Good evening and welcome to the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education meeting called to order at 6PM. If everyone would please rise and join with me in the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. This Board of Education regular meeting is a meeting of the board in public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not a public community meeting.
However, we value community input and public comment will be heard under agenda item six. If you wish to speak tonight and have not already filled out a yellow card, they're located on a table near the entrance to the auditorium. Once you've completed the card, please place it in the box on the same table. Please note that cards must be completed prior to speaking, and I'll call the names of those who I have a card for during public comment. I call on my board colleagues to abide by the norms that we've agreed to. These include keeping comments germane to the agenda item, that we don't surprise each other at the board table,
that we have one speaker at a time that's that is recognized by the chair before speaking, to be honest, to refrain from attacking others' motives, and to uphold the chain of command, and to truly listen to each other. On behalf of my board colleagues, we are grateful to be able to serve this community and we appreciate your support. For roll call, all Board members are present with the exception of Trustee LaSanne who is absent with notice. We're now moving on to our agenda. Is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Moved by Trustee Gupta. Is there support?
From Trustee Alspa, is there any discussion on this? All of those in favor of approving the agenda as presented, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. That's a six-zero, vote and the motion is approved. Next, we have the spotlight on success, which will be on our summer learning program. And, mister Russo, who is this going to? Going to mister Zelensky. Good evening, everyone. Thank you for having us. So I'm gonna begin talking about the SLP program or Summer Learning Program and, for those of us old enough to remember, it's a little different than the Mark Harmon pre NCIS Day summer school movie.
Our Summer Learning Program itself has focused a lot on giving students as many opportunities as possible to explore whether it be credit recovery, credit improvement, or credit advancement and so we've got three sessions that are available to students, primarily through seventh and twelfth grade. Sessions one and two are offered both in person and online and our third session is online only. This year, we were lucky enough to have almost all RCS teachers in our program, all but one, and we had an incredible success rate in terms of number of students that enrolled
this year. We had about eight twenty five enrollments this year, which was very, very good and of those eight twenty five enrolled, we had about five seventy being credit advancement. Overall, we had a 99.2% credit recovery rate in terms of either credit advancement, credit improvement, or credit recovery. Those credits were awarded to our students at an incredibly high rate. Next slide. We also branched out this year and we started to explore academic opportunities for high achieving and high ability students,
part of, something that will be coming up later on. In terms of offerings, we had SAT preparatory classes that included math and reading advancement opportunities. We also I'd like to highlight an incredibly successful course, our credit non credit, pardon me, non credit college essay and real world writing job application courses. So what these classes entail are RCS teachers helping students branch out into new avenues of not necessarily getting credit, but looking towards college and career ready. So our college essay class,
for example, gives students an opportunity to work with the teacher one on one. We limit the class to about 10 students and the teacher is going to work with them to write their college recommendation essays and to write their essays for places like Michigan or good schools like Michigan State. And so what's gonna happen is we're gonna have an opportunity for them to have immediate one on one feedback for those essays and be able to feel comfortable as these students now here in the fall are working on their common applications. On top of it, we added a real world writing class where they could work on job applications,
work on interviewing processes, work on their resumes, things like that. So both of those classes were incredibly successful and overall, our non credit courses had over 120 students and, again, we're capping all those classes usually around 10 per session because or excuse me, 10 per class so they have an opportunity to have one on one direct impact with their teachers. Now, we have multiple sessions an opportunity to have one on one direct impact with their teachers. Now we have multiple sessions inside of the session. So for instance, we ran probably nine to 10 of those college essay classes. So that works out very well for us. Alright, please. And we cannot,
move forward without talking about our amazing summer music theater program. It is the fifty first year, and I affectionately call it, as you see there, the all star game of musicals. We've got students from Stony, from Adams, from Rochester, from the middle schools all coming together so, as you can imagine, it is incredibly great to watch but also incredibly difficult for the students to get some of those parts because they're all competing against the best in our district. So it makes for just an amazing set of shows. We had six shows from Wednesday to Sunday, all sold out, all incredibly well received, and
incredibly impressive for these students considering they don't even audition until June 17 and July 21 they're putting on these performances. So with under a month's period of time, they're putting on incredible, incredible shows. And while I cannot tell you what next year's show is, I can comfortably say it will probably be the largest, most attended show that we've ever had based on what, what information I've got from it. So that is for me, and I'll pass it over to middle school in elementary. Thank you. Okay. Cliffhanger. You know, largest, most attended. Moving on to middle school math.
Right? Who wants middle school math in the summer? So my name is Julie Schmidt, and I am the district middle school math instructional coach. And for the past two years, I've been the program coordinator for the middle school math summer program. So the middle school math summer program is open to rising sixth, seventh, and eighth graders with courses designed to support both students in the standard and new this year, all of our accelerated pathways as well. As I mentioned previously, this was only our second year running the program, but enrollment has grown significantly,
nearly tripling from last year with 85 students participating. One of the highlights of the summer is our dynamic teaching team made up of educators from all four middle schools. And this gave students a chance to work with teachers that they know or are about to become familiar with, building strong relationships ahead of the school year. And I've, been in all the middle schools already and they're like, oh, I saw so and so and I saw so and so. So that, excitement is already carrying over into the school year. So the program emphasizes deep mathematical understanding through collaborative problem solving,
exploratory learning, and creating an engaging environment where students build both skills and confidence. So the energy from the summer has sparked a momentum that we're eager to carry throughout the school year and throughout future summers. Thank you. Musical chairs today. Yeah. So good evening. I'm here to speak about regarding several programs. The first being the Middle School Innovation Lab. This program is open to sixth to eighth grade students. And the focus was proposing a solution to a community issue. We had over 38 students participate. And then at the end of this presentation,
they had to then do a community presentation to parents and community members. Some of the activities, the helping bag that you see there, is a backpack that had a blanket, pockets to store different things so that if somebody was transitioning from being temporarily without housing, they'd have this backpack to go with them as they work towards housing. Other students took on tasks of environmental issues. But it's all self directed in eight days and it's led by our dedicated RCS middle school staff. The students come with their ideas and they run with it.
We just have the mentors there to kind of support them with this program. Our fifth year of this program and it continues to grow. The next program is Elementary Summer Academy. This program ran right when school ended, so it was offered to students who would benefit from an extended school year based on data. We had over 200 students in the program. The theme was Michigan, which involved literacy, math, and STEM activities. Students created ponds, lakes. They created they had s'mores one time. Lots of activities going on. And it was a one to 12 ratio,
again with all RCS teachers, and we even had RCS paraeducators supporting some of the classrooms. And then, from this program, we went to elementary summer program. This program was offered for two weeks in July. And by offering it in July, it provided an opportunity for families that if they were in the June program, they could then continue the July program. It wasn't so we were overlapping on our programs, we thought that was important. They also focused on literacy, math, and the STEM focus. This program, teachers, in some cases, team taught, depending on the grade level, and was open to kindergarten through fifth grade.
One of the activities they did in this program was attending Jimmy John's Field, getting a tour behind the scenes as an activity. And they had over 120 students in the program. So the highlight of all our programs are amazing RCS staff who give their time up in the summer to work with our students. Thank you. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Madam President? Trustee Lacouille? Oh, I had a question related to the math for elementary and middle school. I was just thinking about it. Were the programs focused more on remediation or acceleration or were there potentially opportunities for
both? I was just curious. Opportunities for both. So especially with the middle school program, acceleration. But elementary, we had some that were doing some acceleration, some was remediation, or just kind of maintaining skills. I would say, sorry. Yes. So we had both pathways. So whatever course you were going into, there was a course specifically designed, for you with priority concepts that were identified that would set students up for kind of accelerated success right away once they enter. Those concepts were identified using data and from feedback from all of our teachers in
the district. And so we really not only just focused on, just kind of like the drilling of the concepts, but connecting concepts and, problem solving, collaboration, and, just exploratory learning. So we we had students of all walks of, proficiency, and it was a great time. It was a great experience. Alright. Thank you very much. Appreciate that. Agenda item five is communication, and this is where we reference various communications that have been received. Item 5.1 is communications received by the Board. Secretary Blake, will you give us an update,
please? Sure. We received, three email communications, which, are included in the packet and we also received two communications from Nadia Cherub. One regarding mandatory and random drug testing and one regarding the cost of preschool. Thank you. And, now that school is back in session, we have our student representatives, at this first meeting, and they'll be at, each of our the first regular meeting of each month. And, we have representatives from all three of our traditional high schools, ACE and the International Academy.
And we will start with Adams. Libby, if you wanna come up. Good evening, everyone. My name is Libby Schultz, and I'm a senior at Adams High School speaking on our recent events. I hope you all had a great start to your school year. At Adams, we have an incredible and busy start to our year. Our students came back positive and ready to learn. Our student leaders and staff have been hard at work creating a welcoming environment for all students. The following events have made a huge impact on our school so far. Looking at the beginning of our year, we had our Link Crew welcome orientation on August 13, where upperclassmen guided groups of freshmen through a series of activities signifying various amounts of
high school experience. They were able to create connections and get an idea of what high school is before they step foot in the building on the first day of school. On the first Thursday back, we had our senior sunrise where our seniors got excited for the year ahead. Additionally, on September 4, we held senior class meetings where counselors met with all senior students to prepare them for their college and application process and future career paths. On the following day, September 5, class grade level meetings were held. This is where our administration, including principal Swanson, welcome each grade to an hour presentation and activities focused on giving students the information
they need for the upcoming school year. Students were given resources, opportunities, and expectations for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six school year. Now for our upcoming events. On September 11, students will be attending our club fair during all three lunches where all clubs have the opportunity to set up in a stand and provide information about their club to interested students. After a very exciting start to our sport season, we are looking forward to our Gold Rush tailgate on September 19 from four to 7PM, followed by a home game versus Oxford High School. This is our ninth annual Gold Rush.
For anyone who hasn't attended before, it is a memorable event of games, carnivals, animals, and food trucks for all ages. All community members are welcome and encouraged to attend. This year, we are doing our first ever Gold Hush. Still including tailgate activities, we will be having a sensory area for all students with sensory issues to help them with containing their overstimulation while also allowing them to enjoy the day. Additionally, on September 20, our marching band students will be attending the Marching Band Festival at Adams at 7PM. Our three high school bands will be performing at this annual festival.
We wish all of our students very good luck. Looking ahead to October, our student council is hard at work planning our homecoming festivities. Our pep assembly is on October 10, followed by a home game against Lake Orion High School. And our students are getting ready for our homecoming dance on October 11 with the theme, a night in Vegas. Those are all of our recent events at Adams. I look forward to seeing you all at our next meeting. Thank you so much. Good evening, Rochester Community Schools board members. My name is Grace Colucci. I'm a senior, and I will be this year's board representative for Rochester High School. To open the school year,
RHS made it a priority to host a few events to best prepare our students and staff for this upcoming year. First, RHS staff hosted a PD day where they covered and brainstormed many goals for this upcoming year. A few highlights, we're continuing to provide many SAT and PSAT resources to students, encouraging a suitable academic rigor for students while also teaching them how to balance and manage coursework and reviewing reviewing our artificial intelligence intelligence policy. RHS also hosted a freshman orientation August 13 to introduce freshmen to the new school and to each other.
A special thanks to Link Crew, band, cheerleaders, and staff for giving a warm welcome to our freshmen. We're very excited to see what the next four years brings to them. Next, on our first official day of school, we hosted one of our favorite senior traditions, senior sunrise, to kick off the last first day of school and to reunite as a class before the school year starts. On the first day, we also had cheer, band, and football at the main entrance of the building to welcome students as they enter the building to showcase our school spirit and ease any nerves. In accordance with school spirit, on August 29, RHS held class grade level meetings to review expectations,
policies, and important information for this year. These meetings were also an opportunity for key figures and admin to introduce themselves and their role to RHS. Seniors also met to talk about post high school plans with their counselors, which was really helpful. The counselors introduced us to the components of a college application or the after school after high school planning process. And starting this week, counselors are offering small group sessions to further assist students in their post high school plans. Rochester also has a new SXI program for individuals with severe multiple impairments. Our school our students and peer mentors have done an amazing job welcoming our new
students to the school. Along with the new year comes new opportunities to get involved at Rochester as well. RHS is hosting a club fair on September 12 to help showcase every club at RHS. Clubs such as eSports, Feds, and honor societies will be there. Auditions for the upcoming musical White Christmas are occurring September. Students are very eager and excited to be work begin working on this unique musical. Curriculum night will also be occurring on September 10 to give parents an opportunity to communicate with teachers about this upcoming year. Many of our fall sports programs have had an amazing start to the season as
well. The Rochester girls swim and dive team along with Adams and Sodi Stoney had their first try high meet. We raised a lot of money that is going towards the Katie Gittner Foundation this year. We also had state qualifiers at our first meet for the 200 medley relay. Great job, girls. Tennis has also had an amazing start to the season, winning their first league match against Berkeley. Congratulations to Anderson for winning the first single state player of the state. Rochester High School's first and finest have also been working hard to prepare for their upcoming band festival on September 20. Rochester High School's football team also beat Frazier 34 to zero at their first away
game. Way to go, Falcons. Lastly, RHS is hosting one of our biggest events of the year, Falcon Frenzy. This is an annual tailgate taking place September 12 before our game against Lake Orion. There will be family activities, food trucks, music, and many more. To conclude, I would like to give a few shout outs to some special people at RHS that make our building a better place. Rochester High School would like to welcome sergeant Dan Procher to the Falcon family. Sergeant Procher will serve as the RHS school resource officer. And a special thanks to miss Karen Mulberry and the RCE team for installing an
apprenticeship wall by the counseling office. This is a helpful tool for students interested in learning more about the skilled trades and other jobs That's all for today's report. Thank you for your time and attention. Have a great night. Hello, everyone. My name is Karina Morfin Munoz, and I'm a senior at Stony Creek High School. I'm so happy to be here tonight to share some of the exciting things that have been happening at our school. It has only been a few weeks, but we've already packed in a lot. Before the school year even began, we wanted to make sure everyone felt welcome. On August 20, we hosted our open house where students and families were able to meet teachers,
explore the building, and get ready for the year ahead. Just a couple of days later, on August 22, Flint Crew held our freshman orientation. Upperclassmen guided the new ninth graders through activities to help them adjust, make connections, and feel comfortable before their very first day. It really set the tone for a smooth and welcoming start. When the school year officially kicked off, our teachers had already spent a week preparing for our students. On the first day, we had our Cougar kickoff. We watched welcome videos in our classes covering expectations, Stony Creek's core values, and club opportunities. And later in the day,
the whole school gathered for an assembly to celebrate being back together as a school community. For seniors, we had our senior sunrise on August 28. We met bright and early, shared cider and donuts, and enjoyed one of those special last firsts. What made it even better was how creative everyone was with their outfits. It was such a special way to start off our senior year. We've also had our grade level meetings, where administrators reviewed expectations and opportunities for each class. Seniors have also begun meeting with their counselors for college planning, helping us feel prepared for what's ahead. In athletics, Stony Creek is off to an impressive start.
All three of our football teams won their games against Cozumel, and JV and varsity teams won against Lake Orion. Our volleyball team opened their season strong with wins against Grand Blake and North Farmington. And at the try high meet, which was an amazing way to honor staff member Katie Gittner, our girls swim and dive team took first place, beating both Adams and Rochester. Outside of sports, our arts community is thriving too. The Stony Creek Theater Company recently announced their fall play, Pride and Prejudice. Auditions are this Thursday and Friday, and we can't wait to see everything come to life on stage. Looking ahead,
we have some big events right around the corner. On September 19, we'll be hosting Celebration at the Creek from 04:30 to 7PM. This is a community wide event, and everyone is welcome to come enjoy food, fun, and entertainment. That same evening is our youth football game, where we'll be welcoming our feeder schools. It's always a great moment seeing future cougars get excited about being a part of Stony. And of course, October means homecoming. Our pep assembly and football game will take place on October 3, and the dance will follow on October 4. This year's theme is Viva La Hoco,
a Las Vegas Homecoming. Student council and staff have been hard at work to make this year's celebration bigger and better than ever, and we can't wait to share it with our student body. It's been such an eventful and positive start to the year already, from academics to athletics to arts and school wide traditions. There's a real sense of community and cougar pride at Stony Creek. That's all from me. Thank you so much for your time, and I hope you have a wonderful rest of your evening. Good evening, members of the Rochester School Board, Cabinet, and Community. My name is Nanny Lee, and I'm a senior at ACE High School. As we begin this new school year,
I'd like to give the students perspective on the new and exciting things happening at ACE and across the district. During the week of August 18, teachers across the district participated in professional development. Each school began by reviewing important safety and security protocols. Developing strategies to support student success and following and allowing teachers time to prepare their classrooms for the new year. On Wednesday, all district staff came together to learn about new technology tools designed for the twenty first century learners. They were introduced to updated Google tools including Google Education Suite and received training on
how to effectively and responsibly integrate AI in the classroom instruction. At ACE, staff also learned how to learn from local community outreach programs that will provide valuable support and to students this year. Next, I'd like to spend a minute talking about what I'm most excited for this year. When I first walked into ACE last year, I didn't know what to expect. I was a senior I was a new student to the district, and I wanted a smaller environment from the 18,000 person high schools. I assumed ACE would be overwhelming and chaotic,
but instead I found a place where I felt instantly supported. The environment at ACE was incredibly welcoming and one of the things that stood out the most to me was the strong one on one connection with students and staff. It's a place where students are truly seen and heard. As I walk through the halls, I see school spirit everywhere. Our student biology is so diverse but also so connected. I go to school with football. Football players from Rochester, wrestlers from Adams, and swimmers from Stoney Creek. It's so cool to be part of a school where students come from different places
or are united by the same sense of pride. This year, I've been able to meet all new students that have transferred from ACE and cannot wait to meet others who wanna be home in the home of the Bulldogs. Now as a senior, I'm really excited for the school year ACE. ACE is a place that values relationships, integrity, and mental health. Those are values that have made a huge difference in my high school experience. I'm also proud to be part of our newly formed student council and looking forward to collaborating with other schools on events like homecoming and charity week. We also have our Michigan State versus Michigan tailgate with some peer to peer activities
from our friends at ATPS. I know this year will be full of fun opportunities for growth and leadership and connections. I'm so proud to be part of the family we have here at ACE and be our board representative for the twenty twenty five twenty twenty six school year. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. My name is Alexia Boda and I'm a senior and will be this year's board representative for International Academy I'm here to talk about everything that has been going on at IAE since school started. I hope everyone has had a great summer and start to the school year. I know everyone at IAE was super ready to learn and excited to see their favorite teachers again. To start off the school year,
we had our peer course training on August and prepared to host all of the incoming freshmen for a summer orientation. The freshmen came into the building the next day on August 18 to get to learn more about their classes, the community at IA, and get to walk around and get to know the building. It was also a chance for everyone to meet and make new friends since we all come from different districts. On August 20, we had our first day of school and our senior sunrise. This helped the seniors get ready for the school year. Everyone was super excited and came with kickbackpacks and decorated cards. During the first week of school, we had a morning seminar schedule where each class is shortened by ten minutes,
and we go into our specific assigned rooms and do different things specific to what's happening that month or learn about new things going on at the school. During that specific seminar, teachers went over the code of conduct and reminded students of the school of the rules at the school. All of last week, counselors came into the senior core classes to help seniors with the college application process and show them how to connect college board and score, and it was a chance for seniors to ask questions. Last Friday, we had a morning seminar scheduled and held our club fair where all of our clubs set up a poster and got to present their club to all of the
students. We even had a music club that played music on electric guitars the whole time. It was really good, so good job to them. That same day, we held our annual Welcome Back Dance at Bowers Farm, which is up the road from IA. Many people showed up as it is a very fun and exciting event. It is also used as a fundraiser for our school. Tomorrow, we will have another seminar scheduled so seniors can meet with their extended essay supervisors, which is a 4,000 word research paper required for the IB diploma, and make sure that they are on track and ask any questions that they may have. Also, in our senior core classes,
teachers have been given students time to work on their EEs, since it is due at the end of the month. Coming up on 09/26/2006, we will have our annual Olympics where each grade competes against each other in different sports and games. We even have events for all the artistic students, like mural and banner design and hallway decorating. That's everything that's been happening in at IA, and I look forward to our next meeting. Thank you for your time. Thank you all of you for coming tonight. We appreciate getting those updates. I've missed them over the summer. So we will see you next month. Thank you very much.
Agenda item 5.3 is the section where members of the board of ed share communications that were sent directly to them and were not sent to the full board. Did any board member receive communication from the public? Trustee Alspa? I received two communications, one from miss Haack thanking us for listening, and thanking Trustee Ennis with me about going to the mosque and hearing our students advocate for Eid. I also, I don't know if you guys remember, last meeting, we had a student who came. I was very impressed that Fadil sent me a very nice note thanking us and
thanking us for listening to him. Anyone else? I had, received, I believe, those same communications that, trustee Alspa had just, mentioned, and they talked about, inclusivity of diverse traditions and the recognition of Eid in the RCS calendar. I received an email from Laurie Bombard regarding the salary schedule, Angelique Miller Burrell from the Ennis Center regarding foster care opportunities. Alright. If no one else has anything else, then we are moving on to, item six, which is public comment. And this is an opportunity for the board to hear from our community members.
