Thank you. Good evening, everybody. Thank you for joining us for our regular board meeting on tonight, May 5th. The time is now 6: 10 PM and we're calling our meeting to order. Madam Secretary, roll call please. VP Bowman. Present. I'm present. Trustee Dooley. Present. Present. President Hannah. Present. Trustee Miller. Present. VP Bowman. I'm sorry. Treasure to present. We have a form. Alright, thank you. If we can all
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. If I can get a motion to amend the agenda to add under general council, human resources, items for discussion and action, proposed Pontiac Education Association 20 twenty-four, 2025 contract. Summer.
Thank you. It's been moved by VP Bowman and supported by Treasurer Terry to amend the agenda to add for discussion and discussion and action under General Council Human Resource Item. The proposed Pontiac Education Association 20 twenty-four2025 contract. Any questions? Roll call please. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley. Uh President Channer? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer
Terry? Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. That passes five oh. Alright, thank you. If I can get a motion to accept the amended agenda. Support. Support. Thank you. It's been moved by Trustee Dooley and supported by VP Bowman to accept the amended agenda. Any questions? Ropa. Trusty Dooley. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. And I'm
voting yes. That passes six oh. Thank you very much. Moving down to awards and recognition. Doctor Leverette, the meeting is yours. Yes. Okay Good evening. Good evening. Thank you all so much again for this opportunity. It is probably the best part of our meeting time. Being able to recognize the greatness of our district and our leaders and our students. So, I will read the certificates but then, I will read this information because I really would like for mister Sherman to talk
to you about this program and where she at, missus Spiker? I'm right here. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. You just, she's just done an incredible job. I've been over at Peace and participated in the classroom with the students and watched these young ladies and their interactions and I can say with confidence, if they are interested, we have some future teacher leaders in the district and so that's what this early childhood program affords the students the opportunity to participate in. This
certificate of distinction is proudly presented to miss Betsy Spiker in recognition of your leadership, your mentorship, and commitment to excellence in our early childhood education program as recognized at the twenty twenty-five CTE Showcase Day held at the Michigan State Capitol given this fifth day of May 2025 in Pontiac, Michigan. Missus Biker, we can't thank you enough. Appreciate you so much. Yes. Liliana Martinez, this certificate of distinction is in recognition of your hard work, achievements, and
commitment to excellence in our early childhood education program is recognized at the 2025 CTE Showcase Day held at the Michigan State Capitol given this fifth day of May 2025 in Pontiac, Michigan. Congratulations. You're welcome. Thank you. Zamari James. This certificate is in recognition of your hard work, achievement, and commitment to excellence in our early childhood education program as recognized as the 2025 CTE Showcase Day held at the Michigan State Capitol given this
fifth day of May 2025 in Pontiac, Michigan. Congratulations, Zamari. Mister Sherman. Don't you Good evening, board members. So, our program here in our Early Childhood program, brand new this year in tandem with Oakland University. Um this program will funnel students from our program into the Bachelor of Arts and Early Childhood Ed program at Oakland University. Uh our students already starting this semester earning college credit in the first course, they'll take the next ones in the fall and next spring. Now, with this,
every year, our career education planning district or CPA District nominates three state approved programs in their area of responsibility to the state Seapit Council for the State CT Showcase Day at the Michigan Legislature. Pontiac's early childhood program was one of three that was submitted to the state council and we were selected on behalf of Oakland County and we were the only early childhood ed program there. So. Thank you. Thank you. Appreciate it. Yeah Thank you everyone. Thank you. Truth, sure. We can grab a quick picture with
them but yes, we will grab a quick picture. Okay. Get your horn. We'll take a quick five-minute recess. Thank you. Sir. Thank you very much. Alright, we will resume the meeting now with comments from our board. Four members, did you want to have any? As they're leaving. See? Thank you guys for coming. Congratulations and thank you for all you do. Just Alright, we'll we'll definitely share our comments at the end but
Doctor Levert, you are right. This is the best part of the meeting because this is why we're here. Yes. For our students. So, congratulations to them but we're going to move forward. Um recognition of elected officials. Good evening, trustees. Good evening. Hope you all had a good weekend. And moving down, if I can get a motion for the approval of the consent agenda. So, move. Support. It's been moved by VP Bowman, supported by Treasurer Terry to approve the consent agenda items. Any questions? Yes. Okay.
Trustee Miller. Just for clarity, the consent agenda because it's not in our in our pocket. Does that include the the the amended information of action items? Yes, personal. So, it includes the personal action items. Yes. Okay. And that information was sent to us on Friday. Yes, I did receive that. Okay. Saturday, I'm sorry. Yeah. And I got it again today. So, thank you. I did receive that. Okay. Um only concern that I had I did receive it. Okay. I would, I didn't
want, I thought there would be an opportunity just to have a dialogue about it because I don't want to just start firing off Emails. Hm. Okay. So, that'll my discrepancy with that is that I just really just want to have a dialogue and a conversation about it. Okay. Alright. Any other questions or concerns regarding the approval of the consent agenda? Alright. Secretary David Smith, roll call please. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller. Trustee Terry. Yes.
Vp Bowman. Yes. I'm voting yes and Trustee Dooley. No. That passes four to 2. Alright, thank you very much. Information from our superintendent and administration, Doctor Leverette. Got a whole bunch of stuff over here. Okay, this evening we are very excited to bring before you a report from miss Bri and we have been working for quite some time on this. We know that AI is here.
