Good evening, and welcome to the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education regular meeting called to order at 06:03PM. If I could ask everyone to 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 seven. If you wish to speak tonight and have not already filled out a yellow card, they are located on a table near the entrance to the, to this room. Once you've completed the card, please put 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 card for during public comment. I call on my board colleagues to abide by the norms 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 recognized by the chair before speaking, to be honest, to refrain from attacking others' motives, 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 appreciate your support. At this time, I'd like to turn it over to Mr. Russo for a moment of silence. Thank you, Madam President. I'd Let's take a moment of silence right now for Joachim Dietz. Our thoughts, prayers, and condolences remain with the family and friends of Joachim Dietz and the entire Brewster
community as they cope with this unimaginable loss of life. Thank you. For roll call, all Board members are present. Moving on to our agenda, is there a motion to approve the agenda as presented? Moved by Trustee Gupta. Is there support? Support from Trustee Alspa. Is there any discussion before we vote? All of those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Opposed, say no. That's a seven-zero vote and the agenda is approved. Agenda Item five point zero is communications. And this is where we reference various communications that have been received.
Item 5.1 is communications received by the board. Secretary Blake, would you give us an update? Yes, we received five communications, which are in the board packet and as well we received a communication from Mr. Bloomingdale regarding the former Administration Building. Thank you. Next, we have updates from our student representatives, and I'll ask each one who will come forward and if there is a seat there, yes, and tell us a little about about what's happening in your schools. Good evening, everyone. My name is Olivia Vazenko from Rochester Adams High School, and it is my pleasure to report on our recent events tonight.
Rochester, Adams, Stony Creek, ACE, and DIA are beginning preparations for the future SAT testing. In order to ensure students maximize their performance throughout this testing period, there will be one hour per week in which students have the opportunity to study and prepare for their SAT. This period of time slightly alters our typical schedule to provide more time for practice modules during the designated class period. During this time, seniors are offered college advice or are able to complete homework and prepare for their next hours. These preparation methods have been found very useful by our student body,
and we cannot wait to see how this helps them in their upcoming testing. We will also soon start SAT after school tutoring. This will take place every Tuesday after school in the media center with test taking advice, practice modules and, of course, snacks that entice students to the tens. In terms of our winter sports, wrestling, ski, cheerleading, boys' basketball, women's basketball, boys' women's dive and other sports are starting their seasons out strong. For the future, our cheer team is having their senior night next Wednesday at their Clarkston League Meet. Boys Basketball is playing Lake Orion tomorrow and Stony Creek on Friday as well as
our annual Dutton Farms game on February 7. Rochester United also has their MIHL showcase on January 30 and many more. We are excited to start off our new semester on Monday, and we are so proud of how hard our students and faculty have prepared for their upcoming exams this week. Exams start on Wednesday, where we will have half days from then until Friday, which is the end of exams. Ems High School would also like to thank the board for all it does for our district and our community. Thank you so much for your time this evening, and I look forward to reporting back next month. Everyone. My
Rochester High School representative. As RHS approaches semester two, there are many exciting opportunities to help our Falcons start this year off strong. As students begin to prepare for the SAT and PSAT tests taking place in April, Rochester has opened many prep opportunities for students to best prepare them. Along with Blue Book and Khan Academy practice tests available to students, RHS started a new club called SAT Club. This club meets during advisory to help prep students for the SAT. This club specifically helps students become more familiar with the platform on the SAT called
Desmos, practice certain concepts on ELA related questions, and go over test strategies to help students improve their score. The RHS Instagram has also started up Vocab Saturdays yet again. Vocab Saturdays are weekly vocab posts on the RHS Instagram. The post contains a new vocab word that commonly appears on the SAT, along with the definition to help expose students to new vocabulary they might see coming up. As Falcons take on final exams this week, RHS has a last minute study opportunity called Cocoa and Cram. At this event, the media center is open for all students to reach out to teachers for last
minute help on exams, study with their peers, and get free hot cocoa. RHS hosted one session today from three to five, and there will be another one tomorrow from four to 06:30. Also taking place in the media center recently was the PTSA annual reflections contest. On December 16, RHS PTSA hosted their annual reflections competition. We are so proud of all the students who submitted their work. There were so many amazing pieces, including music, dance choreography, and very unique art pieces. As the holiday season comes to an end, RHS found many ways to support the community during this special time of year.
First, on December 18, multiple clubs at RHS came together and donated many items to families in need through the Oakland County Sheriff's Department. Way to go, Falcons. Plus, RHS had a holiday giving tree on display before break where students could stop by and donate to the Grace Centers of Hope. We had multiple boxes filled with necessities, and it was amazing to see our Falcon family come together to support other families in need. As winter sports are actively underway, there have been lots of exciting accomplishments to recognize. First, the RHS dance teams had their Union Michigan State championship this weekend at Dakota High
School. Varsity placed first in jazz and palm and were deemed the grand champions in jazz. The RHS tier tier team also had a competition this weekend at RHS called the Rochester Royal Rumble. Both varsity and JV teams placed first. Great job, girls. The girls' basketball team had an amazing start to the season as well. So far, the girls' varsity team is one and zero in their league and five and two overall. I would like to give a special shout out to Taylor Parsons for winning the Buffalo Wild Wings Girl Athlete of the Week. On Tuesday, January 6, RHS hosted the first unified basketball game against Groves Unified.
The RCS Unified Basketball Team combines students from RHS and Adams. And in the future, this team will play periodically between JV and varsity games. Thank you to all the players, peer mentors, and community members for attending to support the amazing players. Their next game is currently taking place at Avondale. The boys' varsity basketball team also beat Stony this past Friday fifth 50 four to fifty. Thank you to all the fans and the pep bands for supporting them. Next time the boys play Stoney Creek, they will be at the Crossroads Showdown taking place on January 23 at the 0 Arena. The girls' varsity will be playing at 6PM,
the unified basketball team at 07:30, and the varsity boys at 08:30. Now before I conclude, I would like to give a big thank you to the board of education. As January is board of education appreciation month, on behalf of Rochester High School, I would like to thank all of our RCS board members and all they do for the community. That's all for this month's report. Thank you guys for your time and attention. I will see you next month. Good evening, everyone. My name is Corina Morfin Munoz, and I am the student representative from Stony Creek High School. I am excited to share what has been happening at Stony as we begin the second half of the school year.
