Thank you, Frank. Good evening, everybody and welcome to our first meeting in the month of April. It's good to see you all. I would like to call this meeting to order at 614 PM. Madam Secretary, roll call please. Trustee Bowman, present, unpresent. Trustee Dooley. Present. Trustee Gross. Present. President Hannah. Present. Trustee Miller. Present. Treasurer Terry. Present. We have a courtroom. Seven oh. Alright. Thank you. Very much. If we can all could stand for the pledge
of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America. Which it stands, one nation, under god, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Alright, before we get started with our agenda, I want to take a point of privilege to address some of the concerns of our community members and so I want to just share with you as it relates to the notifications that has gone out in our district as it
relates to layoffs and also just share some updates as it relates to our finances as well as our interim superintendent. So, Doctor Leverette, I'm going to ask you to please proceed. Thank you President Hannah Trustees. Good evening everyone. Good evening. The past week was one of immense challenges for public school districts across the country as we received multiple announcements of major national funding cuts that further decimated
budgets and the rollback of promised as her funds. These cuts along with our own internal financial challenges culminated at a time of looming contract deadlines which led to the very difficult of implementing layoffs and position eliminations for the twenty twenty-five, 26 school year. This decision was something that was handled, was handled with great care. We have been discussing these concerns for several months and of
course, hoping it would not come to this point. Unfortunately, we are in a time where we haven't been able to beat the clock and we have to make these calls at this time. Please know that we are at every turn to be proactive in finding additional funding sources and ways to pivot within the district. If your building and department has ideas to be more costly effective, please share them. All ideas are warranted and welcomed with a high level of respect. We are all in this together.
At the state level, the Michigan Department of Education is fighting back on what is occurring nationally as our districts across the country. We are optimistic that we will that we will be able to come through this and be able to call many if not all of our staff back. Again, we are optimistic that we will be able to call many of our staff back. This is an incredibly difficult time for educators everywhere and it is important for us to not lose sight of what is
important. our children. Let's continue to stick together. These are tough times in our district and in this country. We must stick together. Thank you, Doctor Leverette. Now, as it relates to our finances, as we all are aware, several changes have occurred nationally as Doctor Leverett has mentioned that will impact us financially dramatically. Although there are still many unknowns, we have been working for months in anticipation of these
changes to evaluate and pivot where necessary to best serve our students as well as our staff. We are very serious looking at the financials across this district as a whole. This spans across every department, every building, and every program. Everyone in the district has had to take a hard look at numbers and how they may have to change for the future. Due to the unexpected, drastic funding cuts that are coming our way in the immediate future. The
board is looking at their pay scale. They are assessing their meeting attendance and working to reevaluate the compensation and time involved. The reason board members have recently reached their meeting limit is due to their significant involvement in important committees within the district such as district hearings. We are very fortunate and grateful to have board members who want to put to to put the district first and be a fabric of the district and thank them for doing their due diligence in an effective and appropriate way and we
are grateful to them for exploring ways to continue this for the future. Additionally, the board and focus for the past several years has been on financial stability and academic improvement across all grade levels. We will continue to prioritize students first as well as those elements and remain steadfast to our commitment to those goals. Over the past several years, our financial audits with Yo and Yo have come back with zero findings. We
remain diligent in our commitment to being on top of things with our finances and documentations at every turn. Under the past board leadership, the board did not require monthly board updates. We are working diligently as a finance team to make sure that we correct our course of action and to bring the board up to date under the new leadership requiring monthly return of updates going forward as outlined in our board policy. This will give a much clearer picture of
where we are financially on a regular basis. Now, it relates to our interim superintendent Doctor Leverette. In January of 20 twenty-four, Doctor Leverette was asked by the Board of Education to step into the interim superintendent role for the Pontiac School District. She was asked to take on this role without any advanced knowledge or preparation due to the emergency nature of the need for her to assume the position. Now, although more than capable to perform the duties of a superintendent, Doctor Leverett
put it was put into a job. She had not been given any prior immersion, preparation, or acclimated into the role. Additionally, she was thrusted into a position where the entire district was experiencing a major crisis. Upheaval, and she had no access to past leadership to gain valuable insight to make her transition smooth. In nearly all the cases of a new superintendent coming into any school district, there is a
lead time of understanding of all elements of the job. Current challenges within the district needs and goals. Due to the circumstances happening at that time and recommendations of previous board leadership, not only did she not receive that, but many of her key cabinet members were also brand new in her position. So in spite of all of this, Doctor Leverette has risen to the challenge, She has done an exceptional job under extraordinary circumstances. She
has worked diligently against the odds to rebuild a district that has been fractured due to fear of distrust steaming from internal issues within the school district. Challenges that are happening in the world around us right now and her own learning was curved. So as Board of as the Board of Education, we are continuing to work to improve our role in the district as well. The MASB Board Resource Guide states that the roles of the Board of Education is not
to run but to see that they are well run. We are working with Doctor Leverette and with district leadership to deeply evaluate and assess every department and area of the district is productivity, is effectiveness, and the purpose of us serving our students. Doctor Leverette, as it relates to her evaluation, she has received a review as assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction during the twenty twenty-three, 20twenty-four school year, which
carried her through last year. She is now in the of being evaluated by the Board of Education for her mere year progress report and is in discussion of the goals for the twenty twenty-five, 2026 school year as part of the review process for this year. As it relates to ILA, ITA, and Peace, one of the first proposed recommendations as we move forward towards the next phase as a district involves Peace Academy, ITA, and I ILA. You will hear more of those
proposals from me in my report this evening. One of the things that I want to let you know is that we have heard your concerns in regards to ILA and the offerings that it has for our students, ITA will remain. The ITA program. ITA. Will remain the ITA program. So if the program is good enough for ITA, it's good enough for all Pontiac
School District children, kindergarten through twelfth grade with the focus on project-based learning. Using my teacher wait time. ITA is a program that's good for all children and that model will be implemented in all schools in Pontiac School District. We started with a strong application process, a strong GPA process, a strong collaborative process that was
built with many people and many people's input and ideas that is exactly how we plan to move forward with phase one. Ila. Will roll into the ITA program so that every child at ITA will have an opportunity for rigorous program offerings. All students in Pontiac School District, K-12, Pontiac
Middle School, Pontiac High School, ILA, Rogers, Alcott, Harrington. There I'm going to get in trouble for for missing a few. But all children, Kennedy Owen, children deserve a high-quality education and that is exactly what we, what, we Everybody in this room that has any interest in advancing student achievement, their social,
emotional learning. Their college and career readiness. We have a unique opportunity here to do some great work moving forward. So, we listen to the parents, to the community, etcetera. There may be additional questions about what those additional phases look like. We don't have it figured out. I'll be coming around to all the schools talking to community members, talking to parents, talking to students about what that looks like but our goal for the twenty-five, 26
school year is for us to move forward with ITA having their own cold and going taking a deeper dive into project-based learning. What will happen to peace? Peace will relocate into the ILA building. I'm sorry, the ITA building Peace will relocate to that building. Where? Those students will have an opportunity. Again, pre K or we talk about education from birth
through 12th grade and beyond. So, with that being said, our pre K students will have an opportunity to then make a seamless transition into that ITA program. Thank you. Thank you Doctor Loverette. Continuing with our agenda, I would like to make a motion to amend our agenda. For who? Thank you. Um I need to I need to amend
the agenda to remove under our regular working agenda, the finance items, report for financial report updates, Pete. He is not feeling well so he's not here so we're amending the agenda to remove that item, and to also move public comments up. To D under a meeting call to order. So boo. Thank you. Support. It's been moved by Trustee Gross supported by VP Bowman to amend the regular agenda
by removing under regular working agenda, the finance items, report A, financial report updates by Pete, and by also at moving public comment up to item D under meeting call to order. Any questions? Yes. Yes. Do we have a time frame where the finance item, the report from people be put back on the agenda that should be back on the agenda probably at our board of at our next meeting. Okay, thank you. Any
other questions? Roll call please. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley? Yes. Trusty growth? Yes. President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes. P Bowman? Yes. That passes seven oh. Alright, thank you. Bp Bowman, we have regular moving public comments up. Do we have any? Yes, we do. Your request to address the, I'm sorry about that. Your request to
address the Pontiac Board of Education for three minutes is granted with your commitment that all comments will be delivered with courtesy and civility. Um failure to do so will result in forfeiture of your allotted time. We have first up Candace Ridley and then next Fred McFadden. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Candice Ridley. I am the president of the Pontiac Education Association Thank you for giving me time to address you. Teachers are being hit, kicked, punched, bit,
crashed into, and otherwise assaulted by students and getting injured. Teachers are being called profane names. These things are happening at all levels from elementary through high school. Administrators and district personnel preach about self-care but how can we take care of ourselves when we are being attacked in the classrooms? Being a teacher does provide an exception to federal labor law that says you are entitled to work in a workplace of free of violence and threats of violence. Nothing in idea the Americans with Disabilities Act or other laws say
that teachers and staff can be hit, punched, or threatened. A student's right to a free appropriate education does not include the right to commit acts of violence. Lack of discipline from administration allows us to happen continuously. There was a conversation about adverse childhood experiences during the three seventeen Meeting also known as Aces. Aces include exposure to violence and this would include witnessing violence committed by students against teachers and staff in the classroom. Also, at the 317 board meeting, there was a presentation how our students are struggling with reading and
math. But the school district is spending $14, 000 on eSports which for those who don't know what that is, esports is competitive video gaming like Fortnite. No explanations to how the Esports will improve students reading and math capabilities. According to the presented also at 317, ITA teams are achieving better than the other buildings. One reason this is this is occurring is that ITA has smaller class sizes which research has shown improves student outcomes. Instead of classes of thirty-five, 40, and
sometimes up to 50 in a class, why not have 20 to 25 students so students can get the attention they need. To you, there are numbers on a spreadsheet. A line item. To us, to parents, to teachers, to staff, they're the They're our future. They're our children Doctor Hannah mentioned in 317 board comments that the $81, 000 consultant was brought in because staff doesn't feel safe talking with the administration. What has administration done to rebuild those relationships and foster a
trusting environment? Doctor Hannah also said that the listening sessions were designed to assess our departments. So the consultant is assessing us. So we're supposed to open up and trust someone who is assessing us. The district keeps spending money on consultants. If they have to keep consultants and building hundreds and spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on them to tell people how to do their jobs. Maybe we don't have the right people in the right positions. Even though they're all making six figures. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. I was going to yield my time
over to the president but she says she is done So, I'll just give my comments. I happen to be a person. I have to go back and you know, kind of research some things that have been sent to us through our emails from our soon-to-be superintendent. And March tenth, I highlighted this. And this is a statement that was in this letter. It said, it was disappointing to see the continuing intentional spread of misinformation. And I I'd say here
today to hear this announcement from our president and to our superintendent about what we have always expected. The changes that were going to come without having a conversation. Yeah, you heard from the students, the parents, but you did not come and speak to the staff and that's Madam President behind me is stated, you would rather have a consultant talk to the state's district who has been loyal. Stayed in this fight when
this consultant was with us back in 13. You you reminded me of that. We still stayed in this fight. And yet we talk about respect. We talk about having simple conversations. And each one of you board members will not have a conversation with the staff. Now you may have some staff that are your friends, your buddies, your clicks, or whatever else. But you're not talking to everybody to hear the concern of the staff. As President
Riley said, I don't think we gave up every morning and said, hm, let me go to work and get beat up. We come in there to educate our children. Did you hear what I said? I said, our children But this whole planet is is pretty. It looks neat. Is the future of it. And I'm going to say it. Charter. Let's just call it what it is. You can say reimagine. You can call it the Skittles train. You can call it anything you want it. When it's all said and done. It's going to
be a charter. And for those staff members who don't come to the board meetings or pay attention. Understand this. When they become charter you're fired. And you have to interview for your job again because all contracts avoided. So, let's have real conversations with the staff. Yes, community number one but put the staff in there somewhere and let's just have a conversation because I want to stay away from the word having the meeting. Thank you.