The potential for its advancements and its growth throughout our district. Um it's it's quite incredible and so we have started talking about this early on and Jeff Miles and and Bri. They pulled together a committee of great educators here in the district and they have just been doing phenomenal and so this evening, we wanted to bring to you a update on some of the guidelines and the work that has been
happening in our district around AI. It's very exciting. Read Doctor Devison. Oh, man. We got this agenda. First. Okay, Doctor Leverett, did you want us to go first? Okay. No worries. Sorry. Good evening to everyone. As Doctor Leverett has already spoken about the AI guidance and the AI program. Um Brie and I are very excited and we were very excited when
Jeff brought the proposal to us to make sure that we make it happen within the district. So, with that being said, AI guidance. If you get to next slide. So, with the AI workgroup, I just wanted to let you know who is on the workgroup. So, we have a list here which Bri is, Bri is on the list and then, we have myself, Jeff, mister Upton, who is our district science supervisor, Nicole Harris, who is a building administrator, Ruth and she's a social studies instructional
coach. We have miss Bernstein, a teacher, Peggy Barker, who is a teacher, John Gibbs a teacher, miss Hussein is a J Raquel Welch Johnson is a teacher. Ulysses McNeil is a teacher. Sidney is the science senior technology coordinator and then Jessica and Alexis. So just wanted to bring when we created the work group, we wanted to make sure that we included all aspects of the district. So, we have a participation from the entire district. We have teachers. We have
building administrators. We have the supervisors and of course, you have us. Our next steps as it relates to work group. We're going to send out a survey and Brie will speak to this that we will be soliciting parents and also students in the next level of work. Next slide please. So the. Alright, good evening. Um I am Brie. I am the technology integration specialist here in the district. Um so, like Doctor Devison said, we've kind of been facilitating this work group. Um when we put together, obviously, we wanted to have kind of
like the purpose. What what are our goals? What are we going to do? So, really the big kind of first steps that we wanted to take was to actually develop some guidance for the district. Um we didn't want to necessarily set down any like specific rules until staff, you know, this is how you have to use it or anything but just to kind of give that guidance to kind of understand what artificial intelligence, what AI is, best Practices for using it. Um how do we deal when it might be used inappropriately and what are some of the ways that teachers can kind of use it to support their work. So that's
really been the last few months we've been kind of developing this guidance. Um putting it together. Making it specific for Pontiac. So, I'll talk a little bit about how we looked at other districts that already have their guidance done. Um and we kind of looked at, you know, what did we like, what did we not necessarily like to make it very specific for this district. Um some of the other kind of goals that and things that we're doing in our work group is just creating some frameworks to faster digital literacy, making sure that, again, it's going to be used appropriately and used with best practices by staff
and students and then, we really, I wanted to make sure with the way that the work group was structured that staff is given a lot of opportunities to give their feedback. So, any of the staff that are in the work group, you know, I always, you know, we start off our meetings asking, you know, how are we using AI what are our experiences, what's working, what's not working. So, to really get that feedback and help it to develop how we're going to use AI more district wide. Um so, this was the road map that that I put together. Our
work group meets monthly. We actually do two different sessions and it's really just whichever session staff member that's in the work group can attend. They hop on. Um it's a virtual meeting but every month I kind of have like a goal. What are we going to work on within that month. Um so, we really started what is AI. Everybody's kind of at different understanding levels of it. Um so, we started with that and then looked at again those different districts to kind of see what type of type of guidance we'd want to adopt within the district, what types of
things we might need more specifics for our district on and then really like our winter months were kind of spent just developing that guidance, putting it together, getting feedback all along the way or the work group members did a really awesome job. Just you know, hey, I think we need to put put this here. You know, what about this? Maybe let's take this out and now we're at the point where we can kind of share obviously the guidance with you all with the rest of the district and the community to kind of move forward. Um think about how we're going to put more more of the guidance across the
district in next school year. You want to move ahead? So, we were really intentional as it related to the AI work group. We sent out a survey to the staff to find out who would want to be a part of the AI work group. We also reached out to the building administrators and asked them, okay, what what staff members in the building are already utilizing AI, what staff in the building are already utilizing technology. So, we were able to get volunteers from that. So, that's how
we were able to get our volunteers and we have someone representing at each level, at preschool, at high school, middle school, elementary, all levels are represented. And then to Breeze Point, we did, we are meeting monthly. Um, we set AI definition. We build out the AI literacy. Um, we explored a variety of AI tools. So, even at curriculum and instruction, we did some AI tools at our level, and then the acts of the curriculum and instruction team was to share those
things out at their meetings. So, we have been utilizing this AI model or not even a model but the AI infrastructure throughout the district and then as it said, we explore a variety, I'm sorry, review existing district guidance at the time. We looked at the district policy and we kind of like we said, we kind of created that and then we we review what the staff and students their needs as it relate to professional development for now and moving forward. So, Bri and I did a
professional development with our peer professionals and to be amazing. They were amazing. They were actively engaged. They took away things and they were. Testing. Oh, there we are. Um So, with the pair of professionals, Bri and I did half a day work group with the peer professionals and Abraham Okay, there we go. I just won't touch that part of it. No words. Okay, I got the Magic Touch. Um back to
our what we were saying as I said, the paraprofessionals did a fabulous job with the AI training. They were able to tell us what they were already doing. We taught them some things. We gave them time to work on some things and then they gave us their feedback and so then when I went out into the field, the pair of professionals are actually utilizing the different AI tools. So, that's how we formed a group and that's been the process. Next slide please. Um so, I know this is kind of a little bit hard to see. This is this is within
our guidance and I just think it's a really awesome just kind of understanding graphic of what AI is. Um so, we can look at AI as you know, this really big thing and we're hearing all about it, the news. Um but essentially just like how computers and machines can simulate human actions, right? So, different things that they can learn that computers can learn how to do and then can do on their own. Um so, have like it's been around for a really long time. Whenever I've done any trainings on AI, you know, I always
kind of like say like you're you're using it already. If you're just doing a Google search, you're seeing AI, if you have Siri or anything that's all AI. Um kind of our focus and where we're really seeing some benefits of using gender or using AI is in what's called generative AI and that's within AI but that is kind of the what we started to see just a couple of years ago when like Chad GPT came out being able to produce tax. Now, we can produce images and videos and we're seeing these different tools that are coming out
specifically for educators, for schools, things like magic schools, school AI, that can allow teachers or any sort of staff to use AI, use it within kind of some of the safety guard rails that some of these tools have. A lot of the education specific ones have to be able to do things like help them produce lesson plans and activities to help kind of put together responses to emails and stuff like that. So, there's a lot of really awesome benefits that we see
with the AI, with specifically with generative AI. Uh but this was a good example just like again, we we already see it a lot within everything that we're doing. Um we just kind of want to put some specific kind of guidance towards using it within classroom for staff and students. Um this is a just a few of the different professional development opportunities that the district has participated in. Um it's not on there but actually back in December when our work group was really just starting to take off. We had let's say about a handful of staff from the
district attend the Michigan Virtual AI Summit. Um so they were able to attend some different sessions. There were some really awesome like keynote speakers speaking on AI specifically for education. Uh there's really great showing from the district from for that. Um in March, we had another handful of staff members attend McCall which is a two-day conference and they were part of what's called the Oakland Schools AI Collective and this is a grant funded collective across the entire