Our students just returned from winter break, and it was a welcome chance for everyone to rest, spend time with family and friends, and recharge. Coming back refreshed has been a great way to head into finals week. Students have been studying hard, and teachers have been preparing us with review sessions, study materials, and classroom support so that everyone feels confident. First semester wraps up this Friday, and we are looking forward to beginning second semester next week. Over the holidays, our school community came together through our Giving Tree. Once again, the generosity of Stoney students, families, and staff helped support Cougar families in need.
The success of The Giving Tree reflects the kindness and school spirit that makes our community strong. The PTSA Reflections program also had record involvement this year. We are incredibly proud of all of our students who took the time to create and submit original work in categories like dance, photography, visual art, and writing. Participation continues to grow year after year. As a celebration, everyone who participated will receive a Starbucks drink or a gift card. Entries are now being judged at both the district and state level. Winners will be announced at the ceremony on March 18 at 7PM in the Stony
Creek Auditorium. Winter sports are in full swing at Stony Creek. Boys' basketball has been fighting hard and earning wins along the way. The team continues to improve each week, and we are proud of their effort and determination on the court. Girls' basketball has kicked off their season with major momentum. Most recently, the team defeated Lake Orion on January 8 with a score of 46 to 17. They continue to represent Stoney with energy and teamwork. Our hockey team has also seen strong moments on the ice. One of the recent highlights was their educator appreciation game. The players picked a teacher to honor for the game and brought home the win.
Competitive cheer continues to work hard throughout their season, both in practice and on the mat. This Saturday is their first and only home competition of the year called Cougar Spirit. Teams from all over Michigan will compete at Stony Creek, including middle school, freshmen, JV, and several varsity divisions. The team will also take part in their second OAA league meet next Wednesday, where they will face other schools within the league. One of the biggest upcoming events is the cross town showdown between Rochester and Stoney Creek on January 23 at the Arena. The girls' game begins at 6PM,
the unified game at 07:30PM, and the boys' game at 08:20PM. It is always a high energy night, and we encourage the community to come out and support our teams. In the arts, the Stoner Creek dance team continues to shine. This past weekend, they earned first place in palm and second place finishes in both jazz and game day. Their dedication of practices and competitions truly shows. Our theater students are also preparing for their winter one act tracks. Performances are scheduled for January at 7PM, and the cast and crew have been working hard to bring this story to life
on stage. It has been a busy and exciting month at Stony Creek. With finals underway and the second semester about to begin, our students are stepping into the new year with motivation and pride. Before I close, I would like to recognize that January is school board recognition month. On behalf of the Stony Creek students, thank you to our amazing school board for your leadership, support, and commitment to our schools. We truly appreciate everything you do for our district. Thank you again for your time, and have a wonderful evening. Good evening, everyone. I want to start by sending a huge thank you to the Board of Education. You donate so much of your precious time
and help the tens of thousands of students and staff in the District. Thank you for putting yourselves out there and keeping us safe and learning. It's been a very busy past couple of weeks at ACE looking back. We've had a great 2025, and we can't wait to have a better 2026. The highlight of our 2025 was the Spirit Assembly that the Student Council put on. We played holiday charades, pinned the hat on the Bulldog and held a karaoke contest. We entered this year in a diverse group of students from Rochester and Rochester Hills,
and we ended as a family. The week before break, we celebrated the holidays with a very fun, festive and friendly competition, where our students' homerooms decorated their doors and everyone dressed up for Spirit Week. The competition was fierce, but Mr. Majors' class, at the last moment, pulled the victory. ACE will be collecting Christmas lights for one more week if anyone has some to drop off for recycling. ACE juniors prepare for the SAT by meeting every other week with different disciplines for some test prep. Speaking of test prep,
later this week, we will be taking our semester exams, and I'm very sure every student will be asking to go to bed very early. Last Friday, we ended our semester with a movie day for the students who were passing all of their classes for four weeks in a row. Popcorn in a treat bag was given to each student. It was a great way to finish up the week. Looking ahead, we're excited to start our second semester with working for the three other schools to help with Rochester Charity Week. Thank you for your time, attention and support. Good evening, everyone. It's nice to see you all again.
I hope everyone had a fun break. My name is Alexia Boda, and I'm here to report on the events at IA. To recap, we finished midterms before winter break and donated 153 gifts to the Detroit boxing gym. For a gift drive, we we made an Amazon wish list with gifts that the boxing gym requested and sent that out to IA families. Families would order the gifts and have them sent directly to the school. This made the process very easy and organized. After that, me and two of my friends who were also on student leadership got the chance to go and deliver them to everyone. It was a great experience.
Looking ahead, we will have our class officer elections for next year and international food night, and our student leadership team is planning a canned food drive and Winter Olympics. For international food night, we have parents and students volunteer to bring in foods from their culture or country to share with everyone. This is an IA community favorite, and we always have a very big turnout. People come with siblings and grandparents to try all the foods. For the canned food drive, we will be partnering with Gleaners. We did this last year, and it was very successful. For this, we have students donate to their A1 classes,
which are split into four groups, and the groups all compete against each other for a prize. Winter Olympics is a bit like Ball Olympics, which we had in October, and has indoor and outdoor games. Some games that we have are basketball, chess, dress to impress, dodgeball and soccer, depending on if we have snow or not. That's the update on I-eight, and I look forward to our next meeting. Thank you for your time. Thank you very much for being here tonight and for sharing with us what's going on in your schools. We appreciate that. Agenda item 5.4 is the section where members of the Board of Education share communications that were sent
directly to them and were not sent to the full board. Did any board member receive communications from the public? All right. Seeing none, we're moving on to agenda item six, which is reports. And tonight, we only have one report of superintendent update. Mr. Russo? Thank you, madam president. We have a few reports to share with our community and with our board today. First, I will turn it over to Mr. Cuzzimano to discuss a couple legislative pieces, that were addressed over the holiday break. And then I will turn it over after that to Ms. Kimberly Hempton to talk about, the legislative impact of the
literacy piece that we're watching very closely. Mr. Cuzmano? Good evening, members of the Board of Education. Happy New Year. This will be in the cabinet notes as well at the end of the week, but just want to give a just a heads up here tonight. Two things. The governor signed two bills, House Bill 4,836 and Senate Bill three forty nine, which would amend the Michigan Merit Exam Law and allow parents to opt their student out of the WorkKeys style workforce readiness test using a state waiver. So a couple of things that we know right now is this does not take effect until the twenty twenty six,
'twenty seven school year, so not this spring. We have to worry about that? There is no impact on testing this spring. Students must be allowed to opt out of this, it's called the WIN assessment. This year is the new there used to be WorkKeys. This year, it's a new assessment called the WIN, but that's the assessment we're talking about. It's called the work readiness assessment. And, MD is to create a waiver form for districts, so we're waiting on that. MD is to develop an informational letter on the purpose and benefits of the WIN assessment, so families know what they're opting out of or if they want their kids to
take it or not. And school districts must provide the informational letter to students by December 31 of the year that they're scheduled to take the test, so that will be on us. And school districts must establish a process for students to opt out and accept opt out waivers from families, of testing students through February 28 of each school year. So, we'll keep an eye on that. We'll start preparing ourselves and wait for the state to see what their waiver form looks like and then create a process in house, and we'll keep you informed. And then the second one is the firearm safety training in grades six through 12.