Cynthia Rush, and then Gil Garrett Good evening, everyone. Good evening, miss Rice. I just want, I come before you today on behalf of our students for the Washington DC field trip. This has been a passion of mine for the last five years and I need you all's help. I have worked with the students. I'm working with some community members. Thank you to mister Bowman who did a Bucks for Runs at the Phoenix Center. But folks, in the community, folks here, we need
some money. The students are in need of ten thousand dollars. We have only raised five hundred and eighty. They have tried to cancel this trip for me this year twice. I'm not letting it happen. That's why I'm standing here before you all. So we've had a fundraiser coming up. It's going to be at the Rolladium Skating Rink. Unfortunately if we don't get at least 100 folks out to this fundraiser, it's going to be cancelled. But we need more than just $20 coming from everybody. We literally need some sponsors. We
have 10 students that want to attend this trip but because of their financial situation their parents cannot afford it. Therefore, I'm asking that some of, I'm calling on my Divine Nine. I'm calling on my churches. I am a product of Pontiac of the Pontiac community. I went to this trip back in nineteen seventy-8ish. So, I'm telling my age but guess what? I still remember this trip. How many of you here went to Washington DC and enjoyed it? Look at the hands. So, come on folks. I need you all to help us get our students
there. Again, we need $10, 000. Bye. By it should've been this Friday but Imma push it. She keep pushing me, pushing me, pushing me. I'm trying to get it to be pushed to the thirtieth of this month. But I need it Asap. Whatever you guys, any a penny, a dollar. If everybody in this community gave a dollar, we would have more than enough money to send the whole district to this Washington DC field trip. So, I know it sounds like a lot. I know times are tough. I know we're going through some cuts and some things but guess what? Our children deserve it. Right
now, the should have been standing here with me in their suits because I was going to show you who the next president of the United States was, the next senator, the next the the next leader, future leaders and they are going to be inspired by this trip. We're going to also be visiting an HBCU, Howard University, just to motivate them to say, hey, you can do this but we need you all. We need you. I even have a a bag back here that I can take up collections. No, I'm just joking. But on a serious note, please everybody. Please, please, don't
let this trip fall through the cracks. I have such a passion for our our children. I started this. I got into education because I wanted to see our children be able to have the same opportunities as our neighboring districts. They've been to Washington DC back in November, back in January, back in March. We're going to Washington DC. If I gotta carry these students in my car and make multiple trips to get them there. But on a serious note, please, please, come out, help us out, and support this watch a decent trip. One more thing, you can reach me
at two four eight four five one seven five one four. I will come pick up your donations. Just call me. You don't have to come to the school or you can simply visit the school. Now, I know I ran it over my time. Who's next? Mister Garrett, please work with me. Come on up. Come on up, Garrett. You can help me punch this line. I need you all. I don't have Cash App. I'm old school. I'm sorry. Cash, check, or money orders. I don't have cash. But thank you. I am so serious. I'm about to cry because I have such a
passion for our kids. Please don't let them down. Call me. Uh again, two four eight four five one seven five one four and let me know how you would like to make your donation. I also have some other people working with us but thank you for your time and I look forward to hearing from everybody. I do have a collection plate. Just one second. Nothing. Mister Garrett. Okay. Secretary David Smith. Miss Rush you didn't tell us the the date for the Rolladium The or time. It is actually the Rolladium is this Sunday the thirteenth I think is
the date. And it's from three until five. And I do have some flyers that I will leave here. And we have a one. All you bowlers out there. All you bowlers out there. We are having a bowlathon on May fourth. Now of course that's past our date but I know we got some bowlers out there. This isn't this is a family thing. So your family are allowed to come out. That one is also from three until five as well. Okay. Thank you. Thank you y'all. We got this. No, that's, that, that, that is good.
So, good evening. Thank you, Board. Yes, sir. Uh, superintendent My name is Gil Garrett and I've represented this community on the national state level for the last three and a half years. This past weekend was the end of that chapter. And I want to say I'm grateful to this community and I'm grateful to the staff, the teachers, because being an employee of the district is It's a roller coaster at times.
Being previous staff and sitting on the board. I understand that that dynamic as well. And so as far as being a national leader, there are some federal There's some federal information that I would like to share with the board. Um And I'm kind of the one of the ones that you've known me. I've been in this district since I was 22 years old. I'm now fifty. I'm not going to get into the whole back and forth of what happens in past and what people comments and things of that nature.
The truth is the truth. But if you don't say what you want and demand what you want when it's not a time to do so. It makes it difficult to really have a frank conversation about what really needs to happen. And so I'm very optimistic of the fact that we're going to get through this this challenge because we've had to do this before and past president and national leader Carol Turban is here as well. I'm extending the olive branch Because not only is this my home This is the place I plan on being
buried. This is place I spent 27 years. And no matter what you can say about me or try to create a narrative or things of that nature, I'm still a leader and a proven fighter for this district. With that being said, this is my olive branch. Can we come to the table and have a real conversation without all of the theatrics that could be played when
times like this exist? These are our babies. All of them. All of them including the 6 000 that is not in the Pontiac School District and the four thousand that's out. We got about 14, 000 kids that belong to us. So this is the Olive Branch. I wish you well and thank you for always supporting me and continue to support. We will still have a voice at the national level because I've just been contracted with that lobby firm. And so they going to know
we're still here. And So, I appreciate you. Thank you. Have a wonderful, wonderful night. Thank you. And the last person to speak is Jeremy Bowie. Judge. Well, I'm just reading how he put his own name on this piece of paper. This this how he put his name. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. Good evening. Well, you know, I sit at the 50th district court and I, you know, I understand government. Um I understand
what you guys are going through. It's a difficult decision. You know, I learned that the city is a business. You know, education is a business. There's dollars to it. The court is a business. There's dollar store. So, I'm not going to comment on the plans. Um I the only comment I would make, I will hope you have people in place to protect the social impact it may have it was a lot of vitriol on this microphone the last couple days. The couple weeks and I talked to some of my
students who stood up here and let them know you know if you're going to merge them together you know just be careful. But it's incumbent upon you guys to make sure that that merger is safe. I want to talk about though what I heard about a month ago. That we had a 75% graduation rate. But you bifurcated it ITA was 3. 2. The high school was a two point two. I hear
a lot of stuff daily. In my legal career, I've worked on a lot of tough cases, heard a lot of things, saw a lot of tough stuff. So for something to sit with me like that for a month really affected me. Congratulations. 75% graduated. But if we continue graduating two point two, I'm going to be sitting in front of them presiding over their cases. Cuz we're not giving a chance to be successful in the future. The economy is bad.