county. So, any Oakland school district could participate in it. So, Pontiac obviously opted into that and we were able to send number handful of staff members to McCall and they participated in an evening activity where we're able to network with other districts and take a look at the guidance when it was still in its draft form and just to get some kind of feedback on it to get some additional conversations going. So, that AI Collective is going to be ongoing. So, there'll be some additional opportunities that those staff members had attended will be a part of. Then, Doctor
Devison and I attended Spring Into AI which is kind of additional with Oakland schools. Um we're able to kind of start to think about those next steps. We're really happy that we got guidance done, you know, what are we going to do kind of moving forward. So, continuing to have staff involved in these events is really awesome and a great way to continue the learning that needs to be done for AI. So, what's next? Um we intentionally chose guidelines versus policies because this is such a dynamic
environment right now. A lot of districts are struggling with how to tackle AI and Pontiac's on the front end of that. So, I just want to give props to the district on that. Um the state is behind the eight ball. So, they have AI work group through Michigan Virtual that will be starting this summer and miss Welch Johnson volunteered to serve on that. So, Pontiac will be represented on that committee as well Um in addition to the federal government, the president is also
putting some AI work groups together to discuss how AI on the not only the business side but the school side will come into play. So, there's a lot of different work groups out there. In addition, Oakland Schools is forming an AI sub department through their budget planning process for next year. So, they'll have some dedicated staff working on AI. So, we saw that it was very important to try and get ahead of it a little bit to help provide guidance for our staff and our students moving forward for next year on appropriate
uses and how to have the intentional conversations around AI when it's the right time to use AI and when it's the wrong time to use AI and how it falls into plagiarism and cheating and academic misconduct as well. So, we're really laying that framework to have intentional conversations in the classroom about AI and appropriate use and then it will spend the next several years talking about how this evolves into a little bit more maybe structured use of a
tool. So, like techno, any technology, it's going to continue to evolve. Uh we were, some of us were at the MSBO conference. I know Marvin was there. There were recessions on how facilities can use a how the business office will start to use AI, how HR will start to use AI. Got really tired of AI at the conference. So but it's important to start to have these conversations and move forward. So, we want to start somewhere. Uh we'll adjust the district guidelines over the next several years and continue
to evolve as a technology and the instructional use evolves. We'll start to look at, you know, getting some student voice in there. Um we know our students are using AI if they're anything like my kids. You know, they go to YouTube, they go to AI. Yes. And just dump stuff out there. What we want to be is intentional and how would they use it and make sure they're using it appropriately to protect their data privacy as well. So that we'll have those conversations next year and then we want to start to pilot some of the tools. If you pick up if you answer
any of your Emails, I'm sure Doctor Levret gets about 800 Emails of hey, we've got this new AI tool. We're starting to vet them and really take a look at it from a data privacy. Bree and the other tech integrators across the county spend a lot of time reviewing data privacy. We're working with Daryl on some stuff of how to protect student and staff information. So, that's going to be the next piece. So, we're not putting too much information into these generative AI tools. Um just out in
the general public. We're looking at closed systems and appropriate tools like school AI or magic school or some of the other ones that are really intentionally designed for teachers and how they can use it to improve their lesson plans, their instruction, and really helped our students gain that that edge. So, Yeah. So, kind of our next steps at our last work group meeting. Um we kind of drafted out a survey that we're going to send to staff and secondary students just to get a feel
for like where we at at a at a district level with our understanding and then be able to use that kind of as we move full force into the next school year. So, we'll use that data to kind of guide our professional learning for next year and again, with that piloting those different AI tools and just kind of seeing what works for the district and what we want to move forward with. Okay. Any questions Trust you? I'm not sorry. Okay. Okay. What's he do? Um so, when will you actually roll
this out? Do you have some dates but my main concern would be if you guys could create our graduating seniors, some kind of card or something, the do's and don'ts so they won't experience an adverse effect going to school. So, give them something that says, hey, don't do this using AI because do you Yeah. Get the cheating. Right. I would like for them to know what are the best practices. The best practices. Absolutely. So if if you guys could create something for them
to go in their little packages, senior exits. I think this will be most beneficial because many will try to beat the system. Mm hmm. And they'll get caught. Mm hmm. So, let's just be on the front end to let them know that while this is good and it is fairly new. There are some systems that will find out what you did. So, that would be my concern to Absolutely, we will be right on that. Any other questions? I comment more so. Again, thank you all for this and I'm glad that Pontiac is on the
forefront of this. I remember a few years back when we attended a conference before AI to this magnitude was really a thing and we heard about it and how it was going to affect the culture and climate of schools and things like that. So, I'm glad that Pontiac is a part of the and how it it rolls out to our community and other communities around the state of Michigan. So, I'm glad that we're on the forefront of in setting guidelines and standards on expectations of AI because this is fairly new and this is a part of life at
least for the foreseeable future. So, thanks for that and I'm glad that Trustee Dooley inserted that because our students do definitely need some guidelines and the parameters around this new technology that is going anywhere. It's great. So, we want to conclude but I also want to publicly thank the AI Work Group for all the work that they've been doing. Like she said, we've been having them volunteer and they've been joining at the time that they can. So, we have a morning and a PM. Um so, thank thank you to the AI
work group for the work that they've done thus far. Okay, thank you. Thank you. Continue, okay? Thank you. At this time, I'll turn it over to miss Tanisha Taylor and mister John Cantrell from the City of Pontiac to provide a report on a potential collaboration in partnership with Pontiac School District. Miss Taylor, mister Cantrell. Good evening. I'm Solo. As you can see, it's just me today. I am Tanisha Stevens Taylor. I am the youth
recreation manager for the city of Pawn I am excited to come before you again this evening to talk about collaborating the city of Pontiac and the school district of the city of Pontiac. It is long overdue and I'm excited to be here. We have had past partnerships as you can see on the slides. We had boys and girls basketball as well as dance and it was extremely successful and those are
some of our Pontiac students that are on the slides. Why I'm here today is to start our neighborhood playground program and so that will be a soft collaboration coming into it what is the neighborhood playground program and why is it beneficial? Playground programs offer a fantastic opportunity for students to engage in both educational and recreational
activities in a safe and supervised environment. The programs will be offered directly in local neighborhoods making it convenient for parents to walk their children or child to the playground where the child can be dropped off and participate in activities of their choice. The program hours are from 9: 30 AM to 3: 30 PM and that's Monday through Thursday. We currently offer those programs right now. We
have three neighborhood what we call our park program because they are located in our city parks. The reason why we would like to offer them in the playgrounds is because we don't have shelter in our parks currently. So, when it the weather is inclement, our kids have nowhere to go. So, we're standing in the rain. We're scuffling around trying to get the games and the tables put away but if we were at the school on the playground, that's all we would need to do is just
go right inside the gymnasium and we would need usage of the restrooms. That's it. Um we would not be inside the schools. Um you know going around in the classrooms or anything. The program would be in on the playground and so that's why it's called a neighborhood playground program. Why are we wanting to go to the playgrounds? Because we want to meet our children where they are. So we know that sometimes in our community
we have transportation as a barrier. That's that won't be a barrier. They can walk to the schools. It's in their local neighborhoods. So, we want to make it easy for our more convenient, I should say, for our parents and for our youth. In that, what are we asking for of the school district? We're only asking for facilitation and the facilities will be the schools. So, currently, we have three neighborhood park programs.
