I am going to Attention. Attention. I'm gonna call the meeting to order at 7 PM. I don't I don't get to use this all that often. Good evening everybody. I'm going to call the meeting to order at 7 p.m. Um, thank you for all joining us this
evening. I am uh Lauren Christensen the president of the board and I'm going to ask my fellow board members to introduce themselves starting with member Ahmed Ahmed. Thank you so much for coming. It's great to see a full room. I'm Cheryl Peakard and it's nice to see everyone. Thank you. Good evening. My
name is Anubam Chukudu. Thanks for being here. Hi, I'm Patrick Kio. Thanks for coming out tonight. I see a lot of SJ5K people and I'm super excited about that. Good evening. I'm Judy Westerro. Thank you for coming out tonight on this beautiful night. I'm Jennifer Vos.
Welcome. Our student co-chair. Good evening. Good evening, everyone. Josh Patterson, Plymouth. Uh oh my god, I forget what year I am every single time. Plymouth Jr. Thank you. All right, Dr. Merritt, can you introduce yourself and your team? Good evening and welcome, Superintendent Monica Merritt. Welcome
to our meeting this evening. Like to begin by introducing and thanking Mr. John Kger, who takes care of our technology needs. And I want everybody to join me. She's going to kill me. However, and tomorrow is administrative administrative professional today. I can't even say it,
but we need to just all thank Diane Robertson for all she does to keep our office, the board of education, this entire building, and really just extends herself and multiplies across the district. So, one day is not enough to
amplify and really praise the work that you do, but we're so grateful and appreciative of you, Diane. Thank you so much, Mr. Tiswitz. Thank you, Dr. Merritt. Kurt Tisquitz, assistant superintendent for student services. Welcome. And especially a shout out to our food service staff who is here.
[Applause] Welcome everyone. I'm Jill Minnik. I serve as chief finance and operations officer. Good evening everyone. Beth Rail, chief academic and innovation officer. Thanks for being here tonight. Good evening. My name is Abdul Medium, chief human resources officer. Um,
welcome. Welcome everyone. Liz Vartania Gibbs, assistant superintendent, student and family engagement. Okay, thank you everybody. Let's stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the
republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Okay, thank you. Now we're moving on to the adoption of the agenda and the approval of the consent agenda. This is action item number
24-04-62. Can I please have a motion? Madam President, I move that we adopt the agenda, approve the consent agenda. Action item number 25-04-62. I have a second. Second. It was moved by by VP Sadu and seconded by Secretary Wester. Um Dr. Mr. Merrick,
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. I believe this might be the first meeting where we haven't had a new hire. So, as we wrap up this school year, we are acknowledging the
resignations and the retirements of our dear staff as well as the approval of minutes from our special meeting on April the 7th, 2025. Our special m minute minute meetings minutes. I cannot talk tonight. meeting minutes on April
the 8th, 2025, and our regular meeting minutes on April the 8th, 2025. In addition, we're looking at the final reading of the following policies. We have 0167.3, that's our public participation at board meetings, 1130, conflict of
interest, 311 0 conflict of interest, and 4110 conflict of interest. Finally, we have policy 8321, criminal justice information security, and that also is a final reading.
Thank you, Dr. Merritt. Okay, I'm going to call for the vote. Those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Those opposed say no. Motion carries. 70. Um, Mr. Maidun, I know human resources is is a little bit shorter today, but can you take us
through human resources? I like shorter. Yeah. Um I just want to acknowledge our retirements and um um acknowledge the amount of years of service that um these um educators have given to our district. Um first I'll talk John um Hailman um from um he was a media specialist at
Canton. He's been working for the district since August of 2003. Deborah Nicholson, elementary classroom teacher at Holing. Um has been a um employed from the by employed by the district since 2002.
Robert Pinoch III, innovation period teacher um at Holing also um has been employed on by the district since 2002. Michelle Sunk, elementary classroom teacher at Holing, has been here since 1985. And then Carol Weisner, elementary
classroom teacher at Bentley, who has been here in the district since the year 2000. Can we give my round of applause for all the students? And that's all we have for today. Thank you very much. Okay, moving on to celebrating success with member
Ahmed. Good evening everyone. On behalf of the board of education, I'm so excited to present this evening's celebrating success recognition highlighting an exceptional group of individuals from Starkweather Academy. Each of tonight's honores embodies what
makes PCCS such a special place, resilience, leadership, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to growth and community. We are proud to recognize five members of the Starkweather community who have gone above and beyond in their roles as students, educators,
and support staff, making a lasting difference in the lives of those around them. Let's begin with Priscilla Mary Robert Raj, a student in Starkweather's adult education program. She joined us as an English as a second language
student and didn't stop there. She set out to earn her GED at the same time. Through determination and dedication, she achieved both. Priscilla is known for her positive energy, strong work ethic, and the way she lifts up those around
her. Next, we recognize Dwayne Keenan III, a high school student whose quiet strength and leadership have made him a role model. Whether it's through his thoughtful participation in class or his calm presence in difficult situations, Dwayne exemplifies what it means to be a
star. His heroic actions in performing CPR to save a friend's life last year speaks volumes about his courage and character. We also honor Jenna Scott, one of our dedicated ESL teachers and
adults. [Applause] We'll do all five together, right? Yeah. There's so many. We'll do all five of you together. We're not taking away from any of it, though. We also honor Jenna Scott, one of our dedicated ESL teachers
in adult education. Since 2018, Gina has been a pillar of the program, connecting with students in meaningful, lasting ways. Her enthusiasm, innovation, and student centered approach have helped transform lives and create a welcoming
learning environment. Teresa McKeon, a te a teacher consultant at Starkweather, brings wisdom, empathy, and leadership to everything she does. From heading up graduation initiatives to supporting students and families, she's a calm and steady presence, always
ready to help others succeed. And finally, we recognize Amy McGrath from our food and nutrition services team. Amy's impact goes far beyond her official duties. Her warmth and joyful energy light up the school each day. Whether she's serving meals,
greeting students with a smile, or decorating for schools, school events, she's the heart of Starkweather in so many ways. At this time, I'd like to invite Starkweather principal Kim Dolman to the podium to share a few personal reflections on each of these outstanding
individuals. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. I'm going to start with Priscilla. Why don't you come up here? So this is Priscilla. She's an extremely hardworking and dedicated adult education student at Starkweather. She started learning uh English as a second
language with us, but also had the desire to do more. She not only joined our ESL program, but went above and beyond and earned her GED concurrently. She actively participates in all classes and is a role model for many other students. Her dedication and commitment will take her to great heights.
Congratulations, Priscilla. Next, next I have Dwayne Keenan. Dwayne is truly an exceptional young man at Starkweather. He is a gentleman setting a great example for everyone around him. His interactions with peers and staff are always courteous and with genuine
consideration. He is known as a fiercely loyal friend, a quality that was powerfully demonstrated during a critical emergency last year. When a friend suffered a cardiac event, Dwayne did not hesitate. He hate hesitate. He jumped into action, providing
life-saving CPR until EMS arrived. In a serious situation like that, where many, especially young people, or really anyone, might freeze, uh, his quick thinking and decisive action speaks volumes about his character and the depths of his loyalty. We are incredibly proud to have such a remarkable and courageous young man in our student
body. So, congratulations to [Applause] Dwayne. Next, I have Miss Gina Scott. Uh, she is a truly invaluable member of our adult education team. Since joining the ESL program in 2018, Gina has shown
incredible dedication to student success, and she consistently supports our staff and the program as a whole. Beyond her direct work with learners, Gina actively engages in problem solving and generating innovative ideas to improve and expand our adult education
services. Uh she is aiming to reach even more individuals in our community who are in need. Her proactive approach and commitment to growth make her an exceptional asset to our program. and we are incredibly proud to have Gina as a part of our school community. So, thank you, Gina. Next, we have Teresa Mchuan. So,
as a teacher consultant, Teresa is an exceptional leader serving on our graduation committee and our champions rewards program with a constant focus on student encouragement and celebration. A true team player, her collaborative and thoughtful approach consistently yields
creative solutions. Teresa's deep expertise allows her to build strong rapport not only with her students but also with the staff, providing crucial instructional support. Teresa consistently engages with families, demonstrating genuine empathy, which fosters trust and collaboration. Her
compassionate support for students and calm, empathetic communication with families make Tesa an invaluable member of our school community. We're so happy to have her. [Applause] It's your turn to be in the picture.
Come here. Next, we have Miss Amy McGrath. Uh, Miss Amy, come here. Where are you hiding? That is so ironic that she's hiding from a picture. I'm just saying. I'm just saying. Okay, let's get
serious. Okay. Amy's dedication extends far beyond her job description, making her the most joyous staff member I have ever seen arrive to work each day. Her unmatched energy and genuine love for her work and connection with students serve as a daily reminder of the
profound impact that we have on their lives. She brings joy to Starkweather every single day. Greeting students with kindness, a bright smile, and often a fun selfie. Her commitment to serving nutritious meals is only matched by her
efforts to creating a welcoming, joyful space in our cafeteria. As the school's unofficial photographer, Amy ensures the spirit of Stark weather is captured and shared in the weekly newsletter. So, everyone knows that if you step foot into Stark weather, you have to be picture ready because she will find you immediately. Uh, she's always the first
to step up for school events, helping with planning, setup, and decorating, often using her own time and resources to brighten the day for others. Amy's positivity, her initiative, and deep care for our students are absolutely unmatched. She is amazing. Congratulations to Amy.
[Applause] Thank you so much, Turon Honores. Thank you for inspiring us. Your stories are powerful reminders of the impact one person can
make in a school community. Whether through quiet perseverance, bold leadership, or daily acts of kindness, you are helping shape a brighter future. Please come forward as I call your name to receive your recognition. If you'd like to say a few words, we'd love to
hear from you. And afterwards, please join Dr. Liz in the hallway for a picture. So first is Priscilla Mary Robert Raj. [Applause]
Hello. Good evening. I'm very glad to receive this award. I thank you all. Thank you. Next we have the lifesaver Dwayne Keenan. Congratulations. Thank you everyone for who who nominated me for this award. It's a very gracious
Id like to thank all my start weather staff, Miss Dolman, Miss Barbosa, and Miss Amy. Y'all are y'all make my day. I I really do appreciate y'all. Thank you. Now we have Miss Gina Scott. [Applause] Congratulations. Thank you. I'm so
honored. I I was in tears when I received the email and it's it's really easy to be a great teacher when there's great leadership installment. So, thank you all very much. Congratulations. I just wanted to say thank you. Thank you to Miss Domen. Um
it's been great having a new leadership at Starkweather. This marks the start or the end of my 22nd year here at PCCS. So, I'm just thrilled to still be here and continuing the good work we do. And now the person hiding from pictures. Congrats. Congratulations.
[Applause] Anyway, um I just want to say a couple things. I know. Um it's my dad's 91st birthday. And um it's actually their my mom and dad are here and it's actually their
64th anniversary both. So um my daughter Sam surprised me drove in last night um from Chicago just for this. GCCS is the best. It's because my both my kids grew up here. Unfortunately, they had Kurt as a principal, but they took
him in a very long time. Um, so but truly like he was part of the their success story like everyone. Um, so that's why I love it here. I love everything about it. Um, I love most that I get to love the community's kids. It's my honor, privilege to love someone
else's child because mine grew up and left me, but it's fine. But I love what I do um every day. So, I appreciate it. Thank you.
[Applause] Okay, I am I'm feeling like overcome with joyful emotion right now. That was
excellent. Congratulations to our stars awards recipients and our extra mileer awards winners. Give everybody a moment to clear out. You guys might die.
[Music] Okay, we have quite a large group clearing out. So, I'm just gonna give a few more minutes before I or a few more seconds before I move. Yeah. Okay, I am actually going to move us on to board committee reports and
action. First up, we have the president's report. I have a couple things that I wanted to share with everyone this evening. Um, during this evening's consent agenda, hold on. I don't know. I'll pause again. I'll restart in a moment.
It's a lively group out there. Okay. So, I'm going to start I'm going to restart my presence report. So, um couple things I wanted to mention. So, during this evening's consent agenda, um the board approved revisions to policy 0167.3 public participation in board
meetings. Um I I'm lifting this in my report because there is a key update to this policy that we can now um I think uh enact at our next meeting um which allows citizens to submit their public comment forms up to the start of the
citizens comment section. Previously forms were required to be submitted at the beginning of the board meeting. So we really look forward to implementing this change at our next meeting to help make public comments more accessible for those attending meetings. Um, additionally, I wanted to provide an
update on our board operating principles document. We had a discussion last board meeting. Um, we I have received additional feedback. Um, and as a result, I recommend that we address this at during a follow-up board workshop. Um, we're in the process of securing a
facilitator at this time and looking to schedule this session on another weekend date like our last board uh workshop. A key objective of this workshop would be to collaborate collaboratively finalize our board operating principles ensuring that they reflect our board as a whole
and uh align on the core norms that we that will guide the work that we all want to do together. Um and that short and sweet for me concludes my president's report. Up next we have uh student performance and achievement committee
with Judy Wester. Um, good evening, President. Uh, Madame President, we have not met since our last um, board meeting. And so, our next meeting is on May 7th at 5:00 PM in this room. Uh, we welcome, it's an open meeting. We
welcome community involvement, if you will. Um, and we look forward to seeing you. Thank you. Okay. On to the policy committee with, um, VP Sadu. Thank you, uh, President Christensen. We met just before this meeting at 5:30 and I want
to welcome our three new community members that are going to be with us for the next two years to help us give us guidance and input within our policies that we talk about. So we did an orientation uh with the new committee members and we went through some policies and I'll quickly go over those.