Jobs are going to go. People are going to be desperate. We have to equip these students to be successful in the future. Can I tell you how many people from this district who sat in my court facing life without parole charges? We have to do a better job. In 20 17, I had a friend that brought me into robotics and I stay and I stay because of those kids. You have ask yourselves, what culture are you asking these parents? Cuz the classroom extends
outside of the classroom. The GPA from my robotics kids at ITA is a three point nine three. That's the average. And we have 30 students. So there's a expectation where you can come see Judge Bowie. The first thing I ask you is how your grades. I don't care about a robot. I don't I don't care about a robot. There used to be two Ds you can stay. You get kicked off the team. One E we kicked off the team. You can't have a D or E and still be on the team. What culture are you requiring the parents to have?
Because you can put all these requirements on these teachers, the training, the you gotta do this, you gotta track that but if they're fighting a home that's not creating a winning culture, it's a revolving door. So, that's my advice to you. You know, the plan is the plan. Whatever plan you put in place, if the numbers are still a two point two, we gotta readjust the plan. So, when y'all get done with this plan, the next, the very next thing y'all need to address is why 75% and why the Pontiac High
School has a two point two and ITA has a 3 point 2. Thank you. That's it. That's all. Alright. Thank thank you. Alright, continuing on with our agenda. We're going to move to awards and recognition, Doctor Laverette. Good evening again everyone. This is exciting news. The Michigan Association of School Board s is pleased to acknowledge the accomplishment of at least one of your board members and or your district's whole board for their achievements in 20 twenty-four. We're very proud of board members who
use their valuable time to improve their leadership effectiveness by completing individual and board development courses. We know you'll want to celebrate their accomplishments by attending the County Area School Board Association's Meeting that's dedicated designated for this purpose Congratulations, Pontiac School District Board and thank you for supporting your board members and improving their leadership skills on behalf of Michigan Public Schools. We would like to recognize Trustee Kenyatta Bowman, level 4,
master board member award. Congratulations, Trustee Bowman. Mister G Kevin Gross, level four master board member award. Congratulations, Trustee Gross. President Doctor Anisha Hanna, level 3 award of distinction. Congratulations to you. Trustee Marcus D Terry, finance certification specialty, level 5, Master Diamond Award. Congratulations. Please give all of
our trustees a round of applause. Because as we set high expectations for students, board trustees have high expectations and they are very serious about their learning as well. So, we are very proud and excited as we continue to move Pontiac School District forward. We know that we have trustees are well able. Congratulations to you all again. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. The stem with a twist club at
Pontiac Middle School is an innovative program designed to ignite students' interest in science through hands-on, engaging activities. This year is the club's dedication, dedicated team of young girls led by their side, by their science teacher, Miss Tara Ford, has earned the prestigious opportunity to participate in the designation, imagination tournaments through Oakland Schools, making them the only team representing Pontiac and Oakland County Schools.
And this certificate of distinction is in recognition of Tara Ford in recognition of your participation as the teacher leading the STEM with the twist club. This year, the club earned the prestigious honor of participating in Destination Imagination Tournaments through Oakland Schools. Thank you, Miss Tara Ford. Miss Ford. You we pulled it off? Yeah. I'm so excited. That's awesome. We just got excited to the Global Tournament. The Global Tournament
at Kansas City. Congratulations. Awesome. Aviana Vega, is Aviana with us? For Adriana. Makaitlyn James. Makaitlyn Ivy Hooling. Okay, that's okay. Lydia Gonzalez Ramirez. Yeah. Congratulations, Lydia. Jetanya Carter. Come on down, Jatanya. Congratulations, Jetanya. You're welcome
and so again, this is just one example of the many opportunities that our students are afforded and I can't thank you enough, miss Ford. Miss Ford was fighting it hard. She said, Doctor Lever, we have to make this happen. I said, let's do it and so, thank you so much for your leadership and and anything that we can do to continue to support you and our young students in in these endeavors. We know that STEM for girls, stem for all, but we know that stem for girls is often one of those fields that that lacking and so continue doing great
things. I appreciate you guys so much. Thank you again. Any comments from the from our board trustees? Secretary David Smith. I just wanted to say congratulations to to our students for your awards and keep up the good work. The sky's the limit. You can do whatever you want to do. And also congratulations to my board members for moving up and continuing your education. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Alright. Any other comments? Yes, Trusty Miller? I also
want to congratulate all the students on your accomplishments. Please stick with it. Uh learning is an exciting thing. I'm here to tell you. 21 now but It's not that funny. I'm sorry. I'm sorry sis. I'm sorry. You know, I'm 21 now but I still love to learn. So, learning never stops. So, keep up the good work. Yes. I don't want to say how. I'm always extremely proud when we have these beatings and and we recognize our our
kids, our parents, and our and our staff. Uh this says a lot. And and I'm sending a message out to all of our students. It's my hopes and dreams that this room was will be filled with kids that were recognizing every board meeting. Um it shows the hard work and dedication Uh the teachers, no matter the turmoil, the circumstances that are occurring not only in the in the buildings, in their rooms, in their homes, in this
city, in the state, in this world. We tend to focus and dwell on the negative. Because it's newsworthy. But I think it's time that we should really take a hard look at what our kids are actually doing to survive through all this negative. Let's fill this room up, teachers. Principals, administration, board. Let's fill this room up with recognition of all our children. As I will, I was always a believer of It
matters not the amount of progress. Whether it's this much or this much is still progress. So, I don't care if we recognize him, if Sally was the best tiddly wink player, or George was the best Marble player. Let's recognize our children for their progress. No matter how big or small. And I'm so proud of all of you. Thank you, my friend. Good to see you. Keep doing what you're doing. Ladies, keep doing what you're doing. And my last question, What school district you from?
Huh? Say it again. From Pontiac. Say it again. Pontiac Middle School. Thank you. Pontiac Pontiac School Oh, I can tell they've been talking the whole time. Thank you, ladies. VP Bond. As it's already been stated, this part is my favorite. Where we get to acknowledge the good things that comes from Pontiac School District. It oftentimes, we like to focus on what's not happening but the things that are happening, the things that
make us successful, which are, which are you all. Thank you for the teachers who teach our children and to get them past the finish line. Like, these moments right here, the robotics, the steam, This is why some people come to school And thank you. And I'm glad that we have the space for you all to do these things. And thank you for being a representation of Pontiac School District. Thank you because I'm your cheerleader because at some point at some point in
time I would love for one of you to be sitting up here to making the decisions. Even at this age. I invite you to come and and help us make decisions because we don't do this for ourselves. We're doing it for you. So thank you all for for doing your part in representing the Pontiac School District. Much appreciated and congratulations. Just do. Yes, anyway. Okay. Yup. Um I also want to say congratulations and keep up the good work. Um still with a twist. It sounds like you're
doing big things over there as well and it sounds like you're also going to, you said, is it? We got invited to we just got the invitation to go to Global. We go global. 28 countries. Oh wow. That participate around the globe. Well, Imma go ahead and say congratulations on that win as well. So, I do wish you guys the best. Keep up the good work. Keep being that example to your peers as well. And hey maybe you know you can lean on them a little bit and get them a little involved with it as well. So keep up the good work. Keep up the good work.
And then for my trustees up here just want to say congratulations to all of us. Cuz I know we're all putting it putting in that work and we all try to do our best and learn everything we can. I know it's a lot out there for us. And myself as you know I'm still learning as well. So let's continue to push forward and move forward and move this district forward. Thank you. Alright, thank you. Miss Ford, I just want to say thank you for pushing to make sure that our students were represented in this
space. So, I saw the Emails. I know what we were trying to do. So, again, I'm hoping that in years to come, next year, we have even more girls that are available and willing to participate. So, I just want to say thank you for pushing us and girls, you make us so proud. So, thank you for representing our school district well. Alright. that's it. So, thanks again. Alright, continuing on with our agenda. Good evening again to our trustees. Good to see you here. Uh can I get a motion to accept the consent
agenda items? So, move. Support. They're gone now. Sorry. Sorry, we didn't get a picture. Oh. I moved too fast. My apologies. We'll have her to send us a picture so we can post it. Alright. So, there was a motion made by Trustee Gross and supported by VP Bowman to accept the consent agenda items. Are there any questions? Roll call please. Trusty gross motion and then supported by VP Bowman Trustee Louie? Yes. Get your mic.