We would like to propose having starting off with two programs if that's feasible. We initially said Elcot and Harrington. Now, we do understand that Harrington is under construction so that may not be possible and that's okay. However, it's not limited to that. So, if the board has a suggestion of another school that maybe we could utilize, that would be great and we could look into that as well but we are pushing forward with Elcot and that's
because they're they have neighborhoods that six local neighborhoods that are connected to them. So, they could just walk up there and that that would be the reach for most of the those two schools. The facility maintenance is just to ensure that the designated facilities are available. Meaning, that's why I'm here to say, hey, is it can we use those schools? Um for being safe, what that means is just a school. We you think of a school being safe and then a clean environment is we have our own staff. So, our staff
would clean up after every usage of the building. We employ 20 staff members in the summer. So, they take care of all of that. That's a part of their duties is the cleanup. So, understanding that. Um the I would say the most usage would be going in using the restrooms and so if it was a cost incurred with that then that could be dealt to the city of Pontiac and we would take care of that. We don't want to incur a cost at all to the district. We would only ask if the
building was closed or if the floors needed to be waxed and we would just have a twenty-four-hour notice so we can prepare for that and plan properly. In this programs, just so you know, the there are educational components of this. We offer other activities. We have basketball, cheer, dance, life skills, tumbling. We also are going to have a young author's program additionally to this. We're going to have fitness and dance. There are many activities as well as
Stem and so see those, that list is not limited to that. Those skills camps that are up there. We have a lot of great things that are happening in the city of Pontiac pertaining to our youth and so, we are we're neighbors and so we need to make this happen and so we can have collaborations with other other entities but before we do that, we believe that charity begins at home. So, home is the city of Pontiac and our youth is in the city of Pontiac and so that's why we're here
to advocate for them So, before we pull in anyone else, we want to make sure that we can come together and get on one page as a community, as neighbors, and let's just make this happen and I believe we can and so again, if there are any other schools that you would say, hey, can't use that but maybe this school is available. We would like to do that. We currently are at Murphy Park which we plan to stay there. That's one of our largest programs. We have house 100 to a 20 students at one time at that
park. We're currently using Harrison Park and cherry lime park. Harrison is a challenge because there are no facilities, no shelter areas to go to and Cherry Line also is a challenge. So, this year, before we put it out there and say, hey, we're going back to these. We said, let's come to the school district and say, let's fix this. We need to make it happen. So, how would students register? They would go to Pontiac Recreation RecDest. com and you see
the slide that's up and it it doesn't completely walk you through it but it will show you the some of the steps that they would have to click on to create an account and a self-explanatory once you go on there. If a parent just says, hey, I didn't sign up but want to walk their kid up because I have to work today. I didn't have to work yesterday. They can do that. We have staff available that can help the students, you know, be registered. Now we take registration because we are
responsible for each student that walks on that playground. So, we take registration to be accountable and take accountability for those students. So, I believe in this truly and I stand on this. Coming together is the beginning, Keeping together is progress, and working together is success and that was by Henry Ford and I stand on that. I believe that and I know that we've did the first step. We came together today. We need to keep this together and work together and
it will be successful. Thank you. Thank you, miss Taylor Trustee, you have any questions? Okay, VP Bowman. And you said, what is the cost to the school district for this? There is no charge at all. It's a completely free program and no charge to the school district and who's responsible for the students during the time that they are on the playground during this program? The city of Pontiac. We have 20 staff members that are employed as well as we go through the
Goodwill Detroit program and I am Pontiac and we offer work to our students. So, some of the students in the city of Pontiac will be working. Wonderful. Thank you. I did hear you say that. I just wanted you to repeat it again. So, I but thank you so much for that information. I'm glad you came here. Again, for a collaboration and partnership because we are neighbors in this should this baby should have been born some time ago but I digress until we vote. Treasurer Terry.
Good evening. How are you? Good evening. Good to see you. Um question for me. I know my trusty kind of mentioned it. Excuse me. But I'm assuming the city will cover or carry the liability and everything policies. Yes, absolutely. We have liability, you know, insurance and I believe we've added the Pontiac School District on there before but it's not a problem. We can add those on there as a writer. Okay. And then you did. I know you mentioned the schools and the timing. Do you
have any dates specifically you're looking at? Yes. Uh June 23rd through August the eleventh. And then currently, I know you mentioned you have the the three locations. How's the participation been? The participation is great. Um as I mentioned for Murphy Park, we sometimes have over 120 students and then at Harrison Park, typically, we have about fifty, 55 students and the least attended is Cherry Line. We usually have about 27 to 30 students.
Okay. And then regarding, I know you mentioned the coverage for maybe utilities or whatever or necessary charges. I'm only asking because excuse me, ma'am. Kinda hot in here. Um with some of the schools, when you operate those, sometimes, it includes operating or running that system for the whole school and I know you mentioned, you know, just to have access to the utilities and everything but if something was to
happen and you need to be indoors and the air needs to be running? She said. I'm I'm just, yeah. Is that. Utilities. Not the utilities. She said. So, we are a playground program. So, they're accustomed to being outside. So, the program is outside program. We would only need to be on the inside if there was inclement weathers and to use the restrooms. Okay. That would be it. Okay. So, but you still need some mighty. I'm assuming from facilities to be able to open the facility up and close it up once
you're done. Yes. So, it is summer hours. Um so it I don't know the exact hours. Normally, I know that from being from the school district that usually during summer hours, they work from around six to 230 or maybe 330 whatever hours that that director has set up for them. Um but someone should already be there. So, it should not be an incurred cost because there should be a custodian at the school at that time. We maybe could confirm that one. If you get a chance for those. Yeah, we'll. I'm assuming those two
schools specifically. Okay. Any other questions? Yeah, we got them. That's it for now. Thank you. I I did have a question too, miss Taylor. What is the age of the students in the program? Um the age ranges from five to thirteen or I'm sorry, five to 15 because 16 to twenty-four, they can work and I am Pontiac. So, 5 to 15. Okay and you also mentioned the other programs that were taking place during the summer at Harrison Murphy Park. Well, those
programs continue and you're just looking to add on a school or neighborhood program or no. No. Okay. They will not. Murphy Park will still. Okay. In existence because Murphy Park currently has a shelter. Uh huh. Um to go to but Harrison does not have a shelter nor this cherry line. Okay. And so it was just a lot the last two years trying to grab up items and us living in Michigan. We don't know when it's going to rain, when it's going to have lightning, or even when it's going to you know, we
just don't know. Okay. So, you would be looking at incorporating this program at one of those two schools that you mentioned. Yes, okay. Okay one of the two schools, right? Correct. Because I understand that Harrington is under construction right now. So, if they're not available, it's nothing we can do about that. However, if there is another school that you all suggest, you know, we're not opposed to that. The reason why Harrington was even chosen was because it's it's surrounded the neighborhoods. Mm hmm. You know, the kids can walk to
those. Yup. Okay. Thank you and trustee Dooley. Um I think that's a great idea to those programs into the neighborhood especially at our schools. Uh you're providing employment opportunities. I like the educational aspect but more importantly, it creates an environment for the community come to come together. Yes. One of the schools I would like to offer to be looked at in lieu of Harrington would be Frost. Or yeah. I think that's yeah, that's Frost. Um reason being,
we need to create an environment that's sustainable for the communities to buy in to the importance of keeping our schools and our communities and helping provide overall neighborhood security, surveillance, knowing what's going on, having those conversations with the bigger kids and other persons how they shouldn't be on the properties and those types of things. So, I think it's a great idea, Tanisha, that you want to bring this into our schools and I hope that it is a successful program. Thank you PP, did you have something
else? Another question. Oh, anybody else? Yes. Secretary Davidson. I did have it. I did. I think right. I just want to say that thank you miss Taylor for coming and since you've been doing the programs, it's been great. Um the participation has been good. I was one of the partners and my class was always filled and like she said that I didn't have to let the finger to clean up after. I was complete with my class. They helped out and things like that. So, I think this will be a great addition to the School
District Thank you. Okay. VP Bowman. And as far as the advertisement so you all are still responsible for that. I know if you get flyers and all you we can disseminate it out. However, but the ultimate responsibility for advertising would be the city of Pontiac? Yes, absolutely. So, the City of Pontiac will be responsible for that. Only thing that we would ask if we say, hey, yes, we're going to do this collaboration before school gets out. Um to send that flyer out to those families aware that they can
sign up and come to the programs. Thank you. And I just wanted to add if it's to ease your minds of anything. we also, all of our employees are CPR certified. They're background checked. Um so, this happens every year. Doesn't matter. If you wear your lashes, you still have to be background check this year. So, just letting you know all of those things as well. Thank you. Alright. Any other questions, comments? Nope. Alright. Thank you,
miss Taylor. Alright, moving down the agenda under action item. Peace Academy Preschool extended days. Doctor Leverette. Thank you. Thank you, Doctor Hannah. At this time, we'll have discussion in action. Last week, we had miss Harris here and she gave a presentation as it relates to peace four days going to five for the 20 twenty5, 26th school year and she is also here this evening but it is the Peace Academy Preschool Extended days, curriculum and
instruction is requesting Peace Academy go from four days to five days for the twenty-five, 26th school year. Peace Academy will be required to do five days in the 26 twenty-seven school year. Therefore, we would like to be proactive with getting all the mandated requirements complete prior to the twenty-sixth, 27th school year. Funding Source NA, it is the recommendation of administration that the board approved Peace Academy to go to five days for the twenty-five, 26th school year. Thank you very much. Trustees, any questions?
