiences, or treats emotional safety as expendable, the harm is real. It creates a disconnect between the duty to serve every student and the willingness to actually do so. And it is students who ultimately bear the
consequences of that refusal. That is exactly why the work ahead matters so much. As we move into 2026, our hope is that we can work with the board majority and administration to continue strengthening the systems that enable success for all students in our schools. This requires equipping and supporting
educators with meaningful ongoing training. It means ensuring policies are clearly understood and applied consistently. It means responding to concerns with transparency, accountability, and follow-through. And it means honest communication with families and students, even when the
conversations are difficult. It also means recognizing that the students most impacted by school systems are often the most vulnerable. Students of color, students with disabilities, LGBTQ plus students, immigrant students, and students navigating trauma, poverty, or
isolation. When we intentionally design systems that work for them, we build stronger schools for everyone. But this work requires trust and collaboration and ultimately it requires a shared understanding that students emotional safety is inseparable from their
academic success. Many of us are deeply committed to this effort to showing up to listening and to keeping students at the center of every decision. 2026 can be a year where respect and belonging flourishes and grows and where every student feels safe and protected in school. If we stay rooted in empathy and
shared purpose, if we make every student's well-being the highest priority, that future is absolutely within reach. That's the work we are committed to. That's the future our kids deserve and that's a future worth building together. Thank you.
[Applause] Thank you for your comment. Up next, we have Patrick Cox. >> Thank you. And I didn't do this on purpose, but I'm here on a great night because I'm here to praise you all and
your predecessors. So, my name is Patrick Cox. Um, me and my wife moved here a little over five years ago. We retired from Florida to Michigan and um I raised four kids in a school system down in Florida and the gifted program
there was a little different. Oh, let me digress. So, the guy you're honoring tonight, you he does an amazing job. The house we bought my backyard goes right up to Discovery and he that that schools always looks amazing. So, good job honoring him. But anyway, we we retired up here. My kids went to the school
system in in uh in Florida. And then when we moved up here, my uh daughter and her family moved up here with us and my granddaughter is got into went to Miller high Miller school which is amazing and then she got into Gallamore
and Gallamore is just unbelievable. So like I said, you guys and the predecessors have done an amazing job because in Florida my kids were in a gifted program. They went one day a week and they had to get bus to a special school. So really they only did it for like four or five hours or not even
that, three hours. So I just want to come here and praise you guys and say what amazing programs you have in this system and I look forward my daughter just had another child and I'm so looking forward to her and him both going through the school system. I'm so excited and I just always imagine when
I'm reading all the programs you have at your high school here. I I am so excited and and hope that uh by the time they get there, everything's still going as it is now. And I just want to thank you and your predecessors for the amazing job that you're doing.
Thank you. >> Thank you for your comment. Um, up next we have Lori Lori Mayors. [Music] [Applause] Uh, President Christensen, Superintendent Merritt, members of the
board and administrators. I'm Lori Mayors, the president of P Flag Plymouth Canton and a longtime Plymouth resident. I'd like to call your attention today to several insidious actions taken last month by the Federal Department of Health and Human Services. On December
18th, RFK Jr. and Dr. Oz announced new proposed rules that will impose huge penalties on any health care provider who gives transgender young people gender affirming care, which usually
means puberty pausers and hormones. The rules will first stop Medicaid from paying from for such treatment. But second, even if gender affirming care is paid for by private insurance or fees, those doctors will be barred from
even participating in Medicaid or Medicare, which can amount to up to 40% of their revenue. The HHS rules would override state laws like Michigan's Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act. We are fortunate that gender
affirming care for young people continues to be legal in Michigan because I know of at least three families who have moved from out of state to this area to seek care for their transgender kids. So these ownorous rules when they take
effect will directly hurt some young people in our schools by abruptly cancelling their carefully chosen medical care. But beyond that, they are another attempt to crush 1% of Americans with the whole weight of the federal
government. We owe it to our transgender students to be kind, to support them in this difficult time, and to enforce the policy we have in place 551703. Thank you.
[Applause] Thank you for your comments. Up next, we have Michelle Mustakus. >> Michelle. >> Good evening. My name is Michelle Mustakis. I'm a Canton resident, a
member of Western Wayne Indivisible, and a member of P Flag. And I am also a deeply patriotic American who is absolutely horrified by the vindictive and cruel government that we
are now under. Always forget my glasses. I'm here tonight to talk about the impact on our community from the murder of Rico Renee Nicole Good, who was shot and killed by an ICE agent in Minneapolis three times
in the face. None of those times was he ever in the path of the car after she dropped off her young son at school. And while this occurred in another state, the implications are very close to home for our families because
what happened to Renee Good could happen anywhere, including here. And this is why people now know that ICE operates basically unchecked by any law. Anyone can be the next Renee. Anyone.
This sends even greater fear and anxiety through our entire communities. Parents keep their children home. students feel anx, scared, and unable to focus. This is not hypothetical. Educators across Michigan already know that ICE
enforcement activity or even rumors of it can cause sharp drops in attendance in impacted areas and undermine trust between schools and families. We need to ensure the schools establish clear boundaries between education and
enforcement. We appreciate so much that the district is working with us to strengthen policies to establish these boundaries and to protect the rights of immigrant students. However, policy revisions take a long time. And given
the severity of the situation, we are asking the district for three immediate actions. Number one, establish protected areas around school in which ICE cannot operate without a valid judicial warrant. bus turnarounds, drop off and pickup zones, sports fields. Number two,
implement training on proper procedures for interacting with ICE for all personnel who may have encounters with ICE. Number three, ensure that the school community knows that the district is following strict procedures to protect our immigrant families from
illegal arrests on school grounds. This is not about defying federal law. It is about exercising your local responsibility and more important your moral clarity. Renee Good's children will grow up knowing their mother was
killed on a school morning while trying to protect her community from the very people that killed her. Our children, all children deserve better than that. You have the authority and the responsibility to act now before
fear of violence reaches our own school doors. I urge you to choose safety, compassion, and the protection of every student in our community. Thank you. >> Okay, thank you very much everyone. Thank you for your comments. That concludes our citizens comments section
for the evening. Up next, we have administrative reports and recommendations. First up, student s uh student services with Kurt Tiscowitz. Thank you, President Christensen. Um, I'm pleased to welcome Mr. Josh Meyer, our director of school safety and
security, who will provide the board an update on our safety and uh security efforts that we've uh put in place over the last several years. >> Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to be here tonight. Got echo
here somewhere. A little hot in here for him. >> Right on. Q the star of the show. >> Much better look at than me. >> Um so I just want to give the board a brief update tonight. Um some of the
slides you'll see are some some of the information we've already gone over, but they're ongoing projects. So I just want to keep you updated. Um talk about some of the um concerns we have for the future and and where we're at today. So, uh
I don't know what this is. >> You want to point that one? >> Okay. Dynamic plan. All right. So, most of our uh for the dynamic the board's dynamic plan, most of our goals and objectives fall under B, which is all PCCS students and staff will report uh
report that they feel physically uh psychologically and emotionally safe and represented while at school. And so our goal and our focus under that uh section of the strategic goals of the board's dynamic plans is to enhance school safety and enhance security opportunities so that our school our
students can come to school and they can learn and they can feel safe in that environment. Um we learned or I learned very very early on when I came to the district that if if students are coming to school and they're constantly afraid or they don't feel safe, they can't learn. they can't focus while they're in
school and they can't put the the the effort that they need on on their learning uh because they're constantly worried about their safety. And so our goal over the course of the last 5 years since I've been in the district is to substantially improve that safety and we'll talk about some of the things that
we have done. Um the logic model um we really focus strongly on the outcomes. Um right now we're we're really focused on the inputs and the funding piece of that. I have very serious concerns uh about the state uh potentially
eliminating the school uh aid funding that we've gotten for safety and security over the court last two years. Without that funding, I'm I'm concerned tonight as I stand here that we could be browning out certain security measures that we put in place simply because we cannot afford to maintain them. So my
goal tonight is to continue to lobby, work with Dr. Merit continue to lobby our legislators to keep that funding in place, seek out grant money, and seek additional uh funding opportunities so that we can continue to to keep the things that we have in place and continue to improve upon what we've
already done. Um I'm optimistic that there's work being done in Lancing to correct the shortcoming right now and some of the language that was that was incorporated into that funding. And uh I'm I'm fingers crossed and optimistic we'll get to a point where we'll see that funding and we'll be able to uh be
able to use that next year. Um [Music] the the outputs or the outcomes um the number one goal for us is to proactively reduce incidents and improve the operational efficiencies of our department. If we can reduce the number of incidents that occur within our
school buildings, our students generally feel safer. Um, and then we want to build relationships with our staff and with our students. I want my team out there visible working with students, building those relationships every day and so that the students feel that uh they're safe and they can come to our
staff with with any concerns or issues that they may have throughout the day. Uh, so overview um of some of the things um through the the strong leadership of of Dr. Merritt and the school board. We've made over $5 million in investments in safety and security enhancements over the course of the last
three years. Um I think you guys need a round of applause because that's that's outstanding. There's there's not many um not many school districts in the state of Michigan that are doing what we're doing here in Plymouth Canton Schools. And so a lot of that funding came through um the school aid act and
through grants. And then Dr. Merritt has been uh working within our budgets to get us the additional funding that we need to maintain systems, maintain staffing, and keep these things going so that we can help our students feel feel safe. Um our security operations center,
that's really um the the gold standard of our our enhancements. We'll talk about that. Um but that is fully fully staffed and operational Monday through Friday from 6:30 in the morning till 10:30 at night. We'll staff that on uh if we have football games or we have other things on the weekend, we'll bring
staffing in to staff that so that we have that that room uh staffed and monitoring uh our systems well in play during those events. Um cameras, we we've updated our cameras. We'll talk about visible firearm detection uh in a moment. U building lockdown monitoring.
So, we added crisis go and I had an opportunity to go back this past week and review the last presentation I gave to the board, take some notes on some of the questions that the board asked. And so, I want to report back. One of the questions when we talked about crisis go uh was will we be able to bring students
in on this? Will we bring bring be able to bring families in in our mass notification system so that if we if we activate a lockdown and our teachers and our staff get a text message through their smartphone like an Amber alert saying that the building's in lockdown, can we also get that message to students
and families and I'm happy to say that we're one step closer to making that a reality. Um, we are working with Crisis Go right now to set up something called smart EOC that's in our security operations center that gives us some additional functionality within the
software to be able to monitor events uh not only in real time but be able to share in real time with our law enforcement partners, their PAPs, their dispatch centers. Um, be able to share images, real time intelligence. Um, if we have a video of a suspect, we can share that with them in real time.
They're able to see that. Um, and then it brings in that feature to where we're able to put out mass notifications on an opt-in basis to students and families. So, the way that that would work um is similar to to college universities to what they're already doing is if we put
a building in lockdown um at the park um the students that opt in on their cell phones, we get an Amber style alert on their cell phone with instructions of what to do. So right now when that when that text message comes across to our staff or it comes across to their computer they get instructions on what
to do as a staff member this the instructions are based by at by by their role within the district. Um so an a principal has a different role than a teacher. Um and they get those right on their their uh checklist. Uh also the staff gets a class roster where they're
able to take attendance. With Smart Eoc, we're able to see in real time as that attendance is being taken and on our maps if a classroom is missing somebody that that color changes on that classroom. So, we know that a student's missing in that classroom. So, we're able to see that real time in our
security operations center. Um, we talked about the radio communications. We are now live with the camp police department has um a radio channel in their dispatch pap where we can have direct communication with their with their dispatchers um through our security operations center and in an
emergency we can patch them in and we can have interoperable communications. We just did an assessment at Plymouth Township who dispatches for Plymouth City and we are working with the vendor to get that installed and Plymouth's dispatch probably within the next I'm optimistic within the next two to three
months depending on on staffing constraints. Um told me go fast so I'm trying to go fast. Visitor management has been successful. Emergency notifications we talked about the operations planning updates were done last year.
Unfortunately, the state changed things. So, we'll be redoing that whole thing again this year. Um adding in um common terminologies and things that the state has now mandated. Uh security window film treatments across all district buildings is complete. That's
that's gone in. Those have been uh a successful addition. And our threat assessment process has been updated and is working very well. Uh radar science is not up there, but if the board remembers, we asked for some funding. we were having problem with speed at particularly on Plymouth Drive as you
enter off of Beck Road. When we worked with Canton PD and we put a speed trailer out there, our average speeds um were between 28 and 42 miles per hour depending on where the speed trailer was placed on that drive with a max speed that time of 72 miles hour. So, we had
somebody that got up to 72 miles an hour entering the school. We have roughly uh our speed signs collect data. Um, so just before Christmas, we pulled the data off of our speed signs, and I'm happy to report that the average speed of all of the speed radar signs at
Plymouth is now 14 miles per hour. So between the speed signs and the speed bumps that we put in, we've drastically dropped those speeds down. We get on average, um, looking at the various months, we get on average between 19,000 and 31,000 vehicles past those signs on
a on a monthly basis. Um, so it is a pretty heavily traveled uh drive and and probably one of our busier schools. Uh, the security operations center that continues to really be the focal point of our enhancements.