Gross. Get your mic. Yes. President Hannah. Yes. Trustee Miller. Yes. Treasurer Terry? Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. And I'm voting yes. That passes seven oh. Alright. Thank you very much. Information from the superintendent and administration Doctor Leverette, the meeting is yours. Thank you President Hannah. At this time, I will turn it over to Doctor Devison. Good evening to everyone. As the curriculum and instruction continues to try to show what we're
doing at our schools, we want to continue with that. And today we're presenting ILA and SEA where Doctor Charman will be the presenter. And I looks like her wonderful staff is here represented. So come on up. Like thank you. Um good evening everyone to President Doctor Hannah, to Vice President Bowman, to the entire board and Doctor Leverette and this entire Pontiac School District. And so it is a pleasure to be here. Um I am the
principal of ILA and I and SEA. ILA is pretty much the sister partner of ITA. You hear a lot about ITA but it is really apropos this evening that I really highlight ILA because it is one of the gyms in our district. And we have a beautiful community and so all of my ILA and support people just wave at me. Aren't they lovely? And so even before I get into our presentation, I just want to read the the mission statement and the vision
of ILA and that acronym ILA represents international language academy. The international the the ILA mission, the International Language Academy promotes leadership skills by preparing students to be global learners through dual language immersion and rich cultural experiences. ILA Vision at ILA students are immersed in daily cultural experiences which foster a celebration of diversity and community as a community, we
uphold high expectations for academics, attendance, and character development. So, that's who we are. Alright. So, first slide. Our enrollment at ILA is we have two hundred and sixty students. We have twelve general education classrooms. And with SCA, there are 27 students, grades K six, they are four ASD classrooms. Next slide, our
attendants, we have 10% chronic absenteeism, and that is relatively low because 90% of our students attend school regularly. Students, teachers are diligent in monitoring attendance with the attendance tracker. Uh, have developed strong relationships with parents, keeping them notified on all aspects of progress, including attendance, and there are incentives for attendant attendance, classroom, and building level. There's also in
the, in the in the forthcoming months or so, I know we, we're in the last quarter, but we also plan to implement rewards for parents as well. And even today, over the past 3 months, there were there were four of our students who had attendance all of January, February, and March. Yeah, you can give it up for them. So, even though there's 90% of the students attending regularly, we still want to reach that 10% as well. Next slide, SEA which is the special
education academy which is primarily comprised of autistic students and as you know, with autism and this is Autism Awareness Month. Everybody aware of that? Yeah. And so, even with our autistic students, it's a spectrum. Some of our students in classrooms are nonverbal. Some of them still aren't potty trained and then we have others who are very, very high functioning even to the that they are included in mainstream in classrooms. So, it's interesting because I even recall as a teacher a few years ago, having an ASD student,
he was, he was mainstream into my ELA classroom and he was extremely brilliant. You know, there was some social cues that he had some struggles with but extremely brilliant, a a masterful musician and so, that spectrum is amazing. They are beautiful. They learn differently and many of them are quite honestly geniuses. So, even as we are in Autism Awareness Month, just about that as we celebrate these students who learn differently. They really really have beautiful
minds. So, however, with the attendance, we have 40% chronic actenteism. So, 58% of our students attend school regularly. There are at least 27 of them but still we want to make that effort. Um I'm looking at this next meeting with those parents in terms of implementing incentives for them as well. So, teachers are courage to maintain records and follow through with truancy protocols. That parent meeting is forthcoming and there are
plans to implement rewards programs for parents. So, we are still doing the work. It's the last quarter but even in that meeting, I want to really, really reinforce to parents how important it is for students to be in the building. Next slide. Alright. So, our My Kip goal updates. So, I think the first step, I know I have a lot of stuff on this live but I'll try to move expeditiously. The first step is the IPGP which is an acronym for individual
professional growth plan. What that means is at the beginning of the year, all of the administrators we meet with our staff and we develop goals because you know you have to have a vision in order to reach your goals every year. So, I encourage my staff not only to have students meet, you know, we talk about typical growth with iReady but I always encourage them as they know how are we going to power our students to reach what's what I'm trying to think? Stretch
code, thank you. Restretch Girl. So, they do that every year because we know that typical growth deals with students growing and progressing but that stretch growth deals with, it addresses proficiency. Okay. Also, we have professional learning communities, PLCs, where grade levels work together. They look at iReady data. Um they look at just really forecasting students what students would struggle with. They learn from each other. POCs are very very important. Um I visited
some of my team's POCs. They work together as a team and they help to coach one another. And so those are very very important in terms of providing good instruction for our children. Um administrator walk throughs, HQIs, those are high-quality instruction. That is a part of the goal update intervention blocks. Our teachers provide intervention for our students. So, we know that we have tier one. We teach everyone at a certain level but when
you really, really dig into those students and get deeply into where they are, teachers also have small groups. They take time to give them lessons that are according to where they are on their level to scaffold for them. So, that is very important. We also have MStep materials for grades three through five. This is assessment season and what I provided with my grades three through five teachers, something called Michigan test prep. So, as we know, there's academic language,
correct? Mm hmm. You can nod at me. This academic language but there's also assessment language and I think sometimes our students, they learn, you know, they have great standards that they have to meet and master but oftentimes, the assessment language is foreign to them and so even with Michigan test prep. We have our it was a trial and error. We said, hey, let's take a look at these materials. The teachers love them. We've been using them for the past three years or so. Okay, so we we try to
prepare them for MST. There's tutoring. I'm trying to move fast. Um there's deer, drop everything, and read on Fridays with reflection sheets. I want students to connect reading and writing and really anytime there is when students are in front of a text, engaging with text there should be writing, listening, speaking, and reading every single time. That's how they really interact with the text. Also, peer observations. We're going to do that again gang this year. So, they
they have the opportunity to observe their their colleagues in the classrooms. Um we've got iReady goal setting, individual conferences. we've got parent meetings, discussing I Ready Data. Next slide, please and there's more Uh oh. The ILA. I think I'm missing. Oh, it's at the bottom. Sorry about that. Okay. Um also, we have a co-teaching model. Um for ESL and ESL is an acronym for
English as a second language and as a matter of fact, can can I get you to come up real quick, Peggy? And kind of explain what you do and what that co-teaching model will look like. And any other insights you want to give us, go ahead. Hi, my name is Peggy Barker. I'm the ESL teacher and program coordinator for ILA and out of all of our students, two 23 are English learners. Um one we go by Weda levels. We does the test that is given every year by the
state that's required and it goes from level one to 6. One being the base level. Like a novice. And six B and native speaker level. Students who receive a score of a four. 8, place out and exit the program and we monitor them for four years Just to make sure that they're not falling through the cracks and you know, if they need to be put back into the program, we put them back into the program. Currently at ILA, we have
103 level 1 students 48 level 2 students, 56 level three students, 16 under 4. 8 students, and three who have exited. Actually, we exited five with two went on the ITA Middle School. Um, when we look at the test scores, in the iReady, and we look at the curve. There's such a thing in language acquisition known as Bix and Kelps. And BICS are the social language or
playground language. And our that takes one to three years for our students to learn. The academic language which is much harder for our students to take five to 7 years for kids to learn. And so when we're looking at the scores of iReady and we've had such an influx of new students coming in this year. That it's flowing pretty much as we would
expect to see. Scores you know the the students are doing quite well. Are I what I do basically is I pull kids and I see them. I see only level one students because there's only one of me. I can't see all 223 of them of course. But I do see eighty-two. And I work on them with phonics. I work on them with phonemic awareness. I work on them with vocabulary and
basic reading. And anything else sometime I work in concert with my fellow teachers. If there's anything else that they would also like to for them to work in. Thank you. And so and even with her being, thank you again, Peggy, being the ESL teacher, we are also looking at a co-teaching model to maximize, impact for our ESL population and so as a matter of fact, on Friday, we have a visit to a Waterford school who
implements a co-teaching model. So, we're just trying to leverage everything that we can to service our community. Um let's see. So, we've had ESL support. She talked a little bit about Weta and I do when I get to the celebration portion really want to highlight how much our students are are learning and growing because if you think about academic language I'm sorry social language acquisition one to three years in academic is five to seven correct and
so what we've looked at and I'll share that a little later even with iReady you know the KK one two that's very foundational and even even kindergarten is almost I don't want to say a non entity but we're looking for baseline because there's no prior learning with them and so when we saw, we looked at scores particularly in the upper elementary, what students were doing. It is a miracle of what is taking place at ILA at this little gym in the WHRC. So, it's there's it's a miracle that's taking place. Alright. So, you can see I really love
my my school. So, also, so we've had literacy night. Um that's that was amazing. Our staff came out. Parents came out they have make and takes. They had some things that they could take home. There were games, literacy games. Um and our theme was get a scoop on reading And so they could take home not just academic things but some ice cream too. Um we're going to engage in a math fee, not a spelling bee, but a math bee and you'll hear more about that. We're
going to be doing Battle of the Books. As a matter of fact, when I was at a high school, even high school students love Battle of the Books. Okay, y'all anybody familiar with Battle of the Books? Okay, so we're going to be doing that and then lastly, we also do a fifth grade capstone project where if our fifth graders have a fifth grade team member here but our fifth graders actually did projects where they had to create a PowerPoint presentation really as a summation of their experience at ILA and so if you like I can share some of those with you from
last year. Okay. Real quickly. Alright. SCA. We're going to go really fast. Um Once again, the IPGP is important. Casting a vision at the beginning. Our teachers adhere to the IEPs. There's progress monitoring. As I said before, our very high-functioning ASD students engage in inclusion. There's administrator walk throughs, differentiated small groups. I want to park there for just a minute because even when I fall into some classrooms, those the peer professionals are very, very, very
supportive and the the learning target will be the same but there may be, you know, there may be different strategies but the target is the same because the teachers are looking at how to differentiate appropriately. Parent meetings, discussion, iReady data, community-based instruction, they go on field trips, museums, etcetera. Next slide. Alright, we're at the end. Celebration. So, what you're looking at here is what one of the ASD classrooms and you see that was on Saint Patty's Day and of
course, even reading March's Reading Month. Um the teacher, you know, she was doing giveaways. Once again, we want to establish a community of literacy and so that's what you see there. and then at the bottom, oh you guys have the one at the bottom. Um just we had a Valentine's Day. I called a family gathering with my SEA parents and so we just talked about the resources available to them if they had any questions. They are very happy with their teachers. That's that in a nutshell. And then
ILA celebrations. Um we've got Kate over there and Kate is here. Um just doing phonics first, doing what she does. She's amazing at it. We've got pictures of our literacy night and then at the bottom in the blue T shirts, that was Kaleo and Kaleo is that music that wonderful music, community, that comes and shares with our students across the district through via Kensington. So, I do want to just take a moment to do a little bit more bragging. If you
would just indulge me just for a couple more minutes. Just, you know, even when we were trained with iReady and our coach really told us, you know, you said, you're kind of looking at 50% for the most part. If you can get 50% of your students achieving annual, you know, typical growth, that's a great thing but at IL at ILA, the overall median score of ELA was sixty-one percent and then math was 56% and then I have some quick shout outs and first grade missus Mateer who is here. Her reading, her
score was 71%. Second grade was with reading was 64%. Third grade, Goddard reading 4%. Right. And 41% of her children were on grade level. either early, mid, or above. Um in math, it was 94%. Miss Shaw, reading 83percent, fourth grade, Miss Hensley, reading I'm sorry, math was 87%. Miss Paulsen, reading was one hundred thirtynine median, mass 74%, fifth grade, Miss Dionne Reading, 90%, Mass 85%, Shenzing,
reading, 81%, Math, 90%. We are great things at ILA. Yeah. Great things. It is a gym. It is a gym in this community. I got one more thing to brag about. This book here and I'm going to try my Spanish here. Dande Estemi Corazon, Esquito Poor, David Yun, Illustrato, Poorles Estudiantes, De La Academya, International Pontiac, Michigan. What is in my heart?