Hearing none, can I get a motion for the approval of the Peace Academy Preschool extended days? Support. It's been moved by VP Bowman, supported by Treasurer Terry to approve Peace Academy Preschool extension from four days to five days. Any questions? Roll call. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley. Yes. That pass is six
oh. Alright, thank you very much. Alright, working our way down to regular working agenda under Board of Education. We have with us the 20 twentyfive Pontiac Alumni Gala and today we have with us miss Kane. That will share with us the purpose of this gala Um our purpose is to rein is the reinforce a consistent presence within the community and district. This 2025 Pontiac Alumni Gala event
will align with the foundation's broader goals to strengthen connections and cultivate future partnership opportunities. This event will recognize alumni who are making positive contributions to the world, raise new scholarship dollars for current and graduated district students and support the ongoing excellent programs within the school District. The Pontiac Alumni Foundation is seeking the support of the board of education for a district fundraiser which is this twenty 2-five Pontiac Alumni Gala
event to support programs within the district and miss Kane is here. Thank you. Thank you. I'd like to introduce myself because some of the board members may not be aware Um my name is Karen Kane and I am a retiree from the city employee of the city of Pontiac. And I did serve on the school did on the school board for nine years. So, I understand the
seats, the decisions you have to make and it's very important to our community. Um just in case you're not aware The Pontiac Alumni Foundation has been existence in working with the school district for almost 30 years now. We work in in terms of raising money, assisting with mentoring within the schools, getting volunteers to work and
raise money to supplement existing programs and we just like to continue that effort it's been a excuse me, I was just looking around to see if our president was here because she said she was to be able to attend. Uh Terry Covington. Okay. Um what we're doing in through this effort would be to raise moneys not only for scholarships but to be able
to help supplement existing programs within the district. And also if you're not aware, the Pontiac alumni has kind of changed their emphasis to not only raise moneys for the district and the students but to try to get more of our existing alumni who may still be living in the area involved in what we're doing on the foundation as well
as within the school district. So, I am has been trying to get more people as membership within the foundation Other than that, the particular the fundraising where we got we're tentatively scheduled just for the 27th of September is to raise money. We've had events of this sort before for the school district when previously when I was serving on the
board, we had three different fundraisers that we were very successful in raising substantial dollars that we were then able to turn over to different within the district and that's our intent. I'm happy to answer any questions anybody may have. Trustees, any questions? Yes, okay. I know I missed the meeting and do we have a location for the gala? Not at this point. Okay. Alrighty,
thank you. Miss Kane, when was the last gala? I I know it was a huge success and and from the pictures that we saw in the book that was produced, I just wondering what was the last what year was that? Last year. That what year was that? That the gala. 16. 2016. Two thousand sixteen. Okay. Mm hmm. Alright. You. I appreciate it and again from the talks that I've heard about the event, how well attended it was, and just how it drew so many community members as well as partners to it. I
think that's something we could definitely benefit from. As a district now, just to reconvene and just to build that camaraderie again within community and with future partners. So, I think it's an awesome thing and so I look forward to hearing more and how we move forward with to. Should it be voted upon? Okay. Thank you. Alright, trustees. No other questions? We'll move for the vote. Can I get a motion for the approval of support for the 2025 Pontiac Alumni Gala event? So, mom? Oh, you got it.
Well, is there any financial obligation? To support these. Miss Kane? Um at this point, we would not have, there would not be any financial obligation. Uh we are asking for information from the district such as the some of the people who do business with the district and the information so that we can send out soliciting their
participation and see if they will join in on our event. Okay. In addition to raising money, dollars, we'd like to also get commitments from different businesses for internships for our students or any other programs that they may have that they can assist the district in some way. Alright. So, the motion was It was duly made the motion? Not
making. You mud the motion and it was supported. Okay. Yes, trustee ma'am. Thank you for your presentation. Uh today. I I follow up question not particularly about the expenses but so when you the location, would it be something that's donated from the community or with the school? How's that event? What do we, what have you done in the past? Uh where have you had the the event? Uh previous we had a one time at the Marriott Um downtown. They had
the Pontiac Bank building. And one time at what was that? Pike. On Pike Street. Crowfoot and and the primary reason is being a gala when you're dealing with alcohol, we want to be dealing with licensed locations and locations that have financial responsibility. Alright. Who's that kid? The motion is on the floor for the
approval of the support for the 2025 Pontiac Alumni. I think the motion was made by VP Bowman supported by Trustee Julie. Any additional questions? Roll call please. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley? Yes. President Hannah? Yes. That passes six Alright, thank you very much and thank you to the Pontiac Alumni Foundation. Alright, moving on down to General Council Human Resources.
Thank you. At this time, we have a candidate recommendation for hire Tyre Butler, Special Education Supervisor for the district and I will turn it over to miss Smith. We, this is a position that has been long awaited. Ashley. Good evening. Um miss Butler is also here to answer any questions and to also introduce herself. Um but for the agenda item is the candidate recommendation for hire Miss Butler our special education supervisor.