Policy 6320 purchasing we're still on hold with feedback from finance and operations team. policy 6110 grant funds. I'm going to go through three together and kind of explain those. 6110 grant funds, 611 internal controls, 6112
cash management of grants. Those were updated based on federal guidance that we got. So when we get federal guidance in terms of how we update our policies, we get that through Niola, a company that we contract with. They send us the federal language. We integrate that
within our current policy. So we added that language based on federal um input or actually requirements and we discussed those. We did not have any changes to those policies. Those will come to the board at the next meeting for a first read. We also looked at new
business uh policy 1623 section 504 ADA prohibition against disability discrimination and employment. The only change to this policy was eliminating names within the policy and only keeping the titles. The
challenge we run into is when there is a shifting of staff, staff may go into a different position or retire or leave the district. And that means our policy is no longer valid or updated. So we decided just to keep the positions in the policy but eliminate the names. So
our policy will be current moving forward and we don't have to update it every year or whenever staff changes. The next one was policy 6114 cost principal spending spending federal funds and I want to just quick go
over this was with the Edgar Ugg uh additions and we have uniform guidance with regard to spending federal funds. Again, we have new information, new requirements based on the money that we
get from the federal government. We added those pieces within our policy. Again, with the guidance from Niola and we went over the recommended additions and there were no substantial changes based on what the federal guidance is. So, we will have that come to the next
board meeting as a first read. So, that was it for our policy committee update. Our next meeting is May 27th at 5:30 p.m. and we welcome all of you. Thank you very much. On to Finance and Operations Committee with Treasure
Kho. So, we had another action-packed uh finance and operations committee meeting last Thursday here in this room. We talked about some incredibly exciting uh subjects including the uh some items that'll be on the agenda this evening including the purchase of track
equipment for the new third stadium, the update of Chromebooks for PAP, the food service update presentation which was super informative and we look forward to sharing that with everybody here this evening. Uh a new uh mapping system that's used for all of our schools to support our security processes, the
preliminary budget assumptions and progress update. the m uh the financial uh reports for the month of February and we also had a preliminary discussion on the uh early childhood playground additions at both Dodson is fister uh those were ones that we had a really nice discussion on and there there's
going to be some additional feedback and conversation on those before those come back to FNO and then forward before the full board. Our next FNO meeting is on Thursday, May 8th, uh, at 5:00 PM. And we ask everybody to come here and enjoy the incredible excitement that we have
that is finance and operations. Really selling it. I like that. Uh, all right. Thank you. Um, on to student voice and action committee with Josh. SVA had a meeting yesterday at Pioneer Middle School where we discussed how May is mental health month, uh, mental
health awareness month. And from this, we are going to be sponsoring a 6th through 12th grade district-wide wear green day on May 12th to spread awareness for this topic. SVA members will be in their homeschool cafeterias on this day to spread awareness and hand out mental health stickers as well. I would also like to personally thank S
Prowar and while she could not be here for tonight, it's her last meeting. Um, she has served uh countless hours for SBA and coming to these meetings over the last two years and I've really grown to learn from her and work with her. So, I really appreciate everything she's done for me and for students throughout
the district. Um, also our next meeting for SBA is May 19th in the Pioneer Media Center at 4:30 and I hope to see everyone there. Thank you, Josh. All right, on to um the superintendent report. Dr. Merritt.
Thank you, President Christensen. I'd like to begin this evening by um reminding our community about an event that is very special to our community. It is the 2025 SJ5K charity runwalk on the PC campus that will take place on
May the 4th. This was originally founded in 2011 as a fundraising event for Jesse Lindenbar who suffered from severe brain trauma and the SJ5K has now grown into an annual tradition that has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars. This
year's race will benefit five local families who are facing financial hardship due to medical issues. Here this evening to tell you a little bit more about this year's events and the families that are represented. I have I think a few students, Rya and Charvin,
are you here with me this evening? As well as SJ5K advisor, Miss Melanie Burrat. Please come forward and share a little bit with our community. [Applause] Good evening everyone and thank you for
your time here today. On behalf of the SJ5, we're we're thrilled to talk about this year's race. My name is Ria and I'm one of the co-managers and with me today I have Sharpie, our logistics leader and we're thrilled to be a part of this year's student team. Many of you are
familiar with the SJ5K, an annual 5K organized by our student club to raise awareness and financial support for local families who are facing significant medical challenges. This year marks our 15th year organizing this race which all began with one family. In
2011, Jesse Lind Jesse Linder suffered a near brain near fatal brain injury and the Plymouth Ken community came together to show support for him and his family. Since that first event, the SJ5K has raised over$ 1.5 million dollars and supported over 60 families. This year,
we're aiming to make an even bigger impact. For the 2025 race, we will be supporting five incredible families who are currently enduring hardships no one should ever have to face. Each of our families this year have a direct connection to PCCS schools. The 2025 race will be unstoppable together for
August Thomas, a two-year-old PCCS student in Allen's early childhood program with epilepsy and a rare genetic mutation. He faces daily challenges including seizures, a G2 for feeding, and ongoing therapy. Josh Teesian, a
PCCS maintenance and grounds employee, currently recovering from severe heart failure, respiratory failure, and multiple surgeries, including the implantation of an ELVAD, and is facing a long road to a heart transplant. Koko Woods, a 7-year-old PCCS student
who attends Fen Elementary. She has Jerber syndrome and is in a wheelchair. She also has a kind kidney transplant and her father was her donor. She was recently diagnosed with lymphop and is going through treatment. Gabby Pazolo is a seven-year-old PCCS student with
serial policy who also attends Bird Elementary and has gone undergone multiple surgeries and intense therapy to regain mobility in her legs. Oliver McDaniel is a 2-year-old with Angelman Syndrome whose mom works at the PCCS board office and his dad works for our district's maintenance. He fears
challenges including motor delays, seizures, feeding difficulties, and severe apnea. As we prepare for race day, our student leadership team has done many things to support these families and raise donations for them as well. We need your help to make it all happen. Whether it's donating,
registering to run or walk the SJ5K with your friends and family, or reaching out to local businesses and organizations to sponsor the SJ5K, your contribution will make a big difference. Even if you're not available for the rest SJ 5K to be able to make it to walk or run it,
you're welcome to register your support to make a big difference by donating as well. This year's race is going to be our biggest one yet, and we need your support to make it all happen as we need as many people as possible. This year's SJ 5K will be in two weeks on May 4th at
8:00 p.m. at the Pizza Varsity Field, and we can't wait to see you all there. Thank you. Thank you so much, Ria and Charbine. We are also incredibly grateful for the work that you and your peers do to really support uh this program. Uh I see
on your shirt, it brings miles of hope to our families as well as we're looking at the financial support, but that hope and uh compassion and empathy just goes a long way. And so we just appreciate you as our young people really leading the charge on this. So thank you very
much for that as well. Another event that we'd like to invite our community to is the 4th annual PCCS mental health and wellness fair. And that will take place this Saturday. Let's keep our fingers crossed that the weather continues to behave for us. This will be 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in
Kellogg Park. This fair is a part of our district's work to help crush the stigma surrounding mental health. I want to shout out Dr. Liz Bartanian Gibbs, Dr. Kathy Grotus, Mr. Frank Rougero, and all of their team, student and family engagement, as well as a communication
and marketing team um for really seeing this through and making this a part of um our community. We will have over a 100 booths focused on mental health and overall wellness. They'll have creative stations for children, therapy dogs, a petting zoo, free food, family fun, and
fit kids zones, music and raffles. We want to thank also the city of Plymouth for their partnership to allow us to use Kellogg Park. And this has just become such a valued uh event in our community and really supports our entire community and connecting to resources um and
valuable uh partnerships across the community for support. So, we thank you for that. More information about the fair is available on the homepage of the PCCS website. We are in the season of bond tours. So, tomorrow, as a reminder, all board members are invited for a kickoff
tour to see some of our new facilities that will take place with some business partners as well as our municipality leaders. Going to take a little tour of the park and um see some of the new uh investments from the bond. In addition, as our work on the 2020 bond continues,
we want to invite our parents to come out on Thursday night. This is April 24th at 9:30 a.m. as a part of the parents count parent council's annual bond tour. This tour will give parents the chance to meet the construction managers, enjoy a guided tour of our
newest bond sites, and have an alleart lunch at Salem's Rock Cafe. The parent tour is going to feature visits from West Middle School, Canton High School's Phase 3 and Innovation Center, and the Plymouth Band Room and Natiatorum. Now, registration for our
parent council tour is required. So, if you would like to attend, and we encourage our community to attend, please register your email with your full name and school affiliation to parent counsel.com. And I hope for all board members for tomorrow night, if you haven't RSVPd, we
still have a seat for you on the bus. I'm really excited about that as well. And we'll try to extend opportunities as we continue throughout the season to make sure because this these facilities improvements could not be possible without the support of our community. So, we definitely want to celebrate alongside our community and open up our
buildings for them to see. As we move forward this evening, I'm going to close with taking an opportunity that I never miss to brag about the amazing accomplishments of both our students and our staff. First, I want to start by saluting PC senior Kalita Nazari, who
was recognized recently for her language skills as she works to earn the prestigious Michigan Seal of Biiteracy award. The seal of biiteracy was created to recognize high school graduates who exhibit language
proficiency in English in at least one additional world language. Now, the purpose of this seal is to encourage students to study world languages and to embrace their native and heritage languages. Kalita's journey to PCCS from her native Afghanistan through camps and
her work to learn seven languages she now speaks or reads was highlighted in the seal of biiteracy's quarterly newsletter. Kita speaks seven different languages and will be earning multiple Michigan Seal of Biiteracy awards as a result of her incredible language
skills. So, please join me in congratulating Moving on to our Lightning Robotics program and team. I tell you, they are the gift that keeps giving. Our amazing PC Lightning Robotics team had a phenomenal season. The team made it all
the way to the division finals at the World Championships. They narrowly missed the chance to compete for the world title in a thrilling and very close match. The performance at Worlds completes a standout year that saw the team win both of their regular season
events, come close to setting a world record for points, and receive the first impact award, which is the most prestigious award in First Robotics. We want to give a special thanks to coach Jay Obsik for his leadership, his
continued legacy of excellence, and we're incredibly proud of this group for their incredible representation of PCCS on the world stage. Please join me in I believe they will be joining us here at a board meeting in in May, so
you'll be able to probably see their robot and uh really congratulate them in person for this incredible work. I'd like to end this evening by congratulating longtime PCCS educator and Hall of Fame basketball coach, Mr. Bob Brody, who was honored for his
lifetime of service to students recently with the Michigan Lotteryy's Excellence and Education Award. The award spotlights educators who consistently help students advance to higher levels of academic achievement and who go above and beyond while inspiring colleagues
and serving as an educational leader. I think this is hot off the press. So, we're going to make sure we get something out on our social media channels with with a picture of uh Mr. Brody to really celebrate this accomplishment. If you know Mr. Brody, he has worked in our district for over 50 years. Probably has been the teacher
to many of our own students, including mine, two of mine. Um, and 48 have been with PCCS. 50 years in education, 48 with PCCS. In addition um to teaching numerous business education and physical education classes, he's filled in as both a counselor and as an administrator
over his 48 years. He has coached three sports, including 37 years as the head coach of Salem's boys basketball. Now, in winning this award, he received a $2,000 cash prize, and he is now in the running to be the lotteryy's educator of
the year. So, let's put our support behind Mr. Brody, and let's continue to see him shine. That concludes. Thank you, Dr. Merritt. Okay, moving on to our citizens comments portion. Reminder that this is limited to 30 minutes. If we have additional comments
that exceed that, we will pick that up in our um overflow section after our administrative reports and recommendations. Go in order of um receipt here.
and call up Joan Pence. You'll have to pardon me. I just got off a plane from California. Jet lag is real. Um, so my name is Joan Pence. Um, again, I taught for 38 years at the high school and and
an alum of the park and I've lived in the district all my life essentially. So, but I'm also the coordinator of our local indivisible group and pleased to um be they say fearless leader, I say foolish leader, but we keep going onwards regardless. And one of the major
concerns we have um is to support this board and making sure that all of our kids feel safe in the district um and accepted for who they are. And so um I'm just going to read this. We ran out of
people so I got drafted. Um it says uh yes, I'd like to call the board's attention to a couple of concerns from queer and transgender youth in our district. First, students firmly believe that the district's hate and bias form simply put does not work. There is
minimal followth through when something happens, if anyone follows through at all. Because hate speech is so pervasive on our campus and so infrequently punished, many students don't realize the district even has policies against
hate speech. This is perhaps why so many teachers and students seem to have no qualms using or permitting through their silence queer phobic language that constantly occurs in and around our schools. We ask the district to publicly
share the process for the forums and to provide public accountability for complaints. Second, students have no idea that the policy supporting transgender youth exists, which undermines the very existence of the policy to begin with.
Of course, this policy number 5517.03, which specifically says that the district quote shall conduct training unquote for teachers, administrators, counselors, social workers, and health staff. We ask the district to fulfill its obligation by
creating this training as soon as possible. Thanks for your time. Thank you very much. On to our next comment with Nancy Fair Farber. Good evening. I'm Nancy Farber, longtime resident of the district. I'm here as a
member of Indivisible uh working together with P Flag. I'd like to share uh three stories from three different high school students that came to us from the advisor of the PC queer youth committee who notes that stories like
these are widespread and are not anomalies. So here are the three stories in the students own words. One, many teachers from elementary to middle to high school routinely ignore
discriminatory language and behavior from students that target queer students both in the classroom and on school grounds. For example, previously in my seventh grade Spanish class, two
students would talk loudly about gay people in hateful and derogatory ways. specifically about how boys should not act in a feminine manner. The teacher always heard these comments but said nothing. In my seventh grade history
class, that same group of students would loudly proclaim pedophilia to be synonymous with queer identities. The entire class was aware of this and again the teacher did nothing.
This year in various classes at PCE, students loudly, frequently, and in a way they find humorous use homophobic slurs. Teachers at PEP usually just pretend that they don't hear
them. Story two. As my friend and I were walking to the varsity field one day, another student honked at us, rolled down the window, and yelled the queer phobic f-word slur at us. My classmates
have also screamed out that same slur at my friends and me when they see us in public spaces around town. And story three, our queer youth committee clubs
posters are torn down on a regular basis. So torn down from the walls of the of the school. Some were confirmed to have been done by some ninth grade boys after a parent posted about it in a private Facebook page.