It was written by David Yung, illustrated by the students of ILA. This is a published book where one of our Spanish teachers, they have a partnership with, they have some associates at Country Day and one of these students, he came in. He did pass the volunteer checks, of course. He came in and he worked with our Spanish students and all of the illustrations are from our students at ILA and he was inspired by their their stories, what was in their heart, about their families, about where they travel about how they feel
about where they are in their lives. Everything was inspired by our Ireland students and at the end of this book and you can purchase it on Amazon. It says, David Yun wrote this book inspired by the experiences of taking Spanish for seven years throughout middle and high school. His passion for writing, learning, volunteering, and helping others has driven him to write this children's book. This is his first book, all proceeds from this book will be donated to the International Language Academy
located in Pontiac, Michigan. Thank you. Do you have any questions? Thank you. Trustees, any questions or comments? Comments, alright? VP Bowman. Thank you and your staff for everything that you do for our students. We understand that there are challenges but you seem to found a a secret sauce to to the program that you have and thank you all for for the work. It doesn't go unnoticed and we appreciate you all. So, keep
continue and pressing forward. Thank you much. Thank you. Trustee Gross. Thank you. I I was I'm impressed what you're doing Um and as my colleagues know I am a pusher on attendance. Bless you. And I had the opportunity to attend a a class in this last in SBA. We we just attended about attendance. And some of the things you've said that you're doing is what they talked about in this class. As it pertains to some
incentives and recognitions. And that's going to be part of report won't you have us to report on what we learned. And I'm glad to hear that you're doing those things. Because I thought of I saw how wonderful it is. And to see that someone in this district is doing this. I'm also the chairperson of the School Improvement Committee. And my next meeting that I have hopefully soon will be with the principals. And I'm inviting you as a principal. And it's just to come in and talk about some
ideas. What we can share across the board. Uh for all of us to have similar the same ideas. If it's working for you, it can work somewhere else. So, bring those ideas. Absolutely. So, you'll get that invite and I'll let you know. Thank you. Uh let everyone know but I'm so appreciative of hearing what you're doing. Thank you so much. Thank you. Alright. Thank you, Doc. Any other trustees, comments? I'm thoroughly impressed. Yes. Um with everything that you guys are doing. Um we've heard it before but just to see it in
your presentation, it just again reiterates the strong support you have, the dedication of your staff, and just the commitment to our students. So, again, thank you so much. Thank you. For everything that you're doing and we really do appreciate it. Thank you. Uh huh. Alright. I just want to say thank you to Doctor I wanted to say thank you to Doctor Charman. She's doing a fabulous job. I wanted to give a side note. I was in the buildings and I was watching the teachers run their
professional learning communities and they were just they had data spread all over the table and they were going back and forth. So, I want you all to know we do celebrate the work that you do. You all are doing a fabulous job and so thank you so much for your service. That concludes the curriculum and instruction. Thank you for it. Thank you. Alright. Thank you so much, Doctor Devison. Alright, Doctor Laverette. Thank you, Doctor Devison. Thank you, ILA. Thank you, Doctor Chairman. Thank you to the wonderful staff at ILA. We really appreciate the work that you do on behalf of our students and thank
you for your great presentation. At this time, I wanted to give a report on the reimagined phase one plan recommendation and I spoke about it earlier this evening but I do want to say is our educational landscape changes to provide quality programs to our students. The Pontiac School District phase one is one that focuses on the whole child and provides greater learning opportunities for our students including project-based learning and the arts and so project-based learning, a number of years ago, as
you all know, we had a strong emphasis with project-based learning at Pontiac Middle School in Pontiac High School in particular with the partnership that we had with Oakland Schools and so that is just an essential question that a student has presented with at the beginning of the school year and then they work through that through a series of inquiries and questions until the end of the school year. And then it is pretty much presented as a capstone which is what Doctor Charman shared in terms of what her fifth grade students do. Um at ILA. But again
Pontiac School District phase one is one that focuses on the whole child and provides greater learning opportunities for our students including project based learning and the arts. We are excited to discuss Our recommendation for phase one for the twenty-five, 26th school year, which would include the following Please know that these are a few of the things that we have listed but we would still need some time to work through a lot of the other logistics. But ITA will be getting a new building code. And our staff is
working with the Michigan Department of Education on this project. Moving forward, the expectation will be that the high quality academic rigor that ITA offers could be across our district and include project-based learning. So, ITA will have its own building code. They will continue with the same great programs that they have. We would like to expand it to include our entire district. We know that that will take some time and additional planning as we think
about moving forward with with additional phases of the plan. So, we listen to our students' input. We to our parents' input and suggestions and we certainly took those very seriously Um and so the merger with IALA would ensure a seamless transition for students and families who will continue to receive Spanish and it would allow for additional instruction in Spanish for all of ITA students as well. Peace would transition to the WHRC facility and are excited about
the move as a five star early childhood program. This would allow students to make a transition to ITA should families wish to enroll their child after successful after successful completion of the Peace Program phase 2 and three will be coming in draft form in the near future as we seek staffs, students, parents, and community input. We hope you will join us on the journey of rediscovery and reimagining the possible the endless possibilities of educational excellence for our students and then these are just cost
estimates for but we can get more numbers to you but these are just cost estimates for a piece, new pre-K playground, new class furniture, plumbing, signage, and miscellaneous modifications. And I'll open it up for discussion. Mm hmm. Fifi Bowman. So, Doctor Levert, can you share and Principal Harris is in here. She thanked us last time for the
consideration for the movement. Can you explain why can you share with the community? No, not explain. Can you share what the community why the the changes proposed for Peace Academy? Can you just let the community know what were the thoughts behind that? Yes. So, we have been concerned about peace and and the staff and the students and their safety for a long time now and so as we started talking about what the future of our district
could potentially look like and what that's facing move could be for students at peace. Um we decided that the move to the WHRC ITA facility would be a viable option as they continue to grow their program and those students would not leave after their pre-K experience but they could actually matriculate to a program like ITA and so that's when we started having the discussions
about what that could look like for peace if it did not work at WHRC. Could it potentially work at another stand-alone facility for them but in the end, this was the decision or recommendation that we would like to bring forward to to you all for discussion. And last question, as far as I know that since we already have transportation going to the WHRC building, does this help ease in that process since we
already have or or does that create a new thing with transportation? Does this make it easier or anything in that regard? Yes, I think it makes it easier as we had talked to Principal Harris and we had talked to our student director of student services that it would be a easier transition in terms of transporting the students to this location. Thank you Alright. Trustee, any other
questions for Doctor Leverette? I do. Um Doctor Leverette, I want you to share. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead. Treasurer Terry. Go, go ahead. Just I know we talking about phase one and obviously I'm looking forward for the next phase two and phase three to roll around. Um but I do one question I did have regarding the move with peace. Um regarding that facility. Is there been any discussions around that facility? Or would that be phase two or three?