It's House Bill 4,285. The governor signed this into law. The new act requires the Department of Natural Resources to adopt and and make available to schools a model program of firearm safety instruction for students in grades six to 12. Local districts may provide the course or instruction. Pupils may be opted out of the instruction by their parents. So things that we know right now about this is, this course has not been created yet by the Department of Natural Resources, but in the process.
Local districts may provide this course or instruction in a current course. It's gonna be up to the local districts to do that. And if a district decides to offer this course, pupils may be opted out of the instruction by their parents. And we, local districts, can provide a course as an extracurricular option or as part of an existing course for the purpose of teaching self expression and enjoyment of recreational activities. So that's all we know right now of these two, and we will keep following that and then keep you guys updated on what we're doing as a district.
Thank you, sir. Ms. Hinton? Thank you, Mr. Russo. I would start this evening by underscoring that, as a school district, we continue to remain focused on ensuring continued literacy growth for all students. There's been a lot of conversation and some question around the, recent movement with Public Act 146, which, of course, the board is aware was signed into law on October 2024, which assured the, all local school districts that there would be an approved list of curricula. That list of curricula was, released on December 19.
And since our district, began a proactive approach to reviewing of literacy resources, well into 2024 prior to the list being released. Some materials under review are not currently included in the current MBE approved list. We are currently reviewing American Reading Company, Core Knowledge Language Arts or CKLA, EL Education, Magnetic Literacy, Orton Gillingham, Witten Wisdom and the University of Florida Literacy Institute Foundations or UFLI. The Michigan Department of Education has newly noted additional vendor submission dates and continued review
and approval cycles, both in July 2026 and December 2026, for curriculum that they identify as evidence based Tier one, class wide elementary reading curricula and materials aligned with science reading methods. What is important for us in this information is that the learning trajectories of the students in our classroom are our very first priority. So continuing to use evidence based resources that we have available, coupled with the professional learning we've been providing, along with the database decision making that our staff engage in regularly,
we continue to strive for the highest level of literacy learning in all of our classrooms while these decisions move forward. The screener approval process is also embedded into this K-twelve literacy and dyslexia law. And, we believe that our timelines reflect both a thoughtful amount of planning as well as an eye toward implementation. While the full PA146 requirement for compliance is 2027, we continue to be on track to recommend new curricula to the board later this spring, implementing that new curricula district wide in the '6 and then following with the MDE
approved screening tools in the 2027. With that, this will also be in the board updates that you can see all these in print. And then there will be a posting to our community that makes them aware of, not only the materials that are in full review right now but the time line that dates back to, earlier '4 as well as moving forward to 2027. Thank you, Mr. Russo. Thank you, Ms. Hinton. A couple of extra pieces of legislative updates that I wanted to address. Although there's been no official movement on the personal device legislation,
community members should have gotten a survey sent out to them today in regards to this and and what their view is of of what students should do at both the elementary level and at the secondary level. There is talk that this could go quickly at some point. There are many states who have already adopted a personal device policy and then asked, school districts to then adopt such policy. So we're just keeping our eye on that. There is no movement. There has been no movement as of today and in the past couple weeks regarding that, but we hear that that could come quick. And then secondly, something that, was proposed that really about a couple weeks ago wasn't getting much many legs,
seems to be hitting the news recently, so I wanted to address it. And it was or it is, a statewide school of choice system that may be forced upon school districts. So if you are a public school district, districts. So if you are a public school district, the legislation as written now would force all school boards to adopt a school of choice system by which we would have to create a plan that is not defined whether there'd be a cut date for that for School of Choice, whether students could enroll in the middle of the year, if we could create our own date, etcetera. But also we would have to create a plan that would demonstrate to our community
what buildings are closed by capacity, why, what are open, what is the capacity, why, etcetera. I don't know if this will move, if this will to, you know, to be very honest, I don't know if it will it will get through the House, the Senate, but I do know that, this is something that's getting our attention lately and I wanted the board and our community to be aware of it. As it sits right now, whether it is a school district policy or a city ordinance that you have or don't have a school of choice, policy or a practice, all my understanding from talking with other superintendents and some legislative folks that this would
supersede all of that. So for example, if a district had a 3% cap on school of choice, that would have to be revisited even if you already were a school of choice district. So we're keeping our eye on that. I just wanted our community and our board to be aware. Again, as this we will continue to update you in the superintendent cabinet notes, but it seems to be getting it's getting some news, so I wanted people to be aware. Before we turn it over to, our ATPS staff, I want to turn it over to Mr. Murphy to discuss SPCC. Thank you, Mr. Russo. Good evening, everyone.
The Superintendent's Policy and Curriculum Committee met last Friday, I believe, the eighth, And a couple of topics that were covered included the survey that was just discussed that came through that SBCC process that's prior to the community being surveyed. We also surveyed our staff. So this survey that went out today was a product of those discussions and was step two in that process as our board looks to potentially proactively review the current policy and see if any adjustments are needed.
So that was discussed, and we essentially finalized that survey in that meeting. Additionally, Strategic Plan 12, which was the communication plan for policy and administrative regulations, was discussed. That's one of the plans that I'm heading up, and it called for some board feedback. So we discussed the current process and some options for the future as we look to continue that plan and soon finalize it. A recommendation for a new policy on anti moonlighting from Miller Johnson was discussed and
is scheduled for the late January meeting for a first reading, so you should be getting an update on that this week in the board notes. Additionally, some minor update to basically just some verbiage in the BTAM language administrative regulation. That's the behavior threat assessment in each district and school. And again, that administrative regulation update will come in the board notes later this week to start that thirty day review process. Trustee Gupta's suggestion that we discuss credit for robotics was discussed in this group and
will continue to be. Essentially, we need some more info in a couple of different areas, so we'll continue on that agenda in the upcoming months as that's considered. I think that's the extent of the topics that were covered. We're meeting again in late January. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. Ms. Gauthier? Good evening, and thank you, mister Russo. It is my pleasure to introduce missus Hayes, our supervisor of special education adult transition program and services. Missus Hayes provides leadership and oversight for programs that support students with disabilities as they transition from school to adult life with a strong focus on independence,
employment, and community engagement. So please join me in welcoming her this evening for a brief presentation about our ATPS program and appreciation for our wonderful board of education. Good evening. Oh, can you hear me? Good evening, RCS board of education and RCS cabinet members. Thank you for having me this evening, and thank you, Tiffany, for the introduction. As Tiffany said, my primary role is to oversee our post secondary program, which is located at our doctor John m Schultz campus. Tonight, I just wanted to take a few minutes to share about our adult transition program
and our student run coffee shop jitters. Our adult transition program has been part of Rochester Community Schools for about thirty plus years. It has evolved over the years and is now one of the largest adult transition programs in Oakland County. Our adult transition program services students 18 to 26 years of age who exit high school on track to work towards a certificate of completion through receiving special education services. Currently, Michigan is the only state that services students to age 26.