If you haven't already filled out a yellow card, please do so at this time. I do have several in front of me right now. When your name is called, please move to the microphone and address the board. When addressing the board, you'll have three minutes to speak and I'll try to let you know when you have thirty seconds remaining. Please be mindful of this time limit. When addressing the board, please state your name and your relationship to the district. To protect student privacy, we ask that no one identify a specific student without their permission, even if the student's name is not being used. We also ask that you address your comments to the entire board and not to
individual board members, school district employees, or to members of the audience. The board will not be responding to comments or questions during the meeting. However, someone will follow-up if needed. At this time, I have Priya Dinda followed by Stephanie Van Dale and Liz Schreck. Good evening. My name is Priya Dinda. I'm a freshman, and this is my third year in the Chinese program. I'm currently taking Chinese three at Stony Creek, and I travel from Adams every day. My class is Chinese three, four, and AP students.
There are over 40 people in one class. Learning is virtually impossible with three different levels trying to learn in one room. Admin reassured us it wouldn't be a large class, and yet it is. There is little to no communication with the students. I wasn't even sure if the program would continue this year until I got my schedule. I understand it would be difficult to change the class this semester, but I hope you would consider offering two classes in order to allow us a fair opportunity to learn, just like the other foreign languages.
Thank you. Thank you. Stephanie Van Dale followed by Liz Schreck followed by, Patty Monk. Good evening. My name is Stephanie Van Dale, rhymes with whale. And, I'm a taxpayer in the district. Don't forget, Barb, every single time you touch that emoji Please address everything to the board. I'll address whatever I want to address, Michelle. So the phrase, fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That phrase means a lot when it comes to mold.
So we have yet another elementary in this district that has a mold issue. Are we gonna spend six plus odd years trying to figure out where everything moldy comes from? Or are we gonna nip this in the bud and fix the school that currently has the mold? I'm sure that there's a bunch of Longmeadow parents that are really mad about this happening again. Are you gonna shift money to, take care of this?
Are you actually going to get the money from the right place, from facilities, and get it budgeted out? How mad? What are you gonna do? So, I'd like to say that this mold issue needs to be resolved quickly. And those little love notes that you've been sending out, Russo, they don't give all the detail that parents want. I suggest that you answer Kelly's questions, all of them, so that this can be put to bed. Because we've been through it once under that fabulous great guy that you guys paid
out almost a million dollars to. Yeah. Bob Shaner, that you guys can't even release the records on. So, yeah, I think it's time that all of that, all of the transparency happens. You guys approved for the records to be released. Do it. So there's a lot of kids that are looking for the adults to step up, and all of them that need to step up are out there on that stage. So do it.
Take care of the mold of Delta Kelly. Release the records of everything regarding Bob Schaner and his almost million dollar payout. And this is where you can earn your $55,000, Russo. I'm done. Have a fabulous night. Thank you. Liz Schreck followed by Patty Monk followed by, Judith Monti. Good evening. I'm Liz Schreck. I am the president of the Rochester Education Association. I'm here tonight to speak about two interconnected items on your agenda.
First, you'll be considering changes to the appendix b portion of the REA collective bargaining agreement, which covers our athletic coaches, performing arts directors, and club sponsors. While our members dedicated countless hours to this effort, the resulting agreement reached by the contract maintenance committee did not achieve the comprehensive changes we had hoped for. The reality is that compensation for these vital roles in Rochester remains lower than our nearby districts, and we believe there's significant work still to be done. We look forward to making further progress the next time we're at the bargaining table.
This leads me to the second item on your agenda, the resolution to protect the school aid fund and pass a timely K-twelve budget. The lack of a state budget has directly affected the REA and RCS's ability to address the needs identified in our appendix B discussions. Our hardworking coaches, sponsors, and directors are negatively impacted by the fact that the state has not fulfilled its responsibility to pass a budget. Michigan students, families, and educators deserve an education budget that invests in our kids' futures and makes our
state a national leader in k 12 education. Our state still ranks at the bottom half of the nation in per student funding. This is unacceptable, and we urge lawmakers to work together to pass a budget that invests every dollar possible towards ensuring every student has the opportunity to succeed. The REA strongly urges the board to pass the resolution tonight. The consequences of a missed state aid payment in October would cause real harm to our district and to everyone who works here. Through collective bargaining, the REA and RCS continue to solve issues facing our schools, but a late budget severely hinders our efforts.
Facing our schools, but a late budget severely hinders our efforts. Our students, our staff, and our community deserve legislators who take their jobs seriously and uphold the right for every child to have access to the resources and support they need, including school meals, mental health supports, and special education funding. The REA asks you to pass this resolution and use your collective voice to directly engage with our legislators. Tell them you support a quality, timely budget that puts our students first. Thank you. Thank you. Patty Monk followed by,
Judy Judith Monti and then, Jennifer Jennifer Ray. Good evening. My name is Judith Monti. I'm actually here with my son, Monti Casperi. We're on the same the same card. I'm the parent of a student enrolled at Stoney Creek High School and also Julie enrolled at home. That's Monty. I'm here tonight to urge the board to correct a position that has prevented Monty from participating in athletics. Although he is working toward a high school diploma, he has been declared ineligible to participate in sports because the district has declined to evaluate his coursework toward graduation.
Yet, under MHSAA rules, homeschool and dual enrolled students remain eligible even if they take up to 100% of their courses at home. The only requirement is that the school establish an academic reporting mechanism and verify progress equal to a full credit load. BEMHSAA handbook states the two schools may set up the academic reporting procedures that suit them so long as they meet the minimum requirement of providing academic progress reports at least every ten weeks. Eligibility does not seem to be the issue.
It's the district's unwillingness to adopt a procedure that is. By declining to use this option, Rochester has created a two tier system so students on the traditional diploma path may play sports while those following the equally valid homeschool or dual enrollment path explicitly recognized by the MHSAA, they're excluded. And that feels very inequitable and also just unnecessary. This is especially challenging for families like mine. My daughter, Astrid, has a significant medical need that requires us to travel often during the school year,
sometimes for several weeks at a time. The traditional year round classroom just isn't possible for us for those reasons. And so dual enrollment allows my son to stay on track academically and remain part of his high school community. And athletics really are a vital part of that for us. I respectfully urge the board to direct administration to align Rochester's policy with MHSA guidance and to designate a point person to meet with us before the next board meeting to work through a reporting mechanism. Thank you for your time and considering a change that would ensure fairness and opportunity
for my son and for other Rochester students who may face similar circumstances. Monty, I don't know if he I'd like him to just give us you his perspective too just for a minute if that's okay. One moment. Good evening, everyone. I'm Monte Gasparri. So I'm dually enrolled at home in Stony Creek. I don't learn well online. And with my sister's medical travel, I would know I would fall behind in traditional classrooms. That's why my family and I worked hard to build a path where I could take AP classes and pursue subjects I'm passionate about while staying connected to my school.
But even though the MHSA rules say that students like me should be eligible, I've been told that I can't play sports for Stony Creek because the district has not set up a reporting system. I'm asking you to choose fairness and give me and others like me the same opportunity as every other student to compete for our school. The hardest part for me is that I want to wear my school's jersey, play alongside my classmates, and represent my community. I'm asking you to please help me so other students like me aren't left out for reasons we can't control.
Thank you. And I apologize. Did you say is there is there a Patty Monty or Monk here? It's hard for me to follow. They're so passionate. That's my daughter and my grandson. They I've been watching them their whole life. My two daughters, who have always been part of Rochester schools. Monte was, a varsity tennis player. He's an excellent player. He did try out for Stony Creek. We were under the impression he was going to play. He beat most of the kids on the team. And at the last minute he was told, no, that the school board or the school wasn't allowing him to play.
And I just hope that you'll allow him because three of the kids are graduating on the varsity tennis team and they're gonna need him and hopefully you'll, see what you can do. I have friends at Troy and they're doing the same. They're able to do sports and they're able to homeschool and just as long as they're enrolled in this school at Troy High School. So hopefully, you'll see what you can do for my family. Thank you. Thank you. And then, is it Jennifer Ray? I'm not sure I can read the last name. Hi. Good evening.
My name is Jennifer Ray, and I am a parent and a school like, I live in the Rochester school district, although my kids did not graduate from the school. So my, I understand the importance of athletics. And being like an athlete myself, and I feel like Monty should be allowed to participate, especially as a homeschooled student, to get that kind of wide breadth of fellowship among the other students as a, you know, and do it through athletics.
So, I understand that there needs to be some kind of school approval of his classwork. But I feel like maybe that venue could be worked. And I think it would be beneficial not only to him, but as Judith said, other kids that may be in the same situation. So I just hope that, his participation will be considered and his schoolwork will be evaluated so that he can do it. So thank you. That's all I have to say. Thank you. That completes the yellow cards that I have.
We are now moving on to agenda item seven, which is our consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine in nature by the board and will be acted upon by one motion. There's no separate discussion of these items. If any member of the board requests discussion of an item, that item will be removed. Please note that the item removed will now be discussed separately under the consent agenda and will retain the same number. For instance, if item 7.1 was asked to be removed, we would vote on item seven point two and seven point three, and then come back to 7.1
for a motion discussion and vote. You may still request just one item in a report to be removed from the consent agenda. If this is the case, we would approve everything else, and the item removed from the report would be would receive a new number. In this case, it'd be 7.4, but still under the consent agenda. Our consent agenda today consists of item 7.1, the human resource recommendation. Item 7.2, board of Education regular meeting minutes from 08/18/2025. And item 7.3, the renaming of March to the RCS Early Childhood Education Center.
Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Moved by trustee Annas with support from trustee Gupta. Does any board member wish to remove an item? Madam President. Trustee Lacui? 7.3. Alright. So item 7.3 will be removed, so we are voting on seven point one and seven point two. Those in favor of approving seven point one and seven point two, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. That's a six o vote,
and those items have been approved. Can I get a motion to approve item 7.3? So moved. Moved by was that trustee Annas? With support again from trustee Gupta and then, trustee Lacui, did you wish to ask a question or make a comment? I was wondering, why this is needed. I believe this is the Caring Steps Building. Right? Mister Russo, did you wish to answer that? Yes. It is the Caring Steps Building. Are you asking why it's needed? I don't know. I'm just wondering what problem we're trying to solve with this particular initiative.
I can speak to it a little and then I'll turn it over to miss Hampton. The the idea of caring steps when it opened was that it was a childcare, and the intent was childcare. Now it's moving into more of a preschool setting, that's in that's more pre k three and four year olds. And so, making the name reflect what's actually going on in the building was the impetus for that. Miss Hampton, would you like to add anything? Okay. I guess I'm wondering if the renaming is approved, is are there other costs that are associated for changing the signage of it or reprinting materials or updating websites or digital branding or anything like that?
So in terms of, I can turn over mister McDaniel if I know this is wrong, but, in terms of renaming something and anything that's updating on the websites, we do that internally. So, there's no cost there. There shouldn't be any cost in terms of changing any letterhead, etcetera. That's all digitally done through in internally. The sign out front, mister McDaniel, would you like to address? Yeah. I don't have a a quote on the cost, but there would be a cost to replace the sign. Okay. Have you considered just keeping the same name but adding a program description? Because I mean, I don't see why the name change is really needed.
Caring steps could apply to I mean, it's it's vague enough that it could apply to early childhood. It could apply to day care. It could apply either way. Yeah. As I said, I think the impetus for this was to reflect what's actually happening there instead of a childcare center to make it more of a, educational based center. Did anyone else have a comment or wish to speak? Okay. I'll just say one quick thing to explain. I'm I'm gonna just vote against this particular initiative because I don't really see a huge reason for it. The cost of replacing the sign, I'm sure isn't a huge amount,
but, when you compare it to our overall budget, but considering that we're in a budget deficit, it's a project we passed a deficit budget last year, we projected another deficit budget this year. I just don't think it's responsible to add unnecessary spending. Alright. All of those in favor of approving item 7.3, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, please say no. No. That's a five one vote, and the motion is approved. Now we are moving on to reports. We just have one this evening, the superintendent's update. Mister Russo? Thank you, madam president.
So I have four I have five things to discuss in in the superintendent's report. The first will be an update from SPCC. Mister Jerry Murphy? Yes. Thank you. Good evening, everyone. SPCC, the superintendent's policy and curriculum committee, met on the August 27. Essentially, we met to review the annual fall update recommendations from Miller Johnson, our policy service provider. Some of those, discussions led to action items that you'll see coming up tonight, including the, 4,003 policy recommendation change. Some of the administrative regulations that were provided in your,
board update last week were a result of that as well, And then some additional, administrative regulation updates, from mister McDaniel that came as a part of that. We continue to discuss the, Health Advisory Board discussion, and I believe there was a consensus within that group to move forward with the, policy recommendation. But because the administrative regulations weren't ready yet and we're still under review, we're holding off on that. So those can come to, to the board together. Any questions on SBCC? Thank you.
Mister McDaniel, an update for enrollment. Yes. Thank you, mister Russo. Yes. As of, today, we are, at 14,307 students. That's TK through 12. I wanna be clear that this is not all the FTE that we're paid on. This is just our TK through 12 enrollment. That is down 39 compared to the predictive enrollment, analytics, projections. I also wanna note that with one change, in our secondary school, the RCS virtual campus moving to Virtual Learning Academy Consortium, VLAC, that has also led to a change that's a little bit different than it was
last year. Last year, those students would have been in this number. This year, because they're at VLAC, that's not included. So I believe and mister Cusimano may have a, more recent update than I. I believe we have, over 40 students as part of VLAC, that aren't included in that number. So there's some nuance. I wanna make sure that the board understands that this isn't an apples to apples comparison because there's been a slight change with how we handle virtual campus. Thank you. I just have one question on that. Does this include all gen ed and special education students in TK through 12?
I don't believe it would include all special education students. I think this is closer to Just our Gen Ed numbers. So I believe our total FTE was about 14,000, almost 800 last year, and this is about fourteen three. So account day is October 1, I believe, if I got that right. I think it's the first, yeah, October 1. So, you know, shortly within the next thirty days after that, so in early November, we'll have a much better idea of what count we're submitting, for FTE, to Oakland Schools for audit and for review. And then that'll start the,
section 25 e process where, we can either gain FTE because students are coming into Rochester or will lose FTE if they're leaving Rochester. And, you know, once that process starts, it doesn't end until February. But 90% of our state aid, unless there's a change with the budget, right now it's 90%. Historically, it's been 90%. We'll have a better idea, once we submit those reports in November. Trustee Blake? So you said that this is down 39, I think you said, from projections. So does that mean it's down more than that from last year,
but does that mean that the projections that we used when we did the budget that this is 39% less than that? Yes. Than the, Predictive Enrollment Analytics Report. Thank you, mister McDaniel. Legislative update. I just wanna make the community aware and our board members aware that I I know most of you are, that there is still not a state, budget that has been that has been decided upon and presented to us. Just as a reminder, if you've seen the video or seen most most of the news this week this weekend in the state of Michigan was surrounding this, There is,
a potential that if it goes past, September 30 and there is no budget, that it would impact, our ability well, it would impact the in every district in Michigan's ability to do payroll, potentially because that's up in in Rochester. We're talking about $15,600,000 as an estimation that would not be provided from, our first payment in our state aid our state aid budget. So, that that piece is something that we continue to monitor and request that it moves fast and swift through through our legislature. I I was gonna thank our, board members and community members at the end on this,
but those who have written or called into our state legislators, I appreciate your advocacy. I know that I am in constant contact with them in trying to, get them to see the sense of urgency of creating a state budget for us. And secondly, in terms of legislation, cell phone bill looks like it doesn't have a lot of movement right now, although it started off where we thought we would get something, like many other states have have adopted. It looks like this is really not taking any steps or movement inside the state legislature. So, we are going to take a look at what other school districts are doing and
put it through our process of looking at it through SPCC and, seeing if there's something that we want to adopt or not adopt in preparation for what might come from the state. With that, mister Staber, I'm going to introduce mister Scott Staber. He is, the owner and environmental expert from Arch whom we used to to help with the the mold mold spores consideration at Delta Kelly. I've asked mister Staber to be here to answer any questions, kinda present what he, found and what the process was and then to answer any questions that the board
of education might have. Mr. Staber. Thank you. Pleasure being here this evening. Thank you. I did, spend a few years in the community. I had some stepchildren that, went to West and graduated from Adams. So, it's good to be back. I don't currently live here, but it was a great time when I was here. So, yes, I was, contacted, by the facilities to come in and do some, follow-up, investigation work. Delta Kelly, first first time ever at Delta Kelly. And, we we did a couple different things. We did some follow-up sampling, followed by some investigation work while we were there as well.
But I think I'll leave it at that because maybe you might have some questions unless you want to get me unless you want me to get deep into that right now, but I doubt you do. Trustee Gupta? I guess I'll just ask the big question upfront. Do you feel confident that, our students and our staff are safe there and from any sort of mold issues? So safe is, always a weird word, right? In the environmental world, most things are actually pretty black and white. Not to make any references to mold, but, most government regulations. So,
I'm in the environmental science field. We're an environmental consultant and testing company, but we're also a, what I like to call environmental compliance. In other words, we we help school districts, businesses, industry, hospitals, stay in compliance with environmental regulations. So, I would rather put it this way. I do have, a daughter who is a school teacher and actually a first grade school teacher. I would feel very confident having her work at Delta Kelly Elementary School. I would have my kids go to school there.
I'd have my grandkids go to school there. That's the best way for me to address, how I feel about the safety of the school. Now if you want some specifics about testing or anything like that, I'd be happy to, address them. Trustee Blake? Can can I have a number of questions, but can you tell us, like, in layman's terms, what did you discover? What were the results of your testing? Yeah. Absolutely. Okay. So I I as I stated at the beginning, I did a follow-up investigation. So another company had already been here. And, what they did is,
they did a they did some mold testing following a water intrusion in a classroom. Okay. As I just explained a minute ago, there maybe I maybe actually I didn't. There are no hard fast government regulations for mold. It's not like, I'll just throw one out there. One that's very prominent these days in schools is drinking water. Lead in drinking water. They tell you in lead in drinking water this is safe, this is safe, this is safe, and they give you the different levels. And they give you these,
you know, markers by which they want you to be below, typically. MOLSA is not like that. The government has not come out with regulations that say you can't have this, you can't do that. But they do have, they do have regulations they do have guidelines on what they'd like you to do. And so what we do in those kind of cases, is we follow industry standards. So this previous company, that's what they did. There was a water intrusion. Rochester Schools was being proactive. They took care of the water leak, and then they took care of any wet materials,
to the best of my knowledge. Correct me if I'm wrong. And then, what they did is they did a they did sampling afterwards in the room where the water leak was. And because there are no regulations that say what is safe, which is why I don't like to use the word safe for mold, what they do is they take a comparison sample in a room where there is no concern and then they usually take one outside. And that's what they did. But in the comparison room is where they found, I believe four stachybotrys mold spores. And that's where this all,
went after that. It was Okay, well we have stachybotrys spores, which we all know in the media they have labeled as black mold. Keeping in mind that many, many different molds are black in color. But they did get that, that word attached to it. So, anyways, sometime later, I think a very short time later, I came in as a second opinion, so to speak, or a second look. In the meantime, between when that company did sampling and when I did sampling, or when my company did sampling, in the room where the stachybotrysporas were found,
a different party was hired to come in and do mitigation. So, mitigation meaning that they cleaned, the room, they cleaned the horizontal surfaces, they, probably put down a biocide of some sort, and, cleaned the air, scrubbed the air. They themselves, probably looked for any kind of indication of that. So then I came in. And then I did my own sampling in that room and then I did sampling in a lot of other rooms and the other company did sampling in a bunch of other rooms. So, at the end of the day, we did a lot of sampling in a whole lot of rooms.
What I found I can I'll just be, you know, frank in what I found is that I didn't find any water intrusions. It's very important to know that mold is not going to grow unless it has food and water. Now, every one of your buildings and every one of our homes has food and water. Well, has food. Let's put it that way. We all have cellulose like projects, products that mold likes to grow on. Remember, mold is just like all of us sitting here at the table. Probably when we're done at the meeting here, we're all going to go eat dinner.