Excuse me. Sorry. Um, we ba made some very drastic improvements um within the security operations center. We talked about that monitoring capabilities, focus of attention, focus of attention. Uh we really use our our camera system
proactively. That's our goal. Um we're not on the cameras looking for problems. We're looking for people that don't belong. We're looking for things that come into our buildings. And we can't monitor all of our cameras at one time. So we've implemented a a tool or device called focus of attention. We tell the
cameras what to look for. So if we don't want a vehicle in a certain area, the cameras will alert the operator in the security operations center when a vehicle is in that area. If we know that uh during passing times the cameras are learning, there's artificial intelligence built into our systems. If students are walking and now all of a
sudden the camera is seeing students running, it's going to tell us that that's unusual and it's going to direct our attention to that camera. We can quickly look at it and see what's going on. It's also incorporated um with our visible firearm detection system, but I'll talk about that in a minute because
that's one of the things that I'm most excited about. um lockdown system monitoring for all buildings, district-wide 911, radio communications, transportation communications, and GPS. So, those are all things that that operator is monitoring daily uh within our security operations center. We just our day
shift, we just added some uh uh responsibilities onto his uh role and and uh he's adjusting to that very well and helping us kind of cross that hurdle line with some of the projects that we're working on. Um, again, we have the call boxes, weather, critical event. We
talked about focus of attention. We're monitoring our visitor management system. Um, and then let's talk about weapon detection. So, one of the things that I've been very passionate about is we have these cameras. If I can tell the cameras to find a car, why can't I tell the cameras to find a gun? Um, we know
that incidences with firearms across our country are increasing in schools. We see it on the news. And that has my team and I deeply concerned about a school a firearm being brought into our school. Now, can any of these systems prevent that entirely? No. But the goal for us
is to put everything in place to make darn sure that every day we're doing everything we can to prevent a weapon from coming into our school. So, we partnered with Motorola and we said, "Hey, we we know that there's some visible firearm detection systems out there on the market, but I want something better and here's what I
want." And so we've been working with Motorola to beta test the system for a little over a year now. We're about to cross that finish line, which I'm very excited about. We've extensively test it with with the assistance of Canton PD and live firearms um to be able to make sure that the system is going to work.
And just before Christmas break, we implemented the last piece of that or I should say the the second to last piece of that puzzle um to get this the cameras have been working. Now, we have the notification process in place, and we're refining all of that with another round of testing here coming up shortly
that ties into our gunshot detection system, which detects actual gunshots. We'll be testing all of those and how they tie in and work together in about another uh probably uh the next PD day or when students aren't in the building, we'll be working with Camp PD to fully
test those. So, I'm pretty excited about that. Um Evolve arrives tomorrow. That is the concealed weapon detection that we'll be having people walk through. Um that system is is a weapon detection that that looks for shapes and densities
of metals and things. Um you don't and it's able to differentiate between your car keys or a cell phone and a gun. So we don't have to like your old school metal detectors have people take stuff out, put them in a bin, walk through and then get their stuff. They can walk through with all the stuff in their pockets and the system will
differentiate. Um so we'll have some TRA training and policy occurring on that. Um our security operations center has been widely um successful. We're doing things that a lot of public school districts
aren't doing. Um so much so that we've had a lot of interest from school districts coming out to see our stuff, ask us what we're doing. Uh that list just to include some of the recent ones. Battle Creek Public Schools, Toledo Public Schools, Eastern Michigan University, Novi Public Schools, Jennese
County ISD, Leavonia Public Schools, and the University of Michigan have all come uh taken tours of our SOC, asked us how we're implementing, how we're integrating some of these different various devices and uh kind of picking our brains to see what we're doing. Uh this past November, I was invited to
speak at Ford Field uh talk about school security and how we're doing some of these integrations uh amongst about 400 security professionals uh from across the state of Michigan. So that was interesting. I'm not really a public speaker, but I I figured out how to be one that day. Um
and I was invited to speak at a conference in San Diego, California in February. Unfortunately, I will not be there because my son my son's home opener is that same week. And so I will be down in Indiana cheering my son on, although
San Diego seems a lot warmer. Uh, building assessments. So we, as the board knows, we contracted with Secure Education Consultants to do assessments of all of our buildings. That initial report found 181 security deficiencies.
123 have been resolved, 29 are in active remediation, and 29 um are uh out there. the some of those are are needing funding to be able to to get those remediated. Um we've really prioritized when we got that list back, we worked as
an internal team prioritizing what of the 181 needed to be fixed the most critical. Um and those are where we um we developed a corrective action plan for the district. We put all those in there and that's what we've been working on over the course of the last two years is remediating the most critical and
working our way down. Um, we just recently had Secure Education Consultants come out and do an assessment of all of our outdoor athletic facilities. 25 deficiencies were found and those have now been incorporated into our corrective action plan and we're actively working to
remediate those. A lot of those are are no cost. They're just kind of some procedural changes um and and looking to do a lot of um some policy updates and procedure updates. And so we're working with our athletic directors and our buildings to kind of work through that.
Um so current current enhancement projects right now our 31A money is going towards the evolve units that we talked about current salaried positions for the security department. Excuse me. Access control upgrades. And we're looking to uh revamp our building
alarm systems and bring those in on our security operations center. um tie it into our access controls which will actually save the district money from from the expensive monitoring company that we're using now. Um star of the show, Ekko. Ekko is here tonight. Um
Ekko's tired. He had a long day. Um I have a video of of Ekko recently doing some bag searches so you can actually see Ekko and work. I'm going to share it with Dr. Merritt. I could I wasn't able to get it into the slide presentation, but I'm going to share it with Dr. Merritt. Hopefully she can share it with the board. And you can actually see um
Ekko's working to what you'll see in the video is as we talked about Ekko is trained to deter seven types of explosives, >> seven types of explosives, uh explosives, uh and firearms. Um and then he acts most of his days as an emotional support animal, friend to the students
and and just walking around and letting students love on him. That's what it most of his day is spent. Um but in order to maintain those skills, we have to train on it. So, in a training scenario, there was several bags lined up. Ekko's job was to find the the gun in the bag, and you'll see that he was
successful in doing that. Um, alerted uh his handler, Scott, uh, to the presence of a firearm in that bag. The bag was searched, and there was a firearm. That was just a training scenario. It wasn't real. Um, but I thought it would be a good opportunity for you to see Ekko actually working as a firearm detection dog and some of the things. So, in 2025,
some of the things that uh Ekko did, some of the incidents, uh suspicious package at SA at Plymouth High School, uh search of that suspicious package uh determined not to be anything of any great concern. Uh we did uh Ekko was called upon to do a building search at
West Middle School following a gun threat. Um, we quickly realized how valuable Ekko was because we were able to search two hallways of lockers uh in a matter of what 10 10 minutes or so where physically searching those would have taken us quite a bit more time. And
so we were able to bring those students out of a shelter in place um and back into a learning type setting while we mitigated the rest of the situation in a relatively quick amount of time. And so that was very invaluable to have Ekko there. And then he assisted Garden City
High School with a search uh at the high school there. We've we've gone to other schools as Dr. Merritt has helped out um and allowed us to help out other schools, neighboring schools when they have an incident um and they're not able to have that resource that we're so blessed to have here in Plymouth Canton.
Um Echo was requested 72 times to other bu to other schools that those are just requests. That's not just Scott showing up. Those are buildings saying, "Hey, can you bring Echo? We want want to do some class visits." Typically the way that works is he'll go to an elementary school and he'll spend a afternoon there maybe visiting five six of the
elementary classes and then the next day he'll go to another. So 72 last year um and then I don't know countless others where Scott just uh he in his daily routine will visit other schools and he did six public demonstrations. So echo
good job truly the star of the show. Um I'd be remissed if I didn't talk about my staff. I I can't do this without the great staff that I have. Um, this isn't, you know, Josh Meyer doesn't make security great. Josh Meyer doesn't make our district great. My staff, our team
makes this district great. I have probably the best, one of the best teams I've ever worked with in my professional career. um here at the school working with us right now. Um we have unfortunately um one one of our officers is leaving us so we'll have a vacancy
here but we're optimistic to find the right person to bring into the team because in my five years being here this is the best team I've had. Um there isn't anything that these individuals wouldn't do that we ask them to do. Um we had a you know we all remember the
lockdown. I'm asking security officers that are unarmed to put themselves in harm's way to search buildings and without hesitation they do it. Um and so I I just I want to highlight the good work that our people are doing, the interactions they're having with students. Um we are really trying to
build a culture that we're not there to uh cause, you know, we obviously have to enforce student code of conduct, but our our goal is to to get students to get the bill. You know, if we have a student that's walking around skipping class, our goal isn't to hang them up with a suspension or or a referral for
discipline, it's to get them to class and get them learning and have that relationship with the students so that they can come to us. And we're really starting to see a lot of that now where students are coming to some of our trusted officers and with information and saying, "Hey, this is going on in the bathroom or this is happening." And
they're bringing that information to us uh because we're now trusted and we're building that trust amongst our students. And so those are the positive things that I see every day that that maybe the board doesn't get to see. And it's I'm incredibly proud of the team that I have in place. Um but currently we have a fully staffed day shift that
includes uh two inside officers at every uh park high school, one exterior and we have an additional at Stark weather and then we have an officer in a floating capacity. Um so we can send them to a middle school, we can send them to an elementary school, whatever. if we have a fire alarm, whatever the case may be,
we can deploy our resources across the district to be able to support others uh other buildings. We have two afternoon shift, one midnight shift, two in the security operations center, and then we have our support positions, which is um is uh Echko and Scott. And then we have
a technology access coordinator that fixes all of our broken stuff. Um and then Eric Ki, who you see in the picture there, is is my is my go-to every day holding this holding this all together for me. so that uh I can work on on trying to get all of this stuff done. And so I I wouldn't be able to do this
without Eric. Uh department training. Eric is really responsible for this slide. He does the bulk of our training. He schedules training not only for our officers every year to make sure that they're getting adequate training. Um but he's out in buildings providing training, Alice
training, assisting in drills. If a school says, "Hey, I need help with a drill. I want you to come observe." That's Eric. He goes out there. works with the principles, does those drills, provides recommendations. Um, and so as I was watching the last presentation, unfortunately, we had a lockdown just
before that presentation where there was some miscommunication between two of the high schools. Uh, during that lockdown, some of the classrooms barricaded, some did not. Um, and so we were able post that put some trainings in place. We provided some additional training at the park. But uh last year alone, Eric
provided 16 Atlas training sessions across the district uh for buildings and and refreshers and and new hires and and trying to make sure that everybody is having the consistent message and we're doing things consistently across the board. That is our goal. Um our focus
again is for for training our staff is the non-violent crisis intervention deescalation. Um and then we work for the the mandatory CPR and all the other good stuff that we have to have. We are working right now, Kurt and I are working to put together training, a deescalation training for our front
office staff. Um, so that'll be a PD day where our front office staff, our our secretaries who are on the front lines every day as we saw in Romulus, um, having to deal with these with these people that are coming up to our doors, uh, we'll be providing them with some of the same deescalation training that that my staff receives so that they're able
to deal with those situations um, before either the police get there or security staff gets there to support them. So, we want them to be able to deescalate. Uh, SRO's, our SRO program is going really well. We had some um towards the
end of last year, we had quite a few absences. Um, we've worked with interim uh police chief Joe Bley of the Canton Police Department. He has been tremendous to work with. um he's very committed to the SRO program and very committed to working with the school district to make sure that not only do
we have the SRO's there, but they're focus driven and they have the training they need uh not only to be consistent with theou to but to reach our goals as a district and reach their goals as a police department. And so we've uh we've had quite a few meetings with interim chief BY and I'm excited to see um you
know what we can do together and work with Canton PD to maybe enhance some programs and do some additional things for for next year. uh future considerations. Again, um you know, the the landscape is changing. It's every day there's something new. Every day we learn something new. And so
we're trying to stay one step above that changing landscape. Our biggest concern right now on the horizon is funding. Um we are doing everything we can to put uh multipleear licenses in place when we get a grant. So, if I get a grant, instead of buying one-year license, we're trying to buy as many as we can,
whether it's five years, four years, it depends on the product and the manufacturer so that we're not we're not a burden on the general fund after a year or two of that that thing being in place. Um, we do have one of the one of the key things that we're really wanting to focus on is key management and ADA
accessibility. So, looking at our door handles, our classroom door handles, our classroom locks during lockdowns. We want to to work to find some funding to address that. Um, right now my biggest task is evaluating our current systems and our $5 million worth of investments
and the investments we made before I came here and establishing a long-term replacement schedule for every piece of equipment across the district. What the estimated costs are, when will that likely need to be replaced so that I can present that report uh to Kurt and Dr. merit and they can have a vision for the
future of what that what those implications are long term, not next year, the year after or maybe in 5 years so that we have a clear direction uh to make sure that our systems and our our our stuff is sustainable into the future. With that, I will entertain any
questions that you may have and I thank you for the opportunity to be here and I thank you for your continued support of school safety. Before we take questions, I just wanted to add that uh and Josh probably wouldn't mention this, but um we are very fortunate to have Josh in the leadership position he's in. He was
recently uh invited to the Avigilon customer advisory board, their exclusive video security and access control advisory board and he will be uh uh representing Plymouth Canton on that board and we're very proud that they uh asked him to uh share his expertise in
in that advisory board. So >> yeah, way to go. >> Okay, we'll start with my left or member Ahmed. Any questions? >> Thank you. I really appreciate the presentation and my question is around uh you mentioned prevention.