For the peace we had we have had discussions but nothing definitive. I know that there was some ideas shared around potential housing or potential leasing the space out to some non-profit organizations that still have a need to provide services to our students in the district. Um and then my second one I had regarding the estimated cost. Um and I know we talked about the the playground furniture, plumbing, signage, etcetera, etcetera. Um has
that been reviewed also regarding around our bond a bond budget? Bill can you provide some commentary to that because I had him put these numbers together but that is where we were having discussions about where this could come from. Yeah we've looked at the equipment that will be needed and it's all bondable. So, furniture the the moving costs that would be associated with that. Sorry. Um the the moving costs that are associated with the the physical
move from one building to another. Uh the playground, it's all bondable funds. Okay. So, I guess we've got some early on estimates. Correct. But we we need to once the board gives us the approval, we'll go out to the bidding process to get more accurate. Okay. Okay. So, I guess moving forward, if we can maybe have more discussions on that as well. I know originally, if I'm correct when the bond and everything was approved, there were plans
established. I just don't want to go too far off course. Um when it comes to those bond projects and make sure that we are staying on task on with the the community and the public also agreed with. Yes sir. We could just review that when that time come. Mhm. Thank you. Alright, I want to first, thank you Doctor Leverette for breaking this down because I know when we initially spoke during our meeting about what reimagining could look like for the district. There was a lot on that plate. So, I appreciate you breaking
this down and bringing this part back to the board for consideration. I do have a question for you or would like for you to speak a little bit about it. As we were just listening to the report about about ILA and ITA school. We've talked about this being a program and it hasn't been a program for a number of years and so I notice here in the recommendation Do we talk about being yeah ITA will be getting a new building code. So I I want to
understand what that what that means. So that again when the board this isn't something that the board has voted on but I appreciate you bringing this here and we're having discussion. Um about this. But I just want to get a little bit more clarity. It is currently a program but now based on the state we're talking about giving it a building code. So, does that mean that it will now become a school and it will no longer be a program in the Pontiac
School District. So, if you can kind of speak a little bit about that. Yup, that is correct. So, for a number of years, there have been provisions made. I see. There have been provisions made for ITA to be a program housed at WHRC and it has as time has gone as as the years have passed the school has been there. It stood the test of time and we are really at a critical juncture
where we must give IT we must provide ITA with their own building code. So that it becomes ITA school and it is no longer a program. That is correct. Now is this something that just the Pontiac School District is deciding. We've done this long enough. So now or is this something that's mandated by the state? No it's the Michigan Department of Ed. They have told us since I believe last fall or maybe the previous year, I could
get the exact information for you all but they have been telling us this now for a while and so, when we started talking about the future of the district, the need to restructure, etcetera That is also what has been part of the conversation is the need for them to have their own building code. Okay. Correct. Okay. So, So, no, I I thank you because you you had that in there and I thought that was important for us all to
understand because again, as we were talking about what this could look like or and we've heard a lot from our community as it relates to ITA. I'm happy that it has been received as well as it has and again, it was never the intent to eliminate it but as you were stating, just trying to figure out what do we do now. How do we, how do we move forward and because it was either merging or it was it becoming its own entity within the district.
And I think because we hold this program to such high standard. And because we have a lot of parents that use this as an alternative to even charter schools or any other schools to remain inside of our district. I think that this will be a great asset for this school district. Because it it it can we can now raise it even higher. So we can the standards, the expectations, and how we go about
recruiting for this school. Um should the district or should the board decide to move forward in this manner. I think this is our as we said it's a great thing for our school district and I just wanted to make sure that the community understood what this meant. What you reported out. Any other comments? Questions from the board. Alright, thank you for sharing but I look forward to us diving a little bit deeper into this when we when we meet
again. Alright, continuing on with our agenda moving down to regular working agenda For discussion, to discuss the quantity of meetings eligible for board compensation and board policy number zero 1, four, four, point1. Um, first reading. So, underboard policy, zero one, four, four, point1. Currently, it sets compensation for board members based on 52 meetings per year. However, given the increasing demand of board members time, the
complexity of governance issues, and the need for enhanced engagement in the school district affairs, and adjustment to 75 meetings, which would include, it will, that adds on an additional 23 meetings for the remainder of the school year, is proposed by updating board policy zero one, four, four, point1, to increase the compensated number of meetings from 52 to 75 and to exclude from compensation, close meetings
that will be held on the same day as regular scheduled board meetings from being compensatable. Compensated, acknowledges the growing responsibilities of board members. It aligns with actual time commitments required and it supports effective governance. This adjustment ensures the board members can continue to serve the district effectively while maintaining accountability and transparency. In decision making. It is the recommendation of the board president that the Board of
Education approved the update to board compensation policy zero, one, four, four, point1. And so I open it up to. Point of order. Yes. Mister Seagerson's necessarily we have to go for first reading without texting. Uh you can have a first reading and then you have a motion to waive a second reading. I am making a motion that waived the second meeting. The second meeting. And that we take in voting on this this evening. And I'll give
justification on why. Okay. Second. Okay. It's been moved by Trustee Gross supported by Trustee Miller to waive the second reading for the board compensation. Policy zero one four four point one. Any questions or comments? Yes, trustee Gross. Being that I was the one that was placed on the front page of the open press as I was questioning the concerns on why everyone is up in arms
about the compensation of this board and it has been done so for several years. And we're just elected officials like others. But I need Oakland Press to read and understand this. There are two board members that sit right on this board that has missed compensation for eight meetings. There's no retro. There's no reimbursement. And I'm one of the two. So print that. Because I continue to do my job and come to these meetings. And everything that I was asked of as a
position on this board. Let's see if you print that. We are doing the work of this district. The archaic number of 52 meetings for compensation as I just indicated is archaic. Things have changed since nineteen 72. We are a working board. But you want to write things in the newspaper to make it appears if it's negative because of the work we're doing. City council is compensated. Oakland County Commissioners are compensated and I've not seen an
article written once yet on the concerns of compensation of those elected officials. So, print that in the newspaper. There are two of us have not been compensated since February. Because we decided to attend all of our meetings and all of our subcommittee meetings. And we didn't change the number, the archaic number. So, yeah, I got a problem with that. So, print that and put my picture on the front page for
that and social media. Thank you. Trusty Miller. Thank you, President Hannah. I concur with what Trustee Gross is saying and I have my own opinion about that. I understand why the community, staff, question why do we get $200? I completely understand because our enrollment is low and to them, what are we producing for the $200 a month? We know what we what we do on and off, huh? You said per month per meeting. Per meeting, sorry, at permitting.
We know as a working board member what we do but now the the community and our staff and our students need to be produced something. We need to something we need to produce something. Whether it's making action, voter, we we need to do something different than what we have been doing. So that the the community and our staff and students will feel confident like hey that's my board member right there. I elected her or him. And I see them working. I see them trying. But what do they see us do now? I don't I don't
know I don't know. You know I I would rather give up my bore seat and just come work for the district because I switched to one of y'all. I can work for the district. You know why? Because people in this district some are getting a whole lot more zeroes behind a two. With no accountability, little productivity, and nothing that improves student achievement. At least I'm working. Trust you growth is working. BP bomber. All of us here.
We're working. We're trying. We're trying to do our best. But it's other people that's got a whole lot more zeroes doing way less than what we do here for $200 a meeting. So, make that make sense because the math is not mathing. That's my problem. There should be retro. There should be retro to you guys because this has been on the agenda off and on since February. Okay? So, We can't I I don't make the agenda. So if I made the agenda, I would say, hey, we need to revisit this sooner than later. It's April. We're just not
revisiting. That's not fair to the two of you as my colleagues. That's just my opinion. So, I hope that can be worked out somehow for them because they are they are here working Like all of us are here too. But let let let that sink in. A whole lot more zeros. I promise you that. For people that's doing a lot less work than what we doing here. So, if any of y'all want to switch with me, y'all come see it. This board me for $200 a table let me get your check and take it home and cash it. Thank you. Bp Bowman. As it was stated by my two trustees, this is meeting 60 for me.
I capped out at fifty-two. I'm still here. Haven't been compensated for the entire month of March. The entire month has anyone in this district worked for an entire month and not receive their pay? So, if I give it back to the community, I don't want anybody to come up here and say, you all don't care. This is for the money because it's not. Because if it was about the money, I wouldn't be here. I wouldn't be here. I'm here. I'm here
and it's not about the check. It's not about the stipend. It's about the community. So, I don't want to hear that we don't care and we're making decisions for our best interest because my best interest tonight, I'm sitting here amongst another colleague of mine not getting compensated and I'm here. It's not fair. My household has been impacted. Has any person in this room and outside of this room work the month? And say I'm sorry But I'll take
it. I'll take, I'll take the hit for the team. My family will take the hit. But I don't want to hear that we're up here just for the money. Because if it was just for the money as trustee Miller said somebody trade me. If you all feel that I'm not doing a quality job you are welcome to recall me if you like. Those things are true. That can happen. I'm not here for a paycheck. I'm here for my community. So don't say we don't listen because we do. Don't say we don't because we do
Don't say we're not in it for our community because we are. I know I am. I was impacted. My family was impacted but yet I'm here. I show up. I'm expected to show up and I do. I'm not showing up for the money. I'm showing up because I was elected. I'm showing up because I chose to run to serve my community. It's not about the money. It's about the work put in. But let's be fair. Let's be clear about it. Is not okay to get overlooked. It's not okay to feel
short changed or anything. So, I'll give it back. That that that's my gift to this community. My my give back but please, don't think that it's about the money. Because it's not. We putting in the work. So, just like you all are showing up to class and and other things. Going out of town. Showing up to class, sitting in in classes for six eight hours at a time. We're continuously learning. So,
please just know that it's not about the money and we're not in it to steal or take from our community because this is a sacrifice. It's a twenty-four seven threesixty-five for me at least until potentially December 31st 2028. That's until that that's my last that's where my election term end. So, please know. It's not about the money. It's about the commitment to the community. So, nobody's up here walking away
with some fat amount of money cheering and and and saying that this is I digress But just know that we are in this. We are in the I am in this. And I've shown up. I've been here and I'll continue to be here. But let's be mindful on how we treat each other because not everybody is in it for the money. Thank you. Right. And I'm retired.