So we need food to stay alive. But we also need water, which you have right there. Mold needs the same thing. If you don't have water, it's not going to live. It's not going to live for very long. Which is why I'm guessing I've never done any mold work for Rochester schools before. I'm guessing that's why they were extremely proactive, in their decision to take out, to fix the water leak that was in that one classroom, remediate or remove the wet ceiling tile because it's not going to grow immediately,
and then to take some samples. And that company and my own company followed industry standard on our sampling protocols. And anyways, to go on further to my sampling, I didn't find any mold spores, during my, sampling. Some mold spores outside of course. And, I didn't find any stachybotrys spores. And more importantly, or the most important, one thing that you need our best examination of whether you have a mold problem or not is our eyes. Do we see mold? Right? Because it would be pretty clear if there's mold. And mold has a specific look,
not just a specific color because there's many different color molds. There's red, green, purple, blue, pink, all kinds of mold colors. But our investigation didn't find any water intrusions. I didn't find any visual signs of mold. I didn't find any visual signs of water leaks. And my sampling did not find anything, of concern. On top of that, you do have something that I I work in a lot of school districts. I have not seen a school before that has HEPA filters in each classroom the way that you do. I don't know if that's a Delta Kelly thing or a district wide thing,
but, that's pretty awesome. I'd like to have that. In all the school districts that I work in. I went to mechanical rooms. I went to fan units. I didn't see any. In my thirty five years of doing mold, I did not see anything that indicates a mold problem. Granted, he did find those stachybiosis spores. That can be, that can be an indication that maybe there is mold growing or maybe there was. But that room, and the only room that it was found in, was cleaned. The air was cleaned. The room was cleaned. And more sampling was done to,
be to give, you know, indication of what the room, is like now. Boy, that was a long explanation. I'm sorry. Trustee Lacui? In our communications, there was a parent who listed a lot of stuff in a letter. She's a parent from Delta Kelly and I was she put in there some concerning pictures of ceiling tiles and paper and books and insulation, and it sounds like carpet was an issue. And I was wondering, were did you see those pictures and did they come from Delta Kelly? And I was curious about some of her questions, like how porous materials were handled or why or whether air purifiers could have skewed
the results because she said there were 29 air purifiers running while the testing was occurring and things like that. Well, I did just say that we have these HEPA units in each classroom, which is like I mean, why wouldn't you want that? I mean, it's awesome, because they they will take care of well, heck, they'll take care of HEPA filters are what they use on asbestos projects because the asbestos fibers are so small. Mold is much, much bigger. So Well, I think it's great. While the testing was occurring like, she was concerned that while that might be good to have going on on a
regular basis, she was concerned that the air purifiers could be blowing things around, which would mess up the testing in some sort of way? If anything, it would put it in the air. Okay. So, I I I don't believe that that's the case. Okay. That's true. And, ventilation systems are running all the time when when we're doing testing. So, again, if anything, it maybe put more in the air. Even when I was doing testing, there was some vacuuming going on and that would put stuff in the air as well. Your other question was? How the porous material was handled and cleaned?
I don't know. I wasn't involved at that time. But I just know that the company that came in and did, the mitigation, I know of them. They're a good reputable company. So, I would imagine that they, did everything on their side. I'm not a remediation firm, that they followed, you know, industry standards and recommended guidelines. As far as, poor services, you have a lot of hard surfaces actually in this school. When I walked in, I was a little I shouldn't be surprised. I mean, if you look right over here, you have cinder block walls.
And that's what Delta Kelly is, pretty much cinder block walls. I'm not saying that there isn't drywall because I did see drywall in there. And I looked at the drywall, you know, in this room where there was the problem, and I didn't see any kind of indication of mold. But a stacky buttress, black mold, loves drywall. It doesn't love brick. It doesn't even really love carpet. It does love ceiling tiles, which you do have. I did see the pictures. That was your other question. I saw the pictures of the fiberglass. Now, they were social media pictures, so they were kinda hard for me to I mean,
I wasn't right there. Whether that came out of Delta Kelly or not, I could probably find, dirty fiberglass in maybe all of your buildings and every building in every school district in the state of Michigan. Because you see, what happens is we're getting our our ventilation is being poured into the rooms, right? If you look at this especially if you look at Delta Kelly because they have these really, really porous ceiling tiles there. They're really, really rigid. They're not very smooth. So when, the air comes out of the diffuser, you know, that air is going it's first going to those ceiling tiles around it,
so it'll look black. And, yeah, I did witness that. But that's dirt. Mold has a very distinct growth pattern, again, because it's a living creature and they grow in these round circles and then they compete for food, with each other. And from what I saw in the pictures, it looked it just looked like dirt. It didn't but I didn't have it in front of me, so I'm just telling you what I what I saw. Yeah. I appreciate your candidness about it. May I ask another question that you have? Because Let me get get some of the other people. Trustee Annis?
So we had an issue at another elementary within this district and with Delta Kelly. And so my question to you is what do you find is industry standard in school environments for, making sure that districts are on top of, issues like mold or any sort of environments that that could cause breathing issues for the students and the staff that are within them. I mean, is there is there any sort of a checklist of, you know, on an annual basis, checks check x amount of buildings?
I mean, we we have quite a few buildings in this district. Sure. No. I understand. And I wasn't kidding when I said I work in a lot of districts. I think we work in over a 100 districts. So, there because it's not regulated, there's no mandatory set, you know, you've got to do this every six months. For example, in asbestos, you have to check the buildings every six months and look at the condition of whatever asbestos you have left. We don't have anything like that in mold. I will also say, working in a lot of school districts, they all do it different. I have some school districts that, if there was stachybotrys growing on a moldy ceiling tile,
they'd just take it out themselves. And there's nothing that says they can't. Even the recommended guidelines are just recommended. And then, you know, I have districts that, maybe are a little more proactive and, it's probably to be quite honest with you, it's probably been a long time since any district just went through their schools and randomly proactively sampled for, for mold. I will say and again, I'm going to say this as not being the person that was here. It was not my company. But taking out, a ceiling tile that got wet from a water leak and then taking samples afterwards,
that's pretty proactive. I don't see a lot of districts do that. Because mold's not even going to grow for forty eight hours, of continuous water dripping on that. Probably didn't have to take samples afterwards. You just take the wet ceiling tile out. Look, it's good that it happened because you found something that maybe there was a past water leak and it was addressed. The only way you could possibly do that is to do what I said. Like, we have this new drinking water regulation hitting schools this year where every year we're
gonna have to do test all the, drinking water stations for lead. And that's mandatory. You have to do that. You could do it for mold. I'd love for you to do it for mold. I'd love to be the contractor that you pick. But, you don't have but no. No. Districts don't really do that. I find it I find it really troublesome that there's there's not an industry standard for environments that involve kids and learning. Well, because they have, because there has been no scientific evidence on what, mold really does. That's why they haven't done it.
Mold is has different sensitivities to all of us, for sure. No doubt about it. You might be extremely sensitive. You can walk into a room and you go, Oh, wow. There's something not right here for me. Similar to allergies. Someone's Yeah, right. And I don't. So I just walk in and be like, Whatever. I can work here. But that's all they have. And even the, when when the black mold issue really blew up, it was in Cleveland where a bunch of infants a bunch. I don't mean to be callous. There were four or five infants that that,
died. And, it was from, from a poor area. And the houses they found black mold in all the homes, so they made the correlation. Since that big media frenzy, the CDC has backed off and said, No, we don't really have the scientific evidence to say that it was the black mold. It could have been in many other things. Personally, I just don't think you should have any mold. I'll flip to the other side now. Forget about black mold and the stankosphere. I don't think you should have any mold growing in a school, right? We shouldn't and I don't think anyone in here wants that. On the administration or the board or the public.
So what you do, you just really have to just address anytime, a water intrusion happens. And they don't happen a lot, not in the condition that your schools are in, I would think. Not. I work in some school districts where it happens a lot. Madam President? One moment. Can you, kind of explain if we couldn't find a source for this, how it picks up mold spores? Like, where that could come from? Sure. Let me give you a little science lesson if I can. So by the way, my your middle school science lady kind of peaked my memory from when my daughter
did a science project. I think she was in elementary school and she did hers on mold and we did all this stuff. And she's a first grade teacher, so she'd probably be better here than I am, but she's not here so I gotta do it. Mold spores are everywhere. There are mold spores in this room right now, guaranteed. They might not be airborne. I might not get them on a sample. A sample is just a picture in time. But mold spores are everywhere. They're really outside. When you're out raking your leaves, you're breathing tons of mold spores. We're we are hitting, up it just happens to coincide with with when we open schools in in Michigan.
We are hitting a very high, moldy time of year because everything's gonna fall off the trees, and everything's going to start decaying, and we're going to have a whole lot of mold. By the way, stachybotrys, that black mold, it gets a lot of, farm animals actually very sick because stachybotrys loves to grow in hay. And so that's one thing they found is that they eat they eat this hay with stachybotrys, and we all put hay, you know, October 31, we're going to be putting all that hay, make sure you throw it away as quickly as you can. So most boards come into our building. One very critical thing to keep your,
to keep your kids healthy is to bring fresh air into your buildings. Alright? School districts work really hard to bring fresh air into their buildings. So you've got to bring air in. When you're bringing air in, you're bringing mold spores in. When the kids come in. And in elementary schools they're outside playing. So they're bringing them in all the time. So you have the spore. And remember, a spore is a mold spore is not molt. It's, as I've explained to other people, it's a seed for what could grow into mold.
So once that's it's just like your tomato plants. You planted the seed, now it needs food and water. You need the same thing with mold spores. So it's quite common to have mold spores in all of our buildings. It's does the next thing happen? Does are the mold spores sitting on a place where they can get food and get water? And that's why the first thing I do is The first thing I ask is, Do you see mold? Well, no. Okay, well that's a good sign. But lots of times we do see it. Think of a ceiling tile that's had water dripping on it for a long time.
If you see it's kind of brown, that's just water stain. When you see brown and then you see this big black patch in the middle Yep, you got it. That's mold. And for me, I don't care whether it's stachybotrys or cladosporium. Sure, Stachybotrys has more defense mechanisms to fight off other molds. So they can produce these little mycotoxins. It's not to get us sick. It's to fight off the other molds so they can compete for the food. That's how it comes in. Now, you guys have, well it's a rather new building. You have very large, ventilation units that are filtered. And then on top of that, you have the HEPA filters that are it's it's like having a double layer of
protection. So I guess I think it's important from what you said is that we found these mold seeds and not actual mold. I think that's important. Now having said that, that doesn't mean that a mold's bore is not gonna cause some type of allergic reaction. It could. But you have. I didn't take these, but there were four. There were four. Because they is that I wouldn't that's a lot or that's small? No. No. Like shoe coming in off the So here's the here's the deal on that. It's a flag because it's something that you don't see a lot outdoors.
It's it's a it's an indication that maybe there is some old growth there. Maybe there is some old problem, which is what everyone did after that, addressed what could be there. But nothing was found. So where it came from? I mean, we can make guesses. We're just guesses. Usually in mold the laboratory that I use, they have this mold score. They call it a mold score. It's kinda why I like them. Usually, they don't find any problem until we're up over 50 spores. If just go into a mold infested building, you'll you'll that's not a healthy environment.
Yeah. Alright. Trustee Lecuey? Okay. Couple of things. You mentioned the mycotoxins. That was another thing that got brought up quite a bit because it got parents saying, oh, the mold isn't actually the problem, it's the mycotoxins that are the problem, and did they do any mycotoxin testing? So that's one question. And the second one was you mentioned that, you know, the water leak was found and it was addressed. But it's my understanding that the work order for that water leak was placed back in April or May, which if that's true, then that would put it so that maybe it wasn't addressed until several months later. So I'm wondering if that can also be clarified.
So the mycotoxin and when was the water leak addressed, and are we sure that there are no more water leaks? Well, I can address two or three of those. I did not see any any any water leaks. That was on the day that I spent there. Okay. I'm sure district, maintenance personnel can also address that. Mister District? I didn't see anything active or I didn't even see any indication that there was past ones during my visit. Mycotoxins. Stachybotrys is not the only mold that produces mycotoxins. I think this all came up again back in that little scenario in the Cleveland
area that I was talking about. Because scientists that study, like, only this, you know, like PhD type of people, you know, they have learned that some molds have, developed a way to, fight off other molds. So, if we were you know, we only have one plate of spaghetti, we're we're gonna fight probably because we haven't eaten in two weeks. And so one produces mycotoxins not to not to hurt us, but to hurt the other mold that they're competing against. So that's what that is, but just know that stachybotrys isn't the only one that does that.
And it again, it goes back to that that initial study where, oh, well, it must be the mycotoxins that this particular black mold does that, that cause damage to these infants. Again, they backed off on that. Having said that, yeah, mycotoxins could be sensitive and cause some kind of complications for people that have those immune deficiencies. That's probably the best way to put it. I'm not a doctor and I don't play one on TV, so that's just my opinion on the mycotoxins. I can if to answer the second portion of your question,
I'll turn it over to mister McDaniel. But I think it's important to recognize that, while mister, Stabler was testing, like, our cabinet team was spent the day at Delta Kelly meeting and discussing steps, etcetera. And a portion of that time that mister Stabler was there with his colleague and while we were there, there it was a torrential downpour at Delta Kelly. So if there was leaks that are happening, we would have seen them and we did not see any. Is that fair to say, mister Seager? Correct. So on this on the third part of your question, miss trustee LeCoultre, I believe it was related to When was the water leak?
When was it When it was addressed? Mr. Ricciano? Yes. Thank you, Mr. Russo. The work orders were provided in this past week's edition of Cabinet Notes, But, there's been an ongoing water issue with that window. I think what Mr. Staver said is important to remember that when we address these leaks, we may not be able to find the source of them and resolve that immediately. I think it's most important that we resolve the water issue. Right? So, as mister Sabre said earlier, about forty eight hours is about the maximum amount of time that he'd want sitting
water or continuous water. I think in those work orders, you could see that maintenance, visited, after rainfall to see if leaks had come back. And then also, as we got into the summer months in preparation for the school year, tried to find the source by, you know, taking hoses and running water and and trying to, recreate those leaks. So, I think the work order is closed and it was closed in August. But it's possible that in in that particular classroom, we get a heavy rain in October or November that the water could return and then maintenance will return as well. First, probably our custodial teams to address the water,
that's sitting on the windowsill or wherever it may be. And then our maintenance teams, to come out and see if they can recreate that leak and resolve the issue. Trustee Blake? So, thank you for coming here. I This school is my home school. It's where my child goes. It's where all my neighbor kids go. I know all the families, so, you know, obviously it's a concern to me as well as being a board member. And I have a lot of, people who know I'm on the board who've come to me and asked me questions or told me things and, you know, how did the bus stop and people flag me down. So, one of the things I'm seeing,
one of the things I'm hearing, and she touched on it, is people are doubting the testing protocol. They're saying that it wasn't tested properly, that the the building has to be sealed for forty or twenty four hours, I think, and all of the, fans have to be turned off and all of these different things. And these are not people, to my knowledge, that work in the industry, but can you comment on that? Is that is any of that true? Is the way that you tested it the way that it is supposed to be tested? Is the way that the other company tested proper?
And how do you know that that's proper? Well, I can't speak on the other company. Okay. I know the other company. I believe they're reputable. And so I I believe they likely, you know, did everything accordingly. There are those stipulations when it comes to radon. That's the only one that I know of where they want you to do it in in winter conditions where you don't have outside air because you want the, you know if there's any radon in there, they wanna be able to detect it and it didn't escape out the window.
But not the case with mold. I I don't know of those, standards that people are addressing that say how to do that. I again, like I think you asked me earlier, I think there was a lot of air movement in there that would, if anything, put stuff up into the air as opposed mold spores are heavy. I'm going to go back to the asbestos. Asbestos fibers you can't see, with the naked eye. And they can float up for twenty four, forty eight hours. Mold spores are very heavy. They're gonna fall right down. So, you know,
in in my in my just this is my opinion. This is not stated in any regulatory requirement. It it would be better where the air is actually moving than if it just laid dormant. It wouldn't get picked up probably at all. If anything, if anything, my outdoor sample was pretty low. And the reason my outdoor sample was pretty low is because the rain was coming down on those molds for us and now allowing them to get airborne. So that's my professional opinion on that. Can you talk at all about testing the air versus surface testing?
I can. It's it's the basically the same process. Don't tell anybody this, but it's the same thing. If you take a, our samples are taken through this little cassette and inside the cassette is this very sophisticated piece of tape. It's just a piece of tape. And, it draws the volume of air through the cassette and all the air that comes through there, any spore that's on there is getting stuck to the tape. And then the laboratory will take that piece of tape and then they will look at the morphology and color and size and all that on the mold spore to
tell you what kind of mold this would be if it actually grew into an entity. When we do, surface sampling it's the same way except I literally take a, crystal clear Scotch tape, put it on surface, pull it up, give it to the same lab, and they do the same thing with that. The difference is in the air sample there's a volume of air that goes through so they can they can give you a, how many spores per, you know, cubic centimeter there are compared to just what the spores are. I only really do that surface testing when,
I actually see a mold. And I wanna see if, what this mold is. Now I could. I could do it. I could do it I could do it right here. Put piece tape down, pull it up, and see if there's any mold spores on there, but I didn't see any reason to do that. K. Alright. Any other questions? Trustee Blake? Yeah. I wonder also about the fact that not every single room is tested. So some people are concerned about why wasn't every room tested when we and maybe that was just a decision we made for cost. I don't know. But would it be likely that if you're I think one company did 10 rooms
and one company did nine or something. So that's quite a bit of the building, but is there some risk that there's it's in one room and it's not in any place else in the building? Well, no more risk than me taking a sample at 10:00. And I didn't take a sample at 12:00. Right? Because that I mean, I take a sample all day long. But that's just not what's done. I'm comfortable in the amount of samples that we took, because I'm combining that with my own visual inspection of what I could see and
the water intrusion stuff that I already talked about. We did do sampling, I believe. Matt can correct me if I'm wrong. We did it in, just about all all the rooms that had work orders placed that there were maybe elevated levels of concern. But I I know what you're saying. I I I genuinely feel that if I, done every class every room in there, that that every room, you know, instead of the 20 something that we did, it probably would have been 60 maybe. And I believe we would have got similar results. But I can't,
I can't say that with a definitive answer that we wouldn't have found something. Because it's again, it's a snapshot in time. You have to combine this with everything else that I said. Trustee Liqui, did you have another question? Okay. Well, thank you very much for coming. I appreciate that. I will say that, I had a request at this point to take a short break before we move on to new business. So it's 07:33 right now. If I could get everyone to come back in, like, five minutes so that we can move on to our new business.
Thank you. Thank you, mister Staver. Thank you. I know. Oh, what else do you have? We have strategic plan year one, and then we have to go through the Oh, I thought you wanted to do it. Just before new business. I was There is still one more item under superintendent update. So, mister Russo, if you wanna lead us in that. Thank you, madam president. So as part of, our year one strategic plan, we do have a video to present, about the highlights. It's important to just talk about just for a couple seconds the process in which, during last year, we came to our board table to do updates on where we were on the
strategic plan. And at the end of the year, we or towards the end of the year, we went through a process where we looked at each one of our plans to decide, are they completed, are they embedded, are they incomplete, or is this a complete and carry? Meaning that some of these things from year one will move on to year two or even beyond that. And so, through that process, we created a video for the community, which I think, we will show in a few seconds here, that that describes what the highlights were. Not it's not very detailed. It is about the highlights of what we completed in year one of the strategic plan, remembering that this is a five year process.
For year one. 21 of those plans are either complete or transitioning for further action in the 02/2526 school year. Two plans have been paused awaiting state and federal guidance. The impact of our deliverables touches every student, teacher, administrator, and staff member within our district. Our teams make this work look very easy, but in reality, it is extremely complex, requiring a great deal of research and careful coordination and collaboration across schools and departments. Here are a few of the highlights. At the elementary level, our literacy plans follow a structured literacy approach based on the science of reading.
This method supports teachers' daily instruction and helps all students build essential skills for lifelong learning. We continue to provide educators with high quality resources to guide the complex work of literacy development for all students. As part of this commitment, we're piloting a systematic phonics program in grades k through two. And last one, try by yourself, cap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. Tap. I will love it. Now missus C is going to chop up a word, and you're gonna squish it together. Okay? Recognizing that students learn in different ways and at different paces,
our plan also ensures we establish a district wide professional learning and data support structure for educators to meet the needs of each individual student. By developing a handbook of tiered behavioral response procedures and processes, we are building a more responsive data informed culture that supports both remediation and advanced learning needs. At Rochester Community Schools, we believe students should not only be the focus of our work, they should be active participants in shaping it. Conversations around curriculum, instructional practices, and school culture ensure every student feels heard and is capable of driving their own
growth. Innovation is transforming how our community can learn, lead, and inspire. District committees are actively researching how artificial intelligence can be further integrated into our k 12 schools to enhance both teaching and learning. Pilot programs during the 02/2526 school year will provide the foundation for system wide applications so students and staff can have the tools to be successful in an ever changing world. A safe, supportive environment is the foundation for all teaching and learning. The implementation of Syntegix safety alert platform,
as well as the revision of our district's emergency operations plan strengthens our commitment to promoting the well-being of our school community. Syntychex Crisis Alert includes a wearable notification badge that's easy to use and will decrease response time during an emergency with the push of a single button. It's key that we empower every staff member with the ability to quickly request help anywhere on school grounds and create a lockdown when necessary to keep students and staff safe. A high capacity workforce that is dedicated to positive educational outcomes includes hiring,
mentoring, and retaining the top talent in the state. By establishing purposeful and consistent feedback structures, we can continue to align practices that attract, develop, and maintain a stable workforce. To streamline processes, RCS is building a cohesive approach that ensures every initiative, whether it's curriculum focused or operational, receives the structure and support it needs for district wide success. RCS remains committed to leveraging a variety of communication methods and tools to provide updates, celebrate excellence, build trust, and offer windows into the life of our school buildings.