Uh since you know since you implemented the the changes in procedure and building structure and things that were identified as weaknesses or susceptibilities by the security consultants. Um how many incidents have been pres pre prevented or what kind of
things have been prevented? >> I don't have a I don't have a exact number. Um we we've seen um although sometimes it doesn't feel like we're making a dent, we've seen we've seen a decrease in the number of vaping incidences. Um that is an ever growing
challenge. Um and and it's one that we we are really working hard to uh try to drive that number down. I won't be happy until until there's zero vape instances. These things are terrible for kids. They're terrible for anybody for that
matter. Um, we are really focusing right now on preventing instances from from bathrooms. That seems to be at the park where our kids are going because they know there's no cameras. Um, so we've implemented some strategies to try to redrive down and reduce the number of fights and things that are occurring in
bathrooms. Um, I can't I don't want to go into very I don't want to get my playbook out um today, but but we are working to do that. We've we've uh really driven down the number of incidences that we were having um at uh football games. Um last year, the first
football game, we kind of had a we had three fights. Um we were able to work with uh Mr. Green and our APAs to kind of change some of our procedures. Um and that drastically drove down a number of instances throughout the remainder of the football season. Um, so again, it's,
you know, we we make changes and and our kids are are kids that are nefarious, they they're smart and and they make changes and so we're constantly countering that. Um, but but we have driven down quite a bit. And like I said, we have a better relationship with our students and our staff than we had
when I came here. Um and and the fact that that when when uh just recently we had a student come and and confide in our security staff because they were feeling suicidal. They didn't feel they had anybody safer to they didn't feel they they could take that to anybody else. And they took confided in our
security staff that um the threats are gone down. Our threat our our volume of threats school threats have gone down. Um and so I I see the impact. I don't have numbers to give you today but there's there's definitely an impact that I see. Curt Curt sees kind of a lot of the discipline data more than I do.
Um but but I I think we're making an impact. Um it's it's just going to I I told Dr. Merritt often times I feel like I'm trying to turn the Titanic around in the Detroit River. Um but we're getting there. We're we're full steam ahead and we're going to get that ship turned around and and really try to drive down
those number of incidents. >> Thank you. I really appreciate that. And my next question is around the diversion. Could you tell us a little bit more about that and how that works? So diversion with the police department and yeah so so I don't have a lot to do with that. Um I work with our police departments because when we have vaping
incidences or criminal activity or criminal incidences our number one option that we always go to is diversion. Um in order for diversion work the parents and the and the have to accept it. If the parents say they don't want diversion then it's a criminal charge and there's not much that I can
do about it. But it's run through growth works. Um Canton, uh can't all all three agencies now have a diversion program. We worked with Chief Cox um and and uh Chief Nitel. Chief Nitel stood his up, Chief Cox following. Um and so most of
the cases that would be a criminal citation or a criminal complaint that occur at our school property are are referred for diversion. Um, I I can only think of a very small number. And I'll just be honest, some of our vaping incidences, the parents don't want to do
diversion because they think that's a stigmatism on their kid that they have to go to a substance abuse course um to learn about diversion and they'd rather just pay the fine and have that uh on the student's record. I I don't agree with them. I think that sometimes having that uh education about substances is
important. Um those things are just as addictive as narcotics and other things. And so from my vantage point, from my opinion as as my humble opinion is probably not worth much. Um but I think that's important and having the substance abuse education is important
for those students because um you know we we we have seen success in those students coming out of the diversion program and not continuing to vape and do other things. So >> thank you member. >> Oh y I do not have any questions but
thank you so much for all you do. Appreciate it. Dr. Sue, >> thank you. Thanks always for being proactive. I know your continuous improvement model and that brain is always turnurning. How do we do better? And I see that every day. So, thank you for that.
>> Um, couple of questions in terms of you do preventative measures from you and your team's end. This may be more of a Dr. Meritt and your team question in terms of how do we better educate and support families before they get to you
and educating them on bullying prevention. Um as you mentioned suicide, violence prevention, locking up uh weapons at home, keeping kids safe, just there's a whole education piece with families and with children that I'm sure
is happening. I just want to know how it kind of plays into this. That's a great question and I'm glad you asked it because I skipped it in my presentation because it wasn't on a slide but it was in my notes. Uh that's actually one of the things that uh I discussed with Chief I when we met and so we're going to um we're talking about partnering
together to do some educational videos uh with Canton Police Department. We're we're talking with Frank and Carly. Um there's a couple of different avenues that we want to focus on. safe storage of firearms is one of them because we we we just recently had an incident where where a student was able to access a
firearm that wasn't safely stored and so that continues to be a concern um of ours. Um we also want to focus on doing someformational videos. So one of the things we're looking at is is a lot of times um you know we do these lockdown
drills and and the students are sitting in a classroom. What better time to play a video and talk about a student's role during a lockdown, you know, age specific, of course. Um, so we're looking at working with Frank and Carly to do some some of those educational type videos and then really kind of focus on um, a couple of things that
we've talked about with with Chief Bley is um, driving behaviors because we see a lot of of of young drivers um, with finding themselves with speeding tickets and other things, accidents, um, vaping and and some of the other uh, type
things of of texting and and some of those behaviors that we're seeing on texting that that could that could get a a youngster in trouble for for a good amount of time. And so I'm uh I'm optimistic about that. I think it'll be some good things. And then our next step is to kind of work with Dr. Merritt. I'm
sorry, but probably don't know that we're working on this yet because I don't have a lot of details. Um but but my one-on-one is with Kurt tomorrow. We're going to talk about it. But the goal is to really try to um find a avenue to get those videos whether it's on our website or or but but how but an
avenue to get those out to families and students so they have an opportunity to learn and we can provide that educational experience for them. >> One other opportunity we're utilizing too is with student and family engagement. Uh we actually tonight had a yeah presentation run hide fight for our community and the steps and procedures
that they would need for uh for that um type of defense. I was going to make Eric be here and present tonight, but he's at the summit um providing Alice training for our community. So, >> thank you for that. And it is a all hands-on deck approach. I mean, this is
people in our community ask us when we're out and about, what are you doing with safety and um security measures, and you've shared a lot, but there's a whole lot that goes into it with staff, with families, with students. Um, so tying into that, how is your work tied
in with the okay to say um the hate and bias forms. >> So >> before they get too violent or >> Yeah. So I I don't have a lot of work with the hate and bias form. So I'll leave that to Dr. Merritt. I am the district's point of contact for okay to
say. Um we had 42 Did I tell you 42? I think it was 42. 42 okay to say tips last year. Um each one of those tips is in thoroughly investigated by the district. Um and then we do an outcome report to the Michigan State Police. Um
we so so those all come in route through me. Um I'll do a preliminary investigation into it to determine the seriousness of it. Um because a lot of these come in the middle of the night um and Mrs. Meyer brings my phone to me and says, "Hey, your phone's ringing again."
Um and then so so we'll we'll look at that and then make a determination if we need to take immediate action on it or if it's something that we we turn over to the school uh level uh to deal with. And I would say that 99% of the
information that we get from okay to say I don't say 99% a large portion of the incidences we get are turned over to the school. the ones that that we work on immediately are are are threats of of of self harm and suicide. We're not going to wait till the next day. So, I work with the police departments to do a well
visit of those students and then um we'll follow up with social workers and psychologists at the building level the next day when the student returns to school. Um but I hate and bias I I we we would assist but I don't I don't have much >> hate and bias goes directly to the
building administrator and as you know they also have another level that pings central office supervisors um I'm included in that ping as well. Uh most recently we've developed the response log so that us the people that report have the ability to know that their
incident has been addressed. >> Okay. All right. Um, one last question in terms of I thought we were getting more echoype dogs. Are we >> So, we we don't have any more echo type dogs. We have emotional support dogs.
So, we have several of those across the district. I don't know the exact number. >> 12 of those across the district. >> Okay. >> Um, echo echoype dogs are um they're expensive. Um, and we were fortunate enough to get the the Quanis Club.
Quantis Club. Glad I didn't mess that up this time. Last time I called Rotary, I thought somebody was going to punch me. Um, we were blessed enough to have the Quantis Club pay for Echo. And then and then Dr. Meritt um really saw the vision in this. And you know, I I uh I was I
was optimistic but but skeptical at the same time because I'm like, can a dog really find a gun in a backpack? and and uh he can and and he's he's proven it and but but just having him around and you know the times when I'm in the building I I'll be in there and there's students that come knocking on the
security door. Is Ekko here today? Is Ekko here today? Um and so it's just he's he's uh he's the star of the show. >> He is I can see his ears moving. >> Yeah, he's like you talking about me? >> So I want to thank you and everyone on your team including all the dogs
involved. Um, thank you for keeping us safe and doing good work. >> Uh, I also want to echo echo um my my colleagues uh sentiments. Thank you for this very um in-depth presentation and and all the hard work that you and your
team are doing. Um, just because you mentioned vaping and you asked what the preventative measures were. I peaked at the um uh family student engagement uh newsletter that was sent out in January and there is this is just a shout out for a presentation. There's a a a
virtual presentation called the truth about vaping that you can register for that's on January 22nd from 6:30 to 7:30 for that kind of family education piece too. Thank you. Yeah, we did um and and just a point of clarity that we did work with uh Camp Police Department um I
don't know if you saw that the Channel 7 news story, we worked with Camp Police Department um to they they went out and did some undercover operations. Um that was some of some of that was the direct result of information that was provided to the schools about certain vape shops
that were selling to minors. And so um we'll continue to work with with the Cant Police Department and Plymouth Township. And if if if you're a vape shop in in the Plymouth Can Community School District and you're selling the minors be on notice, we're we're taking we're watching and we're going to turn that information over to law
enforcement. Students tell us >> um they bring that information to us. We share that with law enforcement. Um and and they take that pretty serious. So >> thank Yeah. Thank you. >> Member Kh. >> I have a few questions. Um the first is a follow on to the one that uh uh board
members sorry vice president Sadu brought up and on the videos. Can you include one about not bringing knives to school? >> We we you know as when we have board level expulsion events as we all know that that's a mandatory expulsion uh
event if you bring a knife over a certain length and sometimes those students are bringing them in with no intention whatsoever to cause harm. they're carving their mango or they're doing something like that. And that is not if the knife is longer than a certain amount, it's a mandatory
expulsion event. And we have to educate our families that they just should never ever do that. >> Yeah. We have a document that Kurt and I are working on right now that's going to go out to families that uh in part does that because we want families to be aware that our weapon scanners are going to detect those and they're prohibited
items on school property. So, if you show up for a basketball game with a pocketk knife and and the and the scanner detects it, you're going to be asked to take it out to your vehicle. Um, but but you're right, we we need to work on students as well and more important to students. >> Thank you. And then my next question is
about theus. Um, I know we have anou with Canton Township and we have one with uh Plymouth Township. There was a discussion of doing one with the city of Plymouth. Has that happened? >> Uh, we do not have anou with them um per se. They don't they don't have an SRO or
funding for SRO. We've had dialogue with Chief Cox. He's open to further discussions. Um but they just had some leadership changes and some other things. And so we're waiting to kind of see how the structure of that police department shakes out and then we'll kind of re-engage those discussions. Right now his his commitment level, he's
he's doing walkthroughs of our school. He's meeting with principles. He's doing all the things that we've asked them to do. The one thing that I found that was really powerful about the work that you did besides the SRO's and certainly they're valuable in the process is the consistency and training and the sharing of knowledge that happens through those
and it makes sure that it brings uh that focus in terms of what we're doing that it's not um and certainly the diversion program is one of the examples of that. So I I would highly encourage us to explore that even if they don't have a an SRO so that we can have that same consistency because we do have a few
schools that are in the the the city that um that would be valuable to be part of that process. >> We uh we offered some cross training with our SRO's and our security staff and our administrators in the fall uh and we invited the city of of Plymouth
as well so they were included in that training as well. >> Okay. Excellent. That helps a lot. Thank you. Yeah, they he's I would say that uh the city of Plymouth is participating to the same level that the other jurisdictions are absent an MOU. There's not an MOU in place, but we the same trainings and all those deescalation
things. We're inviting them and he's and Chief Cox is sending people uh to the district to participate in those. And um uh Lieutenant Kowski was our point of contact. He's since retired. So, I'm kind of just waiting till that shakes out and then we'll kind of re-engage some of those discussions. >> I'm really glad to hear that they are
participating. >> They are very much so. So, I want to commend you and your partnerships that you have in the city and the vendors that you've worked with and everything else that you've done, uh, focusing on that relationship process and the the focus on keeping students to feel safe.
Um, I guess I'm a little bit nervous about some of the conversations that we've heard here this evening from our citizen speakers as well as those the things that we're seeing in the news. And I don't want us to ever be in a situation where we're violating any law, but I want us to make sure that we're protecting our students.