All other states serve to age 21 or 22. For the twenty five twenty six six school year, ATPS has 87 students enrolled and many staff members that all help to support students in different ways. While on campus, students have the opportunity to receive instruction and experiences that promote and support student growth in the areas of independence, adult living skills, employment or vocational skills, and community education for students to build a meaningful, productive, and personal fulfilling day for each individual student.
Along with receiving services on campus, our students have the ability to participate in community based instruction through community classes that run each semester and focus on music, art, or personal fitness through our seven to nine community partnerships. Also, depending on each student's individual adult vision and goal, a student may have the opportunity to be scheduled for work based learning and or volunteer opportunities within the community. We currently have 30 students enrolled in work based learning over nine community job site
partnerships. One of our work based learning opportunities has been a part of ATPS since 2013, which is our student run coffee shop, Jitters. Jitters was started through a grant, which ATPS received in the 2013. Since then, Jitters has grown not only in size, staff support, coordination, and products made and served, but also in location. Jitters currently has three locations. Schultz Campus, we refer to as Mobile Jitters, our RCS administration building, which is our full coffee shop,
and Oakland Schools Summit campus that is also a self serve coffee shop. We also have 10 to 15 students who work at either location each semester. Our day to day jitters operations are made possible through the hard work of Jennifer Anderson, an ATPS speech and language pathologist, and our ATPS job coach, Kelly Connor. Along with their work, the success of Jitters is due to the full ATPS commitment that continues to work together to focus on individual student growth and development of skills in the area of
employment, vocational, and communication skills. Another important part of Jitters' success is due to the RCS staff, ATPS parents, and RCS community who continue to support Jitters through our RCS roadshows, ATPS parent holiday show, the RHS holiday bazaar as we are a vendor booth there, our sparkle awards booth, and ATPS spring sidewalk sale, just to name a few. The focus of Jitters is to provide students opportunities to develop real world job skills within inclusive environments that will carry over to adulthood beyond ATPS.
These skills are embedded into our Jitters job sites as well into their microenterprise products in which the students work hard at creating, assembling, packaging, and selling. As we take the month of January to honor our RCS board of education, all of us at ATPS would like to present each of you a gift that includes some of our student created microenterprise products. Thank you for all that you do to support students in Rochester. And I have those gifts for you. Thomas Anderson, we said thank you as well. The holiday show was incredible. I needed I think I needed, like, a Target cart instead of a carry.
So it was an incredible event. So thank you very much for all you do. Thank you. Thank you for having me. Before I turn it back over, I want to, thank the ATPS folks. I also want to thank Marla Alo, Clara Andrews, Steve Choi, Eliza Fouts, Kelly Coburg, Ben Lewis, Lucia Paponia, Rue Treston, and Ben Wauchlett for the music that you heard as we were walking in today. That was our eighth grade orchestra from West that performing for our board of education to say thank you for all of your hard work. I also wanna take a minute to thank our seven member board for their dedication to the community,
the collaboration that you show, all of the committee work that you do, all of the thought and work that people's people don't see, that you'd be amazed for an elected official that is a nonpaying position. All of the work that goes into this and your continued support of students is critical to the success of our district, specifically president Butel and the officers, this year. Thank you for your commitment in leading this board. From the superintendent search to strategic planning to all the legislative nuances that we have to endure that seem to be coming more and more, frequent. You've been steadfast in ensuring that this board and this district continues to support our
students, our cabinet, our administrators, and and for our common goal of student improvement in school and district improvement. So I just wanna, on behalf of the cabinet, say thank you. Well, thank you very much for that. I think, hopefully, I speak for a whole Board that we do this job because we, love this community, and only want the best our students and to support our staff that's here as well. So, while we appreciate some of these goodies and, loved hearing the music, we would be doing it without those, but we do appreciate it. Next, we are moving on to public comment and this provides an opportunity for Board members
to hear from community members. If you you wish to speak tonight but have not already filled out yellow card, please fill one out now. If we have more than thirty minutes of comments, the remainder will be heard under Agenda Item 10. When your name is called, please move to the microphone if you can and address the Board. When addressing the Board, you'll have three minutes to speak and I will 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. 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, Robert Bloomingdale followed by, I believe, it's Samuel VanDale and Stephanie VanDale. Mr. Bloomingdale? Robert Bloomingdale. 6360 North Rochester Road, about two miles south of here. Been in the district for over forty years. My children have gone here. My wife actually went to Rochester schools. I'm here tonight to provide you with an update. I was here back on November 10 to express an interest in the former admin
building, and, I'm representing a group that would like very much to repurpose that building as a community center. From that meeting, we committed to bringing you a full presentation, February 23. So this is just a, intermediate update, if you will. We're now, referring to our group as the Harrison Center. And we chose the name Harrison as you probably realize. It's, one of the buildings at least is called the Harrison School. And this is out of respect for Bill Harrison,
if you know the history. That's how that building got its name. We're looking at we we didn't get a lot done through, as you can imagine, imagine, from Thanksgiving through Christmas. Really hard to get people together and get them there because they're enjoying their families as they should. But nevertheless, we are making progress. And, we studied the building. I myself have been in the building business for an excess of fifty years. I think I feel like I understand buildings. And of course, there's some things that are obvious. The atrium, the roof, elevators are questionable. But other than that,
we're looking positively at the building or with a sense of positivity, I should say. We're working on a business plan. We have an executive summary done, which will be available very quickly to those who are of interest. We're mapping out different options for finance, how we can go about doing that. And we're also soliciting feedback from potential tenants. We're just now starting to contact nonprofits to see what their interest level is in the building. We're doing so largely because in order to fill out our pro form a,
we need to know what tenants are willing to pay, what is the going market rate, that kind of stuff. We're also 30. Thank you. We're, some level of public feedback. We're we're not very visible to the public right now, but we will, from this meeting going forward, be more and more visible. So, even tonight, I'm going to go after this meeting to Rochester City Council, make them aware of what we're doing and introduce them to it. So to take the last few seconds I have, I would really like to thank Rochester Schools' administration.