Through the strategic planning process, families now have the opportunity to engage in two way communication using ParentSquare and designate how they want to receive their information using a consistent platform. At Rochester Community Schools, students remain at the heart of our strategic plan. Each and every action we take defines the future direction to improve teaching and learning outcomes. We are truly grateful for the support of our community. If you would like to learn more about the strategic planning process, please visit our website at www.rochester.k12.mi.us.
Thank you. Short video that describes the highlights of what we are what we feel we accomplished in year one and what we are carrying forward. And later in this this evening, we will be, in our new business looking at our strategic plan year two, and going through each one of our plans to to put forward for you for you for your consideration. Thank you. Alright. Thank you. We are now moving on to new business. Item 9.1 is the first reading of policy four zero zero three, which is an addition to our personnel policies and would fall under a section titled employee salary schedule.
In a recent decision from the Michigan Supreme Court, the court made it clear that under the Michigan Public School Employees Retirement Act, all public school employees must have a normal salary schedule in order to get credit for any year over year increases in compensation for pension purposes. This new policy section is to ensure compliance with the statute and set out the policy for the creation and approval of those salary schedules. Today is just a first reading and does not require a vote. A vote would occur at our next regular meeting when we do our second reading.
Before I open up this discussion, mister Murphy, did you have anything to add? Yeah. I just wanted to remind the board that due to your proactive approval last year, we were ahead of the game with this. We've done this process already. We have created, a normal salary schedule for these individuals. It's now embedded within our district. This is follow following, the recommendation of Miller Johnson to add that and codify that with your board policy. So you were provided with the, kind of, the stock recommendation from Miller Johnson. I will add that one board member,
had a suggestion for an edit and, I'll go through that. But if that board member wants to correct me if I have any of it wrong, I'd be happy to to, you know, have that take place as well. But the suggested addition, so I believe, if I'm understanding right, it would be all of this with an additional line which read, any new or revised non bargaining job classifications shall be communicated to the board within thirty days and prior to inclusion in the annual salary schedule for approval.
If I'm understanding the reasoning for that addition correct, it's because the board member felt that this current structure of approving, the salary schedule but Job classifications could leave trustees without timely notice of changes that could affect payroll. So I did run that exact suggestion, by mister Blaylock early earlier today. He was able to take a look at it. He did, reply with a an edited version of that attempting to get at the same desire, which reads, any new or revised salary schedules for non bargaining unit job classifications shall be communicated
to the board within thirty days. That eliminates the end part about inclusion in the, prior to inclusion in the annual salary schedule for approval. In talking to him, the reason he would not suggest that is because simply timing. If we wanted to, a week before bringing forth that approval, change something, and then we wouldn't be able to do so because of the timing. It didn't seem to make sense if the board would be approving that anyway. And then additionally, it clarifies the change of job classifications to salary schedules. And again, if we're changing a job classification within the matrix,
if you remember, of what you approved, and and that changes the salary schedule as a whole, we'd be required to bring that back for approval anyway. So again, I don't think it changes necessarily the meaning. I think where I'm leaving this is the recommendation currently is the is the language as is. But I did wanna provide you that full context of of what was suggested because it was the only piece of feedback I received on it. Madam president? Trustee Lecui? I just wanted to to see if I'm understanding you correctly. So, yeah, you read what I proposed exactly as I proposed it.
His rewording of that, I don't recall are are you does his rewording of that suggest that I'm intending for the board to approve the salary schedules each time the superintendent makes a change? Because my my recommendation was not to do that. My recommendation was actually just we approve the salary schedules annually just like you had originally proposed. But within thirty days, we're notified of any changes that the superintendent might make to job classifications since that does affect our budget.
So it's really just it's more of a I guess it's like an MOA style kind of a thing where we're just notified about it within thirty days. So I don't think there's any kind of timing delay to that idea. I think it was sort of a nomenclature adjustment that you're approving salary structures. So when there are changes instead of the way you worded it, any revised classifications, he's adjusted to any revised salary schedules because that's what you are approving in the spring. I think that's And again, any change I think it means the same thing. I think you wanted a consistent naming mechanism essentially for what you're doing or being
made aware of as a board. And then again, it also eliminated the prior to inclusion in the annual salary schedule for approval. So it sort of ends with that thirty day. And again, the only reason there is a timing mechanism for spring whereby which if we wanted, an adjustment made in the window between thirty days prior to that actual board meeting where you're making that approval, we wouldn't be locked out of doing so. Because the same ability to the intent. Right. So the intent was just communicate within thirty days or and all of this should just happen prior to when we would approve the annual salary.
I think it means the same. But, again, I think your choice as a board is to go with the stock language that was recommended or some adjustment, which obviously we've had vetted and as suggested, has been sort of cleared with our policy advisor as well. And just before just for clarification, the revised was any new or revised salary schedules for non bargaining unit job classifications shall be communicated to the board within thirty days. Is that correct? Okay. And then Trustee Blake, did I see a hand?
I just wanted to make sure I'm following what the concern is and so I don't know if it's maybe for you, Trustee McQueen. Is the concern that there will be changes made to new classifications will be added within the schedule or is the concern that a new employee will come and they'll be placed in a certain place or is it the concern that a person will be moved from one spot to another? Like, what is the problem here that we're trying to Well, the the superintendent has the operational authority to change the to to change the job
classifications, you know, and that does affect our budget. Payroll is our biggest expense. And so I'm just thinking, as a board member, when our job is oversight over the budget, it would be good to just know what he's doing and how and, like, how he's making those decisions. I'm not saying that we, you know, take away that control. He still has the operational authority to do that. But that way, we find out sooner, kind of as it's happening throughout the year so that at the end of the year, when we approve the salary schedules, we're not, like, bombarded with, you know, whatever changes might have occurred during the year. We just find out as it happens.
And then it and when it's time to approve salary schedules, we approve salary schedules. Okay. I mean, that's helpful. I just I didn't think that he could change the salary schedule within the year, but he could move people around on the schedule. Is that permitted? I think there's a difference between the salary schedule as a whole and job classifications. I'll give you an HR example. If all of a sudden we wanted to create a different position within the HR department, the superintendent has the operational ability to do so, I believe is what Trustee Locuie is sharing. But I think her point is,
if he does so, she'd rather know about it within the thirty day window during the year rather than wait for all of that to come for approval at the end of the year. Which in talking through on our end, I don't disagree with that. Either way is okay with me, personally. Again, this is your policy. But I don't see an issue either way with that. Can I just I just then if that's what this is about, I don't know that that new language that they've suggested fits that? It doesn't seem like because it's saying new or revised salary schedules. But we're not changing the salary schedule.
We're talking placement to You would be because there's not there's no possible way to create a new classification without placing it on the salary schedule and dictating a pay for it. So if you create that new position within HR, we as a team have to figure out, what are the like positions in other districts, what classification is it, what steps does it match up to. You're then changing the salary schedule, informing the board, and then the following spring, voting to sort of approve that for the next year. And I think, again, that's the recommendation to change the language from Adam back to salary schedules specifically.
It's because it covers both. There's not really a way to create a different position and not place it within that salary schedule. Trustee Alsbaugh? So, I just want to ground the discussion as the original purpose of this is to clarify for ORS so that our positions, have that contributed to their retirement. So, it's not about communicating with the board. This is a policy designed to reinforce the ORS so that our staff is paid correctly for their retirement. And also, we have said that it's a budget concern. But correct me if I'm wrong,
we pass the budget and you have to stay within it. And if you actually did want to increase salaries somehow, that would be addressed with our quarterly budget amendments. So I'm not sure what problem this is trying to solve, and I'm struggling with that to even support it. Trustee Gupta? So I'm struggling to understand the feedback from Adam Blaylock about the language is intended to provide for notification of the board, not approval of the board. So I'm struggling to reconcile that with how that would create a timing issue.
I'm not sure if I'm understanding fully, but as a reminder of the stock language, it basically says the Board will approve every year. Right? So I think the suggestion is more knowledge ahead of time before that every year. And I think, the elimination of that end part, the timing issue per se, is if it was a thirty day mandate to inform the board, if that was one of the rules. Like, you can't do this unless there's thirty days ahead of time. Then the issue could be in the spring within the time that's thirty days prior
to whatever June board meeting you're doing the approval. Like, late May, we could be locked out of making a change for that actual approval because it hasn't been thirty days. That's all. And I don't think that was necessarily the intent. Well Again, the intent was informing, but if that's in there, technically, we could not make a change on June 1 for a June 9 approval. But within thirty days, doesn't mandate it has to be thirty days. It could be less than thirty days. Well, when do you time? What? If if we're just saying we'd like to be notified within thirty day,
you could always notify in less than thirty days. Didn't get rid of the in thirty days. You got rid of the and prior to inclusion in the annual salary schedule for approval. So I might have misspoke about the thirty days. It's it's basically the way you had it written was prior to it all That caused the issue. Okay. I I don't Which again, I don't think it I don't think it's anything different from what you're intending. Oh, okay. But if it simply says you can't you you eliminate prior to inclusion in the annual salary schedule, then you could be locked out of doing so.
I don't think we're talking about anything different whatsoever. Practically speaking, it serves the purpose. So Right. Agreed. Trustee Alsma. Madam President, what is the process if we have a policy change? Because I feel like it's not done through emails and at the board table. I feel like the committee would have some role in this and we would have some printed version before we sat down so that we wouldn't have to be wondering or trying to remember. So I feel like we're a little out of process here. Could you clarify? Actually, I think this is the process because it has been reviewed by the SPCC.
This edition has not, but it has been reviewed by an attorney. And so at this point, it is a discussion of the and it was emailed out. Correct? And so at this point, it is a discussion of the board to get sort of an agreement of whether we think, you know, an extra sentence should be added to it or not. And based on that, that's what would be proposed at the second reading, would include it or not include it. So we need to make writing, but people at the second reading. Yes. Okay. And so while we're not voting on it,
I'm still not really sure where people stand. I personally have no issue with this. I I would prefer to get notification when it happens. I don't know how the rest of you feel, so I'm just trying to get a a feel for that so we know how to direct, mister Murphy on including or not including this for the second reading. Madam president? Just one second. No. Well, I'll make a motion. We can vote and you can hear how No. There's no there's no at this point, trustee Blake, I could move to amend it. You were asking how people felt, so I will tell you that I now that I fully understand everybody's position,
I'm fine with adding some version of this. Whether it's exactly this or it's the other language, I think the concept is fine. I'm sorry. Trustee Gupta? Yeah. I would support, the amended proposal, including, mister Belaylock's suggested language. Alright. I guess at this point then, I'm I'm hearing agreement from the board regarding the addition of the sentence. So, mister Murphy, if you would, add that in and include that for the second reading. Yep, will do. Thank you. Thank you. All right. So now we are moving on to item 9.2. We have a recommendation to approve the revised Appendix B memo of agreement.
Mr. Murphy. K. Thank you. It is recommended that the following REAMOA, memorandum of agreement regarding appendix b and the REA master agreement be approved by the Board of Education this evening. The framework for this MOA was reached at 08:14 twenty five meeting addressing athletics clubs and performing arts in appendix b. It was negotiated by the contract maintenance committee and the items that have been provided have been agreed upon to represent the outcome of this collective bargaining process.
This has also been, ratified by the committee on the EA side that is responsible for approving MOAs. As a quick reminder, we clarified a year ago the difference in our district going forward of a MOA and an LOU. A memo of agreement comes to the board and is more germane, more has more substance to it regarding, cost or change of language, adding of articles, that sort of thing. An LOU, a letter of understanding, is sort of a, clarification of current language without a cost attached to it.
So we're sticking with that process. We talk about that with the union ahead of time to make sure we're on the same page and that we're handling these agreements that are off schedule, in alignment with each other. A few highlights that I'll I'm not gonna read you the entire memo, but a few highlights from from the different areas. A matrix has been created now for club sponsors which, dictates pay ranges and, separates them for the first time. There's a stock pay range essentially for club sponsors prior and now I think it's
safe to generalize that, more involved, roles have a higher compensation associated with them. Additionally, in the performing arts realm, all theater theater stipends within the performing arts section have been increased by 50%. Finally, in the athletics realm, there's a 4% add on payment of the coaching contract in all areas of schedule b, which was in place last year. In this agreement with with athletics that goes up to 6%.
It also incorporates anyone who worked for in our district and then retired and has come back to coach. Before the language did not include those, individuals. So, we've agreed that someone serving, you know, decades in our district and coming back still coaching should get the same, kicker as we call it on top of of the normal contract. Also, it's, gonna reimburse I'm sorry. Not reimburse. It's going to create a mechanism where CPR training, which is, now required, will be, covered or at least an opportunity for it will be covered by the the district.
There'll be sessions sessions throughout the year, and then the actual certification card payment will be covered by the district as well. A little more clarification on the number of coaches in each sport and how to add them and some other pay increases and name changes and a change to longevity increase pay there as well. Before handing this back to you for, discussion or action, I just I do wanna spend a second to thank the committees. The committees were in each area and were joint administrative and teacher,
participants and they met for a good portion of the year last year and came with wonderful info and very comprehensive recommendations. We were not able to hit all of those recommendations. And it was complicated by the fact that we have no state budget and don't know what we're dealing with. It's granted and I don't think the work is done, but I also think an attempt was made by both sides to honor that work to, agree to some of this really solid suggestions that were brought forth and then to continue the work, on this section of the contract in future collective bargaining sessions.
So I do wanna thank all of those participants, probably 30 or so folks from across the district that worked to put together the recommendations that this committee, acted on and is bringing forth this evening. Happy to answer any questions. Thank you. Alright. Is there a motion to approve the REA appendix B memorandum of agreement? So moved. Moved by trustee Gupta. Is there support? Trustee Blake? Is there any discussion on this? Trustee Alspa? I understand that today, there were some last minute changes to the language, And I just wanna confirm that that was,
endorsed by the union or the the contract committee, maintenance committee, or just wanna be sure that was communicated. Yes. I apologize. I had that circle to make sure I said and then I didn't. So, yeah, there were two, one major change but in two different areas here. It's essentially clarifying, the fact that the retirees that are eligible for this kicker are current coaches. I think there was a concern that the language was maybe could interpret it to be too broad that every retiree might be eligible for some some amount of payment
here. So it really was an add on, and agreed to by the the EA, leadership and myself. And the the the the version that you can see online now has that incorporated into it at the very beginning, under those first two paragraphs. So, yes, agreed by both parties. And we had agreed that that was the that was the way it was supposed to be anyway. Yes. I mean, I don't think there's any disagreement about that, but I'm never opposed to clarifying something even a little bit more specifically. So, that change was made. Alright. I'll just say,
as you mentioned, thank you to everyone. I know that, it was worked on for a large portion of last year. I'm glad that we have something. I understand that it sounds like there's maybe some more work to do, but appreciate everyone who put the time in to get to an agreement on here. Oh, trustee Lecui? One other question I had, speaking of the retirees, I recall under state retirement rules, retirees are only supposed to earn up to a certain amount before it affects their pension. Has that been factored into this agreement and everything? And what would happen if a retiree stipend pushes them over the state cap?
Yeah. I believe it's still somewhat time limited. I think it's fifteen thousand max the first six months post retirement. I think there's a thirty day sort of no contact. And then after that, within the I don't know. I can't remember. Six months, a cap. And after that time, there isn't. So I don't most, even if you're coaching, I'm thinking, like, two seasons during that first six months, you're you're probably staying under that 15,000. I think it's certain that you would be. But in the end, there's there's no also no risk to the district in that aspect because it is
the individual's pension. And, we try our best to make sure everyone's educated on that when they go into retirement, but I I don't see that causing an issue, at least the way the law currently is. Okay. Then the other thing I would say is I I was pleased to see this. I'm also wondering what's being reduced or cut to cover the increases. There's no equivalent cuts that are associated with this. I think what there is is a realization that some of these positions were underpaid. We value them. So there's a bit of a cost benefit analysis here.
Right? We are in a budget deficit. Both parties realize that. Both parties also realize we want clubs. We want solid athletics. We want solid performing arts. We want the folks that throw, that wonderful, you know, theater productions that we all go to to be recognized for that too. So I think in a in a better budget situation, this may have looked slightly or maybe greatly more generous. But at least a part of this process, this process was handled on its own and not a, remove here to add this.
Because I think as a group, both the Cabinet team and the CMC itself felt that we we did need to act on all that work that was done. I'll just follow-up with mister McDaniel. Was there anything, sort of allocated in the budget towards this? Yeah. I would say that this is kind of part of the last piece of the pot of money that we reserve for potential increases. Okay. Alright. At this time then, all of those in favor of approving the REA appendix b memorandum of agreement as presented, say aye. Aye. Opposed,
say no. That's a six o vote, and the, it is approved. Next, we're being asked to approve lunch prices if free meals are not continued. Mister McDaniel. Thank you, madam president. Yeah. Kind of continuing the theme of, budget challenges This is something that I hope we don't have to implement, but we are making plans to do so should a state budget not include free meals for all. So, the USDA provides the paid lunch equity tool. This is a tool that we use to calculate meal prices. Right now, unless the state budget passes with free meals effective October 1,
all student breakfasts for elementary, middle, and high school will cost a dollar 75. Student lunches at elementary will cost $3.25, and lunches at middle and high schools will cost $3.50. This is an increase of 25¢ since the last time we charged for meals. Upon the board's approval, the next few weeks will be spent, communicating both the meal prices and the charge policies, to our families. Of course, fingers crossed that the state budget, will not require us to do all that work, but, that's what we're preparing, to begin once these meal prices are approved.
Alright. So with that, is there a motion to approve a dollar 75 for student breakfast, $3.25 for elementary student lunches, and $3.50 for student lunches at the secondary level beginning October 1 if the state budget does not include free meals? Moved by Trustee Blake with support from Trustee Gupta. Is there any discussion on this? Trustee Alspa. I have a few questions on this. I'm assuming that the free and reduced lunch would still be a thing? Yes. Would still be something we'd offer? Are our parents going to be able I know when my kids were in there,
I can't even remember the name of it, but there was an online account I could load money up into. Yes. My school box. And that'll be part of the communication as well as we, get people used to paying for meals again. I mean, there are some families that continue to put money on accounts for a la carte items, but I think the the vast majority probably haven't used it since meals were free. Okay. So there is there may be some people still using it. And my last question is, I totally understand the state budget and that you're gonna move forward with this plan on October 1. If on October 15 we come through with a budget that would support universal free
meals, will we revert? Or is this a, we gotta do this for the rest of the year? Yeah. That's a great question. I think, I guess I don't know the answer to it. Right? I think we can choose to do that, but I guess, you know, it'd be better if the board would bless that for us. But I think, assuming that free meals, for a state budget that is adopted October 2, we would work to implement that back unless the board wanted us to continue charging. Yeah, and I appreciate your flexibility in the unknown of our state budget. You I appreciate you planning for this and I agree with you.
Hopefully, we won't have to do it. Alright. Any other questions? Alright. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, please say no. That's a six oh vote, and the motion is approved. We're moving on to 9.4, and this is a request to approve the District Professional Development Advisory Committee. Mister Cusmano. Thank you. Good evening. You probably remember this is a yearly, approval process for this committee. We're asking the Board of Ed to approve the District Professional Development Advisory Committee for the twenty twenty five-twenty twenty six school year,
which is included in the Board packet this evening. This committee has been formed in accordance with MDE's guidelines for correlating district professional development with allowable instructional hours. We have planned for 33 professional development hours and a minimum of 30 is what's required. The committee is comprised of teachers from every level, including special education administrators, non teaching staff and parents from each level. Thank you. Any questions? Well, first, let's get a motion. Is there a motion to approve the Districtwide Professional Development Advisory Committee as presented?