Some QYC members further reported seeing a PAP employee tearing down our posters at one of the high schools. And on a final note, the members of P Flag and Indivisible wish to give special thanks to Chief Human
Resources Officer Mr. Abdul Mattung for meeting with us last week to hear our concerns firsthand. We are very very grateful for that opportunity and thank you all for this opportunity to speak to [Applause]
you. Thank you. Up next we have Lori Mayors. Thank you, President Christensen, board members, and Dr. Merritt. Uh, I'm Lori Mays. I live in the city of Plymouth, and I'm president of Plymouth Canton P Flag. In the last month, our P Flag
chapter has had a chance to meet with instructors, the queer youth committee at PAP, the QYC advisor, Miss Foster, Canton principal, Mr. Reed Nordwall and Chief Human Resource Officer Mr. Maddune. All of them were generous with
their time and we thank them. More than four years ago, this school board enacted policy 551703 which explicitly protects transgender and non-binary students. Our chapter worked on this policy with the
board and we are grateful that most of you still support it. Since the policy was enacted, there have been no complaints of improper behavior by trans and non-binary students, as is always imagined by
opponents. In fact, as we have heard tonight, the biggest problem with the policy is that most teachers and students don't even know it exists. They don't know that students have the right to use their chosen name at school and the bathroom that aligns with their
gender identity and that the administration has their back when they do so. I repeat, all PCCS staff members and students need to know now that trans and non-binary students have the unwavering
support of the school board and administration. We are very concerned that if the board were to resend this policy because of threats to withhold federal funding, queer PCCS students will suffer even more
bullying. Removing these student protections could expose the school district to increased liability. The federal government is bringing its full weight to bear on an already marginalized group of transgender, non-binary, and queer students. It's
wrong and we know it. You have heard other speakers tonight relate the serious complaints of harassment from queer students. It's heartbreaking that queer kids along with other minorities are facing the same
slurs they heard 20 years ago and that by all accounts the atmosphere has gotten worse since January 20th. Students are in our schools for only a short time at the most vulnerable moments of their lives. They don't have
the luxury of waiting for the pendulum to swing back toward equity and justice. We owe them safe schools. Now, thank you. [Applause] Thank you very much. Up next, we have
Rachel Hayes. Good evening. My name is Rachel Hayes and I'm a Plymouth citizen and a P Flag board member. Thank you to the board and administration for what I believe is genuine concern for the marginalized students in our district. P Flag
Plymouth Canton and Western Wayne Indivisible is committed to doing what we can to help ensure that our schools are safe and inclusive for every student. There is a lot of work to be done to make this a reality. We have learned of the hostile environment that is pervasive throughout the schools and
that is only getting worse due to the current political climate. Slurs are everyday occurrences. Microaggressions are common place. Bullying is rampant astonishingly not just from other students but from some teachers and staff as well. While most may not
actively participate, too many do nothing to confront what is happening in their classrooms. Whether this is from fear of repercussions from parents, not knowing how to address the situation properly, or just not wanting to get involved, the fact remains silence is
complicity. What we have now is a substantial portion of the student body who feels unsafe and unaccepted. Attempts to get help are more often than not unresolved to the point where students have started to give up on even reporting incidents. We can all imagine
how demoralizing that must feel. The current climate has also prevented kids from seeking out supportive environments that are available, such as the queer youth committee club at PAP, for fear of being outed and ridiculed. Many kids do not feel safe enough to be open about
their identity, about who they are as unique individuals. This is a heavy burden for anyone to carry, let alone a child, and can have tragic consequences. We already have the framework in place to make things better for these kids. As you know, our district has very comprehensive
anti-bullying, anti-harassment, and transgender and gender non-conforming policies. The expectation should firmly be that every adult working for the Plymouth Canton School District knows these policies and knows how to implement them. We need to give teachers the tools to know how to adequately
adequately enforce them, and we need to hold those violating them accountable. A fear of backlash from loud opponents of an inclu of an inclusive affirming environment in our schools is not acceptable. Every adult working in the district has a responsibility for the
physical, psychological, and emotional safety of every child under their supervision. Our district has such good things in writing and many concerned, caring administrators and teachers. Change can happen, but it will take the will and the resolve not only of
administrators, teachers, and staff, but also parents and concerned citizens, as well as students who are willing to get involved. Let's put in the work to find solutions. We can make sure that every child's voice is heard and that every child feels cared for and safe in our
schools. Thank [Applause] you. Thank you very much. Up next we have Michelle Mustakas. Good evening. Thank you for the opportunity to speak this evening. Um I'm going to talk about another
marginalized group of students and those are our immigrant children. And we um I'm have I live in the in Canton. Um, I am a member of Western Way Indivisible
and tonight, um, I'd like to ask the board to develop a safe zone resolution and policy that will protect our immigrant students. And I'm going to start out with reading a quote, um, a
timely quote from Pope Francis, who we hold in our memory tonight. And this was a letter to the US bishops uh part of his letter to US bishops in February um February 11th after the
inauguration and after it became clear that immigrants were going to be targeted badly. And he said, "I exert all the faithful got to get my glasses. I exert all the faithful of the Catholic Church
and all men and women of good will not to give in to narratives that discriminate against and cause unnecessary suffering to our migrant and refugee brothers and sisters. I know
this board is of goodwill and that you don't want to discriminate against these students. But we have an administration now that is targeting these students, targeting these immigrants as
criminals, mentally ill, stealers of American jobs, and other really derogatory things. We know that as individual members of the board that you don't agree with this
characterization and you would like to do everything you can to protect these students. But we also understand that your efforts are complicated because you are under um some severe stress from perhaps withholding funding
um if you do anything that would seem to be against uh the administration's policies. So, um I am going to ask that we um meet with whoever is appropriate
to develop a safe zone policy which the National Education Administration has put together a template uh for this policy. Everything in it is lawful um and it does two things. It ensures
that the children and parents feel safe in sending their kids to school and in being in school and that the entire school community is aware of your policies and procedures to um ensure that your that the immigrant students
have a safe environment. Um, so I'd like to get um some feedback afterwards uh to um perhaps set up a meeting with the um appropriate people uh to go over the policy and see what we can do. Thank
[Applause] you. Okay, thank you. Up next we have Steve Gentilia. Okay. All right. Thank you. Um was here a few weeks back talking about the accident that my daughter was
in at the high school. Received communication from Dr. Merritt, from Mr. Tisowitz. I was happy with it at that point. Recently received the information and a conversation with your security
director. Piqu my curiosity even more. Looked into it more. Talked to the driver of the vehicle. Talked to the family of the driver of the vehicle. And guess what? Mr. RN was at the site of
the accident. Excuse me, Mr. So, why was there no incident report written? Why was the video not flagged? I was told this afternoon by the driver of the vehicle he was at the
incident and then was told no one was there in both emails and verbal conversations. Imagine that. more cover-ups and
lies. This isn't good. This is wrong and it needs to be fixed. There were comments made earlier tonight how one person can change the direction of a school and that's happening at Canton High School. That
one person is your principal. He is changing the direction of that school negatively. If I had more time, I would read all of the comments I have from teachers and staff who will remain anonymous because they are in fear of saying anything to
this man. It's not right. The kids see it and the school is going downhill because of it. Mr. Mr. Gentilian, so I would like I need to remind you we have stop the clock policy in section G around public
comments that are personally attack attack an individual or not. Well, these need to be attacked. We will not allow this type of commentary. If you have other comments that you would like to make, we will allow that. We will the administration will follow
up with you. Well, I would like more than just an email. Why wasn't the report filled out? Why wasn't the video flagged, which is what I was told can't be done when a student is transported off site in an
ambulance to a hospital? Okay, there's technical difficulties. Can't be flagged. Okay, we're going to work on fixing it. Okay, if an administrator was there, go in right away, flag that video. What happened?
Now, I've been here for two years almost on behalf of the community twice for my kids and this is wrong. This needs to be fixed. Thank you. Okay, thank you very
much. Okay, up next we have Kevin. I don't I'm I'm sorry I'm not able to read your last name. Is it more more Montass? Thank you. Oh, Sue, you Sue, you would like to go first? Yes. Okay. So, we're changing
the order here. So, it is Sue Mood Sassin. So, I'd like to start off by giving props to Jennifer. Everybody, everyone I work with is holding you in high regard for your courage to come up here and not only speak on behalf of yourself and how you were treated as an employee and for the
students at the school to make it uh peace a better place. And I'm very glad that you got on the board to um be a part of that hopefully happening going forward. Um, I find it funny that a time clock is
present because a lot of the reason why I'm up here is because I'm often feeling unseen, unheard, invisible, and I only have two and a half minutes to speak on what I'm speaking about. And unfortunately, it's a sad topic. My mother-in-law died due to
complications after surgery. And about two hours after she passed, I said I should alert work because I have a strong work ethic that I wasn't going to be here last Wednesday morning. The first response I got back when the
subduct subs person came in to work was that it would be unexcused and unapproved until I had documentation. I said she just passed a few hours ago. I don't know what documentation you want at this
point. Since it happened unexpectedly, my my husband and my kids understandably and my brother-in-law and family took it very hard. In order to support them, I took off Wednesday through Friday last
week and kind of the shock of it all, we haven't got a lot of the plans and arrangements done. We have a business. So my husband went back to work and I came back to work yesterday and plan to work these few days. We still have things to do. So
then I put in to have off this Thursday, Friday and all of next week. The funeral will be in Lancing and we have many out of town family coming and um a lot of things that we have to take care of.
I only had a half paid sick day available when I reached out Wednesday. I could only put it in the frontline system for that first half. Starting that second half, it was unpaid. So I asked the subs to put in these days that I've
needed. I was told that pairs only get five days bereiement and the absence absences will be unapproved and there's nothing my immediate supervisor or anybody can do
um moving forward and I'm just going to disregard that because I have a few more things to say. So, I'm not sure what to do at this point because I didn't have this prepared, so I couldn't have it buttoned up in a threeminut talk. Um, it just
happened this afternoon that I got that email uh the head of HR that um basically there's nothing can be done. So, after we deal with the grief and the things that we have to do next week, it sounds like at this point I'm
out of a job and um we'll have to look for another one. Yes, ma'am. And then uh health insurance have to happen. Um I guess paying our own until I get situated. Thank you for speaking. I know the three
minutes is up, but we will have HR follow up with you. I I just want to say a couple more things and it's um one after working at peace other schools I can't remember I've been here for 15 years I appreciate
tonight when you started that everyone said please stand for the pledge of allegiance um some of the schools are saying if you so choose to stand everybody can do what they want I don't know why that has that line has to be present
The other thing is I think would be great interest of our kids. I'm so sorry. I have to ask you to please for more people. It's beyond your three minutes and it we have to just allow that three minutes. That's our policy for citizens comment. So thank
you so much. I believe more people should be in the schools firsthand to guide our kids because it's not going well at peace. the disrespect, the free lunches given and trash thrown about and
left on the tables. Nobody's guiding the kids. Thank you very much for your comments. Okay. All right. And we have last but not least, Kevin Mutakis. Okay. Thank you. Obviously, that was my wife and she's been here for
15 years. She's a graduate of the high school. I have two children that are graduates of the high school. She's done a great job. The children love her. She's a special ed parapro. Are you You have people knocking down your doors for these
jobs. My mother died. You're telling us we have three days or else you're fired. Guess what? We have three other parents. Another one dies. Oh, sorry. You already had a death today.
Your human resources department is very inhumane, sir. If any of you had a piece of humanity in your heart, we all stood up and said the pledge of allegiance, one
nation under God. Are you all hypocrites? Do you believe it? Which one is it? She was asking for time off, nonpaid. No, ma'am. You're fired. Have any of you lost a
parent? Do you have parents? Of course, we all have a mother and a father. Every single one of us. When you die, your parent, your children, because they don't want to set up a nice day for
you and be with the family have an opportunity to be fired. You're okay with that, sir? My wife has been here 15 years and there have been many incidences where she has been treated poorly due to a narrative
she does not fit. I have heard a lot of things tonight. You're concentrating on the wrong stuff. Concentrate on humanity and how to treat people. This is not it people. You may or may not be a part of this.
decision, but you are working with people that are and you whoever is involved in this should absolutely be disgusted. Your heart is black and dead. Thank you very much for your
comments. That concludes our citizens comments section. We are going to move on to the next section, administrative reports and recommendations, teaching and learning with Miss Rail. Yep. I'd like to invite to the podium Mr. Hail Herd, executive director of high school education. We're
going to share with you some high school highlights. Uh this was uh presented and um uh you know, we discussed extensively at SPA last this last month. So um turn over Mr. Herd and you'll also hear from the high school principal. Thank you, Miss Real. Um good evening board. Good
evening, um, Superintendent Merritt and rest of the core team. Um, tonight we have our high school principles here that are going to present on the spring highlights from the high school level. And so I'll invite them up at this time. Good evening everyone. I'm Kim
Villa Rosa. I am the principal from Salem High School. I'll let everybody else introduce themselves. Hi, good evening. I'm Greg Angland, principal at Plymouth High School. I'm David Reor, principal Canton High School. Evening again, Kim Dilman at
Starkweather. Thank you. And again, thank you for allowing us to be here and present tonight. As Mr. Herd said, we're going to talk about some high school level program highlights. Um, we presented on some highlights in
December and we wanted to follow up, share some additional information. Uh, Mr. Reed Nordwell, when it's his turn to talk, he will talk a little bit more and bring the two presentations together a little bit. Uh but I wanted to again let
you know that our um highlights are based on the PCCS dynamic plan as well as the learner profile. We're going to review the impact of high school areas of focus on academic per academic performance specifically.