Think about that. Alright. Um moving down to action item. Can I get a motion for the approval of the Make sure I get the verbiage right. Updated board compensation policy. Oh I'm sorry. Yes. So, I thought that we were waving a second reading first. I thought we were doing that first. Or no. Who you going to do? They have to vote on that first. Cuz you had, you had made a motion. Okay. Okay, I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Okay. Alright. Let me back up.
And can I get em motioned to approve? It was moved. Just a vote. You were in discussion in the Secretary Davis of the police. Sure. Trustee Gross. Yes. President Hannah. Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Yes. VP Bowman? Yes. I'm voting yes. And Trustee Dewey. Yes. That passes seven oh. Alright. Thank you. And that was a
that was the approval to waive the second reading. So now I'm going to move forward and say can I have a motion? To approve the updated board compensation policy. So move. Four four. Alright. Support. It's been moved by Trustee Gross and supported by VP Bowman to approve the updated board compensation policy zero one four four point one. Any comments, questions? Roll call please.
President Hannah? Yes. Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasurer Terry. Yes. VP Bowman. Yes. I'm voting yes. Trustee Dooley. Yes. Trustee Grove. Yes. That pass is seven R. Alright. Thank you very much. Continuing on down with our agenda. We did our communications, petitions, and delegations. Were there any others that came through? No, there were none. Okay. Alright. More comments and announcements. We'll start over to my right. Trustee Miller.
Good evening, everyone. Thank you for attending virtually or in person. Our Monday Night Board Meeting. Okay. You, I just want to reiterate that I was elected to serve on this board and I'm still humbled every time I walk in here. I'm fortunate enough to be a parent in this district and have a voice for these kids while my kid is here. That I'm I'm fortunate to have that. But it is personal for me. When I
wake up in the morning, I am ma. Then I turn into Tanisha. Then at some point, I turn into Trusty Miller. Now, ma, yeah. To my one child. But now the weight of that extends to every single solitary child in this district. I know we don't know what the future looks like But no time is better than now to wrap our arms around each other. Support each other. Check on people. To see how
they're doing mentally. Mental illness is real. Depression is real. Okay? It is. Check and see how people are doing mentally and our kids. Let let them know that you care about them. Wrap your arms around them. The judge. Is he still here? He said. What was he saying? But Judge said that he presided over cases. Imma try to get this up. Be upset. We are graduating our kids. But what are we preparing them to do? Some of our kids are
graduating the twelfth grade and can't read or write passes sixth grade level. So, can they fill out a job application? Let alone get a doctorial degree. Can they fill out a job application? Open up a bank account and know that their money ain't being cheated and stolen from them. I'm sorry to get upset but I have a child in this district that didn't go here until he was in high school. But what about the kids that's been here since kindergarten? And they are kindergarten and in the third grade and they're still reading and math out of kindergarten level. And
it's on the numbers. President Ritley talked about the abuse teachers received from students. What can we do to support the teachers and the student? Our students are suffering emotionally when you compare them to our neighboring districts. They don't have the same struggles that we have here in Pontiac So, the teachers that are here, the staff that is here, they're here because they genuinely care about their kids, these kids. It
ain't for the money. They're getting abused and everything else but what are we doing to support them and to support our kids emotionally? Are are they acting out because they're having a hard time understanding what's going on? Why they acting out? Get to the root of the issue. Mister Garrett extended Olive Branch. To consider that. We need each other. It's a dire need right now and it's all hands on deck to get through this. Mister McFadden is concerned about a charter. What could we do to make our our staff feel safer? What can we do?
Because what we are doing now is not working. I want more than anything for our kids to have the confidence When we release them to the world that they can do anything and be anything that they want to be. It scares me. It frightens me that Judge Bowie will be continued to preside over our kids cases because we didn't do them right when they was here at K through twelve. Why am I here? I'm so defeated. I feel so defeated
As a board member I get blamed first and I'm often the last person to know what's going on in this district. So, I appreciate my relationships with the community because a lot of times, I have to hear stuff from y'all. I don't even know what's going on in the district that I'm fighting for. I hope we can improve the communication and we can get focused back to what's really important which is our student achievement for our kids. Thank you. Alright. Staying on this side of the room. Secretary David Smith. Good
evening everyone. Good evening. Great presentation from ILA. I I was very impressed with that. Um everyone pleading for our city to come out to Rolladium Skating Rink Sunday three to five. Um to support our middle school eighth grade WA Washington DC trip. As well as Bowlathon May 4th from three to 5 PM. We need to support our kids so that they can see something different
besides Pontiac Um I always come on with my closing statements. Um cleat entire city to come together to help in the education of our students. Due to some of the president's executive decisions. It's affecting our urban schools. Like Judge Bowie stated. It starts at home. Our teachers are dealing with emotional and behavior issues before they are able to get the instruction alarming done. We have
students starting school without knowing the basics, alphabets. One, two, three. Or as simple as their first and last names. And I know this because I am a teacher. And this is nationally. This isn't just in our district. With our babies coming in behind with large class classrooms. It is impossible to get the majority of our children proficient. This isn't a teacher or district problem. This is a city problem for us. I have
never moved out of Pontiac because growing up, we all came together when times got tough. It wasn't a northern or central. Go Huskies. It it was It was a Pontiac school issue. Oh, let that one slide. It was Pontiac Schools who was great. We were great. Um going to these conferences, I hear them speaking about us when we were back in the day and it was always great things. We were great. Um
academically as well as in sports. We excelled all over. When my little brother Jerry passed away playing basketball at the age of seventeen, he was six nine and 00 and something pounds. It was this district. It was the whole city that came together to bury my brother. My mom didn't pay a dime. They had to redo his casket because he was a child but he was six nine. And and it was our city
that came together. They shut Pontiac Northern, Central, and the schools down for his funeral. We had they shut the city down for his it took hours for us to get from Trinity church to Paramount. Ours. That was because our city came together for us for a youth, for a student. And I need us to come together again for our children and help with the with the parents with their younger children who who needs help with reading. If
they can't read, they can't do math. And we and I see it every day and it it saddens me because these are this is our future. They are our future. Our staff of sun seen do beyond the call of duty. Feeding our kids, doing our kids' hair, buying clothes, donating so that they can go on different trips and things like that. It's not a whole bunch of we don't have the parent
participation. And that's why our staff comes together to to help out when they can. And that's overseen as well. And I always tell you guys that I am thankful for you because I know what a lot of you do besides just coming in to work Monday through Friday. But the things that you do after work and before work. Cuz I'm seeing you come in to make sure that students stayed in in in clothes are
clean. So that they don't feel awkward in school all day. So I'm just begging our community to come together to help our children. With their educations. As well as together so that our middle school kids can go to Washington DC like I did. And likes a lot of us have because that is memories that that last a lifetime. And so I just want to say goodnight and everybody be safe and love on each other and pray for our city. Our city need prayer as a whole.
But we need y'all for our kids because they are our future. Thank you, Secretary David Smith, Trustee Dooley Good evening. Good evening. Um on a lighter note, we we are the Chiefs. Back in the day, it was called We Are Great. We are super fine. We're the class of 1979. So, we were actually a great and we're still a good good district even now even though we we're facing our challenges and a lot of issues are
arising within the district. In addition, to the cuts that we may experience in the near future. But transparency is at the forefront of my responsibilities. To those seven thousand six hundred and seventeen voters that elected me. I almost forgot that. And I endeavor to make all decisions that support academic achievement. I want us to move from stretch goals to actual performance
goals that will equal proficiency. Proficiency. Proficiency. And what I I'm stressing that because when we talk about meeting these stretch goals all we're saying is that child is meeting the goals projected at that point. The missing piece is Lil Jennifer is in the sixth but she's on the second grade level. So, she's meeting her goals 70%, 80% but it's second grade and Jennifer is going to
the seventh grade. So, now, we still have 5 years that she's missing. So, it's true that the data reflects Jennifer is able to meet those 70%, 80% stretch goals. So, let's get that together. So, we can develop and produce students that can be a contributing, productive citizen. Let us all remember that our roads lead to student achievement.
Student academic success. Every decision, every dollar spent should be able to correlate how it supports student, academic, achievement, and sustainability. And my trustee, she said, let's pray. I say, let's push pray until something happens. What do we want to happen? We want to turn this district around. We want to be at the forefront. We want our students to excel. We want our
students to feel safe. We want our parents to feel safe and good about sending their kids that they're going to return back home the way they send them. That they're going to come back empowered to learn. That they will be able to be globally competitive. Because they have the skills to read, write analytically speak, project, all of that. So, with that, I say we are working together. To my colleagues, I enjoyed our time together at the Q, the Q as well as the convention.