>> And I wondered if you can share anything with us here now or if not in board notes as to what's happening from a security pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro post pro posture perspective around some of the incidents that we've seen where quite frankly we've we've seen uh federal law
enforcement people doing things that would not be considered legal. >> Yep. So I don't uh I don't want to go into specifics u tonight. Um, obviously that that's protected information. It's not subject to FOIA. Uh, we do have procedures in place. Um, we worked with Dr. Merritt, our legal team, uh, and law
enforcement to establish procedures for the school district for that for that particular instance should an ICE officer come to the school with a warrant or not a warrant. How are those different scenarios handled? And then at the beginning of the school year, we provided training to all of our administrators uh, on how to handle
that. And then our office staff has the very specific instructions on how they're to handle those type of situations. Um, and so we've had an opportunity to kind of go back and revisit those procedures and and they are in my opinion the most current and
up-to-date that they can be today. Um, again, we had a legal our our legal team uh board legal review those and provide feedback and and they believe that they're very strong procedures as well. Um my my hope is is that we never have
to fall back on those procedures, but but it's uh um I try not to watch the news at night. Uh >> it's a crazy world. >> You've been done an amazing job of being proactive on so many areas and I'm glad to hear that you've got some of that work done on that front as well. So,
thank you so much and thank you for your leadership and the whole team that you've uh got here. >> Thank you. >> Member Wester. My fellow board members have asked most of my most of my questions. Um, thank you for the excellent presentation and I wanted to
especially thank you for uh working to get crisis go working for students and and families. As a parent that that saw how the rumors and the and the discussion spread during the lockdown after the Oxford incident,
I really appreciate that. >> Yep. >> Thank you, >> member Ross. Um, thank you for this presentation and for keeping our kids safe. Um, I I appreciated one thing that you said
about going through our equipment and systems and assessing it for the future. I think that's great that we're looking forward and making sure that we're making the best use of those things. I'm wondering with the you talk about you
know losing funding what are things what would be brown out first like what are we talking about >> you know I don't uh I don't really have an answer for that today um that those would be internal discussions that we would have to have with Kurt and the team and Dr. merit and really kind of
prioritize and it's really funding driven. Um, so my, you know, I'm a realist. I have to look at at the real situation that we're in today. Um, but but my goal is to not brown anything out. My goal is to to to hit the pavement, work with whoever we can um to
try to get some of that funding. We we learned today that we're we're going to get some additional funding through the through the federal government um in a partnership with Canton Township. Um, so there will be more uh information coming out on that that that Dr. Merritt will share with the board. So, um that's our
goal today. Our goal today is is to really uh find those funding mechanisms. Um because it goes beyond the systems. Without my team in place, we can't run the systems. We can't fix the systems. And so, it's really kind of trying to look at that holistically, work with the
with the with the core leadership team and make sure that um if we're going to have a funding shortfall, then we're out looking and and hitting the pavement to try to find grants and other means to do that. Um so, Uh I think we're in pretty good shape for for at least the next year. Um but again that's that whole
work we're doing right now to evaluate everything determine costs beyond next year the year after and the year after so that the core leadership team can take that document and say okay now we can start plugging this into the future and and make some decisions. If if we don't want if we want to maintain
systems and and security at the level we're at today then this is the cost it's going to cost us in the 2627 school year. the 27 28 and beyond. And so those decisions can be made. Um again, I'm I'm, you know, incredibly grateful for for what we've gotten and what we've
been able to do. Um and and my goal today is to make sure that I leave this district on solid ground um for for the future. >> We hope that doesn't come too soon. >> Say I don't think we should be talking about you leaving anytime. >> I I got a little bit left in the fuel
tank. I'll be here for a while. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. Okay, our student co-chair Arjun, >> thank you for the presentation. I have a couple of questions. Um, the first two are about the crisis go you mentioned >> um you mentioned that reports will come to students and parents who opt in on
their phones. Will it be available to students on their Chromebooks as well? >> Uh, possibly. So, I'm working with technology to address that right now. The way that it's the way that it's set up um is through an SMS message. Um, and
so we're working on avenues to be able to to put that SMS message out. It's different. It's different for staff um because it's an actual app that's on the device whereas um for students and for
uh parents it would be a message. So you you look at it like a mass notification message. So, if I if we act if an if a lockdown was to be activated, for example, all of our staff is going to get the the information on our app, but then students are going to get a message
that says the bill because it's tied into our student management system. It's going to say um your your school is in a lockdown. Here's the procedures as a student you should follow. And then your parents um would get a message saying that that school is in lockdown with instructions. Number one being, please
don't come to the school. follow this text message for additional information. Um, it gives us the ability to rapidly put those messages out. Um, but we still have challenges with the number of, you know, 6,000 plus kids at the park and they're all on their phones when that lockdown goes in. That starts tying up
cell signals. It starts tying up bandwidth on the databases and things. And so, we still have those issues to overcome, but but that's that's how it would work today. Um, there is a possibility that it could go to Chromebooks and and we're looking into that right now. Oh yeah, because just
with the rise of teachers, I mean, personally, I have more teachers using the cell phone bins and stuff, just students being able to see that kind of stuff on the >> Y. No, I understand that. >> And then also when you said that it detects for absences, when it's looking at um teacher reported absences, does it
compare it to the um attendance for that day specifically or the total attendance? >> No. So, so when an incident occurs, when an incident occurs and we go into like a lockdown, what we're asking staff to do is take a take a a roster, take an attendance, um, and and and account for
the students that are locked down in their classroom so that we know if maybe a student left to go to the bathroom and that student's not in the classroom. That's what we're asking for, not whether that student was at school that day. We can compare that against to the m to the actual attendance. But what we're trying to find out in real time
and in the moment is where all of our students are so that we can start deploying teams to account for them and if they happen to be in a bathroom, we can go to that bathroom and get them to a safer space. >> And then um the last thing is there's a you guys the conversation on substance
abuse and being able to present more information, you know, working on vaping and stuff like that. >> And maybe this is a question more directed to >> what we're doing at SVA. um where we're trying to work on substance abuse aware awareness maybe being able to tie presentations in
schools directly to students where it's not like the students have to sign up. It's one of those presentations where the students will be there because I think that >> the students who need it will not be students who sign up for it. >> Um so maybe working on that is something
we should consider. >> Yeah. So your adviser um I'm sure you have an adviser for the program. Um, I'm more than happy to come in and speak to your group and and and talk about opportunities where we can work together to to maybe spread that message and and work together to try to get that message out. So, just talk with your adviser if
they want me to come to a session. I'm more than more than happy to do that. >> You're welcome. >> Thank you very much. Appreciate you. >> Have a good night. >> I'd love to stay, but I'm tired. >> Echo's like, "We're out of here." watching it go on
treats for him. >> Thank you so much. >> Have a good night. Thank you. >> Good night. >> Good night. >> Okay. Up next, we have action item number 26-01-31. Consider approval of a resolution for the enrollment of non-resident students
of PCCS employees for the 2026 2027 school year. This is a final reading. Can I have a motion? Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for the enrollment of nonPCC non-resident students of PCCS employees for the 2026 2027 school year. This is
action item 260131 and this is the final reading. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> So it was moved by Treasurer Kho and seconded by Secretary Wester. Um do we have any other comments or questions about this >> hearing? None. I'm going to call for the vote. Those in favor please say yes.
>> Yes. Those opposed say no. >> Motion carries. 70. Okay. We have a action item number 26-01-30. Consider approval of a resolution for the enrollment of non-resident applicants.
Applicants. Oh yes. For the 2026 2027 school year pursuant to schools of choice section 105 and 105 C. This is a final reading. Can I please have a motion? Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for the enrollment of non-resident
applicants for the 2026 and 2027 school year pursuant to schools of choice sections 105 and 105C action item 260130 final reading. >> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> So it was moved by treasurer Kho and
seconded by uh member Ahmed. Again, do we have any questions or comments about this >> question? Um, can you remind us the dates again as to so the people that are listening, I know school of choice is a big topic as to when the applications open up and when they close. Could you
remind us of those dates, please? I >> sure can. So, um, following the board approval tonight, we have a 30-day window to advertise that we are doing school of choice. Then we have a 30-day application period. Um, and then a 10-day window to uh conduct a lottery if
we need to and then offer them a spot in the district. >> And all of that will go on the website starting. >> It is already on the website. Okay. >> Yep. And there uh the information is there. And then uh we also will put the internal transfer uh application which
is for our resident families. That'll go out tomorrow morning um so that they can begin that process. We do that process first which allows our resident families to select the school other than the one assigned to their home address and then following that we'll place our school of choice families where we have space.
>> I think the the advertisement though would not start until post uh decision. So tomorrow I think is the website. >> Yeah. Yep. Yep. >> We're not present. >> Yeah. The uh the uh the the what we post on the website is perh pending the board approval. So, it's a kind of a tentative
timeline >> and is this might be too much of a um detail oriented fine-tuning process, but is there a way that you can mail out this information? So, people that are
not checking the website on a regular basis, maybe people who are in the outskirts of Canton, um is there a way to do they get a mailer? How else can they get this information? We are utilizing social media um Facebook, Instagram, those kind of things with our
typical reels that we do through the community uh relations department. >> At one point there was a discussion of a board um on the highway. What was what do you call those? >> Billboard. >> Yeah. >> Was that effective? Did you I'm not
sure. >> Yeah, I remember the discussion. I don't know if it was cost prohibitive, but >> Okay. But that's not happening. >> No, we don't have plans for that. >> Okay. Thank you. >> We uh one of the things that we have done proactively is our our preschool families that are here um but don't live
in the district, we have all their names. Um we also have uh created a list of families who have reached out during this school year to say we're interested in school of choice. So we have about a hundred of those uh names that we we've collected phone numbers and email
addresses. So we're going to proactively share that information with them as well. >> Great. Thank you. >> I I just want to make a comment. I am going to vote no on this because I think that we need to focus on
creating an environment and academics and athletics and extracurricular activities to keep our families here in the district. >> Right. Any other questions or comments? >> Yeah, I would say that it's important that we do poll. >> Absolutely.
So bringing uh students of choice, schools of choice students in fill an empty slot that is in our district which actually brings revenue to us that we would not have any other way. So and that revenue directly impacts our um the services that we can offer to our
students including everything that we do whether it be athletics or activities or anything else. So, this is an opportunity to enhance the revenue that we receive and it's a really important part of uh our growth uh work that we're doing and I 100% agree that we need to keep the students that go to our
district and I'm excited about the work that's happening towards that end. >> I just want to say something too. I I'm concerned just because um as we bring in more students from other districts that those students may displace some of the opportunities for the students that are
in this district um like the STEM program since there's limited numbers limited numbers for TAG there's limited numbers for our other activities and some people move here to be in those and um and I I'm concerned that um the
students that are the families that are paying on the bond those that residents that are here they're also paying and um participating and things like that that um that that will maybe affect maybe future bonds and things and just openings as as if our district starts to
grow because those students can be here for their whole term that that may impact that too also. So and just the extra costs. So just say >> the way I think about it too, just if I may um add a comment, a lot of the districts, this is a destination
district, right? We we do attract families. People are trying to purchase homes and move in within the boundaries of our district. And so one way a family can engage with a district before they've found their home is by by participating in the the um school of
choice program and then by finalizing or moving within the district. um to to be part of that community. So, I am in support of this. Any other comments or questions? Okay. At this time, I'm going to call for the vote. Those in favor, please say yes.
>> Yes. Those opposed say no. >> No. >> Okay. Motion carries. 52. Okay. Up next, we are going into finance and operations. We have action item number 26 01-32. consider approval of a resolution
authorizing the sale of 2020 bond series 3. This is a first and final reading. Can I please have a motion? >> Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution authorizing the sale of the 2020 bond. This is series 3. It's a first and final reading and the action item is 260132.
>> Can I have a second? >> Second. >> Okay. It was moved by Treasurer Kho and seconded by Secretary Wester. Miss Minnik, do you mind taking us through this one? >> Certainly. Thank you. Uh, good evening. It's my pleasure to bring forward for your consideration and your review the approval of a resolution authorizing the
sale of bonds. Uh this resolution has two components. Um you'll the first is authorization to issue the third and final series of bonds pertaining to the 2020 bond program as approved by the voters uh and for which we're very grateful. Um you'll recall that the
overall authorization for the 2020 bond program is $275 million. The district issued its first series of bonds in 2020, a second series in 2023, and this final series then in the spring of 26 will be the third and final series. The remaining authorized amount for issuance
in this series is 65,685,000. The second component of this resolution is a potential refunding of certain outstanding bonds from the 2015 uh construction projects in the amount of $24 million. Um, a refunding means that we will uh buy back those originally
issued bonds and reissue them at a lower interest cost. Uh, thereby saving our taxpayer funds on the interest expense of those bonds. Uh however, the authorizing resolution states that if the market interest rates are such that um it doesn't uh receive a minimum of a
minimum uh 2% present value savings, if that's not recognized, then the district may exercise an option to not refund those bonds. Uh or if there's any other parameter in which it results in um the sale not being economically advantageous.
So we will always uh have the district's interest of course in mind for that. Uh but the sale of the 2026 series and the potential 2015 refunding bonds will take the form of a competitive sale. Uh this means that at a stated date and time, bids will be electronically submitted
and opened from buyers uh to purchase those bonds such as investment houses, uh banks, private and public investors. Uh the district bond council and financial adviserss will be present with district administration uh to evaluate those bids received. Uh the scheduled
date and time of that uh sale is May 12th. Uh and closing is uh scheduled currently for June 9th at which time then the proceeds would be uh received. Uh just for your awareness uh a separate capital projects fund will be
established the 2026 bond fund uh to account for the expenditures of those bond proceeds and the cost of those construction projects. A separate debt service fund will also be established to account for the collection of those taxes, those revenues uh in order to pay
then those semiannual uh principal and interest payments on the bonds. Uh otherwise the authorizing resolution in your packets should be largely familiar to you and um and most part are similarly worded uh to the prior two series of bonds. I'm happy to answer any
other questions you may have. Thank you. >> Okay, we'll start with member Amed. Any questions? >> No questions. Thank you. >> I don't have any questions. Thank you. >> No questions. No questions for me. >> We talked about this pretty extensively at FNO, so most of my questions were
answered. I just want to reinforce that by considering the refund of the earlier bonds, we save our taxpayers money um by reducing the uh potential interest rate on it. There's no guarantee that we'll see that happen, but we've been pretty successful in the past, and our uh high bond rating has helped to enable that.