tonight. Um, as related to our uh, dynamic plan goals for PCCS, one of the things we'll talk really specifically about is how we are working and increasing achievement for all students and closing achievement gaps and what that data looks like. We
also um are going to have some conversation or information around physically, psychologically, and emotional safety represented at school. We're going to talk about student and family engagement, student voice, and
how we are working to be leaders and innovators for student learning and growth. I know you've seen the district learner profile before. Again, we are wanting to work towards our students all leaving as collaborators, ethical and
global citizens, critical thinkers, goal-directed and resilient communicators and innovators. All four high schools worked together. Um the administrators at all four high schools work together to develop this
common high school vision which fits in with the district vision. And what we said that is that all student high school or all PCS high school students will have equitable ass access to a positive and collaborative school culture with multiple varied
opportunities. Be supported in a safe environment that values diversity, excellence, and honors flexibility and learning and will become strong, independent, and adaptive learners in achieving excellence and their unique goals through their high school
experience and beyond. Specific to the teaching and learning department strategy departmental strategy goals. We are looking at goal A around teaching and learning and student learning and growth and goal B specifically around comprehensive
multi-tered system of support. I'm now going to turn the presentation over to Mr. Reed Nordwell. a leg. So just push it. All right. And so uh what's intriguing about this is how all those words are translated into action. And so this is a
logic model that takes it when you take the dynamic plan, the mission statements of the district and the school. And then you have inputs, activities, outputs, and outcomes. They highlight certain actions to take like have student feedback groups. Um really worked this year and we have in the last couple years to have even better attendance
tracking, early warning systems. And you'll see I'll keep sticking kind of the highlights because they're going to to this. There's a lot of information in this, but also some of the activities like implementing studentled belonging initiatives. Um create incentive programs around attendance. Um I have
that targeted professional development on inclusive uh practices in addition to some of the outputs that we would like to see more student buyin, more student input, um more equitable practices and more inclusion in the schools. at risk students are identified and receiving
tailored interventions with those outcomes of improved academic performance across all student groups, reducing those achievement gaps and having an a real strong focus on an enhanced sense of belonging um but for the students and for staff for all that they really feel and it ties directly
into like our concentration is really on how that has significant academic benefits when you do that work together. So some illustrations of what that logic ma model looks like in action. Uh we have a hall of fame across all our schools. Canton was able to post um COVID to have a hall of fame induction a
wonderful uh uh community event. You see our unified uh events there where we have a unified basketball program where the students are participating in that. We do a lot of interactive uh outreach with some of our kindergarten groups and preschool groups coming up and interacting and working with the high
schoolers. Really love our early education programs. And then also um bringing together like our security team, our therapy dog and students to be a part of interacting with all the working groups within a school. It's a really cool opportunity when you think we got security, we got officers, we got
administrators, we got teachers, a lot of great professionals for our kids to interact with. Then also some of the things you see like uh in the upper corner some fun activities. You they look big, they look like they're all serious, but high schoolers are just big kids in some ways. Have bound houses, have games. Um, some the middle picture
on the top there is a student input group as is the right picture. Students are looking at interactive flat panels and getting us good feedback about those for teaching. We've had them do it also for our furniture and our bond work. We have attended uh attendance incentives as well as um you see in the bottom
lower corner there just uh giving up timbits and meeting kids out in the hallway and just getting bringing smiles and little treats to their face as the kids are there in the morning. really working to be the first good morning those kids have outside of their families. And then professional learning in that upper left corner. We did a lot of work going down to the middle
schools, taking our high schoolers to meet with them and ourselves, introduce them and get them excited about coming up to the school. Again, more professional learning, some of the really cool events. You can't see them in the audience, but our entire park is the audience for uh the BSU night and a lot of other activities. and it just has
an incredible energy and as we've been talking about the really wonderful facility upgrades that help support the incredible work our students are already doing and place that helps us in addition to the students being lighthouse and and students uh our our facilities in our district 2 when we
bring people in to come see it and then I think when we look into Greg was this where you going to step into the next set okay and then how that then really works toward that academic um benefits. Craig England from
Plymouth. All right. Thank you, David. So, as David mentioned, um he highlighted a lot of the activities, events, and programs that we do um at the high school. And so, now I'm going to go through what is the impact of that
work. And so what you see on this slide is um in our four core areas, English language arts, mathematics, science, and social studies um you see the percent of students with um passing grades. And this is um the data only reflects uh 9
through 12 uh 12th grade students. So this is very important. So this is the aggregate. This is all of our students. And you see we're typically in the 90% um across uh 2122 school year um to the 24 25 school year. So this is first
semester data and the importance of this obviously we know in high school is we're earning credits. All right. So the more students we have um you know with passing semester marks these are more students uh making progress towards their 22 credits. Now, as we as I said,
this is the aggregate. Um, but we also understand with the programs and things that we have in place, there's still work to do and we're still we still recognize that and we're working towards that. And so, this slide here has a comparison. This is for our um um black
and African-American students compared to our white students. And so what you see over time is there's still a gap that we're um that we're working to close, but you see over time we have been making progress. So acknowledging the achievement, acknowledging that it's going up over time, but we still
acknowledge there's work to do with closing the gaps. Additionally, this slide shows our economically disadvantaged and the same trend. uh we see gaps there in the four core areas but over time from 2122 to
2425 we see that we are making some progress in closing those gaps but understanding once again there's still a lot of work that can be done even though we're making progress um similarly for our students students with IEPs um also
noticing that same trend as well so we're making achievement over time. Um things are improving over time, but we still recognize that there's a lot of work to be done. Um so we're continuing to implement programs. We're continuing to look at the data and figure out how
we can better serve our groups that are in that gap and are making progress, but we still have more work to do with that. And the last slide here is our multilingual learners. Um where where you can see that there's a lot of work
still to be done with our multilingual learners. Um as you see we in 2122 the gap was a little bit closer and it's um gotten wider over time. Um and we've really been doing some work with um our district curriculum leaders um our
leaders at the park as well in terms of what things we can do to better serve all of our population of students. So this was just a highlight and um showing the actual data related to the work that we've been doing at the high school with the programs that we've been implementing. All right. So, I'm going to talk a
little bit about sense of belonging, behavior, and attendance for the four high schools. First, at the park, you'll see that we have just about under 1500 student responses. We're looking at the panorama survey uh specifically around sense of belonging. So, you can see who reported positive marks in there across
uh all three of the schools at the park. Uh which brings them to about a 51% um reporting there. And you can see that positive trend over the past 5 years every year going in that upward uh direction there. Specifically, the question was how much students feel that
they are valued members of the school community. So that's great news to report. And this is also putting uh the park at the 90th percentile for that for that
data. Um academic impact bringing that back to what u Mr. Strangling was just talking about seeing an overall increase in students earning credits uh semester 1 across all the grades in all four of their content areas. That's quite the highlight. Um closing of performance and achievement gaps over time uh for all
groups of course except the ML [Music] MLS. Uh quickly just about stark weather specifically looking at our first semester marks looking at we've got about 82% of all marks are earning
credit towards graduation. Um another highlight around sense of belonging with that same question that from last year's data to this this year we saw a 9% growth um in students reporting positively feeling that connection to the school community. Uh we also had uh
different staff committees specifically targeting different areas to promote student achievement and connection to the school. So um some of the things having the the student voice groups we have a college and career readiness committee. So we had schools the tools at our school last week did staff training on restorative practices. We
did a book study this year on street data. Um and just last week I sent 100 kids and their families to a Detroit Tigers game as an incentive for uh perfect attendance. So, it's been great things happening over there. And then, so I think we're are we? Okay.
So, you can throw this away now. Uh, yeah. So, as we look at then the next steps, there's there's the work that we want to continue doing some of the great improvements that we're making, but a lot of opportunity for more work. One in particular, and we know I believe that you've also seen some of the presentation for the middle school and
the equitable grading. It's an important concept and it's an important word when it talks about how our grades can be more accurate, how they can be better tools of feedback for students, how they can motivate student learning, and what equitable grading practices look like at at the high school level. We uh we
finished a two-year study with a with an inquiry group of with the book called um grading for equity by Joe Feldman and it has a recommendation that we're moving into this summer to be able to implement more equitable practices around grading that are effective in helping students and when you think about a lot of people
ask you know comparative to other levels at the high school level uh the impact to college entrance and scholarships and grades for instance when you saw the middle school presentation one of the things that can happen is grades can change from A to B range and that's a
significant impact always and at the high school now you're talking scholarships you're talking college entrance you're talking about things we want to make sure we're doing very carefully and while making sure it's beneficial to all our students and then also how across the different levels you have a lot of different curricular needs
at the high school level and a lot of that curriculum has to be and the assessments of it have to be tailored to that course and how we do it a one-sizefits-all across the entire high schools isn't necessarily the answer, but how it works within courses and departments working to make even more
improvements. And that'll be one of the most significant steps you'll see about those gaps closing just in the accuracy of grades and how grades are reflective of learning as opposed to sometimes behaviors or other things that shouldn't show up in a grade. And again, great work by the middle school. Really glad they're pioneering that work to help us
with it. And we're coming along at something that also makes a lot of sense for the high schools and improve things there. continuing our professional learning and uh improving teacher practices. We've got large student feedback groups like one of our PD days we had students provide feedback to
teachers like things they would want teachers to know and including th those kind of practices with that in addition to looking at the effects of cell phones and technology other pieces on students and the best practice um like we're saying what we can do for our formative and summitive assessments um and really
incorporating common assessments in each course level that allows us to get a great data pool and be really enhance what we have there. That was good data, but it's not great data. And the great data is really going to happen when we have some of these other pieces coming together as as soon as next year. And that data is really going to help us get
even more detailed with the work that we're doing and solutions that we have for students and our staff. I think that's what we got. So questions. Great. Thank you for the presentation. I am going to open it up to Josh to kick
us off. Um I don't not this isn't really a question but I just wanted to say I'm glad you're looking into equitable grading um processes um and I would encourage I know I'm assuming you're bringing in like teachers voices and administration voices if you haven't already thought about it maybe bringing in student voices to look over what you're doing um if you need high school
kids I know SBA would be willing to chip in a couple people um also glad that you're being open about your successes and your shortfalls with your data um with the multilingual learners and I'm glad that you guys are taking steps towards improving that as well as improving even the other ones with
smaller gaps. So, thank you Josh. Thank you, Miss Boss. Um, so the dynamic plan says all PCS students and staff will report they feel physically, psychologically,
and emotionally safe and represented at school. Um, what evidence do we have that all staff feel safe and represented at school? Our presentation was on the high school highlights for students. So if if you're
looking for if we could have the staff feedback maybe at a different time and we can share that with you as well. Yeah. Yeah. We'll we'll capture that as a follow-up question. Okay. There is data on the the recent Panorama survey was given to staff and that just came
out. So that data does exist but that wasn't the focus of our presentation. that was on student achievement. Thank you. Okay, questions or I do have more questions. Um, are we okay with only half of our
students feeling like they belong? Um, so no, of course we're not okay with half of our students feel feeling like they belong. Um I guess when we did the presentation to SPA we talked about that as well in terms of that's a lot of
students feeling like they don't belong. Um nationally we understand it puts us in the 90th percentile. So that's an issue a lot of um high schools across the nation are struggling with the sense of belonging but for our work here we would like um all of our students to feel that sense of belonging and that's still going to continue the work that
we're doing. So um it's something that we noticed as well. We're not satisfied with that, but we do understand that it puts us um kind of in a a higher percentile across the nation with that statistic. Have we considered um bringing back the
spirit team and working um with I know that that was something that they were working on was trying to bring back some of the spirit um belonging a feeling of that in the high school. Um, I know that
that was a committee that was formed and has has anyone um thought about bringing that team back to work on that feeling in the high schools? Um, and I'm not and maybe Kim is
familiar with the the spirit team. Um, yes, that was district level committee as a result of that. That's how we looked at the high school draw, for example, and moved that back to earlier years to just try to get that sense of community. So, that's not necessarily um
tied to your individual school improvement plans, but it's something that, you know, we can continue to to discuss if that could be helpful. One thing I'd add at the building level, we do have spirit student spirit sections. So like Salem has ours is
called the blue crew and those are the kids that are really working with other students to put things out on social media get to get them involved in events in a really positive way and not negative against any other school or anything like that. And I know that you they both have the similar thing but I
just don't know what they're called. Yeah, we have student section leaders and to that question like all the things that it would take to help everybody belong we absolutely want to incorporate. So, at the district level, as you're seeing it at the high school level, we have um many teams of students
that we're working directly with, like Josh is saying, to get feedback directly from them, and they have things like the warriors for uh a healthy mind. We have the section leaders. We have an advisory group that's actually happens to be meeting tomorrow that's working on student voice. One of the things that's an outcome from these conversations is a
parkwide mural contest with an installation that we'll put in one of the buildings and that is from student voice and like what it means to be a park student. That's another opportunity we're saying. We say three, you know, three schools, one park and so having to continue to build ideas of what that is
and really do it with the students as much as possible. And that's been the beginning of the work more than ever is the students are doing the work with us. And that's a huge way for them to be able to help increase with that sense of belonging, but also bringing their ideas and bringing the staff ideas and and it's it's a beginning to it. And like
Greg was saying, uh, Greg England was saying there, no, it's it's kind of disturbing to think that 51% puts us in the 90th percentile of high school. It also shows you the high school mind. Those students have a lot going on. We need to work even harder and more actively to really help them. And this
generation of students, more than any generation ever before, has a lot going on. And with the distractability, with the cell phones, with the technology, with the social media, they need us to work even harder on this and we really appreciate the support and the opportunity to do it. So, no, not satisfied. We want every student when it
says that we don't need a dynamic plan to say that. We we feel that way, too. It's one heck of an ambitious goal and we're going to continue working toward it. Um I just wanted so first of all I saw this presentation in the spa committee so it was we had a robust discussion
during the spa committee. Um and I wanted to can you go back to the slide with the multilingual learners numbers on there? I wanted to pull out the point that was made during SPA.
Um I think it's slide number 16. One more. Yeah. Um, one of the points that was made in SPAN, I'm probably going to get this wrong, is that the multilingual learners, um, numbers are different than the other ones primarily
because students move in and out of the programs as they I mean, the point of ELLL is to right move them out. Yep, you you you got it right. um as as a student in works through our multilingual learner program when they um achieve
language proficiency, they're no longer identified as a multilingual learner. So often when you see high school data, it's our long ter what we call long-term eels. So it's students who've been in a in the program for a long period of time. also at SPA. So for those of you who want to come to the next spa, we are
going to be sharing an update on um multilingual learner programming and talking about shifts for our middle school and high school programs to um address some of this because this is actually um not an anomaly nationally right now. We're seeing this across the nation where we're starting to see some of those gaps look different for
multilingual learners and also a pretty significant increase in multilingual learners. So, we're going to sh excuse me, share an update of what what our student population looks like, what our goals are, and then um some shifts in programming moving forward to better serve our students. So, thank you for
that. And then just fin a final anecdote as far as belonging uh over the holiday we just had, we had several students that were PC PCCS graduates um involved in the art programs and they were talking excitedly about that mural that
you're going to do. So, great. So, first I want to commend everybody for the hard work that's been done in closing the gaps on a number of those subgroups. Um, you know, it's nice to see progress. Um, you know, it's it's not perfection and that but progress is
is what we're we're doing and I see the trend in the right direction. Uh I did have some questions on the multilingual learners and maybe I'm misremembering this but I seem to remember when we had a previous conversation around multilingual learners. It was one of the subgroups that stood out as us uh
actually addressing some of these these gaps. Y can you help explain why we're maybe we were looking at that districtwide um whereas we're seeing this not really following that same trend. So maybe I'm misremembering it. You're not. So, we were we we saw some pretty significant closing of the gaps
pre- pandemic and then just coming off the pandemic, but we're seeing this this pattern right now. And that's why we're actually looking at a shift in the model to better address this pattern because we're starting to see this dip and we want to get on it early. So, again, we'll we'll talk a lot more about it at
SPA next in a couple weeks. So, um will that spa presentation be coming forward to the full board or is that just at spa? It's not necessarily slated to, but similar to the the special ed presentation, um we it may be something we lift forward as we do that work. So,
we can certainly do that. And you're always welcome to come. You're always welcome to come spot and you can see the most fun that we have. It is the best committee. Thank you. Okay. So, I did have a couple other questions. Um on the sense of belonging, you know, I I like
the trend again that we're seeing there. Clearly 51% isn't where we want to be. The more troubling aspect, and this has been a a problem for us for a long time, is participation level. You know, we've got less than a quarter of our students that are actually participating in that
uh in that survey. So, you got just under 1500 students out of, I believe, just over 6,000 students that we have uh at the at the high school. And so, it's just we've got a really low participation rate. I know that we've had a lot of conversations here as we look at this. I know we've engaged with
our student voice and action committee to see what we could do differently. But I think that's the more troubling aspect that I see to the the overall numbers is that you don't have it's not a real clear uh statistical sampling of of what we're doing. Do you have any feedback on
that? We we have talked about this a lot. We've spent I couldn't tell you how many times I've talked to my my own kids like how do I get these take kids to take survey. We've tried we've tried a lot. We've tried reaching out to students individually and um they didn't really appreciate
that. Um we tried we we tried to like at the beginning of home room make announcements. If you haven't taken the student survey this is a great time to take it. It's great unless you have a chemistry test to make up. If you were going to make up a chemistry test and I ask you to take a survey, guess what you're going to do? you're not going to
take the survey. So, um we we've tried like sending reminders at 10 o'clock at night because some but one of the problems is that we're always communicating or often are communicating with students via student email. Kids don't use email like we do, you know.