They've been very, very gracious in helping us have access to the building, which we need desperately. Thank you. So thank you. Next, Samuel VanDale, followed by Stephanie VanDale, followed by Aaron Holden. Good afternoon. My name is Samuel Van Dale. I'm a high school student at Stoney Creek. You heard some good stuff today about Stoney Creek, but I will now tell you some of the bad things. You guys are a are not supposed to be a board of gender equality, a board of of comfort. You're supposed to make hard decisions,
but you don't. You are a board of education, and you act like a bunch of clowns. That's exactly what you guys are, except two people. And I will let you guys figure yourselves out. So I would like to talk about my school. My school is special. There are good things and there are bad things. Some of the bad things is you guys don't even address. You just sit there, and you don't do anything. You don't go around to the schools. I know I've seen Russo at my school before,
but I haven't seen any of you guys else at my school. And so I'll talk about a very simple thing, the bathrooms. So the bathrooms, people don't go there to use the bathrooms. You would know this if you went in them to smell them. Because what do they smell like? They smell like bait. You guys don't do a single thing about that. You guys only care about yourselves and stuff in your pockets. You guys are volunteers. You should be acting like them, but you don't. So get off your high voice and actually act like it,
and not focus on gender studies. So all in all, focus on the students, not yourselves. Because the students will actually tell you the hard truth of what you guys need to do and to change the hard truth. You have to do it yourselves. Yes. The grass is greener on the other side, but you guys can also make the grass green on your side. I have heard from somebody that you guys are the worst ranking counsel. You guys should be one of the best. You have the best resources to do so, but you don't do a thing. It is an students and not yourself. That would improve this board and the student health because I know it's the exact
same thing at other schools, the nicotine problem. So focus on the students, and you'd see great improvements. That's all I have to say. Thank you for your time. Stephanie Van Diel followed by Aaron Holden followed by Andrew Weaver. Hello? Is this Kenneth? Okay. So the irony of the fact that it's school board appreciation month, I mean, really, this is, quite a piece of work. Right? Like, oh, thank you. Thank you. You. Thank you. You guys are so great for raising my salary $50,000
Great job, Russo. So I noticed that on the agenda, it's time for our annual, election of the president of the school board. Wow. Please, for the love of God, do not vote for Jessica Gupta. I mean, she's the worst choice. You guys have much better choice. Carol Beth, Shelley, they actually listen to people. They don't sit there and tell a group of five middle school girls that they're fear mongering when boys enter their bathroom.
And they certainly don't, you know, have an issue listening to other people. And for and wow. Here's here's my favorite part. If there's anybody who's been proactive on literacy, it hasn't been any of you up there except for Shelley and especially Carol Beck. I mean, you literally dragged these people to get into literacy and and get the right stuff going. And, Jessica,
I think my favorite phrase was or or was it Julie? I don't know. I can't tell the difference between you you two, Java, the Huts anymore. You know You're you're sitting there going, oh, tools in a toolbox. Yeah. We have to do all of this. No. Phonics works. It's been proven for years, and I can't believe how frustrating it was to sit back here for years on end and listen to what garbage you guys spewed on literacy and and having tools in
the toolbox. Garbage. Nothing but garbage. I'm also thankful that, you know, Lansing finally did something Thirty seconds. On safety. It's just great that we're gonna have possibly kids learning how to actually know how to, you know, operate guns and stuff like that because, you know, firearms safety like they used to do back in the fifties, which is great. Much better time. People were much more knowledgeable instead of all this feelings garbage. So, yeah, the irony of of school board month. Please don't elect Jessica Gupta.
She's the worst. Thank you. We have Erin Holden followed by Andrew Weaver, followed by Raghuram Tadamala. Hi. Good evening. My name is Erin Holden. I'm a teacher here in the district, and I'm also the, k 12 music coordinator. And I also do have children in the district as well. I wanted to share something special with you that I had emailed you about. This year, both the Rochester High School Wind Ensemble and the Stony Creek Symphony Strings have been accepted to play at the Michigan Music Conference.
It's a very elite conference to, be included in. It's a very difficult conference. They've only accepted state, eight groups across the state, and two of them are right here in Rochester, which is pretty amazing. It's the first appearance for Rochester High School wind ensemble at the at this conference. It is the first appearance for our our Stony Creek string program as well. And, they're taught by two incredible educators, Dave Urich at Rochester High School and Bryden Ullrich at Stony Creek.
I wanna share just a little bit of trivia about doctor Ullrich, because he would not tell you this, but he is the only person he's the only teacher in the history of the conference that has been accepted with both with all three, a band, an orchestra, and a choir. So, we sort tell him that he he got it. But, he doesn't always think that's funny. But I do because he is. He's an incredible teacher. And, both of these gentlemen are doing incredible work. They're not the only ones who are.
The department is so full of talented teachers all the way from high school down to our youngest learners in the elementary level. So we just wanna take a second to, thank you for your support of music education in Rochester schools, and we're so proud of our students. Thank you very much. Thank you. Andrew Weaver followed by Mr. Tatamala. I'm Andrew Weaver. I have three kids in the district. I have an eighth grader at Reuther. I have a fourth grader at Brooklands, and my youngest daughter is a kindergartener at Brooklands.
So, again, very committed for the long haul, understand it from the perspective from having sons and daughters and and a daughter in the district. I'm here to address the handbook changes that are presented. So our board bylaws state we follow Robert's rules. Robert's rules is the gold standard for parliamentary meetings, which is what this board is, is in that vein. The MASV, which majority loves to hold as a gold standard, teaches classes on Robert's rules. Jason Blake loves to quote them inaccurately when it tries to benefit him, but again, they are the gold standard for rules.