So, it's a good thing for us to do for the community. So, thank you for the the good uh fiscal stewardship. >> Very good. >> Just one question. I'm not familiar with this process since I wasn't a board member when the other two issues.
>> Um as a part of this, do we provide a list of the in of the construction projects that will this bond issue will go to fund? I mean, I know it's the remainder of the work that was scoped out, but it's been six year, you know,
we're approaching six years now. So, >> that's right. Yes. Thank you. That is an excellent question. I appreciate you raising that. Uh, as part of this process, the district will prepare a preliminary official statement, which is a very comprehensive document uh sharing every bit of detail about our district
for potential buyers. um everything from our tax base to uh the programs we offer to our financials. Um everything uh to disclose uh the purposes of the bonds and what we have planned for that work and for the bond proceeds. Um so yes th
that kind of thing uh and more is developed in order to be communicated uh across potential buyers >> and will that be communicated to the community as well? So, we talked about at the FNO meeting that we had done a presentation probably about a year ago about the different bond programs that
we're doing and we want to do another one of those. >> So, >> okay. >> So, just an update as to kind of where we're at, you know, letting people know what's coming next and, you know, giving them some feedback on some of the um >> uh economic pressures that we've seen uh
around inflation and other things as part of the process. >> Okay. Thank you. Thank you. >> Sorry. >> Thank you. I don't have any questions. >> Thank you. Thank you very much. At this time, I'm going to call for the vote. Those in favor, please say yes. >> Yes.
>> Those opposed say no. >> Motion carries 70. >> Okay. Miss Minnick, will you take us through the next item, please? >> Yes. Very good. Thank you. Uh, next for your consideration this evening is the purchase of two John Deere Gator utility
vehicles. Uh this topic was discussed at the last FNO committee meeting. Um the facilities department is recommending the purchase of two 2026 John Deere Gators uh uh utility vehicles with two six uh 6'6 in snow plows to support
yearround uh grounds maintenance at Plymouth Canton Educational Park. Uh these are lighter weight purpose-built vehicles uh to help protect the concrete uh walkways and the surrounding landscaping uh which will improve uh snow removal efficiencies and allow for
expanded use at other uh district locations and facilities. Um, these units will be purchased through Hudson Incorporated under the state of Michigan my deal cooperative arrangement contract at a total cost of $74,896.34 funded through the 2526 maintenance
department's equipment replacement budget. Um, the equipment includes a 12-month 10,000year warrant warranty uh with an estimated five-month lead time. Uh this item was presented at the finance and operations meeting as I
mentioned on December 18th uh where we uh did review the specifications of these utility vehicles and discuss the needs and variety of uses uh for the equipment. Uh Mr. Matt Lentz, our director of capital programs and facilities is with us this evening to answer any additional questions you may
have this evening. Thank you. Thank you very much. Member >> no questions. Thank you. >> I do not have any questions the meeting. Um just a quick question about the warranty. Is that normal for the warranty only to be 12 months?
>> Yes, that that is that is normal um due to the kind of the usage uh of the of the vehicle itself. Um and just what it is because it's a little bit of like a um all-terrain type vehicle. So yeah, that that is pretty standard. >> No way to get an extended warranty. We
asked >> just think one year is not enough time to really see this. >> It we we have similar um the uh expansive use. Uh I know we we are talking about snow plows at this point. U we'll be able to put mower decks. Uh
we'll be able to make them street legal so they can assist on snow days with like tanda, you know, and some of the adjacent. Um they're they're very very flexible. Okay. Which is the main thing we were looking for. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Thank you. Kind of adding to that too,
we we own we own a similar model or we have >> we own varieties of models that are all of this and we've kind of learned through the and I'm going to quote this wrong, but I think we own seven of like different styles. We have narrowed it down. This is the one that is the works the best for our needs. >> We we spoke about this at finance and
operations. So, I do not have any other questions. Thank you. >> I was absent for the finance and operations meeting. So, I do have one question. Um, I see we're bringing this forward as a first and final, but the lead time is five months. Um, so we're going to be outside the snow season.
>> Um, what's the reason that we're bringing this forward as first and final? >> We're looking forward to use it. >> Oh, >> it says first. It's a first read. >> Did I misread that? >> I misread it. Sorry. My bad. >> I saw the one above it and I misread it. >> I can answer that question. I don't know
why we want it in June anyway. I was like, no, I got it. >> So, okay. We will use them in June for >> We will use them all spring, all summer to cut uh mow, you know, and all that type of lawn care as well. >> I misread it, so I apologize. Thank you. >> We'll use it year round. >> Yes. >> Yes.
>> Yeah. No questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. No questions. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much, Miss. >> All right. Thank you. Uh next on our agenda this evening, I'm pleased to bring forward for your consideration uh this evening the award of bids for the
Galammore addition and renovation program and the Hoben bond program. Uh sealed bids for uh these projects were received and publicly opened on December 5th. Following a thorough review of bids and post-bid interviews to confirm the scope uh scheduling, staffing and
materials, the project team has identified the most responsive and responsible bids for this award. Uh we are recommending approval of construction contracts for these projects and a total amount not to exceed 8,611,56. Separate contingency budgets have been
established for Galamore and Hoben uh elementaryaries to address items not included in the initial construction documents. And this topic was presented and discussed at the January 8th uh finance and operations committee meeting. Uh, and with us this evening to answer any questions you may have and to
run us through a presentation of the planned construction uh, is led by Brian Gusman of McCarthy Smith, our construction management team. And I'll let you go ahead if you don't mind introducing your staff as they come to the pulpit. And then we have Derek Dinkaloo and Anna Reed from our TMP
architecture. Thank you. >> Well, thank you for having us. We are excited to present the Galmore edition and renovation package as well as the Hoben renovation project. Um, we're going to tag team that we've got a whole crew of of folks here for a couple presentations today that we're excited to share with you.
Whoops. Little quick on the draw. Um, before I pass it on to Anna Reed with TMP, just a quick highlight. We're going to first start with Gallamore, the addition and remodeling um, scope. Uh, which is really one of the last schools, if you recall, for elementary schools. One of the main goals was to separate
the cafeteriums, as we called them, the cafeterias and gymnasiums that served as as one facility. Um through this 2020 bond program, we were successfully able to separate pretty much every other elementary school. So, this is really one of the last ones that have that true cafeterose
room addition, uh kitchen serve line upgrades, restroom remodeling, a quarter wall replacement, which you may uh sound familiar from similar projects that we've done in the past, uh partial parking lot replacements, as well as uh HVAC upgrades. And then I'll turn it over to Anna Reed to walk through the uh
the floor plan with us. again cheap perform. Um so as you'll see we've got um the new kitchen servery upgrades here. Your new uh addition for the gym and a new stage that will also accommodate music. So you have a
separate music and art classroom accommodated for their own space within the building. Um we're doing a series of um fixing the the skylights in some of those rooms. So um those will no longer
be in use. Um replacing some storage components. Uh the music room here will that is currently off of the media center will move to that stage as previously discussed. um touching uh the bathroom fit and finishes um and
providing a new restroom here in the addition as well um and along with some of the other items that were previously mentioned. Uh you can see here this is a rendering of what that addition will look like. Um so you noticed it was on the south side
of the building. So up against that current black top that goes alongside um you will see a new secure entrance uh vestibule that so that this area can be accessed after hours while still leaving
the rest of the building secure. And this is another um view of that. You also see some um windows allowing for daylight in. So very similar to some of the additions we've seen in similar situations.
>> As we shift gears into the Hovind renovation, again, Hoben, you will not see that multi-purpose room item listed here because they do indeed have a separate uh cafeteria and gymnasium as it stands today. Um so some of those highlights from the renovation include toilet fixture replacement, um
playground access improvements and and uh member Kiho had mentioned earlier, you'll see fairs as well coming up in a future program. Um but all elementary schools ultimately will receive playground access improvements um and playground equipment improvements rather. Uh classroom flooring replacement um for all the classrooms,
new secure vestibule, uh gym floor replacement, select lighting replacement, and HVAC upgrades. So again, you'll kind of see the the scope of work um sorry as it goes with um the site here. So
you'll see that secure entrance addition here along with a little bit of rework to that main office to make it more efficient and expansion of the current clinic so that it can um also function better for students. Um the main thing you'll you'll notice here is a new
corridor exit. Um creating some some resource room um support spaces here. So this allows a new um safe and secure exit out to the playground out back that everyone can see. So we don't have to prop doors open. Um there's just one
main access point. It also help keep your school a lot cleaner um with all the little dirty boots coming in on a nice walk-off carpet. Um so you'll see that as well. There's also been some additional support um student support
spaces that have been accommodated um within this to help with the speech OT a place for students to go for things of that nature. All right, good evening. Uh, so on the screen right here, uh, you can kind of see all of our different bid divisions.
Uh, some of them you see are duplicated. When we got proposals from contractors, we asked, uh, for basically two numbers on most of them, one for Galore, one for Hoben. That way we can kind of compare and contrast um whether it was kind of
better to do one contractor for both schools, kind of split up the two separate schools. Um some of them that we try to do that um is like the electrical or the HVAC just kind of depending on the total scope of the project for the schools. Sometimes it's
a lot for one contractor to do both schools. Uh so that's why you kind of see some duplicates there. Also on the screen are ones with two stars next to them. Uh for example, bid division 105 concrete flatwork, McCarthy construction. Uh no relation to McCarthy
and Smith Construction. Um but the two stars indicate that they are the second low contractor for each contractor. Uh for each bid division as well, we do post bid interviews. Uh kind of talking throughout the scope uh what we had asked the contractor to bid, what was
shown on the drawings. Sometimes a contractor misses something uh says they they can't do the project for uh their original cost submitted. So then we have to go to that next contractor. So you'll see a handful on here that all have those two stars next to them. Uh that is
what that is indicating. Um on the next slide you can kind of see the overall number of bids that we received for each bid division. Uh as well as some other breakdowns that we asked from our contractors. Uh those sections are womenowned businesses,
minority owned businesses, union versus non-union, and then other affiliates. Um so you kind of see the breakdown there. Overall, we had received I believe it's 146 total bids. So overall, uh pretty good for the size
projects that we had. Um the next slide is a list of our alternates. alternates are kind of those we'll get pricing during bid time, see if it fits the budget. Um that way we can kind of somewhat pick and choose
what we'll include uh if we do come in under budget. So uh alternate one was toilet room fixtures at Galamore. Alternate two was Galamore lighting upgrades. Alternate three is Galamore
alterations to offices, media center, and teachers room. Uh, alternate four is the Hoben lighting upgrades. Alternate five is the Hoben roof replacement. And then alternate six was the Hoben alterations to toilet rooms. Uh, we
would be recommending alternates one, three, and six. Uh, kind of going with the theme that we've done in the past, doing all of the restrooms, um, and not doing all those lighting upgrades. And then there you can see the
number that we had received for the Hoben roof replacement of roughly $750,000. Um on the next screen we can see kind of where our overall numbers came in. Uh so our overall budget was a little over 8.4
million. Uh base bid numbers came in at $8,341,463. uh with the toilet room at Galamore and Hoben as well as the alternate three for the office media center teachers room uh worked at Galamore. Uh we come in at
8,611,56 uh which gets a negative variance of $178,860. Um, again, those alternates are what kind of put it over a little bit, but those go in hand with what we have done to previous buildings
um of the same age group. Um, as far as uh construction timeline itself, so Hoben is just a renovation. So that would be this upcoming summer uh 2026. The Galamore
uh addition would start over the summer and complete roughly this time next year. The Galamore renovation for the classrooms as they had said before. Uh kind of redoing those corridor classroom walls like we were doing over at Farand
or did this past year over at Farand. That would all happen this upcoming summer, but the kitchen work and the parking lot work just due to material lead times would then be pushed to summer 2027. Uh and then furniture replacement for both schools being the
summer of 2026. Uh are there any questions for Hogan and Gailmore? >> Thank you very much. I'll start with member Amed. No, thank you very much for the detailed presentation. >> Member, >> I do not have questions. I was at the meeting.
>> Member Sue. >> Um, just a couple of questions. >> As you talk about furniture replacement summer of 26, but Gallammore edition goes until February 27, 2027. So, >> so the addition at Gallamore, uh, like
in previous schools, we had done the gymnasium plus a classroom or two. The addition at Gallamore is just a gymnasium. Okay. and then has like a maintenance closet and a toilet room in it. >> Okay. >> Um, >> so not class, you're not worried about that? Okay. Then the last question about
Galamore is more around their parking lot. Having been there many times, are you increasing the number of parking spots? >> I believe the number of parking spots remain the same >> and the pathway is going to be
um safer. Like is a pathway changing? Because I just remember going in and in and out of Galamore. It it just gets to be a lot. >> Um, so it's getting repaved and parts of the the sidewalk are being replaced as well. Um, due to uh detention
requirements, we can't I'm sorry. Due to detention requirements, we can't increase the size of the pavement there without putting in a detention system. That would put us largely over budget. >> Okay. Thanks, >> Member Kho.