So, one of the things that we've talked about is would this be better in a different, you know, put out on Instagram or something that kids are doing more often. What we did when we got the most participation is well we we resorted to bri resorted to bribery. Now
we had a contest. So we pulled names to get like the of kids that participated to give gift cards to the school store but also the um classes home rooms that had 100% participating uh they got a cookie party and the school store
brought the whole class free cookies. So that seemed to help, but we haven't found the perfect solution yet. Yes, I was going to mention that. Um, what Kim touched on. Um, similar with some of the other data that we saw, it's not where we want to be, but it is a significant
growth compared to what we had last year, about 1500 students based on some of the factors that Kim explained is significant and it still puts us in that 25% to 30% range to make the data the data valid and reliable. So, so I mean
whether it be engaging with your student groups or what you know Tik Tok, Snapchats, whatever you need to do, um that participation rate is ultimately how you can get the the valid data to support this. The last thing I just wanted to mention was uh I'm really excited to hear about the work that you
guys are doing on equitable grading and look forward to more uh feedback in that process. It was really remarkable the improvements that that did uh at the middle school level. So, you know, hopefully hopefully we can find something similar uh to achieve at the high school level. My question on that
is what's the timeline? Are we looking to do this for next school year for the school year after? Um what's the So, that's something that we would need to talk about. In our minds, it's a very significant process doing it at the high school um and making that shift. Um, so
I know it's going to take a lot of uh feedback and input from the community um in terms of making them aware of why how grades are shifting. Um, so I would say at minimum it would take it a school year to kind of explain how it's
working, explain the impact and then implement at minimum. So maybe a year or two uh with the support of our district leadership um and the board uh with those conversations with uh families around the change and the shift that could be happening. Helping Thank you
for helping manage my expectations. You know, with high school, it's just so challenging because no matter what we choose to do, there will be some unhappy people because one way or the other, it's going to whether it's a perception
or reality change perhaps their child's GPA. And that's a really it's a challenging challenging topic because when you're looking at what school a kid potentially gets into can affect their career itself. It
can affect if they get into a graduate school. It can affect if you can afford how what school you can afford because it depends the the GPA is direct reflection of how much money they get for scholar students get for scholarships. So we just have to be
really careful that we don't like snap our fingers and think we have the perfect solution without a lot a lot of community and a lot of student impact because it might impact students and families even in a way that we're not thinking of. So that's going to be really important for us to get that
impact in that feedback. Most of my questions have been answered but um I just wanted to share there's been some work around um survey feedback in SBA actually. Josh can you share what we discussed? Yes. So I believe it was at our last meeting Panorama uh three
representatives came and uh we they went through a presentation pretty short presentation explaining some of the stuff behind panorama explaining um stuff with the survey and then they gave us a a time to ask questions. So we went into groups and formulated questions. We asked them um we gave them suggestions,
questions on the survey, confusing language. Um uh there was all sorts of suggestions. One like confusing words like perseverance, but clicking on it would be like a drop down menu with like a definition kind of like on other websites. Al we provided lots of feedback and they talked with us. It was
a one-on-one discussion, very informative. I know students in that committee have already started talking with their friends and stuff. So I'm hoping that also kind of increases the data because from what I saw in that there's also a large misconception around the survey and anonymousness and
what's not and all all these rumors and stuff is going around. So I think the having that inerson discussion was really or not in person they were online but having that discussion one-on-one with them was very very helpful. Yeah. Thanks. And that that's exactly like one of our points is having the user give
feedback on it because there's a lot of factors that go into the survey itself not necessarily being the thing that most students are having a positive experience with. The survey is one of the things it's supposed to be anonymous. It's it's also supposed to be voluntary. And then when you look at just in our lives when if somebody says
to you how you feeling here's a survey. That isn't always the best way to get that too. So we're looking at other ways to also get more information like empathy interviews. sit down and talk with the students, have these conversations that'll help us bolster what we're getting out of the student surveys and panorama. It's it's a data
point. It's not the only one. Yeah, there was some good feedback around um even just exposure to the survey and awareness. So, I thought that it was a really uh meaningful conversation. So, I wanted to lift that, but I will kick it over to the Padum. Any questions or comments? Actually, that was one of
mine. So, thank you for SBA um taking on that initiative, making sure that we get more people involved. I've been talking to some students who basically um say they didn't know. So again, maybe some sort of social media beyond an email since uh they they don't live in that
world. I don't know if there are text messaging options for students. Just get a link right to their text message, but I'll let you figure that out. Just just we understand email is just not working. Um I want to thank the team for looking at a different data set that we haven't
seen before or not consistently in looking at um how the grades are um the trends of the student course passing rates and looking at the trends narrowing those gaps. I have a question for Dr. Merritt in terms of looking at a
holistic data set. Uh I think in the past you may recall and the board may recall I've asked for consistent data sets as we look at secondary or elementary um data perspectives and last year we had a
different uh presentation with the high school um overview and the year before that we had more of attendance, graduation rates, sense of belonging as measured by the climate surveys. So, I'm wondering if we can get this packaged with all of the data sets and that could
be our consistent annual high school report because I feel like we get bits and pieces and it's and we've talked about this before in other meetings that it's hard for us to remember which presentation contained what data set. So, I'd like to get all of that on an
annual basis that's consistently showing those factors that we've seen in the past. After our last meeting, I communicated that back to the team to see how can we um provide that in that manner that we're looking uh for and we say we have the addendum versus what we're going to do in a public meeting.
So, you have all of that information, but what is the best way to package it in the way that you as a board have asked okay for that? And I'll respond to Patrick's. Um changing high school grading practices could take two to five years. Um just it's a it's a very hard thing to do. Commend the team. These are
hard times working with um high schoolers, kids in general. Thank you for all that you do. Um they need a lot of support from all of us collectively and I know that 50% isn't where we want to be, but I appreciate you continuing to look at where are the gaps, what else
can we do and you know we think about the same thing as we meet in terms of how do we get things better for students. So appreciate you member. Um yeah, I was curious on um now with the equitable grading, how does
that affect I mean we probably don't know yet um standardized testing because I don't believe that standardized testing is going to be equitable testing. So, I want to know how that's going to affect students, you know, as they do pursue college and and that how
that's going to like are the grades going to be kind of a universal grade or are there going to be differences in what's showing in different um grading systems? Like, is there going to be a way of knowing that those
students are actually ready? because um just because they pass or they have appear to have a good grade doesn't mean like how much content do are we sure that they're getting. So then when they are doing with these standardized tests for college that it's going to be
enough. I'm happy to take that because um actually what you're what you're doing is telling talking exactly why we're doing equitable grading practices to say does this grade actually demonstrate that the student can master the content that they're supposed to master to be able to get to the skills
that they're supposed to get to. That's equitable grading. um that removes from grading practices things like um um compliance tasks or bringing extra things in that that can unended or
sometimes intentionally elevate a grade. So what you're saying is exactly what we're saying, which is we're looking to determine the best grading practices to say these are the standards that the student should be able to master. That's our state standards. These are the skills within those standards that a
student is expected to master. Do we have evidence that the student has mastered those skills and if we do have evidence which is what our you know our assessments come assessments formative assessments um you know summitative assessments at the end of things
formative assessments throughout. Does that say to us this student individual student can master this standard this expected outcome at this level? What do they what level do they mastered at? Are they just kind of solid here? Are they
exceptional here? Do they need some additional support here? So those are what are called equitable grading practices to say this grade actually tells us that this student can do this thing. So when you hear things like standardsbased grading, equitable
grading practices, that's exactly what it's talking about. It's saying this is very specifically how we know that this student can do this thing. So okay. So yes, so thank you. Yes. And I thank you. Um and also um on what you were saying, I I think you know it would be helpful
to see more data because I look at and I say you know just passing grade you know these are ones that are passing. So it's hard to tell because you know when you look at the state of Michigan compared to other states and stuff were not like doing as good. So, um, just to see that
they're passing. I think that's good. They're passing, but like what's the variables of the passing? Like how many are like I mean you could be passing and you could have most of your kids not, you know, like how many B's, A's, and all that do you have? Just just to see where everybody's at. And um that would
that to me would be helpful. And let's see. And then also just the whole program, you know, we've had the SEAL surveys for how many years? And is that really something that is being effective if it's you know through the years did that you know as much as I'm seeing I'm
you know like is it is it how much I guess I look at from the finance side to you know from being on the finance committee like how much are we spending and resources putting towards that and is it is it actually effective or are there other ways of handling that so because I think I think high schoolers
in general personal like surveys that ask personal information. I mean, I think they're a little bit more hesitant and I think some uh students, you know, there is a concern just on, you know, feeling like they can't say things because it's so guarded on a
lot of things right now that if you say something, you could be called a name. So, I just think that there's a lot of issues there, too, that we don't see. So, [Music] I have a couple of questions. One is on
I think it's slide 51 on our not speak up. Sorry. Ours are all together. I think it it's the students with an IEP. The gap uh it would be the one before this I
think. Yeah, I think yours is 15. Sorry, ours are all together. So that's why right there. So my question is on the social studies that big dip that we see in 23 24 and then like the great recovery. What is your analysis of what
happened? So to to do that that's the deeper dive that we'd have to do. So we that's the disagregation piece. So I I don't have that data in front of me right now. And so I know that as we would look at that it also um sometimes the sample size is different with a with
um this population than others. So we'd have to we'd have to dig into that but we could we can follow up in board notes. Okay, that's great. Thank you. And then my other question is is maybe and maybe this is also further exploration but with the belonging um what does that data look like across the
different groups like out of the people who are respond out of the students who are responding are we seeing that for instance one group is over represented and one very sorely underrepresented and then how is their percentage of of uh you know agreeing with that question
that they're of value to the school community what does that look like and maybe this hasn't, you know, been explored yet, but I'm just curious what that looks like. And it it's something the data is in there. Um, and the the cool thing about
panorama, there's so many different ways to look at the information. Um, but that what you're asking for can be pulled out. um when we've looked at it in the past, it is um you know there is a correlation between um groups that may
not be achieving as high as others as far as their sense of belonging. So that's why it was a very intentional area of focus for us of getting that sense of belonging. You see it today with the students who are here where they feel like they have relationships um they feel valued and you can get a
lot more um you know from them a lot more engagement. Um, and so that's one of the basic things with the question earlier about the the spirit team. The feedback that we're getting from students are just kind of the most basic and essential things. Um, you know, you know, waving in the hallway makes them
feel good. Saying hi to them in the morning. So, going back to it, we we hear about relationships, but that's kind of one of our um bang for our bucks. That's something very easy to do that can get a lot of um translation and moving the the gaps up. Thank you.
Appreciate it. Thank you very much for your I just in the essence of time if anyone has additional comments if you could direct them to myself and Dr. Merritt and we will get them answered either in board notes or um an email. So thank you very much everyone for your
presentation. [Applause] Hi next we have a first read. It's a resolution for fifth grade maturation HIV lessons. So in at the state of
Michigan, local education uh um authorities agencies of which uh school districts are one are required to teach about HIV in each grade band. So think about elementary, middle school, and high school. PCCS teaches our HIV standards in our fifth grade maturation
lesson, which is typically done in April. It is taught by our school nurses and um through just kind of their review, they determined that it needs an upgrade and an update. So, uh, we talked about this at SPA, but the, um, video of
an update of the video and then an update of the slide deck. And then as I work through this, too, just so everybody's aware, Kevin Carr, executive director of curriculum instruction, assessment, and professional development. And Crystal Rosalanto, I always mess mess up her
name, so I'm sorry. Crystal um our uh K12 curriculum coordinator for um science and um physical education and health is with us for additional questions and stuff but the team has um uh uh recommended adopting the video HIV
and me Marissa's story redefined positive along with an updated slide presentation for the HIV lesson and the fifth grade maturation lesson and it one of the challenges as we talked about at SPA was some of the materials were outdated. So the the graphics were clip
art in the presentation and stuff. So it's just refreshing and updating the information, keeping it scientifically accurate. Also making it developmentally a little more developmentally appropriate for the age level just as uh you know as we move through the process and again nurses guide the class
discussion. Um, I want to also say that through the state of Michigan, our laws in Michigan mean that we also have to do several readings of anytime we have HIV lessons. So, the SEAK committee, our sex ed advisory committee met and did the
first um reading of these and review of these policies and then um it came to spa and then it'll be coming here for a couple of readings. The um other thing that I just want to say too is that parents have the right to opt their
students out of the HIV lesson and parent and um and um video watching. Additionally, parents have the right to view the materials. So we ensure that we um have that communicated to our families. Letter is sent out with all of that information as well. And again,
parents have that right to opt out at any time. So, um there would be no cost to this. This video is actually available on YouTube, so anybody can see it. It's it's not blocked or anything on YouTube. And then, um the slide deck,
what we'll do after tonight's first read is we'll get uh uh the code into the board's note board notes. So, if you want to see the slide deck, we'll also get that to you as well. So, I'm just opening up for any questions you might have around this first reading.
I'll open it up to Josh. I have no questions but great update and changes. So, thank you. Member boss. No questions. Thanks, Secretary Wester. Uh just just some context when we discussed this in SPA. I think some of the students were saying that the material
the old materials were older than they were. Yes. Middle school and high school. They were still they're still scientifically accurate, but they were a little outdated. They were a little outdated. Treasure Kho. Yeah. Just want to clarify one thing that you said versus what was written. Um it talks in the the write
up. It says parents also sign a permission slip and consent. Yes. You described an opt out process. Is it opt in or opt out? It's it's opt in but I what? So to clarify, yes, parents sign a permission slip, but they have the right to opt their students out by not giving
permission. So thank you for that clarification. Does require positive consent correct from correct before they participate. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure that what you what you said and what was written were consistent. Thank you for clarifying. I have no questions. Thank you. The
slide deck that you mentioned, is that available for people to view? Yes. So, um and we will get the QR code to all of the board members in board notes after this and then that's also presented online as well as um we also host nights
where the parents can come and view all of the information as well. So that is all communicated to our families in a letter that goes home and then also information in like um our our communications out to parents from the from the from the buildings. Okay. Just
to add to that, just because my kids are of that age and my my son experienced this last year, there was ample time um and notice from the district, there were letters, there were several emails like you mentioned, there was opportunities for parents to actually attend and learn
the content. Um, so it felt like we were very prepared and ready for uh this this portion of the curriculum. Member, no, I think you covered everything. You kind of anticipate us now. No questions. Thank you. Thanks.
Okay. Up next, we have um action item number 25463. consider approval of a resolution for new course materials, piano studies. This is a final reading. Um, I will open it up for any other additional questions before I call for the
vote. Hearing none. Um, those those Oh, shoot. Sorry. No, I just through. I have a motion, guys. Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for new course
materials, piano studies, final reading, action items 25463. Can I have a second? Second. Okay. It was moved by Treasurer Kho and seconded by member Bard. I will now open it up for any discussion or questions around this particular topic. Hearing none, we'll call for the
votes. Those in favor, please say yes. Those opposed say no. Okay. Motion actually carries 6. Okay, on to the next action item here. We've got action item number 25-04-64. Consider approval of a
resolution for teacher Chromebooks to support middle school math instruction. This is also final reading. Can I have a motion? Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for teacher Chromebooks to support middle school math instruction. Final reading. This is action item 25464.
I have a second. Second. It was moved by Treasure Kho and sec seconded by Secretary Wester. Any questions or discussions around this topic hearing? None. I'm going to call Sorry, just uh we did move this so that they're coming from bond funds.