So the change is to remove the ascending of the agenda. Robert's rules makes it clear that that is part of the process. It states, for the purpose for our proposed agenda to become official, agenda of the meeting, it must be adopted by the assembly at the outset of meeting. Now a little history for the community. Prior to '22 to 2022, when trustee Lacoue and I were elected, this board did not adopt the agenda at the start of meetings. Her and I brought that to president Butel's attention. She acknowledged at that time, the board did not operate properly in many ways,
and that was one of them. So the board started adopting the agenda at the board meeting. It is the right way to do it. For now three years, that has been the right way to do it. Yes. It allows for minority voices to raise items they want on the board. They want on the agenda. Yes. Because they are elected by members of the community, and our community is very divided. Almost evenly now again, the majority might own five to two on this board, but the community is not divided in that way. So this move is brought forth to go to actually revert,
to stop progress, and take us back. So, again, everyone that loves to say they're progressive, this is a regressive move to pre '22. So why? And again, this is not on president Butel because she did not bring this to the table. This is brought from the superintendent's policy committee, which the majority members are Gupta and Anas. And it makes sense. It is right before another campaign is a start. Gupta has been the manager for the status quo, and that's has to possibly run again. And they know for the last three years, it has not looked good for them when issues that the community want on the
agenda are brought up by minority trustees and then debated and voted down. That does not look good. 15 So instead of working on policies that the the the community wants, addressing more transparent in the classroom, addressing bathrooms, this is what we get. A regressive policy that says we're going to take away conversation. We're going to take away debate. And, again, in a time right now when partisan board Mister Beiber, that's your three minutes. Are driving up the Texas Mister Tatamala. Nonpartisan board should be opening up Mister Weaver,
your time is up. Mister Weaver, your time is up. Direction is gonna be very clear Miss That the party wants to make sure Please come forward. Mr. Weaver, your time is up. Thank you. Hi, my name is Raghuram Tarmala. I'm a resident of this district for now good ten plus years. I've been here a couple of times also, expressing my concerns about the erosion of the minorities, protections in this board. It's ironic that handbook changes have been proposed in a way to further erode such, minority protections. And at the same time,
the team has code of ethics as per discussion. It is completely unethical to erode the protection of minorities. And I believe, Mr. Wheeler also talked about, you know, Robert's Rules. I believe the majority has zero or maybe less than 5% of what Robert's Rules are for and what are actually they are. Particularly concerning was the, already voted on proposal of making the decision by the majority to approve a request by a board member of the district. That is nothing but groupthink,
overriding individualism. That is nothing but the killing of the ideas and killing of innovation. You go to anywhere in this country, especially The U. S. Being the beacon of innovation and ideas, if you try to adopt that rule, we would have been living in the stone age and not the advanced country of the world. So it's kind of ironic that we talk about this team is talking about court of ethics, but then literally being unethical in killing the minorities, protections of this board. Another thing I do have, is from the December meeting, when a discussion about what trustee Lecoye was requesting of the superintendent's performance review email
and what trustee Blake mentioned. And most, if not all of what he mentioned, should be available readily by the superintendent to review the health of the district and should be reviewed by the board periodically to review the health of the district. Now scenario one, if the district doesn't have such information that they claim that it takes so much time to come, you know, kind of compile that information, it is ridiculous in this age of technology and AI especially that a board of this a district of this magnitude doesn't have those analytics to go by to evaluate
this health of the school system. Secondly, if they have the information and they're refusing to provide the information to a board member, that's even more of an unethical step that the board is taking. So again, code of ethics is meaningless for this majority. Thank you, Fatima. All right. Agenda item eight is part of our annual Board organizational business. We have the Board's election of RARRA Board and a review of and signing of our code of ethics. For all the officer nominations, an individual may nominate themselves. No second is required, and there is no limit on the number of nominations for one office.
We will receive nominations and then vote on each in the order nominated. The first trustee who receives four votes will be elected. If no one receives four votes, we will take the two nominees with the most votes and revote until one nominee receives four votes. Each vote is a roll call vote. First up, we I am calling for the nomination election for the office of president. Does anyone have a nomination? Trustee Annas. I'd like to bring forward Jessica Gupta for President of our School Board. All right. Did I see your hand is rolled?
Trustee LaSalle? I would like to nominate Trustee Liqui for vote president, please. I believe, based on the center, Trustee Liqui is unable to hold any office. Are there any other nominations at this time? All right. Seeing none, I recognize that, Trustee Gupta has been nominated. Is there any objection to closing nominations? Hearing none, nominations are closed. There is only one individual nominated to the office of president. So Trustee Gupta, you've been nominated. Do you agree to serve in this role if elected? Point of order, Madam President. Trustee Lacoue.
Did you say there was only one individual nominated? Yes. Why was that? Well, the only other name I heard was yours, and I believe by the censure you are unable to hold office. Trustee Lozan, is that correct? I I was under the understanding that doesn't ban a trustee from leadership role. She has the same rights and responsibilities as any board member. Well, at this point, then what I will do is, we will call a short recess while we pull up that censure and review it. So it is 07:02, so just give us a couple minutes here. Alright. So we will continue at this time.
The censure did indicate that it was just, not being able to serve on committees and as liaisons. So, Trustee Lecui, if you are nominated for the office of president, do you agree to serve? I would say that I don't expect it to be voted in by the board majority, but I will accept your nomination with gratitude. Okay. Thank you. So right now, if you are in favor of Trustee Gupta being elected as president, you will vote aye. If you are opposed, you will vote no. And as I said, these are roll call votes.
Madam President. Trustee Lacui. Before the board votes, I want to briefly explain my vote based on actions and statements made in our public meetings. No. There there is no at this point, we are voting. There is no And it does It does not involve No. According to Robert's rules, rule 15, a member what by what rule are you not allowing me to speak to the issue before we vote? This is in our handbook, and this is the order in which it was identified that we would be voting. Correct. So I agree that this is the order in which we're voting,
but our handbook does not stipulate that there's to be no discussion before we vote. And this section right on my agenda So then, trustee so, trustee trustee Lacui, what I will let you do is when it comes to your turn to vote, then you can speak at that point. Okay? That's fair. I'll do that. Sure. So if you are in favor of Trustee, Gupta, you will vote, aye is in favor. If you are opposed, you'll vote no. And as I said, it's a roll call vote. So Trustee Lausanne? No. Trustee Lacoue? All right. Before I cast my vote, I want to briefly explain why I'm voting based on actions and statements.
Kind of order, Madam President. Are are we all gonna be giving, editorials about our votes? Because that's not built into the process as it's laid out in our bylaws. Well, Trustee Gupta, as I hope that that will not be the case, I did earlier indicate that she could do it during her time here. I'm hoping for a yes or no shortly, though. Alright. And I will I will assure my board colleagues I don't have a statement prepared for everything, but the role of president is pretty important because this board tends to place a lot of power on that role. So I only have a statement prepared for this particular
role. So, over the past three years, trustee Gupta has repeatedly responded to parent concerns in ways that have deepened division in our community rather than building trust. And I can think of a few examples. Remember, these are only things she said or done. One, she championed a resolution that promotes active instruction. Queen of order, madam president. She's focused on me instead of her vote. Can we stay focused on the topic here? Trustee trustee Lecui, I would ask that you stay reflected on your specific vote and not on the individual. Exactly.