>> Um, so thank you for the updates. Uh I saw you incorporated a lot of the feedback that we wanted to have. I did want to appreciate those things. I do want to touch on the accessible bathrooms at both Gallamore and uh Hoben. Um at Gallamore, you've called out that we have um two existing
accessible bathrooms or are those two bathrooms that are going to be made accessible? >> Uh those are are two existing that fit the current size, but we'll be adding grab bars to one you uh minor modifications to make sure they meet requirements. So, I know that the new
one is um is well suited for accessibility and it's designed not only to meet the code requirements but also to be really usable. >> Yes. >> Um and looking at the size of the green dots and that's all I'm going on. Uh it seems that the other two bathrooms are much smaller. >> Yes.
>> Um are they still usable as accessible bathrooms? >> Correct. And you do have some additional bathrooms that are under the rehabilitation code are still usable. Anyone in wheelchair can access them. um they're just not as large as if you
would need some extra special care besides being in a wheelchair. >> Okay. And then at uh Hovind, the same question. It looks like those two bathrooms are actually larger in size. Are they being renovated or are they >> They're being renovated as far as uh fit and finish and fixtures and making sure
that the grab bars are at appropriate heights because obviously when we replace the fixtures, that's part of what we um replace as well. >> Okay. And with respect to both of those schools, the door access and everything else are designed to meet usability requirements for accessibility, not just
the standards of the of the the the rules >> um to the bathroom doors or >> Yes, the bathrooms. Uh yes, they are. >> Okay. Okay. Thank you. I appreciate that. >> No problem. >> No further questions. Thank you for the presentation. >> Member Ross. Thank you. No questions.
Okay. >> Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. Okay, Miss Man. Next on our agenda is a recommendation to award bids for bid pack uh HS7 and P sub4, which are the Salem edition and the Canton
baseball Soccer concessions buildings. Uh same team. Uh I'll just mention uh quickly that the bids were opened and publicly or were received and publicly opened on November in November of 25. Um we um had propo I'm sorry uh with po
with post I'm sorry I can't spit this out uh with postponed uh bid division o divisions opened in early December uh due to a lack of initial bids. Uh but following the bid review and post bid interviews to confirm the scope schedule staffing and materials. Uh the team has identified the most responsive and
responsible biders for contract award. Uh, the administration is recommending approval of these contracts in amount not to exceed $12 million. I'm sorry, 12,544,234. A separate construction contingency has been established outside of the contract amounts to address unforeseen
circumstances. And this item was presented at the finance and operations meeting held on January 8th uh with previews um occurring uh this past November as well. Uh so Brian, please. >> Thank you. Um this is an exciting one. Uh this has probably been in the process
for the last 3 years probably plus with a lot of feedback. We talk about access and accessibility in Salem High School multi-purpose room is probably like the epitome of of trying to make sure we make that happen. Um we elected to combine these two scopes of work. Um not originally intentionally um but by way
of them kind of coming together at the same time. We opted to take advantage of of bitter turnout um and capitalize on PAP 4 Canton baseball soccer and concessions which is arguably a much smaller project when it's teamed up with Salem High School but kind of marries up nicely when they're bid out at the same
time and we can take advantage of some of the bidding effort u by doing so. Um we're going to separate these in two when we describe them. The first is the HS7 Salem addition and renovation. Um much like the elementary schools of the
one of the last multi-purpose rooms, this will be the last high school multi-purpose room of the four. Canton, Plymouth, Salem, and Starkweather. This will be the last one to receive a multi-purpose room addition. Um I think one of the big things over the last three years while this has been designed is the accessible entrance. Um, Miss
Anna Reed will kind of walk through where this this addition hypothetically has moved uh gyrated around the building and has had a lot of different landing spots ultimately be found where where she's going to show it. Um, which currently is is frankly is fairly inaccessible as it stands today. Um, so
we're excited to present an option um to increase that accessibility for all in a in a situation that's probably one of the more extremes in the park. Um, with that will be new restrooms, elevator for access to visitor side bleachers. You have two mezzanines at Salem High School gym. Uh you have a current elevator for
the home uh uh mezzanine. This elevator will bring access to that visitor side. Uh the multi-purpose room addition. Um as part of that is a weight room renovation. Um due to that weight room renovation, there'll be some modifications to the choir room um and increased usability with some of these
practice rooms as well as a parking lot replacement. As you may recall, um Salem High School, I think, has been on the docket for a parking lot replacement for some time. Um, with the location of this addition, it complicated life a little bit as far as the timing of that when that parking lot wants to be replaced. That parking lot wants to be replaced
after the addition is done. Um, so then when we leave it, it it stands the test of time. And with that, I will turn it over to Miss Reed. >> Thank you. Um, so you'll see your current parking lot in here, and we'll review uh the new layout um in a later
slide, but right here you'll see the addition of a new secure entrance for students um that leads into the existing um corridor where we're adding a ramp so that we have uh accessible access for
students from the student lot directly. Um as well as um adding in uh at grade entrance to the natiatorum. So instead of going up what what students call the hallway to nowhere, the ramp to nowhere,
um you can enter in at the ground floor and get directly next to those natorium stands as well. Um you'll see there's two new sets of gang restrooms um to accommodate any of uh the f the events
that would happen here. um a very long um storage component here and a um the elevator that would go up to um the area over here. Um on the back side, we do have a stairwell that's an egress
stairway. Um so we got rid of one of the um current stair stair towers that's on the east side of the building. This gets you out from that visitor side directly to the backside there. Um it also um
gets rid of of the bridge um over to this burm so that you have direct access um to the parking lot level as well. Um and then over here you will see the um slight expansion remodeling of the wait
room for Salem. So, the original went along this column line here. Um, and then we have reworked four new practice areas into the choir practice. Um, kind of getting rid of the of some of those areas that were used as storage for
athletics um and given them back to um to choir. Um here you'll see a blow up of that. So you can really see how the ramp interacts um with your stairwell here. You still have um on level access to the
gym. Um and then you'll see how the um weight room was expanded um and those new practice areas and office um for choir as well. This shows you both floors. So, this is not two gyms stacked on one top of each
other. There's one gym um with a higher volume over here, but you can see the interaction of both the elevator up to this second level as well as the egress stairs that'll come down from that second level as well. Um so, you have
your full access over to that uh visitor bleacher. Um, and then you can also see um in better detail how you can get in through this vestibule and directly access um the pool on this side.
And here is the new layout for um the parking lot, the student parking lot at Salem. It actually does give us a few additional parking spaces there. Um I believe the count was 18, but I don't remember off the top of my head the
exact number. Um you have this new drop off loop here um with that helps to solve some of the safety and security measures. There's a row of ballards that goes through this um small area of concrete so that no vehicles can cross
over um and it helps to increase the safety from the um the ADA parking spots to direct access to the door. Um, so this also helps with your traffic migration and not having a bunch of
three-point turns into other people trying to get in and out of of other areas here. It does not modify um your current easements onto Joy Road, so we are staying within the confines of of your current circulation. Um, but it
would allow for additional um, lineups that also follow into the parking lot um, for any pickup and drop off, especially at athletic events. And what you're seeing here in the bottom is the very large detention um, that will go in
underneath the parking lot to help with that storm water management. Um, and here is a rendering of what it'll look like um, from the exterior by the time it's completed. So, again, a nice front entrance. It's very inviting,
welcoming, um, has has safe access for everybody and really highlights this area of the school. Um so the next is what we're calling PAP 4 which is concession building and team room um that is somewhat centrally
located between um your existing uh turf field and specifically Canton baseball and the soccer field um on on the park. So part of this and it's kind of been a discussion point as long as probably I've been here as far as available restrooms um near that existing soccer
field has been brought up um as well as just having additional facilities available for folks who are attending those types of events. Um so part of this project in collaboration with the district is to provide new centralized concession building with team room and restrooms. Um additionally we would be uh renovating the existing concessions
and uh stand and team room near the east turf field. Uh there's a lot going on here. We'll work our way through each slide um so everybody can get their bearings and then Miss Reed will kind of walk us through the drawings. >> Um so for context, this is your new
innovation hub at the end of Canton. Um the new parking lot where new accessible parking spots have been provided down here on the south end. that was done preemptively um to allow for um more accessible parking for this new um
concessions ticket booth entrance. So, you'll see your new building here um which accommodates a team room as well as toilet rooms, storage, concessions, and a ticket booth. And then your new uh
your existing concessions and um other buildings here. So, walking through the modifications of your existing buildings, that old ticket booth will now become a new concessions. Um, so that'll allow the separation of
um the concessions line away from the the team room um and the bathrooms so that there's less interference with that. Um you'll notice here that the both team rooms um that were quite small
have now become one large team room. So if you remember on the previous slide, there is one team room attached to the new um the new building and it is directly adjacent to the visitor stands and um an
entrance here. So those work in tandem um where you can have your home team um here for anything on the east field um and you can use that other team room for visitors. It could also double for um soccer for your home team to be able to
have a place to touch base. Um and then you'll see a new concession or I'm sorry, a new officials room and um individual toilet um where that old concessions was. And you'll see a new storage area at the old merchandising
counter. Um, all the bathrooms will get a a fixture finish update, but everything does need to remain in place. Um, so that those didn't grow exponentially due to new code. And this is an enlarged plan of that new
building. So, you'll see um the team room with a single occupancy bathroom um here. um a breezeway that connects those two buildings so that you have a ticket entrance. Um storage concessions easily
accessible and if need be underneath a um a a rain covering um a storage building for the baseball and and soccer fields over here. Um and then the two um one men and one women's and then one
family toilet room. all of which are ADA festival. And this is a rendering that you'll see so incorporated as part of this. I think everybody's probably been to the new stadium now. Um we'll have a new archway to kind of um bring people in to the
front of that. What you're seeing back here is uh just some some branding on the back of your visitor stands. So that's what you would be looking at through there. Um your team room on the left. um the the other portion of the building. I'm sorry, you're right. And another portion of the building on your
left and then that covering that goes over. >> Good evening. Um so here's our bid summary for the concessions and the new addition. We received about 128 bids over 28 bid divisions or uh trades if we
want to call them. Uh so we got that somebody right here. Uh there were a couple that we did have to go do the second low bidder. As mentioned before during our post bid interviews it was discovered that uh a couple contractors were missing some scope items. So they did retract their bids.
Um and here's a summary of all those items. Like I mentioned we had 128 bids. Here we break it down uh per the different categories. women own, minority owned, union, non-union, and then other affiliations, which for example could be uh veteranowned businesses. And then we also list the
high and low numbers in that bid range for each of those trades. So uh in a summary here for budget summary we had an original budget of construction for just over 8 million and then we did have an expanded budget scope which include the uh improved ADA
accessibility. Uh apologize for the that being cut off there. Um so that updated the total budget of 11,896,589. Uh our base bid total came in at 12,544,234 um which came with a variance of 647,645
which put just over just over 5%. the schedule, which we kind of touched base on earlier. The building edition, we're looking to start uh as soon as school gets out, we'll start setting up our layown area on the demo and get working on the building edition. That should last uh decent size addition. That'll get us over until September of
27. Um over the uh summer break, we are going to be working on the wait room and the uh choir room. Um, and as noted before too, that parking lot replacement so we don't paint ourselves in a corner. That's going to follow the summer of 27. The new concession building and team
room, we're going to start that right at the beginning of summer break. Uh, get that going, get that up in place before we really start working on the existing buildings so that way we're not interfering with the football season or the fall sports. And then we'll start working on those existing buildings in
the the existing concession and locker rooms. and we'll start those remodels in de starting December and going into April. I believe that's it. So, any questions on the Salem edition and soccer field baseball concessions?
>> Member. >> No questions at this time. Thank you for the detailed presentation. >> I do not have any questions, but thank thank you for your presentation. >> I have a few. Um, first of all, I know this is a lot. We've been waiting for Salem for quite a while, especially with
the accessibility issue. So, thank you for tackling that. Um, while that's happening, are there going to be accessibility measures for people who need access um beyond those stairs as you're working on the stairs renovation,
the entryway? How else would people get around when they're in a wheelchair or crutches? >> Now, if correct me wrong, but I believe we're not really changing anything the way it is now. you you'll still be able to access the front entrance which is the current way to get into that school or any other way.