Miss Minnik stepped out for a minute, but um uh it was decided not to do it from bond funds based on the bond allocations being used for other things. Um so um and Miss Mick may be able to speak more deeply to that but um through the discussion because of the amount and
stuff um it was decided to keep it in the budget for teaching the teaching and learning budget. Then I would ask that we defer this action item until Miss M sorry Miss Minn is back. Yeah. Joel the question was asked around the you know no sorry I'm sorry. So the question was
asked about why we why the decision not to put the Chromebooks the middle school Chromebooks into the bond. Um, sorry. To clarify, the question was why did we not put those Chromebooks into the bond? Yep. I believe that the answer uh lies in the
fact that the teaching and learning had available budgets. Uh it is an item that's uh eligible for bond funding should we choose to do that. Yeah, I for me I I'll vote no on this if this doesn't come out of the bond funds. I mean, this doesn't make any sense to me.
This is not a huge uh detriment to our bond funds and the teaching and learning dollars that we'd have, but this would be unrestricted. Whereas these bond funds are very restricted and we should always use the bond funds to support the initiatives that we're doing. Question was this discussed in FNL? We
discussed it the last board meeting. Okay. And in the last board meeting was it was discussed as bond is bond eligible and I thought it was going to come forward as bond eligible but I didn't see that. So Okay. Any other comments or questions?
Okay. Is there any way to discuss it more? Like to Yeah, I I I'd like to So, you're going to have to help me with my Robert's rules of orders here, but I'd like to make an amendment to this motion to change it so that it is uh coming from bond funds.
Okay. Or I wonder if we can offer that we table this for today. Yep. I can bring it back. I would support that. Are we dealing with anything in terms of the purchase? I can bring it back. So, in terms of timing or purch
Yeah, because I know there's or maintaining pricing. I I would rather just put this to bed and we've already had other technology purchases that we're trying to get through because of the issues with supplies and tariffs and I would love to, you know, just make the
amendment here uh in the in the process. So, which I respect. One thing I do because I hadn't had this conversation with the team, but I just want to ensure that the thinking around um I I recognize we definitely want to always protect the general fund and the
thinking around if we have this currently in that budget. I know that we have had many projects during this time of escalation in price that have um accelerated and so I just want to hear that thinking is that you know at the end of this bond we still want to make
sure that we're touching every single school. So I just didn't know why that recommendation I want to give them the respect of saying how we arrived at keeping it there anyway. That makes sense. If I may add as well there the the bomb program has a quite a tight
budget. Uh that said we have had pro programs planned programs that have expanded in scope and cost a diminished in scope and cost and so we we do try to be agile. We absolutely want to protect the general fund. uh and so there is
some balance there right and uh so we use our professional judgment particularly at year end with audit where we do a a significantly detailed review of every uh purchase that is procured with general fund to understand if it would make sense to move that into
the bond program um knowing that we have these conversations here and and in in general agreement that we need to protect the general fund um in this particular instance um of course I believe it's $23,000. Uh that is a very
small amount within a $275 million budget. The accumulation of that can be significant if we were to do that over and over again. Of course, um if it if it is the board's pleasure to uh charge this purchase to the bond program, I I
don't see any problem with that. In the resolution, does it say which how we're which fund we're purchasing this out of? It does say that. Yes. Okay. 2425 budget curriculum materials. I see. And I believe it said that in the first read as well. That's why I brought it up
because this is an this is not was not come through FNO. This came through uh teaching and learning. And so I didn't have a chance to talk about it in that that process, but did bring it up at the last board meeting. And then that's why I was following up on on the process.
Sorry. It wasn't here at the last board meeting. So So what was determined after you brought it up? It was bond eligible. It was bond eligible. Did the team agree that they were going to they were going to take it back, but it came back without discussion and without conversation.
Yep. To me, it's our community has been our local community has always been extraordinarily supportive of in our bond projects. And we're likely to need to go out for a bond again. And when we demonstrate need, whether it be
construction of our buildings or technology purchases, that's an opportunity for us to do. and we should always maximize what we're doing into our general fund because there's no opportunity for us to have any local support for that.
Yeah, I appreciate you advocating on on behalf of that. Um so I think there's kind of two ways that we can do this. We can either table it if we feel that it's not a time bound request to have this um amended, you know, or read at our next board meeting with the correct language and taking that out of bond
funds or if there's a sense of urgency, then we can talk about amending this particular um so just give some context that we had from our last FNO. in our last FNO and you'll see that item coming up on the uh finance and operations section is is
there's a consideration to purchase Chromebooks for PAP. Granted, it's many more Chromebooks, correct? But in that discussion, because of the concerns around tariffs, we're bringing that forward as a first and final reason. Okay. I personally would prefer to bring this unless someone disagrees that we're
going to want to do this and the administration needs more time. I prefer to amend this resolution to change the purchase and allow us to move forward with it tonight. Or if I don't have support for that amendment, then we can all vote our conscience. Okay. So, member Kho just
mentioned his support or moved for that support. Do we have a second? Second. Okay. Okay. So, it was moved by Treasurer Kho and seconded by Secretary Wester to amend um the resolution to read
um these the kind of last recommended resolution. So, this last line, these materials would be purchased from where we say the 2425 budget. We would now strike that and say out of the bond funds, correct? The 2020 bond funds 2023
2023 bonds 2023 bond funds. Okay, question three please. I just want to hear from Dr. Mara and your team. Does this cause any challenge for you given that you had anticipated this coming out of the curriculum materials
funds? I just want to make sure we're not overlooking something big. I appreciate that. I think because of the small amount, it's not um as big of a challenge, but I think that we try to exercise some professional judgment because of the scope of the bond that has gone extensive. For example, when we
look at our band and our robotics and so although we want to be able to depend on the support of the community and future bonds, our past has also seen where bonds have not gone forward. And so it is very important for us to be able to at least continue this message that we
started out with the 2020 bond that we're touching every school and we're doing our best to always um look at the scope and change it based on our current needs. We realize this is a 10-year bond. So this in particular we'll be fine with. But I think what we heard Miss Minn say is that we also don't want
a pattern. We want to make sure that we're looking at these things to say not everything goes to the bond. if we currently within our teaching and learning budget for example could absorb this and not looking to capture that necessarily as an additional fund balance. So just an awareness we would
we would be fine tonight but we definitely you know want to make sure that we're looking with that lens in terms of the best way to fund certain projects. Thank you for that commentary. So at this point we're not going to vote on the resolution. I think we're going to vote on the amendment of the
resolution whether or not the board is willing to support that amendment. And we would need I believe it's 2/3 vote to in support that although this doesn't come up that often. I think I've got that right. Okay. So, at this point I would like to call for the vote for um the amended language. Those in
favor please say yes. Yes. Yes. Those opposed say no. Seems as though that carries. 70. And then at this point um I am going to call for the vote of the actual resolution or action
item the amended resolution. Yes. The amended action item number 25464. Um those in favor please say yes. Yes. Those opposed say no. The amended action item passes 70. Thank you
everyone for Thank you bearing with me through that process. Okay, up next we're going to keep on going. Oh no, I lost my place because we were looking at FNO. Um, okay, then we move
on to student services with Kurt Tisquit. Thank you, President Christensson. Uh, tonight I'm pleased to introduce Kayla McDaniel, our director of food and nutrition services. Uh, Kayla brings a strong commitment to student wellness and access to healthy,
nutritious meals. uh she's been instrumental in leading our uh initiatives that support both uh the health and academic success of our students and this evening she'll be sharing updates on our school nutrition program. So, welcome Gayla. Thank you very much. I appreciate you having me
here and the opportunity to present in front of you. Thank you for everyone else that's here in the audience as well. Um, I'm Kayla McDaniel as K shared. Um, and I'm nearing closing in on my almost full year here with PC Ganton Community Schools. As the
director of food and nutrition services, I'm grateful for the opportunity to show what we've accomplished in not even a year yet. Um, and also to give you some insight on the vision moving forward. And I need that. Here's a quick snapshot of our
department staff. We have just under 100 employees in 24 buildings. As you can see it, we have a wide breath. And a quick mention, but a very important mention that everything that we do in food and nutrition services
department aligns, enhances, and supports the trajectory of the Plymouth Gant Community Schools dynamic plan efforts across the district. The mission statement of our department in food and nutr nutrition services is that we believe children who learn to
make healthy food choices and be physically active at school will continue these habits into adulthood. Our guiding principle is that nutrition security and optimal nourishment is essential to a student academic success and achievement. Our logic model here is
provided in your packet. So I invite you all to review that at your leisure. This school year, we have compartmentalized and streamlined our efforts into four quadrants that I've exhibited here on the screen. Um, they all come together to support what we've
termed as whole child wellness this year. It's really been our theme that's guided everything that we've done. Um those four components or uh compartmentalized components is student experience, program excellence, operations and facilities and employee
experience. Each of these help students build a positive relationship with food which is very important to us and make sure that they are ready to learn. this wellness wheel that you see on the right hand side as was developed in close collaboration with our nursing and
DEI departments and then uh with feedback from representatives from across the district. Our department has adopted this wheel um within our internally to guide our decisions as we look forward um and having it pave our way for more whole child wellness
collaborations across the district. [Music] So diving into our first area of focus, student experience. We are dedicated to continuous improvement of our cafeteria environment and dining experience. So
for example, the photo on the bottom left shows our produce cooler at Field Elementary. It's packed with delicious fresh produce. This has been placed at the start of the lunch line, which allows students additional time to select a fruit or vegetable choice. And this has been proven to improve our fruit and
vegetable consumption in our schools. Another strategy we use to increase fruit and vegetable consumption in our schools is to show students where their food comes from. And as an added bonus, sometimes they get to meet the farmer who grew it. So on the top right hand corner you see the students um with
farmer Caleb from Gateway Farms um at when he visited Miller Elementary for Michigan Apple Crunch Day. All of our sites have done an amazing job sourcing Michigan grown produce in our everyday options. Student voice is a crucial component of Plymouth Canton's um
dynamic plan. And the photo on the top left shows an egg bite taste test at East Middle School. The photo on the bottom right I have um is our Tigers opening day coney dog limited time offering. Um go Tigers. They're doing a
great job this year. Feedback and excitement generated from these special events, taste tests, and limited time offerings allow us to generate conversation around our meals and include student voice in our menu engineering process. So, when we're developing our menus, we have a
responsibility to balance a lot of things and I've listed them on the screen for you, but just to verbalize them. We take into consideration student preferences and trends. We cycle our options to avoid menu fatigue. We practice responsible procurement
practices and we source locally when we can. We optimize our budget and then we fit everything that we purchase all within our nutrition and meal pattern requirements. All of this to ultimately deliver something that the students want to
eat. We've zeroed in on the needs and preferences of our student population this year in efforts to create an equitable representation of our menu offerings. And we have a little bit of everything for someone. a little bit of something for everyone. You've got your comfort foods
or your faves. So, your typical American fair staples like burgers or pizza made healthfully with whole grains, low sodium, limited added sugar. And then we challenge the pallets of our students with global cuisine and ontrend flavors. And that would support global
awareness through their bellies as well as through their taste taste buds. We've learned that a significant portion of PCCS families identify as vegetarian. However, we found that there's a wide spectrum of interpretations of what this term means in the community. To list a few, vegan,
vegetarian, pescatarian, flexitarian, lacto or lacto obo p vegetarian. We take all of these into consideration and we take the feedback of what families are looking for and we've put that into our menus and we offer vegetarian items throughout our
entire week. We did seafood Fridays starting this spring and we plan to give nutrient-packed seafood con concepts a permanent and regular place on our menu. Several halal options have been integrated into our main options as well. To sidebar with a quick
definition, by definition, halal is an Islamic certification indicating that meat comes from healthy animals that have been humanely slaughtered. Overall, these products are highly high quality, higher quality product, and by making the adjustment, we're able to elevate
our food quality and allow students to be able to eat the same food for a more inclusive service experience. This has been a this has been huge, especially for the elementary and middle school students that really have a huge need of belonging among their pairs, their
peers. Food isn't nutrition if it isn't eaten, and a child that doesn't eat isn't ready to engage in school activities. We do not want any child to go hungry. So to combat that, we offer fruits and vegetables during um unlimited fruits and vegetables during meal time. For the
first time this year, we offer take-home meals for students who were in observance of raven, which is where they fast from sun um sun up to sun down. Um even the families that did not have to take this were very grateful for that opportunity. Um and it allowed um
equitable access to the meals that they would have gotten during the day. We've boosted collaboration and successfully streamlined communication channels between our department and the nursing team. When special dietary needs and food allergies are submitted via registration and new students join or if
there's a new diagnosis that comes about, we're able to react fast and ensure that we're able to meet that accommodation and allow the student to feel safe and confident to dine with us. All of these efforts and more are ultimately to ensure equitable access to nutrition, nutritious school breakfast
and lunch to all students. Something near and dear to my heart um that I would be a miss without mentioning is our that four of our eight preschool sites have adopted family style dining experience this year. Food is served in the middle of the table and
students use child-siz utensils to scoop the food on their plate. The teachers eat at the table with their students during meal time. There are many benefits to family style dining, including fine motor development, self-regulation, positive and meaningful conversations about food, less food
waste, and boosting food acceptance. Our preschool program is rapidly growing and our department is committed to providing a family style dining experience for all preschoolers starting next year. We are also opting into the child and adult care food program, a program very
similar to the programs by which we're reimbursed for our K12 um breakfast and lunches in order to maximize qualifying meal reimbursements and provide free preschool meals to all PCCS families. We are recipients of a 10 of what's known as the 10 cents a meal
grant. This program allows us funding to offset the costs of procurement and labor associated with processing and transporting um and sourcing locally grown fruits, vegetables, and legumes. The QR code on the bottom left hand side of your screen will take you to a
farm-to student magazine that has been created for our department that provides both nutrition education and information on local farms from which we source. The team has done a phenomenal job leveraging this funding to feature Michigan Mondays and plat plant forward
Fridays in our menus. We were actually the first district in the state of Michigan to successfully source, purchase, and incorporate uh local locally Michigan grown organic legumes into scratchmade recipes in our menus. Plymouth Orchard was featured in our
back to school bash with cers and donuts with Monica and their uh Plymouth Orchard's apples were crunched during the M Michigan apple crunch day in our schools. And in the first half of the year, we handed out at Discovery Middle School our harvest packs um which
provided local produce from Gateway Farms right here in Plymouth. I'm really proud of the seeds that have been planted within the district and the conversations that's been that have been started within the community. Our dietician and wetstone is a preceptor for dietetic interns from Madonna and
Wayne State University. The interns have been instrumental in student taste tests and nutrition education within our district. We've also strengthened our con connections and communication channels with all departments this year and we aim to further improve those relationships to offer greater opportun
opportunities for academic success and whole child wellness. Pictured on the top left is shows our um Plymouth High School admin staff um serving lunch to our students. We found that students really love when their worlds combine com collide and it really invites more
part student participation in our meals. We're currently collaborating with our CTE program leaders to come up with how we can get more students involved in operations and decisions. We were featured on 88.1 the park earlier this year and in a few local magazines to
talk about our relationship with Gateway Farms and incorporating miss those Michigan grown beans into our scratch recipes. We know that in community engagement is essential for sustainability and growth of our program and we've worked really hard to improve existing relationships and build our
network. We are recognized by other nutrition departments nationwide from for our engaging social media platforms which have s seen significant growth in followers and engagement in the last two quarters as seen in the um report here
on the bottom right. We're very proud to be one of the seven districts in the state of Michigan to receive the 2024 Healthy Meals Recognition Award for Innovation and Education. Our district is also one of 35 other districts nationally that are
participating in the USDA food and nutrition school food preparation study. This study helps USDA understand how local and scratch-cooked foods are being incorporated in school meals and how we are using different prep preparation methods in their oper in our operations
and what challenges we feel. The results of this study will be published to help districts across the country serve more scratch-cooked meals in schools. We're also recognized in neighboring states like New York, Indiana, Illinois, and Ohio as leaders in innovative service methods to meet the needs of free meals
for all and providing culturally diverse meals. When comparing meal counts from 23 24 school year, we've served 31,000 more meals year to date. For school year 2526, we are projected to realize a 3% increase and a to in total meals served
from last year for a forecasted total of 2.2 million meals. We know this is in direct correlation with the Michigan school meals for all approval for the second year in a row by Governor Gretchen Whitmer. When compared to 22 23 meal counts, our participation, number
of students choosing to eat breakfast and lunch with us has doubled. This aggressive increase in demand has required us to dial in our facilities and operations. We aim for understanding of what we have, what we need, and how we can plan for our future. We are moving away from excess
packaging as much as we possibly can and quick prep items that were most common, albeit necessary, during COVID emergency feeding. As we make that transition, we're assessing our facilities for its capabilities to support more scratch cooking and storage of ingredients.