The proposed 220 twenty-four twenty contract will secure Miss Butler services for the special education supervisor position. And Shelby at the annual rate of supervisor two step five one hundred three thousand, two 59 and 27 cents on the pass of salary table. This position is covered under the Pasa collab collective bargaining agreement. The funding source is grant funded using IDEA funds. Um it is the
recommendation of the administration that the Board of Education approved the candidate recommendation for hire miss Butler as Special Education Supervisor effective May 6th 2000 through June 30th 2025. Effective today. Alright, thank you. Bort, is there any questions? I, I, I have some concerns. Okay. Trustee Dooley. We're dealing with layoffs and now we're trying to hire. I'm in a quandary. Miss Grant. Uh and
I'm not real sure if we have aligned our resources with the needed personnel. Um I'm just not sure if if we're trying to balance budgets and ensure that we have the right number of security personnels, etcetera, etcetera. I don't see until we get this group of people situated to bring in additional people. Yes, please. Again, this is a grant funded position. This is a position
that has been posted and has had a place mark on it for almost 2 years. We are at a critical juncture at in at in this district as it relates to the support for one of our highest need students which is special education. Doctor Jameson has done a a great job with that but again, we need this position to continue to support our students to make sure that we are in compliance as it relates to all areas of special
education and IDEA. Thank you. Any other questions? Treasurer Terry. Uh just for some clarity, I'm assuming that this is going to be prorated. Yes, it'll be a prorated amount through May and then starting July one. The full amount of the contract. Cuz you got a go to June 30th twenty25. Just I'm assuming we're bringing it back again. Yes, this is just for the remainder of this school year and then when we do our
updates for approval for all of the other positions, I believe in the June. Um one of the June Board Meetings, you'll get a packet with the positions we're renewing for the upcoming year. That'll be included in that for the upcoming year. Okay. Anything else, Frederick Terry? No. Can you have a question? Yes, Trustee Miller. Is this is grant funded? Yes. So, what this grant, would it be, would it continue on? Is that is it guaranteed? That it
that is the goal but I can double check with Diane to see exactly how far funding will go out but I believe this position has enough. Doctor Jameson may be able to speak to it also. Um in regards to funding. Uh good afternoon. Good afternoon. Um the it is grant funded. It's an IDEA grant. So, I mean, we can't we don't know what tomorrow holds but it is an IDA grant and it's a grant that's
federally funded. It's not state and so, that's money that we get every year because we service students with the IEPs. Okay. Okay. And then, okay. Were you done? I'm sorry, trustee Miller. Okay. In the event and and certainly, we don't know what's going to happen with federal funding. In the event, if that grant money was cut, would you pull the resources out of the general
fund or is it item, is there a line item in the special ed budget to cover this? In the event, just hypothetically, if the money was rescinded because we know the current president is doing a lot of cuts. Who would be responsible or how would that affect the general budget? When the funds are cut such as Ezra, there are there are no other means to replace cuts that are coming from the federal government.
Any other questions? Okay, moving down to car for the vote. Can I get a motion for the approval of candidate recommendation for higher, special education supervisor? Support. Spend mobile VP Bowman and supported by Treasurer Terry for the approval of candidate recommendation for hire, special education supervisor position. Any questions? Yes. Trustee Miller. Sorry. Hi, miss
I am Trustee Miller. Um just a little bit, we're asking so many questions about the budget and the grant money because we wanted to be safe and make sure that we're not rolling any funds into the general fund unnecessarily. So, that's what that's what that's for and I do I though I I support that we do need this position. It's it comes with uncertainty as we we are laying people off and we don't yet know what our budget will look like. So, my
concern is how can we comfortably bring somebody else new on? Even though it's grant money. I understand that. Then lay people off. I mean, it to me it's kind of it's it's kind of it's kind of like a double standard, you know. Agreed. We are in challenging times. It's a position that is needed. We need the help. There are certain several important reports as it relates to compliance that we we we would certainly need the help and
appreciate the opportunity that we are affording miss Butler hopefully for years to come. Realistically, it could be 3 months. It could be six months and and for transparency. But we are in a this is a very unique situation that we are in. It's it's very fluid. Um I think that we have explained that to miss Butler but again, this is a situation where we we are in desperate need of making sure that we stay in compliance as it relates to students' IEPs and the
whole IDE IDEA Act as a whole. Alright, any other quest? Yes, trustee Miller. Miss Smith, I have a question. Is it would it be proper to put in not just miss Butler's contract but anybody contract that we hire in their their funded through grants? Would it be proper to say this is this position is content, well, not contingent but some language that says that we will have to revisit it if that grant money is no longer available. I I believe
that is listed. I believe that's listed in all of the pasta contracts and the non-union admin that at any time if the district's funding is changed or it becomes, then, we can revisit all the positions. Alright. If we can roll call please. Treasurer Terry. Yes. VP Bowman. Yes. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley? No. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. And that passes five
one. Alright, thank you very much. Miss Butler Thank you. If you would like to address the board or community at this time, we welcome you to the Pontiac School District. Butler it's actually Garrett now. Garrett. Congratulations. Thank you but I'm traveling so I'm not going to change my passport. Okay. I won't travel without my passport. Okay. Um been an educator for decades. Taught every grade special ed beforeth grade been an AP at the
elementary school in the middle school. Principal at Alternative High School. I did that for years. For the past 6 years, I was especially a supervisor in Memphis. That's my hometown. Okay. So, I got married, relocated here. I'm excited to be here. Um spent the first part of the school year, Clarenceville. But I wanted to give back to what I've been doing. Always been inner city,
always been involved. So, I'm excited about this. Um as a specialist supervisor, I was probably the only one that did preschool to high school. Most people were self-contained elementary or high school but because of my teaching background, I was given the opportunity. To be a super are at every grade level. I come with experience I'm excited Um
to Clarenceville to compliance. I was able to do that. We were out of compliance and I was able to do that. So, I'm excited to come in, learn from Doctor Jameson. Yeah. And do whatever needs to be done. Okay. Any questions? Thank you. Thank oh. So, isn't it warm where you want to wear? I'm just messing with you. Like, have you been here for the winter time yet? I don't want you to
run off on us. I've been here three winters. Okay. This my third one. But the husband got me here. I love Thank you. Thank you. And I just want to welcome you and let you know that my vote was not a personal vote. It's it's definitely a budget vote. Thank you. I can respect it. Thank you. And welcome. Alright. Thank you very much. Alright, continuing down. Okay, continuing on the agenda. Attorney Seagers? Uh yes, good
evening. The district and the Pontiac Education Association entered into contract negotiations beginning in the spring of 20 twenty-four and after engaging in several sessions have agreed to the attached document tentative agreement which sets forth the major changes that were made to the Pontiac Education Association, Pontiac School District, Collective Bargaining Agreement as a result of the negotiations and is therefore the recommendation of administration that the Board of Education approved the attached tentative agreement between the
district and the Pontiac Education Association which approves a collective bargaining agreement with the PEA for the 20twenty-four2025 school year. Thank you very much Any questions, trustees? Okay, if I can get a motion for the approval of the proposed Pontiac Education Association 20 twenty-four, 2025 contract. Somo. Support. Thank you. It's been moved by Treasurer Terry and supported by Trustee Miller for the
approval of the proposed Pontiac Education Association 20 twenty-four20twenty contract. Any questions? Roll call please. Vp Bowman Yes. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley? No. Trustee. Oh. President Hannah? Yes. Trusty Miller? Yes. And Trusty Terry. Yes. That passes by one. Alright, thank you very much. Continuing down to our
communications, petitions, and delegations. BP, do we have any? We have one. Okay. Pontiac Board of Education, Communications, Delegations, and Petitions. Your request to address the Pontiac Board of Education for 3 minutes is granted with your commitment that your comments will be delivered with courtesy civility. Failure to do so will result in forfeiture of your allotted time. Miss Shondrika Simmons. Good afternoon. Um my name is Shondrika Simmons. I'm