>> Uh so um >> is this for accessibility during construction or >> no for during classes or during any events? >> Yes. >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> So So I'm Melines. I'm the director of facility. I didn't introduce myself
earlier so my apologies. Um there are currently there are two compliant ADA accesses to the building. One is on the south side of the building, one is on the north side of the building. The entrance we're actually working on is not compliant and is not considered one of the accessibles. So, to answer your
question, in the short term, we haven't changed any of the access to the building at all because when you enter in that entrance that we're renovating, you either have to go upstairs, >> right, >> either direction. So that portion um doesn't affect the accessibility to the
building um really at all because if you're a student and you're coming from the south, if you're a visitor, you're parking in the front and you're coming in the front door with those being the two accessible routes into the building currently. >> Okay. So there's no accessibility issues right now getting into Salem. >> Well, there there is because the primary
entrance that people use from uh athletics is a non-accessible entrance. This is remedying that. >> Okay. So that's that's and that's why the increased scope because it is >> a substantial remodeling of that. >> Got it because it's all those stairs and the the bridge to nowhere and all that
stuff. It's completely redoing all of that. >> Thank you. That's the clarity I needed. >> The usher wing. >> Exactly. >> Um so a couple of other questions in terms of the number of bathrooms um single stall bathrooms is within Salem. Is that are you just touching up
bathrooms or are you adding bathrooms? So, we're actually wrapping. This is kind of part two of Salem. So, we're on now our going on our second year of the Salem renovation. As part of that, we've renovated pretty much every group restroom in Salem as well as added um individual restrooms for every single
floor. Um so, this is in addition to that is adding new restrooms as part of the addition. >> Great. Great. And then the last question is more around the concession area. Uh um by the way I love the rendering of when you walk into the athletic area and
you have all of the the opening PCS. So with that have you gotten Dr. M Dr. Merritt and team have you gotten feedback from people who've come to our meetings and have shared concerns about the concession stands area needing more space in um the team room? Is this
taking into account all of the the conversations we've had over the last year? >> Absolutely. >> Great. they're like the team room is non-existent at this point. >> It's doubling the size of the of the the main team room for the home uh section on there. So, it's basically taking two team rooms and combining them into one
large and creating a whole new team room that's separated from that for the for the quote unquote visitors to be part of that. Now, that team room might also be used uh as the home teams for softball or soccer. So, it's not designating one as visitor or not, but for the main
stadium, that's the expectation. >> I think that's great. It's substantial uh new room everywhere. >> I just want to make sure that people know that we're listening to our constituents. We've heard you. I hope this is remedying some of the situations that have come up in the last year.
People that are watching at home. Yeah. So again, thank you for I'm talking to the community here. Thank you for the investment in our district, but this is one of the biggest ones that we've been waiting for. >> And this is the second half of Salem. Yes. So I mean Salem's got a huge addition that's already underway.
>> Right. Thanks for that reminder. >> I don't have any questions. Obviously, we talked about this uh during our last Stephano meeting, but I I think I wanted to lift something from our conversation last Thursday just around access, not necessarily accessibility. This addition
is coming at a point where a lot of our students actually park and they will not be able to utilize this entrance during construction. So, we know that safety and security measures, you know, fencing and everything else is going to go up during that project, but you know, signage and wayfinding are going to be
really important to direct traffic to other entrances to the building in the meantime. We know it's going to be maybe a pain point for for the duration of that uh construction project, but all for for a much better solution in
the end. So, we appreciate everybody's patience while this kind of goes through. I appreciate you're mentioning that. That's a really important point. Uh and robust communications are planned. Uh signage and repeated communications so that folks know where they are going
>> and how to access the building. >> Yeah. Great. Thank you, member Kh. >> Um two minor questions. Uh one is if we can go to the drawing of the new concessions building, the overhead um Uh, yes. So, on this one, first of all,
thank you for concluding the the overheads. These things were really hard to read when we were in FNO, and these made them substantially easier, but it's also brought out a concern for me. >> Um, I I'm seeing some black lines on here that are really hard to see on this uh thing. Can you help explain where the
fencing is on this process? >> So, part of this project is also to kind of complete the fencing around all of these fields. So, we've worked with Josh Meyer to incorporate safety and security measures for athletics as part of this.
Um, so you can see it connects to um the buildings and then also connects further to your existing fencing. Okay. um along >> and so will there be it's showing new pavement in the in the black hashmark
section there but you're going to have a real problem if they if you come out of there and direct people to the south >> and then drive them around. I mean you're going to have a um >> a desire path that's going to show up coming from that entry. >> So I believe there is a connection direct connection that you're not seeing.
>> Okay. So it's just not shown in the illustration. >> Yeah. Um and it leads to what is currently one of the um the mobile gates in the existing fencing. So if you need to say um make sure that everybody stays within the confines of the east stadium,
you can do that. >> Okay. For perfect. It's just not clear from this uh from this. >> It's hard to see. It's harder to see on the the overhead than it is on the the other. I think it's just line work >> and I just don't think we have that anymore. So that's fine. So thank you. Uh the second question I had is there was a discussion around 128 bit packs.
Um but the numbers show 99. So I don't know whether it's actually >> I believe 99 is accurate. >> Okay, great. Trying to make sure that what we've got here is right. You got it. >> Um okay, that's fine. It's there's a lot of data here so I'm not not complaining. But again, thank you for all this hard
work. We're super excited about this project and we're super thankful for the community for their support in passing this bond because without their support, we wouldn't be able to do all of these renovations and updates throughout uh the district. So, thanks. >> Okay. Um this is kind of a kind of a
different question. Um, with the completion of this, we have kind of a unified on the east side of the of the campus. We're going to have kind of a unified entry look and feel of the stadiums. Are there plans on the west
side to kind of do the same thing for the junior varsity field and the >> the Westfield? >> Westfield. Sorry, >> you're gay. >> The Westfield. Okay.
the Plymouth Field. >> Don't say that either. Yes. Uh for in the short term, uh no, there's no plans to do this. We have begun those discussions though of trying to get that unified collective uh shared PCS u
>> look and feel. Yes. Right. Thank you. Okay. But that Thank you. This has been a long time in coming and I know it's going to address a lot of the comments and and concerns from the community. So, I'm really excited that we're finally
getting to this stage. >> Um, I just have one question. I'm trying to visualize entering the building and being on the same level as the pool. >> That's correct. >> So, how does that work? So, can you can
you go back to the expansion with the >> I'm gonna let you talk with me. I'll let you explain the grade change. >> I can't like I've been in there a million times. >> If you go down quite visualize it, >> there's an enlarged plan right there. >> All right. Um, so it it's very hard to
see um on this. So, maybe we want to go up to where it's a little bit smaller. Um, but as you know, there is the the ramp to nowhere. So that current door um lets you into the natiatorum beside the the seating and you have to go down a
series of stairs to get to level to get down. So you're going up to go back down. Um there's actually I think only a 4 inch difference between um the bottom of the stairs and the finished floor elevation of the pool. So there'll just
be a very slight ramp when you get into the pool that leads directly down. >> Okay. So there will be no more going up. >> No going up and going down. That door gets dropped down. I want to say it's like eight feet. >> Yeah, it's it's almost 8 ft.
>> We all have the same prop. It's >> I should have given an elevation. >> That's all. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. The last item from the finance and
operations uh department is uh excuse me, a recommendation to uh purchase water bottle filling stations that uh will allow us to comply with recent uh filter first legislation. Uh in January
of 2025, the filter first, as it's called, legislation uh was enacted to improve access to clean drinking water in schools and daycare centers. Uh and one of the um one of the requirements is to um require school districts to
install approved filtered water bottle filling stations on all consumptive drinking water fixtures, meaning uh drinking water uh that will be consumed. Uh the legislation outlined a requirement of a minimum of one uh filling station per 100 students uh as
well as restrictions on the continued use of any non-compliant drinking fountains and bubblers. um inquiring requiring certain things as signage around um classroom uh sinks and things as well. Uh but this topic was presented in the spring of 2025 when the
legislation was enacted just as a preview uh and an overall awareness of that legislation. Uh but at the uh most recent uh FNO committee meeting on January 8th, uh we reviewed um uh some recently ordered and installed limited
numbers of filter first compliant units uh at two locations as a pilot. Uh the installations allowed our staff uh to confirm the product compatibility and installation requirements as well as ongoing maintenance considerations. Uh so with those pilot installations complete and operational, the facilities
department is recommending the purchase of remaining units in order to bring our district into compliance. Uh so these units will be purchased from Ferguson Enterprises under the Omnia cooperative agreement uh at a cost of 367,335.13 uh paid with filter first funds. And
then moving forward then all future bond construction and renovation projects will also include filter first compliant bottle filling stations as part of that base scope in our construction plans and in buildings previously renovated through the bond program. Uh any existing bottle filling stations that do
not meet the legislation requirements uh will also be replaced. Uh so this approach ensures consistency and long-term compliance uh with state law and then alignment as well with the intent and the spirit of the legislation. Uh so again with us is Matt for any uh questions uh that you may
have. Thank you. >> Member Amed. Any questions? >> No questions. Thank you. >> Member card. >> I just wanted to point out because I had asked about the filters but they would need to be replaced but they're not covered under the grant >> the replacements on an annual. So it's
um 10,000 gallons at that point. No, they are not for the ongoing maintenance. Correct. >> Yes. I just wanted to that would be a general fund expense. >> General fund. Okay. Yes. We have the first year's filters included. Correct. >> Correct. >> So, a couple questions. One on that line. Do you have a replacement cost
after year one approximate? >> They filters on >> there's $177. >> Yep. I was going to >> And we're installing 98. >> We are installing 16.
Should have had this in front of me. Eight. 168. Yes. because some of the filler stations are are multiples like there's two uh stations built into one. >> So >> that's why it wasn't adding up on the shape. >> Yeah, that's why it's not adding up. >> Okay.
>> And so we actually have enough fil we have enough filters for the initial year and then a year after that. >> So we actually have two years worth of fil of filters. >> Okay. Thank you. And then um
the cost you've listed as 367,335 and is this paid with first filter or filter first funds. Is that fund going to cover all of the costs or is there going to be something left over?
>> Correct. Um there will be nothing left over. So I can tell you that um we received a grant at that time um of uh 494,900 which is what I uh presented about last
January. Uh all costs associated with uh MEPs, installations and the units are all currently cause covered um under this grant. >> Okay, great. I'm super excited about this. This is another one long time coming. Thank you.
questions for me. >> So, on that subject, um installation costs will be extra. We're be using a combination of our team uh as well as uh uh our um external uh partners to help do installation and there'll also be other filters that'll have to be
installed in line within the um any place we have um water that could be used for drinking. So, in uh the cafeterias, in uh any serving line, anything like that. So, those will be other costs that if we have extra money
left over, they'll help offset those. And you'll see that at a future um FNO uh presentation on that front. >> Great. >> And then there'll be for for things like in lab stations, in uh chemistry rooms and things like that, there'll be signage that says that that is not
potable water not to be drunk. >> So, for any place that we don't have a filter installed, that's what we'll do to help protect uh those those stations. >> Great. Thank you. No questions. This is this is awesome. It's as as Anubam said, it's been a long
time in coming. So, I'm glad to see it start. Glad to see the work beginning. >> Thank you. >> No questions. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay, that concludes finance and operations. Now we're on to teaching and learning.
Miss Curry, can you take us through this? >> Yes. Thank you. This recommendation proposes restructuring digital and media arts 1 and two into four semester long half credit courses to improve student access and scheduling flexibility
without alternating curriculum content. The revision addresses enrollment trends and student feedback related to year-long elective commitment and requires no additional cost. Implementation would be this fall. And our curriculum coordinator, Miss Williams, is here to answer any
questions that you may have. Thank you. Start again with member Ahmed. Any questions? >> Um, you mentioned enrollment trends. I'm curious what those are for these classes right now. >> So, what we noticed is that students
have a high interest in a portion of the curriculum, but not necessarily all of the curriculum within the year. And so sometimes come the end of the first semester, some students may want to change to a different class and other students want
to opt into the class. And so because of these trends, um, we're proposing this change. >> Thank you. >> I don't have any questions. Thank you. >> Um, this was part of SPA. So I had the privilege of listening and um, but I just want to applaud the team again for
listening to student feedback and making these changes. not in the curriculum per se, but how it's rolled out. One of the things we did talk about um in spot with Judy is how will students and families know that these changes are occurring given that our catalog is super thick.
It's like a you know college level catalog. So there were some discussions about having some like a one-page introduction at the beginning or some popup I don't know whatever your solution is. Um please continue on building those solutions for students.
I guess my question about this, you know, breaking them into the into four different um opportunities for students is great. Is there um a prerequisite or could you take these out of order or how does that work? >> There is one prerequisite and that would be the digital and media arts
introductory class >> and then the um there's two courses character and background and the other one would be animation and motion graphics. those can be taken after the introduction and then the fourth class
would be the advanced studio um which would come after either of those classes. Great. >> Thank you. >> So I have a question related to that and it's um around sometimes the very difficult choices that students have to make with the incredibly diverse set of
programs that we have. Are there exceptions that are made around prerequisites if a student can test out of something? If like they discover late in their high school career that they're really into this thing and they could perhaps test out of the introductory class and be able to take one of the
other ones or be able to test into absolutely exceptions available >> because some students have very unique hobbies and they are ultra creative and advanced and so they would work with the teachers to find the right placement for them.
>> Okay, great. So it isn't a hard rule if there's the student has exceptional abilities already. They have the potential to to test into that. >> Written in the course description would be um that teachers can advance students. >> Okay. Fantastic. Thank you so much. Excited.
And then as the new said we were in spa so I my questions have largely been answered but um to bring forward I think you said in committee was that advanced stu advanced studio was a teacher recommended class
or >> if they're not taking the courses in succession if they've taken the courses um the prerequisites necessary they would not need a teacher recommendation. >> Okay. Thank you. No questions. Thank you.