I will do that. I'm only going to focus on why I think pres why I think trustee Gupta is the wrong choice for board president. And these are some of the reasons why because of the deepening of division. She championed a resolution that promoted active instruction for both students and teachers across all different kinds of classrooms and grade levels on sex and gender diversity. That's what the resolution does. It was controversial because many families disagreed with the instructional scope, and they felt it was outside the district's proper role. Another one, when a trustee proposed five motions to move our district towards research based structured literacy,
She voted no, defending the tools in the toolbox approach, including practices that teach children to read by guessing at pictures. She only changed course when it became clear that state law would require it. Number three. When we raise questions about our declining SAT performance Trustee Gupta I'd ask everyone to check to make sure that their, microphones are off. She downplayed, the value of the SAT. My mic Hello? Hello? Is that good? Okay. She downplayed the importance of the SAT. She argued that the data we had couldn't meaningfully identify problems.
That was incorrect. Number four, when eighth grade girls and their parents came to this board asking that boys stop using the girls' bathrooms, she dismissed those girls and their families as fearmongering. Number five, she continues to support handbook and policy changes that limit when trustees can speak and centralized control with one person. Leadership requires a willingness to see problems, step up, and act, rather than dismissive and defensive posturing. It requires listening first, especially when families are worried about academics, privacy, and student well-being.
I simply don't believe her record reflects that approach. And for those reasons, I vote no. Point of order, madam president. Point of order. So I looked up and an individual explanation is not required, typically, during the vote. Vote. So I just looked up, and an individual explanation is not required or typically allowed during the vote in Robert's Rules of Order. Members speak before the vote to debate the motion. But once voting starts, it's about casting a yes, no, or abstaining vote. So we were out of order by allowing this individual to speak regarding why she's
voting the way she's voting. And I would suggest that, in the future, we stick with what we're saying we're sticking with. Did did you have a vote, Trustee Annas? Do I have a what? A Yes or no? Yes. I vote in favor of Jessica Gupta being president of the school board. Trustee Blake? Point of order. I vote yes. Hold on. Trustee Alspa, what's your point of order? We need to maintain decorum, so I'd like the chair to issue some warnings about decorum. And if necessary, we can take a recess.
I would ask the audience and the rest of the board to please keep your comments to yourself and wait to be recognized to speak from the Board table. Trustee Blake. I vote yes. I think that Trustee Gupta will be a good president. Trustee Alsbaugh? I vote yes. Trustee Gupta? Yes. And I am also a yes. That is a five two vote. And Trustee Gupta has been elected president. I will say that it's been an honor to serve the board as president for the last three years, and I'm happy to support President Gupta going forward. At this time, I will turn the microphone and gavel over to President Gupta to run the remainder
of the meeting. Thank you, President Butel. I appreciate your leadership and your mentorship. Your commitment and service to our district is longstanding, meaningful, and admirable. I hope to carry those qualities forward as best I can. I'm grateful to my colleagues for their respective confidence and remain committed to working collaboratively with transparency and respect to set our educators and administrators up for maximum success on behalf of our students. Moving on. We're moving on now to 8.2, which is the election of vice president.
I will now call for nominations. Ma'am? Trustee Beattel? I nominate Jason Blake. Are there any other, nominations? Trustee Lozanne. I nominate Trustee Lucuy. Trustee Lucuy. Okay. Any other nominations? Okay. So the nominations that I've heard are for Trustee Blake and Trustee Lecuy. So if you would like to vote for Trustee, Blake for Vice President, we'll do a roll call vote starting with Trustee Lausanne. No. Trustee Annis?
Yes. Trustee Alsbaugh? Yes. Trustee Butel? Yes. That was a yes. I'm also a yes. Trustee Blake? Yes. Trustee Lucui? No. So at this time, Trustee Blake has the votes, and the first person to get the four votes is elected to the position. So at this time, Trustee Blake has been, elected to the office of vice president. Moving on to moving on to elect secretary. May I call for nominations, for secretary? Actually, I will start with one myself.
I nominate, Trustee Butel to serve as secretary. Does anyone else have any other nominations? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote, starting with Trustee Lausanne. These are, say a for yes, nay for no. What is your vote? A. Okay. So that's an a vote for Trustee Lausanne. How about Trustee Annis? Yes. Trustee Alsbaugh? Yes. Trustee Butel? Yes. I'm also a yes. How about Trustee Blake? Yes. And Trustee LeCoultre? Aye. Okay. So that's a seven-zero vote for Trustee Vitale to be elected to the office of
secretary. Congratulations. Okay. So moving on to treasurer, 8.4. I am calling for nominations and election for the office of treasurer. Does anyone have a nomination? Madam President. Trustee Annas? I'd like to bring forward Doctor. Julie Alspaugh for treasurer. Trustee Alspaugh has been nominated. Are there other nominations? Seeing none, we'll do a roll call vote. Trustee LaSalle? Aye. Trustee Annas? Yes. Trustee Allspa? Yes. Trustee Vitale? Yes. I'm also a yes. Trustee Blake? Yes. Trustee LeCoutier?
No. Okay. So that's a six zero vote and that Oh, sorry. Six one. Sorry. And so, Trustee Alspaugh has been elected to the officer of treasurer. Congratulations. Okay. Moving on to 8.5, the, Oakland County School Board Association Government Relations Committee appointment. This is the appointment of a representative to the Oakland County School Board Association's Government Relations Committee. Every year, we are asked to appoint a trustee who will attend the Government Relations Committee meetings,
serve as our board contact for legislative communications, and share information with our board. Trustee Annas has served as our representative for several years. Trustee Annis stays attuned to issues arising in Lansing and D. C. And has worked to establish relationships with legislators. She is knowledgeable and dedicated to this work. Therefore, I move that we appoint Trustee Annis to serve on the Oakland County School Board Association Government Relations Committee for the 2026 calendar year. Is there support? Trustee Betel,
is there any discussion? Seeing none, we'll take a vote. All of those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. So that's a seven-zero vote. And Trustee Annis has been, appointed to that role. Thank you. Moving on to 8.6, the, RARA board appointment. So, we have the appointment of a trustee to the RARA board. In June, we appointed mister McDaniel to continue as the RCS representative to the RARA board. However, RARA reached out to explain that the intention of the board bylaws was their board
bylaws was to have a school trustee serve on their board. The steering committee discussed this and identified that making a change during our January organizational meeting would make the most sense. Trustee Alspa has agreed to attend their evening meetings, and therefore, I would move that Trustee Alspa be the RCS representative appointed to the RARA board. Is there support for that motion? Support. Trustee Annis is supporting. Is there any discussion? Seeing none, let's take a vote. All in favor,
say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That's a seven-zero vote. And Trustee Alsula has been appointed to the BRAHRA rep for the board. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to 8.7, which is a review of our code of ethics. Our board bylaws identify a code of ethics that each board member will be asked to acknowledge and sign during the board's annual organizational meeting in January, which is this meeting. At this time, I'd ask that our new secretary, Trustee Beutel, read the code of ethics and then, we'll send a copy around for each trustee to sign.