the mother of Salondra Simmons, a student at ITA. I'm writing to express my deep concern and strong opposition to the proposed downsizing relocation of ITA's art classroom and the potential moth balling of the newly restored ceramics program as parent of a high-functioning student with disabilities. I can personally attest to the invaluable role that the arts play in supporting emotional regulation, creative thinking, and academic balance for neurodiversion students. Art provide and essential outlet for expressions, stress relief,
particularly for students like my daughter who excel in giving space to process information, tactile, and visual ways. She's a former student of the art experience here in Pontiac and attended every Friday prior to the pandemic. It was a local source that was very vital to my child being able to express herself via art. Art is also important in my household that we have our dining room set up for her art with canvasses, paint, and tarps, The whole nine. The current art space at ITA was purposely designed for create and functionality, downgrading the classroom from 1, 116 square feet to
484 square feet with no sinks, limited storage, and awkward layout. It's not only a disservice to current and future students but also a clear misuse of public resources. The community myself included supported bond funds that enabled the long overdue reinstatement of the ceramics program, a $10, 000 investment that now risks being wasted without proper explanation or transparent planning. Our students deserve better. They deserve access to fully functioning art spaces that encourage curiosity, accommodate all learners, and reflect the district's stated commitment to a
whole child education. Strinking the space, space, and limiting access to materials since the message that creativity is expendable and for students like mine, that message can be devastating. I urge this board to halt if they are even entertaining this. Any decision to reduce or relocate the art program until meaningful parent and student input has been gathered and a thorough impact assessment has been completed. I plan to attend any sessions that you might have regarding this matter. If my voice can be heard. I also want to thank the
board for the last time I was here about the bike racks. I appreciate you being active. You guys were Johnny on the spot. You did it immediately and I'm grateful for that. As I have a child at rides her bike back and forth to school. Um I also want to say that I didn't know you were doing the ratification for the PEA CBA and I as a former cop lawyer and union lawyer, I would have liked for someone to have a question regarding
why you're just doing a one-year contract. Um studies have shown and it's just what it is that one-year contracts for school district is futile and thank you. Thank you very much. Alright, board, comments, and announcements. We'll start over here Trustee Dooley. No comments? Alright. Moving around to the trusty mother. Good evening, everyone. Uh first, I want to say thank you for the flowers. I'm going to try my best to keep them
alive. I mean, I'm really I'm going to put a wholehearted effort and try to keep em alive but thank you to whomever gave us this power. Thank you so much. Uh it was a busy week since last meeting. Uh Thursday, I had the pleasure May 1st. I had the pleasure going to the high school for decision day. I never attended one of those. Um it was a my time and to see how many of our graduating seniors are going to so many different colleges and trade schools and community colleges. It
they the administration, the teachers, they they didn't leave anybody behind. Even people who want to go to hair school. They made made sure that all of our students were were inclusive in whatever they chose to do after high school and I I it just warmed my heart to see that. It was also great to see how many of the students participated and utilized the chromosome money. The chromosome money is there for our students and can be used up to five years after you graduate. So, if you
have some students at home or know somebody, some neighbors, if they graduate from Pontiac, they have five years to use that money and the collaboration with OU, a lot of our our seniors took advantage of that and it was it was just a great sight to see. I want to congratulate our two student athletes that committed and signed to play sports the University of Olivet. So, congratulations to them. I'm a sports model so I was especially happy to see that. Alright. So, okay. Today, today. Today, we approved personnel
actions which includes elimination and layoffs. As a board member, I want to minimize the amount of disruption to our students. I understand that it's the role of the Board of education. To responsibly govern the district which is includes making tough decisions and trying to create a balanced budget. I am still human it saddens me to think about how
this will affect our student athletes specifically. I'm a sportsman as I said and during the fall, my first interaction with an adult at Pontiac was the people, some of those people that are being eliminated on that list. And what I observed was more than a line item and a budget reduction. What I observed was coach, coaches, mentor, a warm meal at the end of the at the end of the day a ride to and from and anywhere in between So, that
makes me sad. But nevertheless, I I don't take for granted that I'm elected here to govern the district in which includes some hard decisions but I will ask for if my team will. Just take one more look at some grant funding to see if we can at least bring some of those eliminated positions back. Some of those people have been with us dedicated to this district for years and and I know that it's not our fault. It's not their fault but I
am concerned. If it it makes me sad to see how our children will be impacted by these eliminations specifically our our sports children. So, thank you everyone. Thank you for my time to speak and look forward to seeing you guys next time. Thank you very much. Secretary David Smith. Good evening. I don't have much to say tonight as well but I the summer months are coming up and so I would like for our family and friends to continue to read to our students,
play school, make it fun for them and things like that. Um hopefully, we can partner with the city. They have a lot of fun activities that the kids are still learning with as well and they have free tutoring programs. The library as well. They have tutoring programs that I hope that our parents will be able to get our students out there because when they're not learning for those months, they lose some some things. Even when we're out for a few weeks for
holiday breaks and stuff, they come back and they are little dishuffled and stuff. So, I'm just encouraging want to continue to read to your students and make learning fun for them and that's it. Be safe, love on each other, and have a good night. Thank you, Treasurer Terry. Uh good evening everybody. Um first, I want to say congratulations to our awards and recognitions that we had earlier. I know we got the picture. They have to step out real quick but just want to say congratulations. Um keep up the good work with the early
childhood education program and we are looking forward to future things that come out of you. Um I know it was one of tenth grader and also eleventh grader if I'm correct. So, they still have a few more years here at Pontiac High School with us. So, congratulations and then also is it miss Spiker? Yes. Yup. The facility member keep up good with them and looking forward to additional students also joining that program as we move forward. Um in addition, good reports that I received today as well. Um appreciate the city of
Pontiac taking some time out and coming back up to collaborate with us on a potential summer program for our kids and stuff within the community as well. Um so, appreciate that as well. Um in addition to that, just want to add another note in for accent Pontiac which involves our Pontiac students. Um the end of year showcase. Um that's going to be coming up Thursday, May 29th at 530 PM. It's going to be held at the Oakland History Center four oh 5
Caesar East Chavez Avenue in Pontiac, Michigan. So, if you get a chance, please come out. Um support our students and hear some good music while you're out there as well. Um they also got going their annual birdies and beats charity golf outing for anyone that's interested in golfing as well. Um there's the the fee is 125 for nine holes of golf and lunch. Um if you just interested in the lunch and you don't golf that much, the lunch is $75 but all donations go to Accent Pontiac. Um
so, that is going right now. You can find that registration also on their website or on their page out there. You can join. If you can't join also on their page as far as Facebook and I believe also on Instagram as well. Um in addition to that, I want to say thank you for the flowers. I know, I know they're out here. I do my best as well They try to, yes, to try to keep this going. Um, I'm assuming this is from the the Kennedy Greenhouse. Okay. So, shout out to Kennedy and
your greenhouse. Um, but yeah, Imma do my best. The, the work to keep this one alive as long as I can. Um, but they they are doing their greenhouse. Um, they're opening soon. I believe May seventh. If I'm correct So, make sure you get out there. They're going to be open from 9 AM to 1 PM. I believe, are you taking orders to or they just can come out and make purchases? Okay. So, make sure you come out there, May seventh. There you go. Here you go. Oh, you was going to do it too? Yeah. That's okay. Okay. Okay. Yup.