So moved. Moved by Trustee Annis. Is there support? Support from trustee Alspa. Now are there any discussion, questions, comments? Trustee Lecui? Well, my thought when I just looked at the, matrix, nothing against anyone who's on this list. But I was just wondering, shouldn't this committee include more just regular classroom teachers, not necessarily people in leadership positions? Because it seems like it's really heavily packed with administrators and the people who design the professional development. But since professional development is really supposed to be for the teachers,
I was thinking, shouldn't they be the ones telling us whether they think it's actually helping them and improving student learning? Because otherwise, I'm not sure we're gonna get honest, critical feedback that makes the committee worthwhile. Thank you. This committee is not the committee who plans professional development. If you listen to the thing, they're the ones who make sure we're correlating our professional development hours to allowable teacher hours. So they this group has their hands in a bunch of different spots, but it's not the people that are necessarily planning the professional development or delivering the
professional. There's a lot of people on there that actually are involved in it, but that's not the purpose of this sole committee. Wait, so this committee isn't doing like they aren't reviewing the professional development to see how helpful it is in the classroom. They're doing something totally different. No. That's our teaching and learning department. Okay. And in getting all of our consultants and our administrators and the teachers, this is to make sure we're providing the hours for the teachers that is required by the MDE. No. It is confusing because For clarifying. Yeah. No problem. Okay. Trustee Yalspa. I really appreciate you, saying that the special ed,
team is is included. When I look at the list, there nothing jumped out to me as being special ed. Can you tell me who's being the voice of special ed in this function? Good point. And I think, Tiffany Gauthier was on here, so I don't know what happened. But we will add somebody in from our department or, we have, special ed consultants or, supervisors that are usually on here. So I will review we'll review that again. Because I know there's special ed training that might not be needed for gen ed teachers like the, restraints and inclusion, seclusion training, things like that. So I appreciate appreciate you taking the feedback.
Yeah. That wasn't purposeful. So I guess my question is did did is there someone that you want to add at this point so that we approve it with them on there? Yes. I would add Tiffany Gauthier, and then we can always add others if yes. She's not here, so we're adding Tiffany Gauthier. So that would be adding to the administrator column, Tiffany Gauthier. Sorry about that. So, technically, we need to amend the motion, to include with the addition of Tiffany Gauthier Gauthier. Is there I support. Okay. So I will make that motion.
Trustee Anna supported it. And then, can we just vote on that? All of those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Okay. That's a six-zero vote. So now the original motion or the the motion is, is there I'm sorry. To approve the district wide professional development advisory committee as presented with the addition of Tiffany Gauthier. Wait. Nope. We are. It's it's okay. Yep. So any other comments before we vote? Alright. All of those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no.
Alright. That's a six o vote, and that motion is approved. Alright. So now we are moving on to 9.5. We have our year two strategic plans. We originally began our strategic plan process in the twenty three-twenty four school year. Input and feedback were gathered from thousands of students, staff, parents, and community members. Members. That feedback created our vision statement, which is broken into five areas learning, teaching, leadership, professional development, and community engagement. We just saw the video on year one projects. And now we're going to hear about 19 more projects or plans for this year.
I want to remind everyone that the strategic plan is a living, breathing document, which means that it can be adjusted as we learn more about a designated plan. Maybe the committee of a plan decides that it should really be two separate plans. Maybe they identify that there's really something else that should be reviewed before the current plan can be successful. These plans are not stagnant. We want to make a profound impact on our students, and sometimes that involves reevaluating what was initially identified. With that, I'll turn it over to mister Russo. Thank you, madam president. And I appreciate, the precursor that this is a living document,
each one of these. And looking back at your one of our strategic plan, our cabinet team felt that we we could enhance the way in which we make the plan live out loud, in many forms, which incorporates the involvement of staff, presentations to the community and the board of ed, and how students, staff, and the greater community are impacted as we move into year two. To that end, a steering committee was formed in order to connect our leadership team that consists of principals, directors, supervisors, and managers. We wanted our entire organization to be dialed into the strategic plan and its progress. In addition, the steering committee will look at how to best demonstrate our progress throughout the year.
To talk more about this, I'm turning it over to Doctor. DeLuca and the steering committee to discuss and present. Thank you, Mr. Russo. As you mentioned, the development of a Steering Committee for the strategic plan, came out of our cabinet discussion over the summer when we had our retreat. We discussed, in year one, what are some improvements that we can make, to implementation, but also review of the strategic plan and lift it within the organization? When we talk about the organization, we're talking about students, staff, community members, parents alike. How does a strategic plan, enhance learning for our students in our in our district? And we thought our frontline leaders are individuals that we we need to hear from,
we need to have advice from, but also go back within their organization and lift the the strategic plan. So the steering committee main purpose is to advise our cabinet team, regarding the strategic plan and where we go with it. That's why it's called the steering committee. But also to lift our Team Rochester. For board members who do not know Team Rochester is, it's a meeting that meets quarterly, and it's a meeting that it comprises of our cabinet members, principals, managers, supervisors, and directors. Again, our leadership of our organization, within Rochester Community Schools.
And it's that leadership that needs to understand the strategic plan, needs to embed it into their their their work, be it if it's facilities, be it if it's in education instruction, if you're in HR. So there's many levels and facets of of individuals that are in an organization that need to understand the strategic plan. We learned that from year one. And we also learned how to improve how we update the board as well, because I felt that, and our colleagues talked about it, the static update that we were giving, wasn't really bringing it alive. So today,
I have my colleagues here. I'd like to introduce, the the members of our strategic plan steering committee. We have some cabinet members on there as well. So, Pasquale Cusmano, assistant superintendent for secondary education, is on the team, Kimberly Hempton, assistant superintendent of elementary education, Lori Grine, executive director for strategic communications, And now, our principals here at the table, who You guys look great today. Dan Mooney, Principal of Van Hoosen Middle School. Sarah Crowley, Principal of Brooklands Elementary. Josh Ringkel, Principal of Rochester High School. And our tech director, Jeff Frank Koviak, who oversees the entire technology director,
entire oh, you guys, I I forgot one. Sorry. Our entire, technology, department, and Lisa Fosna, principal of West. Sorry, missus Fosna. I was going fast. So, they have come today to talk about what it is that we we've worked at as a group. We've been meeting for, like, the last month and a half, and it started off kinda slow because, like, why are we here? What's the purpose of a steering committee? And with mister Russo saying, run with it, and I trust you guys, it was nice to bring back a steering committee, organization, within Rochester Community Schools. So with that said, I'll turn it over to miss Grine, to talk about, our steering committee.
Great. Thank you, doctor. Yeah. It's an exciting time. You are gonna notice a few changes moving forward this year, and and hopefully, they're all enhancements. But I want to reassure the board that some things will remain the same. A foundation was laid, for the process. We still are gonna follow the process. The five vision areas will still be our guiding, principles. You know, when we identify our priorities, we're also gonna define the why behind the plans, develop the SMART goals, to ensure success. So those things will all stay the same.
One thing that I think that you're gonna notice, pretty from a visual standpoint is, the Excel spreadsheet. An Excel spreadsheet, as we know, is really great for data entry, but maybe not so great from a welcoming, standpoint. So we're looking to change the appearance, and if you look on our website, it has, year one deliverables and year two deliverables. Those pages may look a little bit different. Again, we're we're looking to, hopefully enhance the the visuals there. As we look at our year two priorities,
the district reached out to the community for input. We did get a 122, individuals complete the survey. It's it was a small population, considering the size of this district, but, a diverse population. So that was a good thing. We, to to remove some of the subjectivity from just getting an overview, we used two different AI tools to, to to get an overview, and and, I'd like to just share that with the board and the community. It said, overall, the community feedback reflected broad support and enthusiasm for the district's 19 strategic initiatives,
particularly those that prioritize student centered learning, educator support, and whole child development. So, that that, survey, what's important to know is we broke the comments that that folks made down, and, the feedback was given to the owners of the specific plans so they can take that feedback into consideration for each plan. Stakeholder involvement remains an important consideration throughout the the planning process, and and our principals will be sharing more on how the steering committee is working
to achieve the goals. Okay. As doctor Jaluca mentioned earlier, steering committee focus is really how we can inform our school communities about the year two deliverables. And the goal of our community our committee, excuse me, is to enable students, teachers, administrators, staff, family, and community members, and to establish connection to each one of the plans and better understand how the priorities are impacting teaching and learning within our school communities. An additional priority for our committee is as as miss Screin had mentioned as well as gathering feedback as we move the strategic plan forward.
And, particularly as an elementary educator or administrator, an area we're really, really excited about is reviewing and researching some of our evidence based literacy practices in all of our elementary schools, as well as expanding our students' access to K-five SEAM programming. Thank you, Mrs. Crowley. So as mentioned, our secondary teams are also engaged, and we're really excited about moving these 19 plans forward for year two. And this is far reaching, as mentioned before, by Madam President. This is not stagnant work. This is living and breathing work that reaches the nooks and crannies of our organization.
So in doing so, this committee was really attentive in reaching all of the leaders in our district, not just our building leaders, but our managers, our department leaders, everyone throughout the district. So So what we've done is really tap into Team Rochester, as Doctor. Glugo mentioned, meets once a quarter this year, and really making sure that we're all walking the walk and bringing it back to our prospective areas. So in doing so, we've started out with a kickoff this year, and, Mr. Mooney will talk more about that and focusing on those five vision areas of teaching,
learning, professional development, community partnership, and leadership. Thank you, missus Fozna. So as we mentioned, really a big kickoff there to Team Rochester. So annually, it's a big kickoff event, a lot of energy. This year, mister Russo started with some inspiring words, kinda accept the tone for the year, and then this theory committee planned an event downtown Rochester. We started with splitting up team Rochester into 10 cohort groups. These groups will be the same groups that will meet quarterly throughout the year. So, again, that's a cross section of principals, two directors,
as we kinda mentioned, our team Rochester group. Once we did a little team building, they got to know each other, introduce some new faces that were, recently hired to team Rochester. We then moved into the fun. So we gotta have a little engagement, a little bit of movement. So in Downtown Rochester, we partnered with some low local businesses, local landmarks that really emphasize the five pillars. Our goal for the Team Rochester participants was to move around the around downtown to look at it through the lens of the strategic plan of the five visions of
learning, teaching, leadership, professional development and community engagement. A lot of community engagement, but it was also for them. So this was an active activity. So this wasn't a sit and get activity. You know, we really wanted to model best practice instruction. Partnered with mister Frank Koviak, with some of the tech. We used, an app called GooseChase. And so participants moved around the or moved around the downtown, but they had to capture their thinking and their learning as they moved. Couple of the places that we partnered ship partnered this year was with Rochester Public Library. Again, that's another extension.
People in departments, people in the community, principals. Oh, that's a great idea. Let's use that as a resource. So hopefully, that was part of it as well. But they moved around looking at clues for a scavenger hunt and documenting their thinking. And, of course, one of the highlights this year was Cruisin Mere. We actually physically broke bread. And who loves a little bit of Cruisin Mere bread? But we literally broke bread with everybody in that group because it's a new cohort and a new team developing. So they had a chance to, learn a little bit about the history of Cruze Amir and, you know, just kinda their community engagement as well. Upon us returning as an entire group,
we then kind of closed the morning out with just sharing some learning and feedback. I think before, we always end, and and Laurie and her team do a great job of capturing the picture of team Rochester every year. You see an awesome photo with that. But we also took a minute to say, okay. What are you gonna take away from this activity? So if you walk into any of your buildings and curriculum nights, open house, conferences, you're gonna see the five visions statements right in the vestibule of that. You'll also see them in the department or at the board office as well. So really trying to showcase a little bit of that as well.
So when they left that morning, they were energized. They at least know where we're going, and our team's gonna continue to use those five visions as we plan the next, future of Team Rochester's. I'm gonna turn it over to mister Ringle. Thank you, Dan. To a table full of people who've been sitting up here for a few hours, appreciate you talking about food and thinking us all about, getting dinner when we get done here. So we talked a little bit about what we did as a as a, steering committee to help get our colleagues and our other district leadership all in line and all in the same page about what the strategic plan entails.
The next step moving forward in the next few weeks is to get our leaders and our owners of these deliverables on the same page as well. And so in the next few weeks, we have a leadership retreat for them planned, And the emphasis there is really just to ensure that synergy is established across all of those different deliverable teams that are gonna be working on that throughout the year in terms of, you know, what what are the expectations of their committee? How are they gonna make sure that they're getting feedback from our community all the way from students to community members who maybe no longer have students in our district?
We wanna make sure that we discuss ways that they can keep consistent with how they're updating our community, updating our board of education, and assisting them with some timelines to to keep the process moving throughout the year, as well as how do they establish the best action items possible, for their for their focus areas to get the deliverable accomplished. All of this really boils down to making sure that the goals of each of these deliverable groups, are all within the same realm and within the same vein so that we are all moving forward together in a consistent manner,
to to accomplishing these tasks over this course of this year. So with that, I'm gonna hand it over to mister Frank Koviak to discuss the wrap up here. Thank you, Josh. You know, the the who, the the where, the why has been, pretty described, but the actual what. So the strategic plan. So the one thing when we were tasked with this, we wanna approach the strategic plan. It's just that another checkbox. We wanna make sure it was more of a process, not just a a terminal event, not just, you know, we presented to you, check it off, let's move on with our days. And, it's an ongoing practice a process that's embedded in our daily practices,
throughout the entire organization. So tonight, you're gonna see, a a format that's little bit different than before. It's gonna have the plan connected to an incentive with a deliverable then with success criteria. So the incentive is neat because you're gonna see a specific benefit, for the desired outcome for the plan. And the cool thing about it is is it all connects to students. And so every single one of these plans with the incentive is clearly defined that there's a student connection. The deliverable is the action on it's like the step by step. It's the how are we gonna achieve it. And then you have the success criteria,
which the educator in me is very excited. Success criteria is a instructional strategy that's very research based, but it's really meant for, when it's used in classrooms, how the teachers and students know if the learning target was hit. This is a way for all vested parties to know was that deliverable hit. And so the approach of using success criterias in the framework of a strategic plan is very exciting. And so in a few minutes, superintendent's cabinet is gonna share the 19 different plans, but one of the things that's really neat about our plan in Rochester is the language and terminology is understood by everybody.
Students, staff, community members, everyone can look at these plans, and you don't need an education degree to decipher it. And you, can find ways and and for our organization, ways that you can take your practice to support these plans. So whether you're, like, one of my teammates here that, runs a school or, in my case, a district department, there's, abundance of connections in all 19 plans, and I'm looking forward to how the technology department can support the success of this plan, not just the beginning of the year, not just when strategic plan is the flavor of the week, but throughout the year, in an organic way.
So, this plan will continue to evolve and be our as organic and vibrant and, as valuable as can be. But those five vision areas, as I think, miss Fosnaw said, learning, teaching, leadership, professional development, and community engagement are gonna be our guiding star the entire five years as we engage with this work. So I think next, doctor DeLuca I'll bring you back up here. Thank you, mister Franckovic. I I just wanna say to the board, you know, we learned a lot on the first year. When we brought g and d on, g and d g and d was great, to work with to get us going. However,
we learned a lot with regards to where we can go now in year two and how we can improve on it. We're not perfect. We're all learning as as educators and and as parents and community members. This was really exciting, though, to to look at each other and say, we wanna improve it, the the process. And I can't thank our cabinet team for just talking about it with Mr. Russo. And in our retreat, we spent hours on this to say, how do we lift it? How do we make it come alive with our students in our classroom? We've done this before with other strategic plans.
What what are we missing here? And I'm not admitting guilt to anything. I'm just saying we're missing something that's not alive. So, Mr. Russo, I'm going to turn it back over to you with that. Thank you, Doctor. Luca. And I just want to say thank you to our steering committee, not only our cabinet members, but those who waited for, what, two and a half hours to present for, like, ten minutes. So I know that you all have jobs that require you to be at 5AM. So thank you very much. But, hopefully, the board has seen now that we are we are making a a we're putting
all our eggs in the basket of trying to make this the fabric of what we do. Right? We have feed I do have feedback from the board, regarding some of the language concerns you have as they are written. But I also think it's important to remember that it is a living document. Right? And we will, adapt as we need in terms of how do we you know, we we might have examples in our in our strategic plan where you you may not agree with the due date that you might want it earlier, etcetera. But these are things that we can tweak. And with the help of the steering committee, they can they can help provide feedback about this this really doesn't make sense to put this here,
etcetera. As we as we went through the the onset or the impetus for the steering committee, I think it was important to recognize that we said, okay. We have we have the we have main players involved. We're involving everyone from Minute One and Team Rochester and etcetera, and what everyone's doing back at their buildings. But, we did say what would be nice is to have a board member on the on the steering committee. So we've invited, vice president Gupte to be a part of the the steering committee so that she can help with the perspective and then not only as a board member but as a general community member. And and so we're excited to what what this year can bring to the strategic plan and what the strategic plan can bring back to the district with a more
vibrant culture. So with that, I will turn it back I will now turn it over to Ms. Hampton, who I believe has the first plan to go through to present to our Board of Education. Great. Thank you, Mr. Russo. Kicking off Plan one. Plan one is a carry forward from year one, putting a key focus on both continuing implementation of evidence based literacy practices in all of our elementary schools while completing a comprehensive K-five literacy review. This Plan one effort will incorporate materials that are currently being piloted in our classrooms
as well as those yet to be identified by the Michigan Department of Education. Our goal ultimately will be to ensure that every student has access to instructional resources that put them on a path, for success with learning that's tailored to their needs in the areas of reading, writing, communication. Yep. So I guess right. Are there questions do people have questions regarding one? Are we asking Should we hold our questions till the end if we want? Or I don't know. I know I have mine up by plan, so I don't know how we How long are we do we have an allotment
of time we're anticipating? We do not. There are 19 plans. I don't know how many questions people have. I, in general, have two or three per plan. I'll save my comments for the end. I sent an email earlier today with more comprehensive feedback. Did you have a question, Trustee Blake? Yeah, I guess. I had kind of an overarching question that I'll save until we get a few in, but, so for number one, we're saying by 05/30/2026, we're gonna make a recommendation for curricular, resources to be adopted. And it just I know that we originally had the resolution that we were going
to get this implemented by this fall. I know that we couldn't because of change in state law, but this feels like it's shifting it at least a whole other year. And if we get a recommendation in May, are we going to be able to implement that in September or are we even further than that? So this is looking to me like it's really moving down the pike a lot longer than we had planned. Thank you. I can address a few timelines related to that. So, as mentioned, Trustee Blake, we have several materials, specifically related to systemic phonics instruction that are in play in our classrooms this year.
And the Department of Education is estimated to give us some updated lists of approved curricula in January 2026. So, in the milestones and measures that we have identified with this plan, we anticipate having some materials to review by January 15. Knowing that, time with those resources, both with our educators and in our classrooms, is going to be key, to sound decision making for the students that we serve. So between January 15 and May 30, we've got about ninety business days, to get some good input on what those tools are knowing that,
certainly staff will, have great need around professional learning and understanding how to carry out any new instructional methodologies or, you know, materials within their classrooms for 2026. So that's how that timeline is coming together with this plan across the course of this school year. I had a question. There's $630,000 that's allocated for this. Can you talk about, how much of that is grant funding versus general funds and what you expect that that will cover, and will that cover the cost of new curriculum for the twenty six-twenty seven school
year? So we've used, some curriculum adoption estimates for the sixth grade levels in 13 schools that this, cost would, umbrella over. Previous literacy purchases, previous math purchases, and given an estimate with what's in the marketplace at this point. This is an estimated amount. That is not fully grant funded. So there would be portions of that that would, need to be attended to within the general fund. I don't have that breakdown though for you this evening. But I'm sorry. You you think that that would cover the curriculum for '26, '27? Like, to to implement it as a '26 Yes.
That dollar amount would be, reflect the full purchase, to to span K five across 13 school buildings. And then, I guess I had some general comments too, and I don't know really where to place them, sort of regarding all of the plans and and not specifically this one because I appreciated all of the, you know, the the enthusiasm and, what felt like the buy in and that type of thing on the strategic plan. And in general, I am supportive of the plans that have been identified here.
But I don't feel like the front facing document that we have that lists the incentives and the deliverables and, the success criteria reflect the work and the impact that we hope to have. You know, to me, the incentive should be the motivation for why this plan is being undertaken. And at least part of that, for almost all the plans should come back to how it will positively impact our students. And I didn't necessarily see that everywhere. The deliverables should identify what we are going to have when this plan is completed, and success criteria should be a measurable metric showing the impact of the plan.