NSBA. NSBA. And then the cube is another portion that talks about urbans, urban boards. So, it was good for us. Hopefully, you guys see that we are working toward represent representing you as a co group that we stand behind what we we've decided as a group and I'll end with this. We were caught by surprise too with those statements that came out about job changes. We do endeavor
to make sure as much as possible that noone is left out here without employment. No one. So, again, we are here for to break present transparency on our issues. We're working closer. Hopefully, to get this information disseminated in a timely manner and again, I appreciate those that elected me and remember that all roads lead to student achievement and with that, I say good night. Thank you, Tristi
Gross. Thank you. Um we are gentlemen, We are ladies. We're the class of 1980. Pontiac Central Chiefs. I got you seventy-nine. One of my favorite movies that I enjoy watching is is called School Days. I don't know how many of you are familiar with School Days. Although entertaining, very entertaining, and it adds stuff about, you know, you guys know what it was. But the most important part of that movie to me was the end. Lawrence Fishburne rang the bell and
he said, wake up. And there was a message sent around the campus, around that city, around the state, around the nation. Based on what's happening federally We gotta wake up. Things aren't the same. I have a very good relationship with our US representative Um and I sent her a text when I saw her on CNN and she was speaking And she was telling the truth. She was speaking the truth. And I said, I'm proud of you. You keep
telling them the truth because the word tells us for the truth will do what? That make you free. That means y'all read the word too. And she sent me a text back immediately. This is Congresswoman Hayley Stevens and she said to me Brother Gross, please continue to pray for us because things are difficult here. And I sent me a message saying how important it is that we stay on task and stay focused Because those people who are in federal government
that are fighting for us is catching hell too. Can't discuss what we talked about in closed session but I can say this. We came out of that room. We made a commitment. The eight of us to continue to work this thing together. Yes, we were surprised but some of the things that occurred and things could have been done differently. I understand that but that doesn't make those who are part of this feel better and I'm here to say to you, we are going to work
extremely hard as we can to ensure that that recommendation. This is not approved. Does not come to fruition in June. We're going to work hard. Because there's some things that we can take a look at. Some things that we may be able to adjust. Even reconsidering change. But it can't get done if we're not working as a team of eight. I say to all of you who received those messages or that message or whatever
the case may be. Do your best. To continue to fight hard and do your job to the best of your ability. You may not hear it all the time You may not be told but what you do is appreciated. You going to hear it today. I know that's not going to change some of the mood and how you feel. But all I ask is that we be patient. Because we just heard today. We just heard earlier today
After all of that fussing and Facebook live in and rooms filled. Ita is going to be made a school. And all we had to do was be patient and wait. But I see the glass half full and never half empty. And without those situations occurring, then maybe the word was not being heard the way it should have been. But I want to say to all of you, we hear you. We understand and we believe. And all I ask is that you be patient
and when I leave this diocese in my deacon role, I'm going to make sure that I pray for this entire district and everybody involved. God bless you all and I'm going to say that. And let's stay together. Alright, thank you Trustee Girls. Treasurer Terry. Is that ready? Yeah, I mean, that's a, that's a lot to follow up. Um, good evening, everybody. Good evening. Um, I guess I started the top regarding the awards in recognitions. Congratulations
again to all my board members. It's, you know, as far as continuing the learning and educate yourself so we can make the best decisions and choices for this district and keep pushing forward. Um, also want to say congratulations to all of the ladies the stem with the twist. Um I wish you the best when you go to your global challenges and do your best out there and continue to make Pontiac proud. Um and represent that Pontiac Middle School if I'm correct. Pine Middle School students? Yes, the Pioneer Middle
School. Um good reports from ILA and SEA. Um I appreciate those reports. Information is always good especially when it's positive. But it's also reflecting on us continue to move forward and make those adjustments. They always find to be necessary to improve things Um also want to say good information on the reimagined phase one. Um obviously this was just recommendation. Um obviously there's going to be more discussions so let's just keep that
in mind as we move forward. Um there was no set date or time that I'm aware of on this one. Um it would just more or less for recommendation and also for discussion. But I do look forward to more details coming in the new future. Um as well I would say overall just listening to all of my my trustees and and the community, the ones that came up, the the public comments. I I would say just listening to everything Um choices. That that's the word I
want to use right now. Choices. Individuals we we all make our own individual choices. Um when you take that and look at the district as a whole. Um there's numbers out there that reflect that we're probably not happy with. I know a lot of us on the board are probably not happy with. We take our wins. We take our losses. Um but there's choices out there. It all can be blamed and pointed at the board and administration staff. But as our teachers and and principals as
well. There there's choices out there that everyone has to make. Um you come to work every day. You have to make a choice. You know, am I going to educate this kid or am I push this kid into the corner? Am I just here to get a paycheck or am I here make that dedication and commitment. So, there's always choices out there. Um as a board member myself, I'm I'm trying to make the best choices I can for this district to continue to push this board forward and this district forward but I also need everyone in this district. If we're
going to be one, let's make the right choices. We can blame anybody. We can point out anything but what choices are we doing to make improvements? Are we making any goals? Are we setting any goals? Are we accomplishing any goals? Are you going into your classrooms? Are you, you know, pushing and encouraging your students? Are you wanting them to be the best? Those are choices also. Or are you just here taking attendance, passing out an iReady. Here's your assignment. Figure it
out. My biggest concern is is also the gradings. The grades. Everyone knows that. But there's choices out there. Are we choosing to hold people accountable? Are we choosing to go in the classrooms and do observations correctly? Are we doing the best thing that we can? Are we putting in that extra overtime? Or if I'm not getting paid, then I'm not staying. There's choices to be made.
Goes as a board member as well. But if we going to move this district forward, I need everybody to take their own accountability of yourself. Yourself. Attendance is important. I'm in total agreement. If the kids aren't there, they can't learn. That's right. But if you making that choice, were you coming to class and you have prepared, ill, prepared, not ready? Aren't giving it students, all the equipment and technology and the
tools and the skills they need to advance, that's a choice too. That's a choice too. A lot of these teachers are in the forefront. You guys are down in the the just the dirt and the grudge. You upfront. You you you're the first ones out there to them kids. But if your choice is oh we're not going to worry about it. Give them something to fight with. But then you don't give them no ammunition. How long you think they going to survive? They not going to
be ready for the real world. For me today, on top of everything else in my trustees that said, choices from the top down, choices. We're making the best choices we can but I need every teacher to step up and make the right choice for those students. All of our students. Not just certain ones. Just not because they're in the program. But all our students. Cuz they struggle. When they come to school and they feel that
they're not loved. And you're not there to show him any love because that's your choice. But they're struggling. They're not getting it at home for whatever reasons. We don't know their circumstances. But just think about that. If they were your kids and they came to your classroom, what choice would you make? What choice would you make? Are you going to give them the best in everything you got? Or you just going to come in there and have step? Oh I'm here today. I'mma put in
my seven and a half hours and I'm out. Oh they not trying to learn it. Well, I don't know. I'll let them try to figure it out. Imma stop right there. But choices. That's my word. Just just choices for the day. Thank you. Thank you. VP Bowman. Good evening everyone. Good evening. This was a splendid meeting. And I'm just urging the community to take a look at the climate that we're creating in this
space. You know we are the school district You know, we do have our children watching us. We we it trickles down. It doesn't come from the bottom up. It comes from the top down. So, we need to be mindful on how we treat each other, how we treat each other with dignity and respect. We are allowed to have disagreements and misunderstandings and arguments but as long as we do it in a dignified manner. Um I'm grateful to be here. I'm grateful to serve this
community. I'm grateful to be a fabric of what this community looks like because I am a product of this place. But I have my reasons to show up and I know that everyone does too. But I hope that we're showing up for the right reasons. And I hope that we continue to show up for this community. There's a divide here. But with continued conversations and collaborations we can work together to tremendous. Our community is in in a peculiar space.
And we have to work together. It's imperative. If there's no IN team and we all need to lift this heavy load together. We have to set the narrative on what it looks like to be a part of this Pontiac family. And learning each other and working together as a as a board. Learning each other. That in itself is a heavy undertaking. Because we're not the same board that we were three months ago. We we are whole new group of people. We need to learn each other. So just like we the board members. We
need to learn each other and learn how to work together. Our community continues to grow and we need to continue to learn to work together. But do it in a dignified manner. We have to change how. This looks. We can't keep doing the same thing expecting different results. I'm grateful for our young people. I'm grateful for the families who choose to come to be a part of this community because you can go anywhere in the world but you choose to be here in Pontiac. Thank you. Thank you to the teachers. Thank you to the staff. Thank you to the students because you can be anywhere
else in the world but you you want to be here with us. And we don't take that lightly. I know I don't take it lightly because it's a choice to be here. So I hope that we can continue to work together and know that this is not the end. It's the beginning of of great things that Pontiac will do. So, sometimes it has to get a little bit ugly in order to to clear out the cobwebs so that we can get on the other side of it. I'm just grateful that we're in a space where we can continue to grow and get on the other side of the
hard parts. So, with that being said, congratulations again to my colleagues. I'm grateful for our students who continue to show up and show out because no matter what is said about Pontiac, no matter where I go in the world, someone always kind of say, Pontiac, I heard of that place. So, I'm grateful. I'm grateful and I just ready to continue the hard work. So, thank you and good night. Thank you, VP Bowman. I am not going to repeat anything,
everything that everybody has been has been said tonight. I do respect and and thank all of you for your well thought out comments and just your compassion and compassion for the school district and I'm thankful for all those that show up at our meeting. So I'm going to leave it at that. If I can get a motion to adjourn this meeting. Support. It has been moved by Trustee Dooley, supported by VP Bowman to adjourn the meeting. Any questions? Roll call. It was
Trustee Miller? Yes. Treasure Terry? Yes. Yes. Yes. Trustee Grove? Yes. President Hannah? Yes. Alright. Meeting is adjourned at 820 PM. Thank you everybody and thank you for those that tuned in. Have a good night.