We've partnered with Brigade, who's a group of classically change trained chefs who specialize in school nutrition to help us reach our goals for a stronger culinary culture in our kitchens. We utilize menuologic K12 to communicate our menus with the public
externally and to inter and internally it helps us analyze our participation data. um analyze our f food financial activity in real time and we use that data to optimize our budget and menu engineering practices. Most of our kitchens were simply not originally
designed to serve and store the amount for the number of students that we serve today. But that doesn't stop my incredible team from doing it anyway. We have identified creative ways to optimize the kitchen layouts. I'm sorry, like food is love, you know. We have identified creative ways to
optimize kitchen layouts and extend our storage capabilities. Nevertheless, we are anxiously awaiting upcoming scheduled bond improvements um including Faren and Salem, which we're excited about this summer in collaboration with the Bond team. These improvements will not only optimize the kitchen efficiency
and space availability, but will also help us continue to grow our program and achieve our vision. And for our final and most foundational area of focus, our employee experience. Our staff are responsible for the heart and soul ingredient of our food serve to
our students. They make the magic happen every single day. We've made an effort to invest in our staff, not just with fair pay, but also to grow their skill set, knowledge, and support their well-being. We have increased the availability of training and professional development opportunities for all staff this year,
and we plan to continue to grow our training program. A recent initiative we have started in the last month is what we like to call level up training which is essentially like a boss for a day model um in cross trainining opportunity. We anticipate that this
will allow more team members to be ready and willing to grow with us and it will limit operational interruptions with more people to be able to do the work when coverage is necessary. We're working to dial in specialized roles and optimizing job responsibilities. So, for example, we've seen a huge benefit in those preschool
programs with a newly added early childhood meal time specialist, and we believe the positions will be instrumental in supporting that pre-K growth. This has been a great year in learning about one another and communication styles. My team values
transparency and context in decision-making, I think, as does our community. And they thrive they thrived when we successfully deliver consistent messaging and clear expectations of their roles and responsibilities. I trust if we can do these things for them, my staff will be committed to the
team vision and bloom in their own buildings. Everything you saw and hear heard today is made possible by those cafeteria team members who have a deeply rooted passion to serve these students. This is why it's very important for us to focus on improving the employee
experience as we look forward to increase employee commitment, skill, and retention. They mean a lot to me. The outcome that you see is that high-class customer service, nutritious, high-quality meals that prepare students to learn and engage in school, and
meaningful relationships with the food and nutrition services team members that they can count on and always remember. I said I wasn't going to do that. And my final note, um, looking back, it's amazing to see what we've accomplished. And it's again, it's not
even been a full school year. Truth be told, I didn't have enough time to tell you everything I wanted to share with you today, but I'm so excited to take these accomplishments and look forward to what's to come. As we look to the future, we know we're going to partner with the community to bring new food
options to students, continue to offer a variety of culturally relevant food choices, increase student led influence in collaboration, and continue to focus on local and grow our network of farmers and local vendors to support Michigan Grum.
and some more beautiful pictures for you to look at. I invite every any questions that you all have for me. Thank you so much for the opportunity. Thank you for your presentation. We'll start with Josh. Uh first of all, thank you. You clearly very passionate of this work. And I just um I I have a lot to talk
about, so I'm going to go really fast. First of all, freshman year, all I ate was PB&Js and like a Capri Sun for lunch. And now um I'm eating a wide variety of food from our schools. So, just want to highlight that it went from PB&J to like all these crazy dishes. Um,
another thing I want to highlight is the harvest packs. My family, they had a huge success in our family. So, we every week we had a time around to go get them. It was like really well uh received in our family and I know many others that were as well. I just also want to bring up the SBA had the um the
ability a couple months ago to provide feedback on some of these food items and we would love to do that again as well and seeing some of those in our lunch lines has been really cool as well. Uh also um I don't this isn't necessarily in your control but the positive impacts of the free lunch I have seen um some of
my friends those are like the only meals that they eat um during the day which that's crazy to me. Yeah. Um, sorry that like hitting me. Um, and then I did it too. Yeah. Uh, and then
lastly, it's really the the lunch ladies. They there's a huge I I especially and I know a lot of students have a huge connection, more than you would think with them. Um, every day I go through the line and I talk to them and they really like in the few minutes that you see them a day, they provide
such an impact on I don't think that's necessarily realized it's there. So, thank you Josh. Thank you for sharing that, Josh. Yeah. Um, member bar. Um, thank you. I think our nutrition and food service
department is one of the best parts of our district. Um, knowing so many of the employees that you work with, um, we really are blessed in what we have. Um,
I have children in all levels and the things that they tell me, like Josh said, that they talk to their lunch staff about, the way that we started a new elementary school this year. And some of the first greeters to us were
the lunch ladies. Welcome. Welcome to our school. We're so excited to meet you. Um, that that is just amazing. Um and so thank you for for having those um people, you know, work and and thank you
for helping them to, you know, go further. I think that's great. Um the only thing that I wonder about um I I watched the lunch u menu on Friday at the elementary school. I noticed there
was no fish during Lent. Um, and I wondered I saw it at the high school and the middle school. I wondered why no Lent at the elementary level or no fish at the elementary level. Um, I I just worry about, you know, the separation of
church and state. We sent home meals for Ramadan. Yet, you know, why no fish? If we're gonna if we're gonna [Music] um if we're going to favor one group over another, are we are we
um being fair? I think we need to be consistent and fair on that. I I don't um I just want to be equitable across the board. That's my only comment. I appreciate that comment. And I also have the goal to be equitable across the
board. Um, and a lot of what we've done is data driven and I this is feedback stating that it's it's necessary at the elementary school as well. Um, and I I appreciate that feedback. Thank you. I don't think I can add anything to
the praise that uh Josh and member Voss said. So, thank you for making this program so great. So, thank you. It's not me. Well, all of you. So, we got the opportunity to hear an
extended version of this presentation at FNO, and I was really impressed with how you not only pulled the vast majority of everything you wanted to talk about at FNO forward in a really concise way, but also took all of our feedback or most of
our feedback and conversations and incorporated that seamlessly into the presentation. So, great job. um you really your passion for this and not only just yours but all of the the the food service uh employees their their passion is evident in everything that happens and it shows through and thank
you it makes a huge difference for the uh for our students. Two things that I wanted to call out that that we did talk about that I wanted you to talk about here. One is the conversation that we had around food waste especially around the free meals and you had some really great strategies and work that you're doing there and the second was some of
the really interesting new foods that you'd introduced. Maybe you could talk about that as well. Sure. Um, so the comment that was made at FNO was particularly um speaking on if a if a when they go through the lunch line, a student is required for a reimburseable
meal in order for us to get our reimbursement, they have to take a fruit or a vegetable um and they have to take three of the five offered components. So the comment that was made was if that student ultimately doesn't want to eat what was everything that was taken or we
also prepackaged some things to make efficiency in balancing some of the bulleted things that I kind of went over um trying to optimize efficiency that does when they open the package it might contain something that um maybe is prepackaged in itself and they might not
want to eat. In most of our schools, we have what's called a share cart. Um, and so at after they've left the line or even after they've eaten what they've wanted to eat, um, if it's something that is prepackaged or has a skin that can be washed or nothing that's hot really or needs to be temperature
controlled, um, it can go in the food cart or excuse me, the share cart. And it also gives the opportunity if a student has finished their meal, they can get up and access the share cart and get any additional offerings that they would like. Um, and then I did quickly
and concisely go over the the fact that um, kind of the opposite end of that spectrum is if they do feel more hungry in a particular day, we encourage them to load their tray with fruits and vegetables. Um, so I did mention, you know, unlimited fruits and vegetables.
um just trying to boost that consumption of um those nutrient-dense foods. And then on the um just touching on the packaging, we are going more to um leaning more and more into scratch cooking, but again that works handinhand
with the progress we make in in preparing our storage and um operational facilities. Um, we just launched this week. Um, and Claudia is probably going to kick me for saying it, but we just launched this week a build your own bento concept. So, p previously we were,
um, building it building different concepts for them. Um, we've allowed them to choose individual like the items and components that would make up their own bento box themselves. So, really trying to limit the amount of um, packaging. It was necessary at one time, but I think we can transition away from
that at this point. And that's what we're trying to do. I know you had another part of that question. Some really interesting new foods that you So, um, in the center picture right there, that adorable young lady is holding a kumquat. Um, if you haven't
enjoyed a kumquat before, the outside is sweet and the inside is very tart and sour. So, it's quite the experience and kids go crazy about it. Um, I will go back to um I had the opportunity to get a
limited stock of what is called a cucmelon. I I think that's what what you're very excited about me talking about. It looks like a little Barbie watermelon. It tastes like a cucumber with a zest of lime. Um, and that it has
an awesome crunch as you bite into it. Um, we also have figs right there in the picture, watermelon radishes. Um, we have, um, moon grapes, uh, pictured there. And honestly, our kids are trying beets. Um, they're trying Pink Lady
pineapples. Um, so we're really building excitement around um, particularly produce, which is really cool. Thank you. I have no qu I'm like gobsmacked. I think this is really cool. I um I often bring my kids into my commentary at
these board meetings. I have an elementary um age student and a a middle schooler and I will say it was notable some of the menu offerings that have shifted or expanded this year. Um I fortunately enough my kids are very adventurous eaters so they were jazzed
to see some of these things that um they didn't normally see. Um so thank you for the presentation and all your hard work this year to you and your team really. Thank you. Yeah. second that and third everything that people have said. Thank you for your passion and all that you do. Thanks
for listening to the students. I know last year or the year before in SBA uh there was feedback in terms of how some items by the time students got there like if they were vegetarian those items weren't there. I'm assuming those things have been resolved and so again thank you for listening to the students. Um I
went on the website and I appreciate that items have nutritional content and allergens. great job because I know some schools that are still struggling with that. Um, so kudos to you on that. One question I have is do you offer
non-dairy milk? We we offer So currently the way we're structured is dairy is kind of the um the standard that's out. Um, and then we have any accommodation form that we receive, we accommodate. Um
I'm I am able to source a lactosefree if there's a need. Um but anything beyond um what's nutritionally equivalent to a carton of milk I would have to have a special accommodation form but by which
we will provide whatever is necessary for students that need it. So if a student needs soy or almond milk they would be able to fill out that form and get those things. Okay. Correct. Thanks. I think I I just from cooking at home, it's enough like I can't even imagine with all the kids. I'm just like, "Oh my
god." So, you make it worth it though. But I mean, just the the variety of the and and that was just one thing, too. I was cons, you know, just I mean I think um I don't I don't know if there was anything for I didn't bring this up the other day at FNO, but like Passover, I don't know if there was anything I don't
know if there's even a need, but that was just one other area that would be because that seems like it would be hard to to accomplish. I don't I don't even know all about it, but I just know with the the no wheat is like that's got to be Yeah. And like I said, I'm definitely
open to equitable access regardless of the necessary um dietary guidelines that any individual student needs to follow. Everything that we've done this year has been guided by feedback and data. So I just encourage anyone who's needing something and a
need that's not being met to reach out to us. Um within our presentation is our healthy domest.com. many students and families are and staff and nurses all utilize that email address and we are closely monitoring that and if we get that feedback we we
will act. Okay. And but yeah, but I think it's nice you're using the um the firearms close by. I think I like that. So thank you. Thank you. Nice presentation. Thank you. Um I just want to say kudos. I loved
your passion and I really appreciated um and as I find sometimes it's the case that when something's wrong, people are very vocal. But being out in the community, I've heard a lot of positive feedback about the halal meals, especially at the elementary level when
parents sometimes aren't even sure if their kids are going to be able to distinguish and so then the kids just wouldn't eat. So really really appreciate that. And similarly the Ramadan meals were even families I think there was a little bit of confusion
about are these need-based like what's going on and so some and some families like some moms said to me they said are you kidding in Ramadan like we're we're dying to not waste food because there's such an abundance sometimes that we didn't we told our kids not to take them
for that reason but we were so grateful for the equitable access and for the fact that like we the kids felt seen and many I actually talked to a couple of middle schoolers who said that they said you know like it's one thing to have the food and they're grateful for that but
more than that the fact that they were seen and that this was a need that was and it wasn't what they said was we weren't singled out and that really struck me and this was just a casual conversation it's not like I was asking them for feedback on this specific subject so I encouraged them to write
about it um given my own children's uh what do you call it like conversion from when I suggest something and what happens I'm not sure if it happened but I wanted to convey that and I also really appreciate you're bringing up the
reduction of packaging the cooking from scratch and one question I would just have which is not it doesn't need to be answered right now but I'm just curious about whether there's a consideration about maybe encouraging composting and
um and also sort of like lifting up the reduction of food waste among the student population. So it's definitely in the conversation to figure out in our whole equation. So yeah, thank you. Really appreciate it. If I might add to the share cart, another thing that I've
seen students especially more this year than last year would be that like if I wanted like two watermelon um pouches and I see one in the share cart, I'm not going to grab two. I'm going to instead grab one to meet my fruit requirement and then go grab one from the share cart. I've noticed more and more kids doing that. So, it's again reducing
waste and kids have noticed that on their own and I think that's also being suggested to them. Awesome. That's cool. Thank you. Thank you so much. Right. Thank you. [Applause]
All right. On to finance and operations with Miss Minnik. Thank you, President Christensen. The first thing we have on the agenda in the finance and operations area for your consideration this evening is the renewal of a l renewal of a licensing agreement with critical response group.