I think having the strategic plan steering committee, I mean, I'm hoping that they will be looking at all of these things, you know, as a living document to be able to work with each of the plan committees to identify, if we can find some true measurables, for the success criteria. Like, I would love to know what kind of an improvement. What what type of growth do we think we'll see based on new implementation of curriculum for this one specifically? And, in addition to that, I would love to see, the steering committee come up with a schedule of when each plan will be ready
to be presented to the board, keeping in mind future planning and budget processes. And I think that will make the strategic plan clearer and easier to understand for us and the community, and it'll be something that we'll all be proud of as well. Additionally, my other comment just in general is that I hope that many of these plans have parents and students included or community members on the committees too. And that is some of my questions on some of these specifically as to who's involved in them. So those are kind of some of my general pieces so that I don't have
to say it every time we get to a plan. Madam President, I just wanted, we talked about that as a steering committee. When we Mr. Riekel mentioned we're gonna be having a meeting with regards to all the plan owners and leads. Having student involvement is one of the key aspects of our our discussion that we're gonna be talking with owners. Having parents and having feedback was one that we lacked in year one that we felt that needed to be addressed. But also having a communication device with students now and parents that from year one,
it's changed the game for us now too. Even be able to do a survey. I mean, we can we can, implement a survey within thirty minutes that can kick us back information that we can dissect a little bit as an owner, to then steer us in the right way we wanna go. The reporting mechanism, even as you mentioned, has come up multiple times in our discussion as a steering committee. Even the documentation and even the the when we look at what the, you know, the success criteria was, the one thing I am gonna push back on a little bit is when you have a plan and to to put a date on the on record is tough,
especially when you're when you're talking about teaching and learning. There's a lot of variables that come in play, and, I'm not saying one plan out of the oven or this date's a bad date, and I respect what trustee, Blake has mentioned with regards to this is further down the pipe, but it's hard to put a date on there, in teaching and learning. And and and there's a lot of variables that come up. So we're open to ideas, and I wanna work with the board and with with our steering committee. But just please please recognize that putting a date on it is tough. With with snow days, I can go down a list of things that come up,
mister Russo. Well, I appreciate it, madam president. I appreciate your comments as a general statement. I that that you made the general statement. I would only say, that when we get through, if there's questions as we go, we'd love to, you know, to address them. If there's if there's a different format that you'd like, if you if you if the board would rather wait to the end, that's fine too. My vision was that you'd ask questions as you go. But, I I think there's there's a piece of this that I just wanna address head on that there's some language pieces in here that we recognize that the board doesn't doesn't love.
Right? The idea that all of well, most of our due dates are at the end of the year. The idea that, you know, some of these things that came out of and and and again, this is not pointing blame. This is not trying to go this way with my fingers. This is g and d's structure that when we started and how these how these things rolled out, we feel like we're in a really good spot to execute some of these things. But if the language barrier is the issue, then we can tweak as we go. So you're going to move on to plan two. Mr. Ruzmael? Perfect.
Thank you. Plan two, as you can see in your packet there, but this plan is aimed to expand work based learning opportunities for students in grades nine through 12. The main focus is exposing our students to careers in all subject areas and courses and expanding those opportunities throughout our curriculum. The MDE's work based learning continuum will be the resource to guide this work. And this one's exciting because, you know, kids won't have to think, oh, we're looking at how do we, in a math class, social studies class, English class, the kids don't take a they don't have to take a business class to realize
how their math, algebra one, what careers, what what work based learning opportunities will they use algebra one in. So we do some of it, but and you see this, the word is expanding what we already do and how do we spread that across the organization. So really excited about this one as we did the, master property planning and people were very excited about, career exposure and work based learning and those type of things. So questions? Trustee Annas? So with this one in particular, I love this one, and I love the fact that it's being embedded in areas that maybe you don't see as traditionally being thought of
as, you know, work based learning, like in a math class. But, I guess the thing that I really want to see under success criteria is, either, in this process, at the beginning, the teachers kind of, you know, do they poll the students to see if anyone is thinking about that particular subject area as a possible career path. And then at the end, when the teacher is evaluating, you know, I feel like I've successfully embedded at least one of these work based learning, you know, partnerships or opportunities and provided it and exposed my students to this,
kind of going back and reevaluating and re polling the students to see, you know, do you feel any differently about this potential career area based on, you know, where you were at the beginning and what you've been able to experience, whether it's through, you know, a work based learning opportunity or a partnership the student went to go see, you know, you know, I don't know, a chemist in a lab. Who knows, if it's related to math? So something a little more tangible that ties directly into student the impact on students.
Really, that's what I would want to see a little bit more embedded in the beginning, and at the end. Because I think that would really help our teachers also, evaluate, you know, the work that they're doing and if they feel like they are hitting the mark. Thank you. I'm I had two questions. The first one is, how many teachers are participating in this? I don't have that information yet because the committee has worked until we do the, leadership, what do we call it, retreat, of establishing that that group hasn't assembled yet. So I don't wanna speak for that group yet.
So to be determined. Okay. And then I guess, the other piece as we look at embedding this. Right? I I wondered if there was gonna be some sort of central library or location where information will be stored so that, you know, a new teacher could look at what's been done in the past, what were opportunities, or where can I provide this type of thing? I didn't see anything in this plan that identified that something like that would occur. That's a great point. And I see in the milestones about a, activity log.
So that'd be easy for us to compile the activity logs and create, what do you an opportunity, like, in math and science and social whatever the case may be. Here's the projects or the guest speakers or the, work based learning experiences that we did in our community and compile those experiences. That's I'm I'm I see that in one of the things about having a, activity law completed. So I thought that wouldn't be hard to do. And I guess my last comment was, you know, having some community members on this committee could potentially be really helpful for having contacts and the ability to provide those experiences
to people. And at least what I'm seeing, in the Excel sheet does not identify community members? I don't I don't I'm looking at the Excel sheet. I'm not sure it's the one you received. I'm looking at the one that's for us as final. But the first step is assemble a core planning team, including CT and career readiness director, career readiness consultant, two to four CT teachers, counselor, ELA teacher consultant, parents, students, and industry partners. So to me, that covers what your Okay. So industry partners is, community members. Yeah. That would be? Okay. Yeah. So,
along with, kind of embedding this into curriculum, has there been any thought, about incorporating something like credit for robotics participation at the high school level where students spend, on average, twenty to thirty hours a week learning, practicing, refining work based skills that are are transferrable, whether it's technical skills or business skills, how to be a professional. They're interacting with local, industry on a regular basis. Many of the volunteer mentors are are,
you know, professionals within local industry, so those are good connections to build on for something like this. I I I know that, the Lance Cruz School District does have a model of offering, credit for high school robotics participation. It would be great to see something like that incorporated in our district. Okay. I think we're ready for plan three. Plan three in the learning area, is focusing on that notion of multi tiered systems of academic support and supporting all of the students, within that model. A key component here is,
for the group to identify and refine the processes that we use to assess or adjust programs to support students who are ready to engage or would benefit from accelerated or advanced academic content. This, group will explore a wide range of academic experiences to ensure that we're providing, programming and or opportunity to meet the needs of our most advanced learners. At the conclusion of this committee's work, we will bring findings, along with any possible recommendations to the cabinet team and to the Board of Education. Questions?
Trustee Blake? Yeah, I think I'm gonna use this time to make some of my global comments instead of holding them. So I really like what you've done here and I can tell everybody did a lot of work and I hope that these questions that we're asking are not gonna make people think that we're, you know, we're nitpicking or tearing apart their work. But there are questions and so I'm gonna raise them. For me, number one through four, all of them were really exciting. Obviously the most my favourite ones, if you will, out of here. But I worry when I see things like on number three or on number four, like explore and we're gonna present options at the end of a year,
or we're gonna explore alternative schedule and then by the June present options, which we know then can't be implemented that year. And whereas other places we have, like if you look at number eight, we have develop and implement, behaviour framework. So that says something is actually gonna get implemented by the May. And if you go back to number one, it says you're gonna implement the literacy, but then if you read it, it doesn't have a place. So I guess my overall point is I know I'm impatient. Maybe I'm unrealistic. Maybe I want everything today. But, you know, it's so fast that kids move through the schools and that they go from kindergarten
to twelfth grade and before you know it, you know, I have one kid that started elementary and he's almost done with it. And so I am impatient. But I would like to see more develop more implement and less explore. I guess that's my Trustee Gupta? I guess I just wanted to say in response to that, I appreciate your comments, secretary Blake. But I think for me, the difference is that, we are simultaneously the literacy on plan one, we are simultaneously implementing changes currently to the literacy curriculum,
but then there's also work going on about what's to come. So it's not that that's waiting. It's just that there are a couple few things happening at the same time. And then I would say for some of these where I understand, you know, it's it's not as quick as we would want it to be, it would, in my view at least, be a little irresponsible for us to rush into some of these things, like exploring changes in scheduling. That's a it might not sound like a lot, but as a project manager kind of person,
I mean, that's a lot to take on and think about. And, so I just think it depends on, you know, I mean, what what the thing is, what the project is that is gonna inform how much time it takes to set the foundation and do the exploration so that it can succeed when it is implemented. Trustee Annas? Yeah. And to to piggyback on what you were saying, Trustee Gupta, and what was reiterated at the beginning of the presentation is that, you know, this is technically a five year strategic plan.
So I think some changes that we may be seeing in, like, plan three or plan four where the word explore is used, especially where it's changes that are more closely tied into really impacting students, like a schedule, like alternative scheduling. I think you have to kind of go slow to go fast. You gotta make sure you do your due diligence, and really figure it out because systemically and systematically, that's a huge change for a district of our size. So, I appreciate your frustration,
and I feel it too, because I feel like sometimes in education, it's a snail's pace. But when you consider the impact that the decisions made at this table by this board and our administrators and our superintendent, I think we have to be mindful and explore, the things that we need to explore, and this strategic plan is part of where we should be doing that. I'm gonna bring it back to plan three. And, I guess a couple questions. Is this broken into elementary and secondary? It says all students,
but, I mean, there's such a difference between elementary and secondary. Will this committee split in two or are they all looking at options for everyone? The goal will be to have the committee with broad representation across K-twelve because we know that some of the experiences that are currently in play within our middle school and high school, configurations are of interest to members of the community when we think about elementary school children, right? The configuration of their day, of course, creates some impediment within that. But the committee will have a K-twelve look recognizing that,
many examples of practice are not isolated in either secondary or elementary settings. The individuality of the students in those experiences, of course, plays differently. But the group themselves will be comprised of people with both secondary and elementary expertise across the organization. We know that this is an area where, families have some input that they want to be sure to be sharing with us. And the student experience is important to us with this particular item as well. My other, question was that in the action steps, it talks about holding focus groups with students and staff.
But I would think we really might wanna have some parent focus groups, especially from the elementary school when we're talking about, you know, parents who have moved their kids to other schools in order to what they feel is meet their kids' needs better. And I don't know if I believe we can identify potentially some of those kids who have moved, and if there's any way to, gather those parents as well as other parents who are still in our district who feel there's a need for that to, get their feedback as well as, you know, what they thought was potentially lacking or what they'd like to see.
Thank you. Alright. I don't see anything else, so plan four. Okay. This is very similar in nature of exploring the, feasibility of alternative scheduling, which my junior in high school wishes we could move a lot faster because he hates waking up early. So, but we're gonna this is exciting, for the group of the leads and myself because, it's meant to explore alternative scheduling options for our students within our school day. This will consist of looking at our current structure and exploring alternative structures to make sure that RCS students are provided the best opportunities possible. A few examples,
I could go on all night probably sharing the different examples, but it's really getting out there to see what other school districts are doing and where they're seeing successes. But, exam few examples would be exploring school start times and bell schedules. I mean, we've been doing the same thing for a long time. Right? Elective offerings by level, looking at middle school electives. We talked about doing skinnies where kids can try different electives out. Those things have been brought up in the master property planning. Excited to look at those different things. Looking at for example, another thing came up about, offering students to take AP courses for credit,
no credit with I think Okemos does that. But we're, like, looking in would love to look into that and see what did that gain? Why is that best for kids? Does it allow them to take chances but not worry about their GPA, right? So looking at those different things. So those are just some examples of things that this committee will will will look into. And this is k 12, so we'll have representation from from all all levels. The only thing I I was gonna say on this is that, you know, you talked about the bell times and the start times. But when I read this, I don't see that reflected in here.
I see more course scheduling. So just from a clarity of what to expect. And then, for this, do we I mean, is there any thought that we would have something for the following year, or is this really looking out further to, like, the 2728 school year if we were implementing anything? That depends on what it is. I think, somebody mentioned it. I think Barb maybe mentioned it, but that depends on what it is. If it's, you know, changing, start times is not an easy task. It's busing. It's, the it affects all levels.
It affects the whole organization. It affects it affects after school activities, so there's a lot of planning that would go into that. If it's something that would be like, offering AP course offerings for credit, no credit, that might be an easier implementation that might be ready, but that has to be ready before scheduling stuff goes out, before kids sign up for courses. Right? Like so it just depends on what the exploration finds of things that we would bring back to the board. And I don't think we'd wait if it's something that the Committee feels we want to bring forward to try to get in place for next year.
If possible, we'd bring it sooner than later. But if it's something towards the end of the year saying we'd like to explore this, Board can you give us the go ahead to go get a committee together to get all the facts together and a plan to execute it, that might take take a little while. It depends on what it is, I think. There'll be budgetary concerns too as part of that, right, obviously. Trustee Annas? Yeah. I I appreciate that because, you know, it's budgetary, it's logistics. But at the end of the day, we're here to serve kids. And if we're being, told and we can find evidence,
that shows, that there's inherent benefits for altering a school schedule, especially at a middle and high school level to accommodate their circadian rhythms and the growth patterns that they have at that moment. I think we should be exploring that. Yep, plan five. Plan five. Yes. Plan five in the teaching category, is around expanding our organizational data literacy. So this plan at heart is to embed, the analysis of a variety of datasets, with expanded frequency across the entire organization that will enable educators to be as responsive,
as possible in meeting individual student needs. This group is designing common data protocols, thinking about, consistent collection rhythms beyond, the annual standardized tests and our benchmark assessments that are given, three times across the year as legislated. But thinking about what else? What else is needed in that, in that type of dashboard? What are the analysis tools that really translate, quickly for action in the classroom? And how might we ensure that we're effectively using data, across the organization to support every learner in the most effective manner?
Questions on plan five? Well, this is one where from the success criteria, how are we measuring student growth? I mean, is it just observations? Could we identify something that would be more metric based that would show growth? So this goal in its origin is around educators, with teachers, with the expectation, that we know in the research when students receive good feedback, from their instructors. When they have opportunity to have timely, timely feedback.
Whether that's in the form of grades or, in response to a learning artifact or a body of work that they put forward. When teachers are, skilled with analyzing that work and then in turn adjusting instruction based on that data, we know that makes for successful classrooms. So this goal specifically is to support our teachers recognizing that highly skilled teachers as a result, have an uptick in the student success, through various areas of achievement. But certainly, a metric related to that, may be considered by this committee.
I mean, to me, that kind of led into the incentive too. Right? Like, to me, the incentive, like, tacked on to what's there should be in order to provide the best instruction to meet the needs of every student. Right? Like, it's I see. More more overt with that rather than implied. Right. Like, it's the what is we're doing it because we want a positive impact on students. And so, yes, maybe we want to be able to identify the growth in our teachers teaching staff, but we wanna show that it is then leading to growth in our students as
well. Did anyone else have something for plan five? Okay. Plan six. All right. Plan six is another one that moving pretty fast. But plan six focuses on continuing the learning for staff and students with artificial intelligence. Our AI steering committee will ensure we are keeping up with best practices, providing the proper training and PD for staff, which we started at the beginning of this year, which was very exciting. So they can teach their students to use AI appropriately and responsibly in schools. So that was our push this year, giving our teachers our AI guidelines so they can use them in their classrooms with
students. We kicked off this school year with professional development for teachers on our artificial intelligence guidelines and tools available to them, and we'll continue that learning throughout the year. And another group we're excited, this steering committee is part of the Oakland Schools AI collective, which all the schools because we're all going through it together with how fast AI is moving. But, we're excited that we've started the process this year, and we're excited to continue that, to get our teachers to feel uncomfortable because students are using it. So let's teach them how to use it appropriately and and,
responsibly. So, any questions about that one? I I'm just wondering if you would consider or look into expanding it so that you're looking at individualizing you know, how can teachers help individualize instruction, and how can they use it to make their jobs more efficient or less cumbersome, rather than just how do students use it appropriately. That that is part of it because the resources that we're providing like, we've we've budgeted to provide resources for our teachers that they're that they can use
in the classroom to make it easier for them to use AI. We have, Gemini that we pro did provide a professional enrollment that's part of their Google suite that's they have access to it. And then we're using school AI that's, like, elementary teachers through middle school and high school where teachers have kind of a control mechanism, especially at the elementary level, middle school level, a control mechanism of how they can use that in the classroom. So that is part of this professional development for teachers year round, the whole year. Okay.
Plan seven. Plan seven. So, I get to to join in on the fun in in year two. This developed breakfast and lunch menu items that are made from scratch or low sugar options really started last spring with a survey that Chartwells conducted with, I think, our elementary families, where low sugar options was a big finding that came out of that survey. This was popular based on the survey results of the strategic plan. I think, kind of based on that Chartwell survey, that's not a huge surprise. So, because this started in the spring, Chartwells is very close.
Our goal here is October 31, to provide options that include scratch cooking and lower sugar items. I believe this process has already started, and, you know, we'll continue to to see how this goes during the school year. For example, I have some lower sugar Lucky Charms on my desk. That might be a hit. It it might not be. Right? Because parents don't think of Lucky Charms as low sugar. And because it's low sugar, kids might go, these Lucky Charms don't taste good. So, I think we'll continue to monitor this. Participation will be a big factor in what drives,
what stays on the menu and and what doesn't. I think there's some pieces of parent education that we'll work to, provide as well because, you know, you might think of Lucky Charms as as high in sugar, and the the stuff that you buy at the grocery store is certainly higher in sugar than the stuff that the schools have access to. So any questions on plan seven? Alright. Plan eight. Plan eight, is led by Ms. Tiffany Glaufier. And I'll be outlining, what she has shared related to that plan this evening. It's focusing on creating a consistent behavior support framework across the district, aiming to equip educators with effective tools and strategies,
promoting positive school environments, and ensuring student success through coaching and evidence based practices. There's been some feedback, related to the incentive and it has, undergone a revision and now reads, by developing and implementing a behavior framework, we will strengthen school wide systems, promote positive behavior, and ensure every learning environment is set up for success. Questions on plan eight? Just one real quick. Is this all grades or just elementary? This is also a K-twelve body of work. Our BCBAs and our RBTs, provide support for students across all grade levels as well as our adult transition program.
And so the work that's happening with professional learning, with implementing systems for goal meetings, observations, implementation, and review, encompass the K-twelve portfolio. Okay. Plan nine. Plan nine is the only security initiative in year two. A lot of our security initiatives were in year one with the rollout of strategics as well as our EOPs. But plan nine is the implementation and rollout of visitor management system. The overall goal of Plan nine is to improve safety and enhance responsiveness to visitors who enter all of our school buildings. At this time, Plan nine is on track as our technology team assembled,
programmed, and installed the kiosks that are currently in all of our buildings. However, there's more steps to go into our visitor management system, which includes our student management. So students will be the next layer to that, as well as the tracking capability of tracking our visitors in our building. So this is all scaffolding, attract technology that we can't just throw it into the system at one time. Our technology team is currently working on it, and the strategic plan would hopefully wrap up before the New Year. Trustee Osmo? I have a question on this one. Are the visitor kiosks implemented currently? Yes. They are currently in all of our buildings,
currently, right now. In my report out at the end of the I was gonna thank our parents for utilizing them. We've had some hiccups and we're working through them. But, yes, all of our buildings are currently operational. I'd be interested to know how we feel this is implemented after Halloween when we have our first big, you know, traffic and moms coming in. So I appreciate you monitoring it and scaffolding it out. But Alright. Plan 10. Plan 10, in the teaching category is, aims to expand our K-five STEAM access, by forming an elementary cohort of STEM motivated teachers,
working collaboratively to design and pilot 12 lessons, across this period of time, with that real world context and the foundational career competencies that were, referenced earlier, in another plan. And the goal is to expand that K-five access as allowable within the career readiness grant source. This is, this particular plan is directly tied to that funding source, so that these crucial engineering principles, are available at greater rates within our elementary arena and students are prepared for what is beyond grade five with this work. Beyond grade five with this work.
Trustee Annis? I I see that it's STEAM. There's an A in there. Mhmm. A for arts. Yes. So I would hope that, the art curriculum would be embedded in that as well. Yes. Okay. Do you know how As well as some community connected projects. There's a goal for quite a bit of intersection there. If you're familiar with the Rochester CoLab, those are tools that, are utilized across our district with great energy already and that body of work is looking to layer in with our,
some of the the units or instructional design that are in play across the disciplines in the classroom. So how does this not become, sort of a side bit but embedded within, teaching and learning across the day? There was another question, I think. Yeah. Do you know, how many pilot classrooms are there? So we're in the process right now of recruiting, staff as they head into, I think, tomorrow maybe is their eleventh day of school. So, we're reaching out to our educators, across all 13 schools to make sure we have a balance of, classrooms from kindergarten through fifth grade within this pilot and are not oversaturated in any
one particular area. But this pilot is accounting for, looks like 14 classrooms. And then, similar to one of the others, is there a game plan to create a library of activities that people can use? Is there, an expectation that eventually all teachers would do this? Certainly the goal around this work is to build momentum and as I mentioned, closer integration with the way, we work through mathematics, social studies, science, any one of the disciplines, our, educators, this has been mentioned,
the way that we frame learning opportunities for students, is our educators are always having that continue to evolve to meet the needs of the students they serve. So we would certainly want, any of this work to not stand in its own silo, but to, become, where it gets sticky layered in with our with our everyday business. Thank you. Did anyone else have a comment? I would just say that on this one specifically too, the incentive is not student focused. Plan 11. Okay. I think this is my last one. So, plan 11,
is a continuation of year one deliverables. I think plan three and thirteen last year were working hand in hand on this around best instructional strategies to improve student engagement and achievement. In addition to incorporating these strategies into classrooms, a focus of this year will be to provide professional development for our building administrators and curriculum consultants so that they can lead this important work with their colleagues in professional development throughout the year in addition to all the other stuff that's in the plan. But that was a key aspect of it. Any questions? I guess I'm just not sure what this plan is trying to accomplish or solve.