>> Thank you very much. Thank you. >> Okay. Um, we have our citizens comments overflow section. We did not actually go over our original citizens comments 30 minute portion of our agenda. So that puts us into discussion. So we have the
uh board of education. This is objective number three. our third goal uh to discuss as a team. Um I know Dr. Merritt, thank you for adding that to board notes uh for everyone to reflect upon um prior to this meeting. Um the
goal of this discussion is obviously how do we advance this third objective and um I don't know if we oh thank you we have it up here. So board objective number three is to improve the board of education efficiency and processes. So
this is aligns with goals A, B, D, and E. Um why don't we go line item by line item and talk about that. Um the fir I'll I'll read the first uh part of our objective is to review all policies, administrative guidelines and forms on a
regular basis to ensure alignment with the PCCS dynamic plan and current state and federal laws and address emerging gaps within PCCS. and we'll open that up for any comment or discussion at this point. >> So have a question.
>> Yeah, >> I know that we've got a pretty robust process around policies. >> Um my question is really on the administrative guidelines and is that our work or is that the administration's work? >> Administration. >> Admins. Yeah. >> Okay. So are we providing any oversight on that work then?
>> Not unless something comes up in terms of lack of clarity or um misalignment that we hear from. But I believe Dr. Dr. Mayor and her team routinely work on the administrative guidelines. Um, that's their work. We don't interfere,
>> right? But at the end of the day, if if we're trying to make sure that that is in so either this should be struck from the uh our our goals because it's not our job >> or if we're going to be reviewing it from a an oversight perspective, there should be a set of procedures that says
that we're going to review those things and then provide feedback that we think that there needs to be some adjustments. So I don't want it to be we either are saying it's not our job and it's off >> and we take it off there or we say it is our job to provide oversight and there should be a mechanism so that we are
actually reviewing those things either as part of the policies that get implemented or something along those lines. So I'm okay either way. >> Yeah. personally would prefer that we have some oversight on them because I think that that's an a gap that could occur when we update new policies that
the guidelines don't get properly updated. >> I think what happens in policy is that we often ask about what administrative guidelines go with that policy and Dr. Mayor and her team provide that clarity. Um if there's confusion or need some clarity, we've given feedback on that.
>> So how do you know that those changes get made? We >> so in terms of the uh procedure >> we mirror the process that we've started for policy review where everything is outlined in terms of the policy and the cycle and the same thing for the administrative guidelines with your
policy. Some policies direct administration to form a guideline others we just do that because it's good to have a procedure in place that's written. Um so we really just kind of mirror that same problem. >> So do you do them at the same time or do you do them do you wait till the policyy's approved before you do the
administrative guidance? uh both. So we have um the review of current policies and we're reviewing the administrative guidelines at that time. It could be also something that comes up when we have change for example around you know these most recent uh guidelines that we've been talking about that will go in and dictate. It could be something
that's according to the law that change is in a policy that we then need to go into the guideline too. >> Right. So again it just is it the board's responsibility to review and make sure the administrative guidelines are updated or is it not our job? It is our job, the administrator's job, not the board. >> So we should strike this from our goals.
>> I I tend to disagree because I think they directly influence one another. So I think that by listing this the the policy review cycle is directly impacting the administrative guidelines and we're I mean we're a team of eight albeit it's not our responsibility to
maybe provide oversight but we're directly influencing. So I I I feel as though it's being touched. I don't know. I would suggest that um in your review of the policy again when a policy directs us to have an administrative guideline that is your review in itself to to ensure that we're doing that and
your piece in terms of holding me accountable to that through the evaluation cycle um should be sufficient. >> Then there just needs to be some way that we're having these policies were updated and their corresponding administrative guidelines are updated. There has to be some way to
be able to provide that that check and balance if that's >> I think that's the spreadsheet that we're building. >> Okay, if you got a spreadsheet, that's perfect. A great way to do it. It's you have the check box that says we we made a change in a policy that requires an administrative guideline update and you know that the administrative guideline
is updated. I'm golden. That's perfect for me. >> Although we're behind in our schedule since we had to cancel our December meeting, but that's the goal of us building that slack. Yeah, that is the goal of that spreadsheet. >> Maybe you should be meeting twice a month like >> I think I think we will I think we need
to >> but good question. >> Thank you. I'm just trying to make sure that as we think about efficiency and processes that's the one thing that jumped out at me. >> Any other thoughts from the team on this particular line item? >> No, I think that you know along with
this evaluation it kind of connects with that you know >> that's a part of reviewing. for that kind of goes along with it. >> Okay, you comfortable moving on to the next slide? Okay, so that is uh to develop and adhere to an annual annual
superintendent evaluation calendar. Um I know this is something we've developed over the past few years with our uh superintendent evaluation process that well state requires us to do a mid-year check-in, correct? But we have elected
to do three check-ins plus the superintendent evaluations such that there are no surprises at evaluation time, right? So we can just monitor progress. We have those uh conversations. I um I wonder if there's anything that we feel we need or that's
missing here or do we feel that what we're doing is sufficient at this point? >> I think it wasn't sufficient. I think we kind of got a little bit loosey goosey about um scheduling these meetings, but like this last time we booked the meetings out for the whole year. Yes. So, I think that we're as long in advance is the
>> as long as we as long as we continue that process, I think we'll be in good shape. >> I'm just wondering if since we've already kind of developed the superintendent evaluation calendar, if the goal here should just be adhere to >> as opposed to develop, we've already
developed. >> Yeah. Oh, yeah. >> Yeah. maybe improve upon because there's always things that we need to >> adhere to and improve upon. Okay, >> good enough. >> Okay. [Music] Okay. Um the next line item, if you're
comfortable moving on to that one, um I put in bold in my particular notes. I think this is the heavy lift of of our uh board objective number three. That's to update the board of education operating manual and guidelines. Um so thinking about you know we talk about
this oftentimes with the administration the the district uh developing systems and processes that outlive and outlast uh the teams that are in place today. Similarly this is what I think this goal means to our group. Um there's a lot of
maybe unspoken or maybe unwritten um hey we should do this or this is how we've always done it but putting it in writing memorializing that and uh building upon that is really really important. Um, so I would love to hear your thoughts on how we can accomplish that.
>> So >> I know we've done this work, but I don't know where it is. So I think we need to have a conversation about like where the assets are that we've got and then have a probably a special meeting to review what the materials are and decide what work needs to be done and then voluntel
people to do it. >> Yes. >> I mean I think >> I love voluntelling. When you say we've done this work, who's we? >> So, I know that when I've been on the board, uh Kim Crouch had done a lot of this work in the past. Um and I don't
remember who was doing it with her. >> The last uh consultant that you worked on it with was Miss Cross. >> Okay. >> We tried. >> Yes. So, I think that there is some artifacts that exist and I think we need to do an inventory of those artifacts and then say what are our gaps and then
figure out how we're going to close those gaps. I do I ha I have access to the the materials you had mentioned. Um yes, Dr. Merritt kindly shared that with me. Um I'm sure there's other um frameworks that we have started but haven't
completed. So I would I'm I'm going to take that on to to combine or pull together and share with the team. But I tend to agree with you. This is such a big lift. I do think that this um warrants maybe a board workshop
where we all come together for a few hours and start it. We're not going to complete it in three hours, but >> but we can at least then kind of >> take ownership of certain parts and pieces of that. >> Yes. >> Doesn't some of the policies too also go along with that or no? You know like the
the admin like the in the policies you know you look in the sections that first section isn't there some policies on board operations or something >> bylaws bylaw bylaws can't >> yeah like the bylaws was that would that coordinate with that
>> so these um there could be bylaws in terms of how you do business that would be reflective but this is really kind of your uh playbook to say how to operate >> this is our guidelines >> this is our administration guidelines and if we were to compare those >> that's a good way >> right
>> President Christensen given our um past history of the workshops um we've put this on the agenda a few times and we've not even touched it. Mhm. >> So my recommendation is if we do put this on an agenda
>> should be the only >> not only should it be the only thing but there should be outcomes and we time everything >> because to spend three hours on one thing >> is I don't think healthy for us to be utilizing that much time on like a sentence or word smithing
>> um but definite outcomes in terms of we're going to dedicate three hours we're going to get through the first 25 pages whatever after you do your inventory but my recommendation is we have definitive outcomes and a time allocated for that >> have an agenda
that's at a lower level than >> an agenda with outcomes. >> Yeah. >> Yes. >> Yep. I I agree with that. I think that will help move move us all along and be very productive. >> Um I you know we could even have some pre pre-work for the team too. So be so that we're truly prepared for our time
together. >> We need to review the material together and perhaps >> submit to you the things that we think are need improvement or gaps. Y >> so that we can come into that >> kind of a way. >> Okay. >> And I would also suggest if we have a
facilitator that the facilitator gets this feedback and helps us kind of organize because to put all of that work on you I think is a lot. So and also having an objective some an outside lens
>> to kind of look at what makes sense. someone who knows this work, someone who's done it with other districts can better guide us and say, "Okay, I've got six >> to give us other districts uh versions of these." >> We've seen that, too. >> We have all of it.
>> I think at one time we did like a high impact board governance workshop where they some of those. >> So, I love the idea of just getting the the time sensitive so we get off the gerbal rehe wheel and get it done. I love that. stop uh admiring the problem. Yeah.
Okay, fair enough. >> Um, okay, that's great. We I think we would need to probably work together and contact a facilitator first to see their availability and then of course be aggressive with our own calendars and open and hopefully we can get something
done, get something on the, you know, on the books. Okay, I appreciate that. And then the last unless are there any other comments about this line? No. Okay. The last item in this uh board objective number three is continue board professional development. Um we have a
budget for our continuing education and um you know the ability to attend conferences that you know help advance our own professional development as board members. So know that you always have access to that and those requests come to me and uh well the board
president and Dr. Merit or myself and Diane and that approval kind of happens. Um we have seen a peak truly in some interest in uh attending these professional development opportunities. So my wondering is that during budget
transformation season, this might be an area that we really reflect upon and rightsize what that investment is in the board. So, is it more than what we've we've um spent over the past few years? Are we t tampering that back? But what
I'm seeing is it's certainly a greater interest in it. So, but I'm I'm curious to understand your thoughts on this particular line item. >> I think it's always good if we continue our professional learning, the the time that we invest in workshops, um
conferences. I would encourage us to um go to the Wayne County Recess School Board Association conferences. Those are free. They they have dinner. Um it's a great opportunity to network. I think they have them twice a year. >> They do look at some common themes that
are happening um in legislative um whether it's state or federal. They give us updates on that. So those are two if we could get dates on that if you as the president could send those dates out to people ahead of time. And they also offer discounted professional learning
opportunities through MASB. Thank you for that information. All right. Any other thoughts? I'm sorry, one more. >> Sure. >> I I can't remember the name of it. I want to say it's um MASB behind the scenes and Jennifer Voss and I attended one in
Lancing and it was really insightful in terms of we got updates about um what was happening with the budget as they were looking at budgets statewide and at the federal level. And we got some insight information from people working in Washington in terms of what's being
potentially cut with some of the federal funds. Then we were able to come back here uh talk to our legislators, talk to the board and see what is important for us as a committee or community and how do we make sure that we serve all kids and the budget that was supposed to be
given to students in need is preserved. So behind the scenes is another one that we get updates on. >> Yeah, I think we do get emails uh often on that. So I do appreciate that too. >> Everybody hanging in there? Okay.
All right. So, I I understand that we have some things to feed to you in terms of dates. Um, so I'm looking forward to working on this as a team. At this point, I we're nearing the end of our agenda. We'll we'll move on to the follow-up board questions. >> Before we move out of discussion, and we
didn't talk ahead of time, but I just want to ask if you're okay. Um, I want to try to plant a seed and if we can look at count calendars, even though we don't get it tonight, we're going into negotiation season. >> So, it would be important for us to secure a date for a close session,
preferably before a board meeting if we can maybe look at the first meeting in February. So, that would be a non-policy meeting just so we can kind of do some initial discussions on >> Sure. >> An hour. What do you think? An hour. >> An hour, Mr. >> Yeah. >> So, like a six o'clock start. Oh, before
the before the board meeting. >> Before the board meeting on Feb February 10th if that would work. >> Okay. February 10th. >> On February 10th, we have to >> check in for superintendent evaluation on the day before. >> Day before. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> Okay. So, February 10th meeting. So, at
6:00 >> I can do that. >> That works for me. >> Excellent. We'll get an invitation. >> Could we do 5:30 instead? Just because we always run over a little bit and then we're >> It was like 15 minutes to transition. Exactly. >> That might be 5:30. >> I can. Yes.
>> All right. We will do that. Great suggestion. >> Thank you so much. Sorry about that. >> No, no. I appreciate you capturing us all in the same room. >> I was like, wait, we got calendar and consensus. Let's go. >> Okay. >> Last question on this. Are we now through all of our board goals and we're
done this task? >> We are done um discussing. However, there are action items that we all have um have to >> accomplish for this year if we're going to meet our >> goals with the discussion is done. >> Correct. We had the three board goals
that Yes. So, this discussion portion, but >> perhaps we bring this up in discussion in a few months just to to monitor our progress too might be a good idea. >> Check in just like we did the superintendent. >> You can share my chicken on the night. I know
check in with us. >> But yes, yes, to answer your question, yes. >> Okay. All right. So, now we are uh we are going to move on to follow-up board questions. Um we had one, but it looks like it was satisfied in board notes on
the 19th of December. Did we have any others that were outstanding that the team knows of? Nope. Any from this evening that we need to add to the list? didn't capture any. Okay, that being said, I am gonna
adjourn the meeting at 10:01 p.m.