Uh the district received a state of Michigan grant in 2023 to partner uh with critical response group uh to develop detailed billing maps for all district facilities. These maps have been successfully integrated into districtwide emergency plans and are actively used by the security operations
center as well as local law enforcement and first respondents. Uh and further um this initiative supports strategic goal B of the dynamic plan and addresses key findings from recent safety assessments. Uh so with that uh the Department of
Safety and Security uh seeks to renew a current licensing agreement uh to ensure continued access to uh the uh the unlimited updates and the mapping services uh for the next two years uh because funding is available through the
state grant of 31A mental health and wellness school aid funding. Uh this topic was discussed at the most recent FNO committee meeting. Uh and the total is $31,030 uh to be funded by the 31A grant. Happy
to take any questions you may have. Thank you. Start with Josh. I have no questions at this time. Thank you. Member boss. No questions. I have no questions. I want to thank the administration for bringing this forward for two years and to be able to thank the state for the utilization of these
31A funds. We don't know that we'll get these things in the future and so being able to use these things for safety and security projects right now is a great protection for our general fund and this has been a fantastic service. The administration has done a lot of really great integration work with these maps
and tying them in across the whole process. So it's a great thing. Thank you. Great. I guess I have a question just around um the maps themselves. Um in terms of the service, obviously this is helping us create those those maps of each building and as we're going through
the bond program, we know that we're touching every building and those buildings are changing, right? So these are providing an updated set of those plans. Exactly. Um at what, you know, after this two-year um process, will we will we be left with something physical
in our hands or does that evaporate? It's a terrific question. Yeah. Uh I might turn it over to Mr. Tiskuits to answer that. Thank you. Yeah. They are they become our property. Um what we've done and it's been very seamless is we've used these maps in our vigilanton
system. They're like an overlay. Yeah. And so we've been able to tie in all of our security equipment onto these maps as well. Um so they're digitized. They're um uh readily available if we need to print them out or share them with first responders. So they are very
crucial to our operations. One other thing that we discussed at FNO on this is these maps are continuously updated. So they aren't static things. So likely in two years if these funds are not available, they'll become a general fund expense. The uh the safety and security
team feels that this is an important thing for us to have. So, we likely would renew these subscriptions even if they came out of the general fund because they're that important to have them be live updated because if they're just a static map, then they can't be easily integrated with with the work
that Humes are doing. Fair. Thank you. Appreciate that. The other thing they mentioned is it's also immediately available for first responders in the event that we have any kind of security incident. they can go directly to a specific location in a coordinate and they can know exactly where to be
instead of saying the example was B pod at Plymouth where that first responder may not have any idea where that is. Yeah. Or door 11. Okay. Thank you. All right. I don't have any questions either. No question. All
right. Thank you very much. Thank you. The next item on the agenda for your consideration this evening is a purchase to refresh 1:1 Chromebooks for PAUP. Uh this we are requesting if if the board uh finds pleasure the first and final reading for this topic because of
tariffs and timing for ordering these materials. But we did discuss at the most recent finance and operations committee meeting on April 17th uh that the school district is recommending replacing some aging Dell 3100 Chromebooks. These were purchased in 2019 and 2020. Uh they are approaching
end of life. They're becoming costly to maintain. Uh so to support that continued student access to reliable technology, the district district is proposing purchasing 3,700 of these Chromebooks uh which will support the 1:1 initiative at the park. Uh they will
be procured from people driven technology using the Western Higher Education Compact Cooperative contract pricing. Uh that total cost will not exceed $1,539,200 and will be funded through the 2023 bond. Uh I'm happy to take any questions you may have. And we also have
Mark Salzer, our director of integrated technology systems and Andrew Steinman uh with and I'm sorry I'm not recollecting your exact title in the moment. Uh but uh with our technology department as well. Um I will open that up for questions
with Josh. I have no questions. I know that these Chromebooks, I'm sure you guys have looked extensively into them. I'm confident in you guys. So, thank you. Appreciate that. I don't have any questions. Okay. Thank you, Treasure. Do you have So, just for some context, these are are
replacing old devices that we had at the at the high school. Some of those old devices will be repurposed and reused uh where they're where they're still viable, but many of them are well past their their age and and life. Um, this is not replace every student doesn't get
a Chromebook. We do have a substantial number of students that bring their own device. So, it's one of the questions that came up in our FNO committee. So, this is not this is purchasing enough to support those students that need those things. And these do come with a uh four-year warranty. Uh, we've purchased
an extended warranty on them and I believe they come with a case as well. Um so the as they also come with a um accident protection uh policy. So any kind of damage that occurs to those things is also covered in addition to the extended warranty. So talked about
it pretty extensively in FNO. Um I think it's the right thing to do and this is the right time to do it because everybody is scrambling to get devices before the terrorists make things weird. Um my question is about implementation. Is this a phased implementation or when
are we expected assuming you know this first and final reading is approved this evening? Um when are we hoping to have these by? It' be nice if we can get them in students hands right away but we're actually thinking about collection right now. Um so it our plan is to issue these
at the start of next school year and to students who don't already have a Chromebook and are looking to get one at the start of the school year. We do offer the option for students to retain their Chromebooks over the summer. And the plan is that they would keep those uh through the summer and to the next
school year. Um since we will have newer devices, we'll reach out to those students who have one of the older ones that we're looking to replace and ask them to come in and do an exchange. Thank you. Um thanks Treasure Kho for all of the details um that I had wondered about. My only wondering is
with regard to the devices that are not usable in any format, how do you dispose of them properly? Does Dell help with that or do you have to figure that out? So, we handle that. Um, so we work with different vendors and um depending on what the devices. So, there are some
that we repurpose for other use cases outside of our onetoone program um if they're usable and good um and we and we feel like there's a need for them somewhere else. Um for other usable devices, we do we try to sell them um and there's uh recyclers that will come
in and they'll pay us for these devices and they will pay us for pretty much any grade. Um, but for the ones that are really unusable, uh, we have a different type of recycler that we'll just give them to and maybe they'll give us some scrap money for. Okay. So, responsible
recycling of these items. Okay. Thanks. Um, I don't have any more questions. Thanks. No questions. Thank you. I have no questions. Appreciate that. Thank you. Okay. Um, hearing no more questions or
commentary around that, I am going to actually I would like to ask for a motion. Um, action item number 25465, consider a resolution to purchase Chromebooks for PEP. First and final reading. Madam President, I move that we consider a resolution to purchase Chrome
Chromebooks for PEP. First and final reading. Action item 25465. Can I have a second? Second. So, as was moved by Treasure Kho and seconded by uh, Secretary Wester. We've already had our death dialogue and discussion. So, 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. Thank you very much. Thank you. Okay. On to action item number 25466. Consider approval of a resolution for bid pack bid packet number T-11 AV
category. This is a final reading. Can I have a motion? Madam President, I move that we consider approval of a resolution for bid packet T11 AV category. Uh final reading action item 25466. Can I have a second? Second. Oh, it was
a tie, but so was moved by Treasurer Kho and I'll I'll say it's seconded by member Ahmed. Um we did discuss this at the last meeting, but do we have any other follow-up questions or commentary around this resolution? Hearing none, I'll call for the vote. Those in favor, please say
yes. Yes. Yes. Those opposed say no. Motion carries 70. Thank you. And the final uh topic on our finance and operations committee uh review is is approval to purchase track
and field equipment for our new third stadium. Uh as you know, we are building a beautiful uh third stadium uh there on our PUB campus. And uh in addition to football and other sports that will be played there, we're also building a brand new track around that field. And
so it would seem we would naturally want to purchase uh track and field equipment in order to run that sport at that field. Uh so uh just as part of that course of business then we are uh recommending that the equipment be purchased from aluminum athletic equipment company uh using a cooperative
contract pricing for a total cost of $116,354.60 to be funded by the 2023 bond. Uh this matter was presented at the at the most recent FNO committee meeting as we mentioned. Uh and the types of equipment that is being purchased are um your basic polar vault
and hurdles and those types of things that would be uh necessary in order to host uh track and field competitions. I'm happy to take any questions you may have. Thank you. Thank you. Um I will kick it over to member Voss. Any questions for you? No questions. Um just
a question. Is this another one since it has since it is aluminum and and metals, is it something that would be subject to tariffs and potentially a candidate for first and final? Thank you for that question. I had not contemplated that. I'm not sure if
Misella has any information on that. Um but I I suppose it stands to reason that a number of these types of things are likely subject to that. Um although I cannot say definitively. Okay. Thank you. Thank you though. And so we had had a good discussion about these items during uh
FNO and our new citizens representatives brought some really great athletic perspective to that. One question that we had there that came to us back in board notes was the customization that was done to the hurdles and we did get that clarity there in boardnotes. I'm a little I'm not quite sure I understand
this is it looks like it's got PCCS on there and then it wraps around with the the AAAPsh.com on there or is that is the AAAS.com on the bottom and PCCS is at
the top? PCCS is the if you if you it might be hard to read on there, but the one faces the um fans and the the sport the the logo of the company faces the athletes. So PCCS faces it faces the audience or
the fans. So I guess my question is why are we having like the logo of the company on there? just like are they paying for us to have their logo so prominently featured on our product when we're having to pay for this
customization? I think Go ahead. I was going to suggest that although I haven't looked at the original specs, it's possible that that logo is already on the hurdles and the customization is simply the PCCS. I'm not sure if you're familiar or not. From my experience, it's pretty standard that
that uh companies have their name somewhere on athletic equipment and stuff. So, um and at a cost of $10 per hurdle, that's not a what I've considered exorbitant from my experience formerly as a coach around athletic equipment customization, but I can't,
you know, yeah, I I wasn't concerned about the cost of the customization. I was expecting it to be on both sides. So, I was just a little bit surprised that, you know, it's like their name is featured as prominently as as ours. So, okay. But that's that's fine. Thank you.
That was my question. You know, I'm I'm glad you lifted that because I had a different interpretation of this in boardnotes. I thought this was around um like a branding opportunity for like neighboring businesses. So when I see a
aeports.com, I I just didn't put two and two together in terms of the purchase. Um so part of me thought that that was a a way to partner with community um businesses for for a way to maybe generate income. So I appreciate you
listing that because I have just something completely different in my mind. Um I have no further questions, just that kind of bizarre comment. Um, yes. In terms the is it just the design that goes on the track or are there
digital pieces to this? I'm not aware of any digital pieces. Okay. The the wrap is just on the hurdle. It isn't actually on the track itself. It's on, you know, when the hurdle itself, the P hurdle, um, part of it has PCCS on it and the other part just has the the name of the
company. Okay. No questions. I don't have any questions. No questions. Thank you. Thank you. Okay, looks like that wraps up our finance and operations section. We don't
have any remaining citizens comments at this time. Um, we don't really have any topics in our discussion section. So, we will move on to follow-up board questions. Um, I believe we had we had the one outstanding board question
around sustainability and waste. I heard it was asked again this evening. We actually had given that to Mr. Tislitz um and Miss McDaniels to come back with an answer. So I don't know if uh was her answer that we're working on it satisfied. Do we keep this on there? So
this is response to the question that you ask again tonight that they're still working on what that plan would look like. Um I think so, but I'm sort of curious how all the departments come together around it. Yeah. So do you want to keep it as an outstanding question if it's
not too much of a problem? I just the expectation you it won't be like word notes coming up in the it'll probably No, that's Thank you. Okay. And then there's a couple others that uh I captured and correct me if I'm missing any uh follow-up board questions
or requests from this meeting. Um there was a question around um the Panaama survey results in terms of staff and their sense of belonging. So data around that. So and where is that? What is the question? So we're doing the presentation. What month is the
presentation? Is there a question specifically around when we're doing it or how do we get what was the question? Do we have the data? From what I heard is do we have the data? And I I heard that it was going to come to us at some point. Correct. Yeah. So we do the staff and I think the community survey just I
don't we can look on the but we give the the board presentations on those groups um for the end of this school year. Okay. So that is coming. Is there a different question about that beyond the presentation? What was the question itself? Did you ask that? Remember Boston? I just want to
know if we're hearing our staff listen to them. So in terms of process we when we do the public meeting we go through to give that um it's like these are the results and then each school and or department
takes back the results that are applicable to their area and then really work to an actionable plan to say like what is it that we've heard and what is actionable so we incorporate that into our next year's um plans in terms of like goal number B and how can we work
for staff or students or whatever the the surveys say. So, you will see those results um in a board and you'll see and when we do the presentations we do like next steps or like what do we do with this information that would kind of really break down that same
information. It's forthcoming. Okay. The another follow-up board request or question that we heard was around data sets in the high school presentation. So we saw that um the data presented today was around credit uh pass rates essentially or um and then you know
asking to see in future presentations data around attendance graduation rate the passing that we saw this this evening just really overall consistency standardized test are we going to get that we usually get the end of the year data set correct it comes at the June board meeting so we're going to have all
of that yes so that's when we do the comprehensive one where we talk about attendance behavior data. Um uh the the credit attainment piece at the end of the year we try to get in the addendum. It's one of the reasons we pushed it a little later this year too at the second June meeting because when we've done it
the first June meeting credit's not done yet. So we're trying so um and then um graduation rates all of those things. So comprehensive plan comprehensive end of year data presentation is at the end of the June at the end of June. It'll be
K12, correct? Yes, that's correct. And then trying to incorporate what we heard. So, we had a lot of the stuff in the addendum, but like the reflection of what you saw this evening, maybe bringing some more trend into the forward facing document so you don't have to dig for it. Exactly.
Um, two more things. I s uh I captured a question. What happened in the 2324 school year in social studies in particular with IEP students? We understand that there was some unpacking of that data that'll be provided later, but I just wanted to lift that. Um, and
then there was a question around sense of belonging. Is there a way to get that broken out by demographic group, seeing who's responding, who's under representative or under representative, oh my gosh, under represented in that data. Um, anything else that I missed?
Yes. Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. You go. No, I was just going to say we didn't get to, you know, ask the question, but According to that, is there any way we can see what the survey is? What's on the survey? The survey is public on the on the website now. So any Oh, it is what how the kids want but we can put
the link in board notes but yeah and then we also do the link at the end of the year in the end of your presentation too every time we do the panorama but it is it's live on our website too. Thanks. Yep. Okay. Anything else that I may have missed? We are adding we are sharing the QR code that includes the um HIV
materials the slide deck and we'll share that in board notes this Friday. All right. All right. All right. All right. I think that's great. And at this moment in time, I think that concludes our meeting. So, I will adjourn the meeting at exactly 10 p.m. You guys started at
7:00 p.m.