Could you talk a little bit about that and maybe provide an example of what responsive instructional strategy could be? Well, what it's trying to solve? If you look at the I guess if I look I go back to the implement and access responsive instructional practices, which I think we do all the time. So it's always a consistent focus on instructional practices. Incentives are provide best instructional strategies to improve student engagement and achievement. So we're talking about what are best ways to improve student engagement and achievement. There's always new ways. There's always new methodologies. There's always new things to do instead of just doing the same old thing year
in and year out. And the deliverables is, implement responsive instructional strategies in K-twelve and adult special ed. So when I look at this and when this team and if I look at the success criteria, they're looking at taking the piloting teachers that were in year one, which was last year. Let's see. Let me look at it. Piloting teachers engage in cycle one of implementation, so implementing cycle one and then they're doing cycle two of implementation, of getting a whole new group on board and then providing that professional development to
our administrators on best instructional strategies and the impact it's making on student engagement and achievement, and then how they filter that into their buildings. So, it's sharing what this group is experiencing with the strategies that they are I'm not going to get in deep with like what strategies, but there's many best research for engagement, but that's what this is trying to do. And it's a continuation of last year's, if you remember. They piloted some instructional strategies, and now we're trying to spread it,
into more teachers and then into more administrators, into our curriculum consultants who lead the professional development, so that way it goes systemic, because good good instructional practices come and go. They're named different things sometimes, but that's staying up with the current science of best instructional strategies. It's kind of an evolution all the time. So I like this plan because it keeps us fresh. We don't set back on, oh, we're doing this, we're doing that. It's what is that what is what does research say is best in structural strategies and why? And I think that's getting that in our organization and getting our leaders with that
information will spread it quicker than if it's just us talking about it. So I hope I answered your question. I didn't give you an example. But Yeah. I'll just say that because I'm not a teacher and I'm not in a classroom and I'm not doing that, I really don't understand exactly what this is doing. And I'd like to, you know, what growth metric can we use? Like, what growth is this going to drive in our students? Like, I I Yeah. And and I hope to see that identified. And I hope that the way we present you guys these plans with the steering
committee, what they're gonna decide, like, getting that group in front of you to explain and give you an exam like, I'm excited about our AI artificial intelligence, presentation coming up in October, I believe, where that committee with some students and some teachers are gonna show you what they're doing with AI. I hope this is the same with this where we can show you, because it is hard to explain if you're not a classroom teacher, of what they're experimenting with and what engagement looks like in the classroom and all those sorts of thing. So I hope we do bring it alive where you guys can see it in action. Trustee Gupta.
Well, I could think of an example maybe that might be relevant to help crystallize it a little bit. Like, the evolution of neuroscience and how you reach kids. Right? I mean, that's huge. There's so much there, like trauma informed instruction. And if a kid is not feeling safe or is preoccupied with managing safety, they're probably not going to learn. Right? Like, that's a big example. But, and they're not all that big, but more they're often more nuanced than that.
But that would be an example of an insight that comes from more recent research that a teacher maybe who's been teaching for a while didn't learn that when they went to school. So it's part of updating the portfolio of tools is to constantly be upping our game with new information about how to best do that work. Yeah. Is that accurate? Yeah. Thank you. I think what I would add from some of the other plans that I gave overview this evening, in its connection with Plan 11 is that, you know, in our classrooms there are,
as varied readiness for the learning target as there are learners in the room. And so very often what a group of instructors may plan to deliver, as a way to take on a concept, we will always have children in the room for who that wasn't a match on that day, right, in the development of their learning. And so this idea of instructional strategies that respond to the learner, a responsive strategy, may be, the things, that, Vice President Gupta have mentioned. They may also be an alternate or plan B to that instructional target for that
particular day that involves a different level of movement or involves a different resource, and certainly responds to the data, that our staff have about the students that they serve. So, that, the work around that is ongoing and requires a lot of, careful professional learning so that staff feel equipped and supported, rather than, sort of swimming in a trove of resources that they are, you know, sort of left in isolation to make sense of. Which things for which student at which time? Those are the supports that districts, with plans like these, circle around educators for communities of collaboration and ongoing,
growth and support for students. And the last thing I'm gonna say is engagements like an art. Good teachers know how to engage their kids and get them excited about learning the content. Anybody can go and say, here's a worksheet, read chapter one. How do you get them to think and think aloud and share with each other? And there's teachers have to plan that out, what questions they ask, how they plan their lesson plan where kids' movements, like you said about healthy and like not just sitting for an hour and just listening, how do you engage them? And there's multiple strategies,
but it's constantly evolving. So I think this plan really gets the group to continue to talk about it and share and try and experiment. And I hope we, we can share those results while it's going. Alright. Trustee Gupta? And I was just thinking that, I can imagine there would be a lot of synergy kind of data cultivation you know, cultivating that data informed culture. Because on one hand, that data and being able to understand the data and what it means will, tell a teacher something about their kids' learning needs.
And then these strategies are necessary to know to know what to do with that data. Alright. Plan 12? Sorry. That's me. I think I was feeling the effect of the lack of movement, maybe, the last few hours. Plan 12 is about communicating administrative regs and policy. I think we've got a pretty good system in place now to review recommendations to bring those forth to get communication amongst the board and administration to approve. But if if that's not communicated clearly, if the policy,
is approved in the forest and no one is there to see it, how do they adhere to it, so to speak? So it might seem simple, but we to my knowledge, we have never formalized what that looks like. I'd like to take the year, take part of the year, because I think this one's due in February, take the fall to communicate with the board, communicate with other districts on best practices, and formalize with a plan how those then get communicated to staff, students when necessary, community, board, so on and so forth. So that's the extent of plan 12.
Any questions? Hearing none, moving along to 13. Strengthen the tool for non teacher evals. This one, it started with a support staff focus because we're lucky. We've got a cohort of HR learning professionals working in our district this year from Oakland Schools. They're doing a cohort, two year program of current HR folks or educators interested in HR and they're doing sort of learning projects along the way. And this coincides with a project that we're hosting.
So one of our own employees and then three from surrounding districts are coming in and they have a project to do. And the project they're gonna take on is a support staff evaluation, tool. They're gonna evaluate the current one, work with the union, work to improve it, and then work to implement. So that's gonna happen over the course of the year. Ancillary to that, we also, in talking with, Mr. Russo, we really wanna refresh and I think I referenced this during the salary study, refresh and systematize the central office evaluation tool. So, that supports staff too,
I guess, in my mind. So I think these two things are gonna work sort of side by side in tandem over the course of this year. So there's some, plans in place for next year for those both to be refreshed. I'm not sure yet if the support staff, refresh will be with clerical, para staff, both. It's that cohort to work through. So that will be updated along the way and truly will be a living plan. Any questions on '13? Does it mean that there is no evaluation in this coming year or we have a different tool we're using? No. Yeah. We we have them in places that haven't been refreshed in some time.
Okay. So yeah. Thank you. '14. Alright. Fourteen. Fourteen is, develop additional training materials for business and operations. Really, this could be, I think, expanded to any area of business and operations, but, we're specifically looking at business office and purchasing procedures. So there's maybe about a dozen people in of the 1,500 to 2,000 people that work here that really enjoy business office and purchasing procedures. So trying to help spread that understanding of policies and procedures and the why behind things with different training materials to the rest of the population is really the focus of Plan 14.
We've already started to review and update our policies and procedures, at the board level and then any corresponding changes to our guidelines and procedures based on those. So that is Plan 14. Any questions? I guess my question is, is it the is the goal to enhance district procedures or to enhance compliance with district procedures? Yeah. I think it's really both. You know, the compliance is, hopefully what comes out of those training materials and resources.
I think, you know, one of the approaches that I've always had is that, I think collaboration and communication is important. So, there are some things, from a business office or purchasing perspective that we may not understand at a building level, for example, that may cause a lot of grief that just because we don't understand it, maybe we can we can find a solution that maximizes both what we need on the business office side and what they need to relieve some of that administrative burden. So I think it can it can, work twofold. Any other questions? I guess, just having said that then,
wouldn't the deliverable deliverable also be updated procedures if needed then? I mean, because the deliverable talks about more training. Right? So Sure. Could be. Plan 15 is an audit of tuition based programs to include recommendations for increased profit margins and community needs. So I don't want you to read this as simply the district wants to increase costs for families. You know, that could result from this, but there's also, I think, other ways, to make this happen. For example,
that might mean running programs at eight rather than seven because the profit margins are a little bit better. This really is looking at our enrichment, our school aged care, our pre K, possibly our summer school programs that are all tuition based. And then, really, kind of that success criteria will be, the board's approval, of the budget that contains any of those updated pieces. Though, the goal would be to have some of that information communicated sooner because, you know, our families that rely on these things, probably would like an update sooner than 06/30/2026 for the upcoming school year.
So, I know, at least on the enrichment level, we've already started looking at, what we're doing there, for the the, winter brochure. That's when a lot of those things will will start taking effect. And then we'll continue as we get into spring summer, look at those and do kind of the same exercise, with our pre k or our school aged care and our summer school programs, to review both what the structure is currently in the district and what structures are, you know, throughout the county, looking at Macomb County as well, our neighboring school districts, and and private industry when applicable. Any questions on plan 15?
Trustee Alsbach. So you said summer learning and enrichment and pre k. Does it also include SAC? Yes. Glorious care. Yep. Okay. Thank you. And while you're doing this review, will you kind of identify what sunk costs are versus variable costs as well? Yeah. I think the focus will be mostly on, direct costs that are directly applicable. And what I mean by that is, if we're gonna take school aged care as an example, there's maybe some overhead costs by the office staff, right? A supervisor, a secretary, for those positions. We'll take a look at that. We'll also take a look at the direct cost of running it,
but probably won't take into too much consideration the electricity that it costs to operate a gym because that's where our school aged care program is. Anyone else? Alright. Sixteen. Sixteen, back to me. Sixteen is, creating a handbook for district staff. We have We have building level handbooks and a variety of forms. We don't have an employee handbook that kind of covers an overarching, group of people. It's difficult to do in a district this size, but there are good exemplars out there and it's something I think would, in the end, reduce our legal liability,
potentially, enhance clarity across the district on some focused areas of expectations and beliefs and that sort of thing. So this we're going to take this year to study that, evaluate best products and create for next fall, something that can be distributed to all employees in this district with that goal in mind. Any questions? Thank you. Alright. 17. Hi. So Through the strategic planning process, we introduced ParentSquare as the district's primary communication tool, which was launched last year.
For the 2526 school year, we're focused on implementing phase two, and all of the functionality that comes with the new platform, and that could include newsletters. There's a polling feature, attendance, volunteer sign up forms. Some of the things that we're, excited about that, you know, I think, Kimberly, did you say we're on day 11? Is that what I heard? You know, and already, StudentSquare is being launched this week. StudentSquare is, obviously focused on on enhanced communications with our students. It's similar to the remind feature that,
many of our high school students has have used in the past. The other thing that we launched, just last week was, an opportunity for community members who don't have students in our school district, to be able to get communications and sign up for those communications. So, we were able to get the the list from our school our former school Messenger, service, and all of those folks that signed up, we we were able to send them a direct message, but then, you know, are using our communication tools to get that word out. In October, we'll be doing a,
that will be our next version of the community update that's mailed to all the community members. So we'll make sure that that's, prevalent so they can see that that any community members can sign up. You know, I'd like to take this opportunity, if I can, to give a shout out to our communications team and our tech team. You know, this was a monumental lift. Tech team did some amazing tutorials, video tutorials, and, you know, just even transferring over the database. There were a few little, glitches, but but pretty much for a district of this size was it was pretty seamless.
So really, really proud of their efforts and, just wanna formally thank them. Any questions? Just quickly, are all teachers content creators, and how are they receiving training? Yeah. So teachers are content creators for their classrooms. Right? So anything that would go through, a school would be the administrate for the entire school would be an administrator. And how are they getting training? Yeah. I believe, there were tutorials for all of our, our, teachers and staff. I can one of our curriculum team members, was that included in PD?
Training for Parent Square for our teachers, administrators, staff. I believe building principals schedule time with the training team. Mhmm. Mhmm. Any other questions? No. Plan 18. Okay. Moving on to 18. So, last year in through the strategic planning process, we focused on developing developing a process to review and update our website. I wanna caveat this. I'm not sure that the board, realizes that the district does not have a website content manager.
So we rely on our building administrators. We rely on the communications team. We rely on individual departments to update individual sites. So, you know, this is a an ongoing task, but, again, with the process that that we've the review process, hopefully, it will make it a an annual thing. We are expanding on what we did last year and, focusing on ADA content. And that's not to say that we we have mechanisms in place to ensure,
for example, pictures have, words that attach that describe the picture for for ADA content. It's looking deeper. For example, since since schools can update their own sites, if there's if there's more pictures out there than there should be, can those pictures, be put into words? And if you'll I'm gonna use our strategic plan as as an example. Last year, we used pictures of the, Excel spreadsheet. This year, we found a way to actually write it into, the web page so that would be easier and and easy more easily accessible for
somebody who might have, a disability. So those are the things that we really wanna dive into and and look at further. Any questions? Nope. Alright. 19. Thank you. So plan 19, well, Rochester Community Schools is always looking for ways to improve programs and services, and it can be our community feedback is always an important part of that process. We, it was over ten years ago that we, brought on, at the time it was Talk to Us. We, transitioned that to Talk to RCS. It's been a a very helpful feature and tool for our community members.
But this is looking this is diving in deeper. This is really deter getting a survey mechanism, and and determining what that survey mechanism is. You know, we said, Parent Square has a polling feature. Is that enough? But this committee will hopefully dive in deeper to see what's out there and and, you know, what what mechanisms are out there and what might be the right mechanism for this district. The board may recall in the past that, we tried thought exchange in the past. We actually hired different, contractors to to do surveys for us.
So we've tried, a lot of different, ways to put survey out surveys out. Again, this will help, hopefully, focus in on one for the upcoming year. Can can you explain how gathering input celebrates excellence or builds trust? Sure. Yeah. So, people wanna be heard. They wanna know that their input is valued and appreciated. And, I had mentioned earlier that when we did the survey, for the strategic plan, it wasn't that we just read the survey and, and we're done with it. We shared that information with the the owners of the plans so they can bring
that to their, leads and groups and and really consider that information. And and that's a truly valuable part of of the survey mechanism. I guess I think you just have to be careful because I don't think you gain trust by just having a survey. I think you gain trust by what you do with the survey. Sure. And, so I I I think that's a a very distinctive, just getting late, and I'm losing track of my words. But I just think it's it's important, and, I really think when we look at the incentive, we should be talking about, how we would be receiving feedback and understanding perspectives of others and that type of
thing, and that that's the incentive in there. But Yeah. And and just so the board's aware, these incentives relate to our vision statements, and that was taken from our vision statement. Alright. Any other questions? Trustee Lecui? Well, I feel I feel kinda bad because I appreciate a lot of the people that put all of this together, and I can tell that people are enthusiastic, and I know they wanna do a good job. And but I do have some critical feedback about this, and it's mostly related to the success criteria and deliverables.
So I'll just be honest about that. It's not about anybody personally. I hope nobody takes offense to that. It's literally just about, what I see in the slides. So when I look at the year two plan, it really seems like most of the success criteria tends to track completion of tasks or presentations. Most of the plans just say that we're going to do an activity by a certain date or hold a certain number of meetings. But actually not one of the year two plans sets a clear measurable goal for student learning or show benchmarks for,
like, how much kids will actually improve. And that's actually in contrast to some of the goals we set for the superintendent. You can look at those and see if there are some smart Some of them they're not all SMART goals. Some of them but some of them are SMART goals, and it shows what success criteria could look like. So if we don't have that, I'm not sure how that truly sets the bar higher for us. And I'm just concerned that there's gonna be a lot of activity spent doing things without necessarily knowing what the impact will be because of that. It's like dribbling a basketball without taking a shot.
And I'm just someone who values efficiency and results, and I just don't want staff or students spending time on things that don't necessarily make a difference. I'd much rather have fewer initiatives that are tracked to student performance so we can all have confidence that the plan is truly strategic and making a real difference for kids and that we'll know. Because if you just if you have something where you're doing an activity, as long as we complete the activity, we're done with it. It looks like success, but we don't know whether that actually affected students. So for instance, like literacy,
the success is defined as a board vote, not improved reading levels. It'd be good to have clear K through five reading targets. Or for work based learning, it measured the teacher activity rather than what we would wanna see students accomplish, like how many of them are actually getting the real work experience and what do we want them to know. Or the behavior framework, it counts coaching sessions. It doesn't count suspension, referrals, or attendance. For the business training, it mentions new trainings, but given our past issues, it doesn't necessarily fix the financial control gap. So as it stands right now, I can't support approving this plan without clearer goals.
If we narrow the focus and make the outcomes measurable, we'll have a stronger plan and, I think, more trust from the community. And hopefully, we'll see this. It's a living document. It could morph as it goes along. I sent more comprehensive feedback about each plan earlier today. And fortunately, we did have board members who covered some of the points that I brought up there too. So but, hopefully, we can see it we'll see it continue to morph. But if we're gonna take a vote on this today, it's not something that I will be able to vote in support of for those reasons.
Trustee Gupta? I guess, trustee Locuih, I'm just curious. So for these examples that you cited, for instance, plan number one, the success criteria, you mentioned that it would be better if there was, a metric thereabouts, you know, improved student achievement or learning, in literacy. Can you give us an example of, like, what that would look like to you as a reasonable success criteria for the end of, year two on a curriculum that we haven't identified yet and don't have funding for yet? Like, what would be a reasonable impact on learning data outcome for that given those circumstances?
Like, if we set a particular goal, like we were looking for a percent at or above grade level according to our I Ready or MSEP testing, you know, if you set something, we may or may not meet it. But at least it gives us something to work off of. We can compare how different curriculums But how would this We've been piloting all grants for a while. I mean, do you think that's reasonable to expect at the end of year two with no funding and no we've done some changes to curriculum with what we have. But there has been We've been testing we've been piloting literacy. We've been piloting,
but that's not systemic. I mean, you know, I guess, to me, I hear what you're saying, and I share some of these concerns that I do wish that we you know, I would have liked to see a little bit more metrics in there around student, improvement. But I also am trying to be realistic about what's a real reasonable expectation for each of these goals given the circumstances. And I guess it's just hard for me to understand how, at the same time, that we're exploring and waiting for a list to come out of what we're gonna
have long term funding for and can roll out systemically, how we're gonna simultaneously, systemically improve, these metrics in a way that and that's why I asked for an example, in a way that would satisfy you. I'm gonna, circle for just a second because Give me an example. I think you could have I think I understand both of your points, and I think you could have something for the '26, twenty seven year, a goal for that along with a goal for a '27, twenty eight year, that type of thing. So, I think there's ways to put in a metric for it,
but I understand your point as well. It's you can't do that for the twenty five, twenty six year when they aren't implementing the, the the curriculum this year. I had a question. Well, madam president, just along that same topic. Okay. So we're so is this goal we're we're still are we still piloting our curriculums then and trying to decide which curriculum we're going to choose? So we gotta know what is it that we're going to be using as a determining factor to let us know what curriculum we're going to choose by the end
of it. Right? That's what the plan entails. The plan entails. The success criteria is that the vote the board votes on whatever is chosen. This is more about how Point of order. Madam President, need to be addressed by Or Trustee, Gupta. I think if you go into the plan No, I'm sorry. What is your point of order? Oh, well, sorry. My point of order was that she was speaking without being acknowledged by the board chair. Alright. That that you are correct. That is true. So let's then see if anyone else has a comment. Trustee Alsbaugh? So I really want to thank, superintendent Russo and his entire team because I know that working on a five year
strategic plan is a is a marathon. It's not a sprint. I appreciate you kind of giving us umbrella ideas. And I really think that some of our questions are pounding more into the detail, and we might be getting a little bit ahead of where we are in the process. I understand, although I would like a magic wand that implemented everything this year, as a teacher, I can also understand there's implementation fatigue. So I know we have to we have to stagger these, prioritizing what can be done now and what's important and what would be better done
later. So I appreciate, you listening to our feedback. I agree with a lot of the feedback that we've given you about rooting this into what impact it has for our students. And I know this is a living document, and I know you guys are gonna continue your hard work on this. So as you incorporate our feedback, because I know this is a living document, I can support where we are right now. Trustee Blake? Yeah, I just just to, like, comment on what everybody is just saying. I just got done talking about how I'm unrealistic and I'm impatient and I want things to to.