Hanging baskets, flats, combination pots. Okay. So, yeah. It's that time of the year. So, get out there, grab you some flowers and yeah. Let's make Pontiac beautiful. How about that? Let's do that. Let's do that and then also want to say I did have the pleasure going out is May first to open the schools. They have their first annual opening threeP learning showcase and our students were up there as well. Uh we have five students out there. They had their activities out there with the the
Stem with the twist. Um it was a great presentation. Um a lot of activities that were going on and just to see all of the kids out there with their creativities and and just their thoughts and the ideas. It it was amazing. It was amazing. So, I definitely would recommend that. Um next year if you have a chance to go out and support that as well. So, but it was a good time out there with the students and obviously, yeah, it was a nice turnout. Nice turnout. Um, other than that, that's all I had. So, thank you everyone and good night. Alright. Thank you, Treasure Terry,
VP Bowman. Good evening. I'll be short and sweet. Uh would like to acknowledge in the Optimist Club Breakfast. It was a very phenomenal morning to spend with the Optimist Club and students from the the high school to see them get their awards and recognition. That was a it was a beautiful thing to see. As for this evening, my trustees pretty much said, everything. Uh huh. Thank you for the flower and as they said,
I I don't know how long it's going to last but I'm thankful for it because and I just want everyone to know that the decisions that we make up here they're not our own for our own personal gain. We're in this for our community. Each one of us up here has a stake in this school district. For whatever reason, however, by whatever way we came to be involved in this school district to be sitting up here on this dice. Just know that
we're not in it for personal gain. We're in it for the betterment of this community or at least myself. I want to see Pontiac excel and thrive in ways that has never been seen before. We have come a long way and we still have far to go but one thing I do know, we're no longer in a deficit of 50 plus million dollars. We have passed the bond and a millage and we've done great things in this community and
there's still much more to do. So, let's not get weary and hang our heads. There there is is work to do and we will press forward in it. So, as the Phoenix continue to rise, so will we in this community in the city of Pontiac. So, thank you all for all do and have a good evening. Thank you, VP. Um alright. So, now it's on me. Again, thank you Chauncey and team for the flowers and I'm going to read the announcement that was given. So,
Kennedy School is thrilled to announce the grand opening of the Kennedy Greenhouse on Wednesday, May the seventh. Our dedicated Kennedy students and staff has been working hard and they are excited to showcase a beautiful selection of plants. They've nurtured with care. Starting Thursday, we invite you to visit Kennedy at 1700 Baldwin Road to browse and purchase plants. Perfect for brightening up your home or as thoughtful gifts for Mother's Day which is Sunday. Our Kennedy Adult Transition students will be on hand
to assist you in selecting your plants and loading them into your vehicles. The Kennedy Greenhouse is a proud component of our adult transition program where students gain valuable, universal, workers skills, including accountability, customer service and more. Preparing them to become productive, contributing members of our community. We look forward to seeing you there and celebrating the hard work and talent of our students. So, thank you to the Kennedy staff and we look forward to supporting that
event. I also would like to make an announcement regarding summer school, June 30th through July twenty-fourth which will be on a Monday through Thursday. The locations will be at Whitman for our pre K and elementary as well as Pontiac Middle School for our middle and high school students. Registration is open for all students to enroll online in English and Spanish. Project Excel is offered at all levels. Please note the project is a six-week summer
program that will go to August seventh. Again, Project Excel is offered at all levels. Please note, the project is a six-week summer program that will go to August 7. Alright, also I want to highlight how proud I am of miss Imani Smalls and her team for Decision Day. It was awesome and just as trustee Miller said, seeing our students the energy, the excitement, it it just
warmed your heart to see how enthusiastic these students were about the decisions that they have made and again, not all were going to college but they all were choosing some type of post-secondary success and that's what we want for our students. So, again, to Principal Clark Franklin, Imani Smalls, and all those individuals that helped to make decision day a great success. Uh again, I want to say congratulations to miss Butler Gary and welcome her to the Pontiac School District. We know that this position
has been open for some time. So, we're so happy to have you here with us. So, so thank you for all of that. Um I also wanted to share that I'm really looking forward to collaborating with the city of Pontiac I know that's been something that we've been trying to promote and move forward for some time and again, it only behooves us as a district to work in collaboration with the city because we're serving the same families. We're serving, it's the same kids everywhere. So, I'm excited to see that this come. This came before us
and we have an opportunity this time to work with them so that we can make sure our families and our parents have something for our families to do right in the midst of their neighborhood. So, congratulations and and thank you Ms. Taylor for coming over and bringing that forward. Tanisha, Taylor, Stevens. Stevens. Taylor Stevens. Okay. Um alright and and again, congratulations to our students that participated in the CTE Early Childhood Education Program. This
is just an example of what our CTE program is doing for our students at the high school. So, to miss Zamari James and Liliana Martinez, kudos, great great great job and thank you for being an example for your other peers and miss Spiker. I had heard so much about her before actually meeting her. So, outstanding to have her in that work too. So, congratulations to mister Sherman as well as the team that are working to make sure that the CTE program not
only gets off the ground that we really thrive in the space for our students. Uh I think that is it for me. I don't have anything else and again, thank you all for joining us and being here with us but if I can get a motion I hate being the last one to give notes but alright. So, it has been moved by Trustee Dooley, supported by VP Bowman for the adjournment of the meeting. Any questions? Roll call. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley. Yes. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes.
VP Bowman? Yes. That passes six oh. Alright, thank you. The time is now 7: 42 PM and our meeting is adjourned. Have a good night.