But you have to look at this and understand, like, this is like building a house. Some of these things are we're not even doing the plan yet, and to be able to pick by one year from now that we're gonna have measurable improvements on a particular test or a particular type of thing. It just seems like that's jumping two and three steps ahead. That is the ultimate goal of most of these, I would think, But you're not going to we haven't even implemented the literacy program, and now you you think we should have a goal that we're gonna have some
type of specific improvement before we've even done the plan. I just think that is that's unrealistic and very impatient. Mister Russo, you we had talked earlier, and you thought that the steering committee, the the strategic plan steering committee could look at, reviewing those incentives, deliverables, and success criteria, and maybe provide an update, in a couple months on that. Is that true as far as for passing a a motion to approve these?
I would say that so I I there's a couple of ways I have to answer the question, and I I I I respect the feedback, and I do understand that there's there's not congruence on what you're expecting in terms of language. Right? In terms of incentives, you'd like to be more student centered, etcetera. When we had goals last year, related to I should I shouldn't say goals. I should say what we put in place last year, for example, for SAT and PSAT data, I'm sorry, for SAT and PSAT prep and the things that we brought to the board, and this is just an anecdotal example,
there were there were board members who were upset that it wasn't that it wasn't specific enough. You're sharing what we're doing. How are we gonna know if it works? And, mister Guzmano, to to my estimation, most of it worked. I think there's there's there's a there's an element of allowing some of our educators to do the work. Well, I come back to the language. If we're not ready to adopt this as it is, we can go back and change incentives. We can go back and change our our language that you're that I took a lot of notes here. I'm sure other people at the table took a lot of notes as well.
Whether the steering committee comes back with what I'm more nervous about is the steering committee having influence to come back and then it needed to be re refreshed and refreshed again. And the truth is the work the the work is the work. And I I I don't wanna get into a a cycle of, well, what about this now and what about this now and what about this now? And I'm not saying we would, but I I'm that that makes me a bit nervous. So if the if this is not something that if the if the way in which this is worded is not something that the the board wants to approve today,
you can send us back to retake these notes and do some things. It'll change some of the some of the work because some of the work is teacher centered, not student centered, which has student centered results. So that then we'll have to relook at the plans. Well, honestly, with that with with that response, I'm not sure what to make to make. So someone is welcome to make a motion. I am uncomfortable. I was comfortable when the steering committee was gonna review it and come you know, provide updates to us. I'm a little uncomfortable just saying we approve it as is.
I mean And that can be the case. The steering committee can come back. But once that happens, I would be nervous about an another round of the same kind of discussion. That's I was just putting that out there as a, potential. Right? Trustee Annas. I guess I just wanna say I'm I'm I'm hearing a lot of conflicting messages because, you know, you yourself said, President, Boutel, that at the beginning that, you know, this document is a living document. If that is truly the case, then it's a document that grows and changes and has the ability to,
be modified to include in certain areas more student centered data and what that could look like, you know, in terms of the impact of that particular plan. There were things that, quite honestly, I kind of agreed with Trustee Leguayan. I think there are some areas where we need to see something more measurable in terms of how does this impact our students. But at the same time, I think that for us to sit here and say we can't approve this plan because that's not embedded in it right now,
I I think that is really not a good path for us to go down. We have, I have full confidence in our superintendent, his administration, that strategic planning committee that was sitting here, that if we're communicating, we wanna see some of these focused more with student centered data results. So when you come back to us, make sure that includes that, and we can still have this conversation. This is a living document. So for us to sit here and say we can't approve it this evening, that really upsets me because to me,
this is a document that I can approve on the faith that we expect more in terms of, a balance of how it will impact students and the data how the data is reflected in that impact on students as the year progresses. I I personally wanna vote on this, and I think it would be disingenuous for us as a board to say that we're not in a position to do that right now. So is there a way you're just saying you would just approve it as presented. Absolutely. It's a living,
working document. I guess you are you're welcome to make that motion, trustee Alspa. I understand we have feedback, and I agree with a lot of the, feedback that we've given about rooting it in, student, and some of it rooting it in measurable or at least intended measurable outcomes. However, I think if we send this back to the steering committee and say we don't like that word or this word or that word, that's an infinite cycle, and we can wordsmith it until for the next decade. So, with that in mind, I move that we approve the year two plans as presented, knowing that the steering committee will incorporate feedback and that it is a living document.
Sorry. You're gonna have to go much slower. Yep. Move to the I'm gonna that we approve the two year plan. The the year two strategic plan? Pardon me? Go ahead. Keep going. Okay. As presented, knowing that the steering committee will incorporate our fee will incorporate our feedback. That the steering committee And that this is a living document. That the steering committee will incorporate board feedback and what? And that this is a living document. And as I'm saying that out loud, I I hear some feedback somewhere down the table that I'm open to listening to.
Alright. So that was moved by, trustee Alspaugh. Is there support for that? I'll support it right now so we can have discussion on it. Trustee Gupta? I guess one concern I have about that language is that it it kind of compels the steering committee to utilize all of our feedback versus consider it. And I think, you know, what why would we oh, I I don't know. I I think it's fair to say, please consider our feedback, but it's also fair for us to say to hear from the experts in the field why they proposed it the way they did and maybe we didn't think of
all of those things. I'm open to that as far as I can. A motion to amend it or to amend it to say consider versus incorporate? I'm not because in general, I don't. I think I, I support I I understand and appreciate the spirit of this motion, but I don't support it. I am more in support of of of, voting on what was presented today, and approving that, because we've already established a bunch of times that this is a living document. I'm gonna sit on the steering committee.
I'm committed to bringing all of my board colleagues' feedback to the committee for dialogue and consensus building, at that point. But I I don't see that as a this as a reason to not move forward. Alright. Is there a motion to replace it? Sure. I move that we approve the year two strategic plan as presented. I second. Moved by trustee Gupta and support from trustee Annas. Any discussion on this? Trustee Blake?
So I am gonna vote for this. I did give my feedback. I do have confidence in the people on the committee and the superintendent and trustee Gupta that they will incorporate this feedback, and they will, where necessary, move this to where it needs to be. So I'm comfortable going forward. Madam President? Trustee Liqui? I'll be voting no because it's on what's presented. Madam President? Trustee Alspa? I support, Trustee Gupta's language as being a clear message, So I don't know if I'm allowed to. Can I withdraw my motion so that we're only voting on her language?
I think we have to replace it first. Okay. I I'm not a 100% sure on that, and then Whatever you think is best. No. We have to, vote on replacing it and then vote on the actual item. We have a we have it's moved and supported, but we have not voted on replacing the original. I call the question. Okay. We're getting there, but now we have another one. Okay, call move to call the question. That was from trustee Annas who supports that. Trustee Alspa. Alright. All of those in favor of calling the question,
please say aye. Aye. That's a six vote. Abstain. That's a five zero one vote. Now there is a motion to replace the original motion with approve year two strategic plan as presented. All of those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Were there any opposed? No. That's a five. Yes. It's a five one vote. So now we are voting the motion now is to approve the year two strategic plan as presented. I will say that I will support this,
but I am concerned. I really hope that the steering plan committee, the strategic plan steering committee takes the input into consideration and does look at rewriting these. Because I think they are not clear. I think our community needs something better that is out there. And I think we really need to look at, having some measurable statistics for some of these. Did anyone else have any other comments before we vote on this motion? Madam president? Trustee Lacui? I'd just like to clarify for the record,
my prior vote should have been an abstention, not not a no. For the replacement Yeah. Should have been abstention. Okay. Okay. So at this point, we have the motion to approve the year two strategic plan as presented. All of those in favor, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. No. That's a five one, and it passes. Alright. We are moving on to I guess before we move on, I do wanna thank everyone who has been involved with the strategic plan. And I do know as as much as I,
have comments and, you know, think that we can provide more clarity, I really appreciate all the work that has gone into it. And, I know that, people are working to do what's right for our students, our staff, so I just wanted to make that clear. Next on our agenda is the state funding resolution, and I'm gonna turn this over to Trustee Annas. Thank you, madam president. So, this resolution, came out of, a meeting I was in last week with the Oakland County School Board Association,
the government relations committee. There was a very robust discussion about, the lack of, the state passing a budget and the impact that it will have on our local districts. And, just to date, there's twenty four days left, I believe, until, the October 1 constitutional deadline that our, legislature is required to meet. And as a board, here at this table, we met our fiduciary and legal obligation and passed a budget on, by June 30. And, currently, there is a big split between the house,
the state senate, the state house, and, the governor's office in terms of, budget negotiations. Unfortunately, the House currently is focusing on a budget proposal that, essentially uses, three adds 3,000,000 in additional road funding. But that is mainly from diverting, that $3,000,000,000 from the school aid fund. And also cutting key state programs like, universal lunch for our students. So this is a real problem. And, so I'm proposing this resolution, and I hope that my,
board trustees will, agree to pass this, to send a timely message to those that represent us in Lansing and, our state governor that, these are children's lives and, educators that we're talking about, and, there are real consequences to not passing one. Should I be reading this? I don't think we need to read it because it's in the board's opinion of Miranda. I did want to make, one, amendment to this document, actually. Item number three, which says, Estimate a $15,600,000
loss or delay in our first scheduled state aid payment, payable on October 20, if a K-twelve school aid budget is not passed. I would like to add the following: by 09/30/2025. Okay. And we will, since you made that before there was a motion, we will treat that as presented. Okay. So is there a motion to approve the state funding resolution as presented? I'm gonna say that was by trustee Annas. Is there support? Trustee Gupta supported that.
Is there any discussion on this? Trustee Gupta? I just would like to thank trustee Annas for taking the lead on this and for all of your advocacy. And let's hope we can get a budget. Anyone else? Trustee Lecui? Well, I get the point of this resolution. It's basically just putting us on record telling Lansing to get the budget done, and I'll vote along with it. I mean, everybody wants to get the budget done, of course. But let's be honest, it's symbolic. It's political grandstanding. It doesn't actually release any money or change the state law. The truth is we will eventually get the funding,
and all three state budgets out there right now raise our per pupil allowance. So what we can learn from this situation is why it's so important to keep a cushion in our fund balance. When we pass deficit budgets like we did last year and are on track to do again this year, it puts us in a weaker position while we wait. Our focus should be managing the dollars we already have because that's what we control. That's where we can really make the biggest difference for our students. Madam President? Trustee Annas. I would just like to make a comment regarding that statement. We have been elected as individuals to sit at this table by the citizens of
this community, and we represent the children in this district. And therefore, we have an obligation to advocate for their needs. And we have no control, you're totally right, over when a budget gets passed from the state of Michigan, but we certainly have a voice, and that voice represents almost 75,000 individuals in our community. So we have an obligation to use that voice to advocate for the children in our district, and that is why I'm presenting this resolution. So you may call it political grandstanding, but I think what you just said is exactly the same as well.
Alright. All of those in favor of approving the state funding resolution as presented, say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. That's a six o vote, and the motion, the resolution is approved. Alright. Our next agenda item is regarding the arbitration documents. In June, the Board passed a motion indicating that we would release all the legal documents related to the recent arbitration with our previous superintendent, Doctor. Shaner, with redactions consistent with our standard FOIA process. The process of reviewing and redacting the documents has been significantly slower than the attorneys
had anticipated. We have not received all of the requested documents yet. Based on the motion we passed in June, our attorneys were only planning to produce hearing transcripts and the motions briefs filed with the arbitrator, which included exhibits and partial deposition transcripts that were attached to the motion for summary disposition. Most of the hearing exit I'm sorry. Most of the hearing exhibits were not attached to any motions or briefs filed with the arbitrator, so they were not included in the original request. To redact the remaining files,
they're estimating that will take another fifteen to twenty hours, and they estimate the cost between 3,000 and thousand and $4,200 They also estimate that it will take more than three to four weeks before we actually have them. Knowing this, there are a couple of questions for the board to decide. Does the Board wish to continue with the process and pay for the remaining documents, or does the Board want to just receive the unredacted copies? So that's my first question to the Board that I'm looking for direction on. Trustee Blake.
Several things. Number one, this doesn't really surprise me. This is why the motion that I made was that we include the arbitration documents, the pleadings, and the, the hearing transcripts, but we went further than that. We ordered all of these additional things. Having said that, though, we made a commitment that we're going to have everything done. So we need to have everything done. So if we have to pay $3,000 or $4,000 to do it. But I would say this, I made this recommendation I made this suggestion about two, three weeks ago. Thank you, Jason. Thank you. You're welcome.
Well, I mean, but I did make this I did make this suggestion several weeks ago that we have received most of what we have what we need. We've received everything that, all the pleadings. We've received everything that the arbitrator, considered, for the most part, I believe. And why don't we release that information so that people can at least start to to go through it? It's gonna take a while. If there's somebody who really wants to go through everything, it's gonna take them a while. Jason, if we could just wait because I had sent all the questions out to everyone, so that's our second question. If we could just get through this one first,
then that would be great. We're gonna go one by one so that So, trustee Gupta? I would just say when we pass the motion, to release the redacted documents. At that time, we had no way to know that our insurance company was gonna cover the majority of the, transcribing and all of that. In fact, we expected that it would cost some money to do that. So the fact that, most of it was covered and but we still have to shell out some money for the remaining, doesn't change the calculus for me that from the date we approved it.
Okay. Anyone else? Trustee Lecuey? Yep. I think it's just it's simply a matter of integrity at this point. The board voted, and the vote was clear on June 30. Release all legal documents with FOIA consistent redactions. And I was thinking along the same lines as trustee Gupta that at that time, the board didn't even know if all the redactions would even be covered. So I don't see any reason to change what was already agreed upon. And I guess he has Hanover formally said no yet? Okay. So they haven't even formally said no. Yeah. I I just don't really see what's changed.
Okay. So it looks like we will continue with the remainder of the, getting the remainder of the items. The next question is, how we wanna proceed because it's going to be, I don't know how long. I mean, they said more than three to four weeks. So I know trustee Blake was saying to post what we have now and then add the remaining files when they've been received. How does everyone feel about that? Trustee Gupta. I agree with trustee Blake. Madam president? Trustee Lacui? I'd like to see the exhibits that we haven't seen that were referenced all throughout
the transcripts and through the, closing briefs and the opinion and award document because I'm I'm not following. You're saying you wanna see those before they're posted? We haven't received those yet. Right? The board is supposed to get a copy of those? Right. But that's not where we're right now, we're talking about posting. Do we go ahead and post the items we have and add the rest when we receive them? So I I'm not understanding your comment. Why wouldn't we be able to receive that now? And then I'll post once they're available. You're saying you wanna get it unredacted now?
Yeah. For the board to be able to at least see and digest all the information that we've got right now. If the board's okay with that, I can ask them to go ahead and forward that. It's already been a couple months, you know, like, it's been a while. Yep. We will. Is that part of question number three? I don't remember. Alright. So I'm hearing then that we'll go ahead and post what we have now. Trustee Alspa? I think it's really unfortunate that we are needlessly increasing our legal bills because of some bad actors that have created a hostile work environment and cost our students,
3 quarters of a million dollars. And we can prioritize legal agreements, but, you know, a smaller cost for a sign is too much. So I think that's really unfortunate. But I do agree with trustee Gupta that I think, you know, in the order of transparency, we need to get what we have already that's been redacted posted. And I think that, we're gonna have to post the rest as we get it. Madam president, I actually I don't I don't think it's right to post what we have without posting the exhibits that go along with it because especially hearing what I just heard
from trustee Alspa, you know, there's been some really baseless accusations going around. And I wondered why this was coming up. I thought it was so strange that all of a sudden, we're just now learning about these supposed new cost concerns, the 3 or $4,000 that we might have to spend. And, well, this vote was made on June 30, and why is this coming up all of a sudden? And it doesn't really make any sense. I'm someone who feels like I really benefit from the truth and full transparency coming out,
including the exhibits, including all of the evidence that's supposed to to back up and corroborate some of these accusations. There are others who might not benefit from that quite so much. So I think everything should be posted all at once so it doesn't look like we're cherry picking what we put out there and people can keep running with these baseless accusations. Anything less than that, it actually starts to look pretty shady, and people are gonna be wondering what we're trying to hide in the meantime here. We need to make sure we've got it all. Well, first first, I wanna say, you're hearing about,
a cost because we were just notified. So that's why it's coming up right now. The second item I want to, indicate is that we could definitely list on the website that, you know, the other what other documents would be forthcoming when they're received. So, I guess I need to hear again since trustee has brought it up. Are do we agree that we post what we have now, or do we, hold off and wait till we have everything? I haven't heard from that end of the table.
I abstain from the original vote. I don't agree with this. But, you know, post what we have, that's already redacted, and let's wait until we get everything else. And, you know, if if someone at this table wants to plant a seed of mistrust and continue to do so, they've just done that. Trustee Osmo? I agree we should post what we have because we want to get information out there as fast as we can. And correct me if I'm wrong, but what we have is the summary motions, which I think will clear up a lot of what the judge's finding was or
the arbitrator's finding was and why. We there's quite a bit of information out there. So we'll we'll post we'll get that up on the website then. So the final item is that it was suggested that the board pass a motion that makes it clear that trustees are not to release any of the unredacted arbitration documents without board authorization? Assuming the board is in agreement, then then is there a motion that the board directs that trustees shall not release any of the unredacted arbitration documents without board authorization?
So moved. Moved by trustee Annas. Is there support? Support by trustee Gupta. Is there any discussion on this? Yeah. Trustee Lacui? I just wanna point out that this motion is completely redundant and unnecessary because trustees are already not to release confidential privileged information, and it's not a concern. And I've had all of this information this entire time, you know, what we've gotten before from this. I I don't need this reminder. I don't know if the rest of you feel like you need this reminder, and maybe you do because we do know that there are board members who've leaked
stuff to their their anonymous blog. So if you feel that you need this, I can go ahead and support this motion even though it's completely unnecessary, potentially confusing for the community. But the truth is it's redundant. But I can go along and vote with it since it goes with what we've already said. Madam president. Trustee Annas. It's necessary to include this because we have a member sitting here at the the table that has a direct line to a journalist and, you know, her opinion seems to get shared quite frequently in, publications. So we are protecting the president's point of order.
She's attacking members' motives. She has no reason to even do that. She has not named anyone at this point, but let's move forward with She's named the some trustee sitting at the table. It could be any could be any of us. Alright. At this time, we have the motion. All of those in favor, say aye. Aye. Sorry. What was the motion for this motion for? That's not That the board directs that trustees shall not release any of the arbitration documents without board authorization. Sure. Alright. That is a six o vote. We do not have any public comment remaining,
so we're moving on to additional comments. Madam president. Okay. So to clarify To to kind of order? Trustee Lacuhi, I have not recognized you. And at this point, we are moving on to additional comments. What happened with that particular item? It was vote I I did. It passed. Six zero. Well, what passed was that nobody's gonna be releasing anything. But Correct. I I okay. So you obviously were not listening. No. With the arbitration with the arbitration documents, you're going to be now posting So the what we had what we had agreed
to and what I said is that we're going to go ahead and have the depositions and, the hearing exhibits unredacted forwarded to the board members. We're going to, post what we do have now on the website, and, I think that was it. Okay. Thank you. So moving on to additional comments. And, again, it is 10:30, so I would ask that board members keep it short, please. Each trustee has no more than three minutes, and there will be a timer on the SmartBird for your reference.
If you run over that time, I can ask for more, but maybe not for tonight. So, trustee Lacui, did you have anything? No. I'm I'm gonna let Okay. Let us go home. Trustee Annas? No. Trustee Blake? No. Trustee Allspa? No. I do not. Trustee Gupta? No. I am just gonna say, I hope everyone has had a great start to the school year. I've seen lots of energy and enthusiasm from staff and students. Second, again, I'd like to thank everyone who is here tonight presenting and for all those working on the strategic plan. We appreciate the efforts and look forward to hearing about the positive impact we have
on our students. And finally, I'm just gonna make a mention that the Rochester Community Schools Foundation's twentieth anniversary Hometown Hustle is September 20 at 8AM. There's a one mile superhero color fun run and a five ks run walk. And if you haven't registered yet, it is not too late. And then we're gonna move on to members of the administration. Same item. These are, updates and not discussion items. Mr. Russo. Miss Crane? I think the rest of our cabinet members are good. Thank you, madam president. Alright. Then, last, we have a couple announcements.
September 15, there's a Board of Education special meeting. It's an MASV workshop training on data interpretation at 6PM in the Rochester High School Media Center. September 20 is the hometown hustle at 8AM at the Chief Financial Credit Union. September 22 is our next Board of Education regular meeting at 6PM in this, Rochester High School Auditorium. September 26, there is no school due to district wide professional development. And if there's no objection, we will adjourn at 10:32PM.
Seeing none, we are adjourned. Thank you for attending, and have a good night.