Trustee Beutel? As a member of the board, I will promote the best interest of the school district as a whole and will adhere to the following ethical standards and principles. One, I will represent all school district constituents honestly and equally and refuse to surrender my responsibilities to any partisan principal, group, or interest. Two, I will avoid any conflict of interest prohibited by law or appearance of such that could result from my position and will not use my membership on the board for personal gain where contrary to the interests of the school district.
Three, I will recognize that a board member has no legal authority as an individual and that decisions can be made only by a majority vote at a public meeting of the board. Four, I will take no private action that might compromise the board or administration and will not share any document or information that has not already been shared by the district, including, but not limited to, confidential or privileged information. Five, I will abide by majority decisions of the Board while retaining the right to seek changes in such decisions through ethical and constructive channels.
Six, I will encourage and respect the free expression of opinion by my fellow board members and will participate in board discussions in an open, honest, and respectful manner honoring differences of opinion or perspective. Seven, I will prepare for, attend, and actively participate in school board meetings. Eight, I will become sufficiently informed about and prepared to act on the specific issues before the board. Nine, I will respectfully listen to those who communicate with the Board, seeking to understand their views while recognizing my responsibility to represent the interests of the
entire school community. 10, I will strive for a positive working relationship with the superintendent, respecting the superintendent's authority to advise the board, implement board policy and administer the school district. 11, I will model continuous learning and work to ensure good governance by taking advantage of board member development opportunities, including those sponsored by state and national school board associations, and encourage my fellow board members to do the same. 12, I will strive to keep the board focused on its primary work of clarifying the school district purpose,
direction and goals, and monitoring district performance. 13, I will work through administrative channels and understand that the board, not individual board members, will direct the superintendent and or the representative or other district employees. Thank you, Trustee Butel. May I ask the president? Yes, Trustee Luckett? I wanna answer the question: Why am I not signing this Oh, we haven't posed that question at this time. So actually, if you don't wanna sign it, it's okay. Just don't. And let's keep it going. And, we're not having a discussion about that at this time.
So if you could pass that back so other people could sign it, that would be great. It's your choice. Madam president? Yes. Are we conducting a review of these subjects as it says on our We're simply reviewing and signing. That's it. We're not discussing. We're moving on right now to the consent agenda. Madam president, number nine, the consent agenda. Madam president, under what rule am I not allowed to speak about this agenda item for the board? Because it's not a discussion item for the agenda. It wasn't approved on the agenda. So we're gonna move on with our agenda. Okay. We're gonna keep going. Agenda item nine is the consent agenda.
All matters listed under the consent order. Trustee Lucuy, what is your specific point of order? My point of order is that you are not following Robert's rules. Please let me finish. Because Robert's rules stipulates that items on the agenda we are allowed to discuss. I was concerned this could be a problem. So I wanna tell you that rule 15, members have a basic right to speak to questions or issues before the board. Just as you asked in these previous items too, you said any discussion? It would have been proper for you to also say with this item,
which we are reviewing because review requires discussion, any discussion. There's nothing that differentiates this item from any other item, and everyone can look at their agendas and see that. I don't know why you're intent on me explaining why I can't why I'm not signing this, but why would you want to stop me? I don't understand. Well, because we would like to stay germane to the agenda that we've already approved so we can run an efficient board meeting. That's why I would only stand to the board meeting. And and and my recollection and we can go back after the meeting and look into this and come back next time with with new information if it is. But my recollection is that discussion is is allowed when you're voting on something.
It's when there's some sort of action being taken. At this time, we were simply reviewing it. We're not taking any action on it that if you don't want to. So, it's simply you we're reading it for the community's knowledge, and we're reaffirming that this is what our board has adopted already at a previous time and is included in our our bylaws and our handbook. So we are not getting into a lengthy discussion about this at this time. Madam President, may I speak with permission about this code of ethics during 8.7
code of ethics? And I give you permission to stop me if I speak about anything that's not germane to the code of ethics. As I mentioned, we're not having a discussion at this time, so I know I'm going to I'm going to follow Robert's rules. I I'm going to say no to that. Thank you. So, on number nine, consent agenda, and and I will look back at that to see if I made a mistake. It it's I'll send it to you afterwards. We're moving on to the consent agenda. Agenda item nine point o is the consent agenda. All matters listed under the consent agenda are considered routine in nature by the Board of Education and will be acted upon by one motion.
There is 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 items removed will now be discussed separately under the consent agenda and will retain the same number. For instance, if item 9.1 was asked to be removed, we would vote on items 9.2 through 9.3 and then come back to 9.1 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 receive a new number. In this case, it would be 9.4, but still under the consent agenda. Our consent agenda consists of 9.1, human resource recommendations 9.2, board of education regular meeting minutes from 12/08/2025 and nine point three, OCSBA dinner meeting for superintendent Russo, Michelle Butel, and Jessica Gupta in the amount of $135
So is the amount different? Okay. So we're revising that last, 9.3 to include, OCSBA dinner meeting for Superintendent Russo, Michelle Butel, Jessica Gupta, and Julie Allspach in the amount of $180 and $80 Is there a motion to approve the consent agenda as presented? So moved. Okay. So I heard Trustee Annis, seconded by Trustee Vitale. Is does any, is there any discussion? Seeing none,
we can move to a vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? And the consent agenda passes seven-zero vote. Moving on to number 10, which is new business, 10.1. We have the Hart Middle School Heating Ventilators. Is there a motion to approve the Hart Heating Ventilators Project for 2,323,700 I'm sorry, dollars 376 coming from the sinking fund?
Trustee Blake. Support by Trustee Butel. Any discussion? Madam President? Trustee Locuhi? I had asked a question of the administration on I think I sent it on Friday. I just noticed in the bids that across the six trades, several received only one or two bids and there's a wide range in pricing. I was wondering if we could just explain why participation was low in some trades and why the prices varied so much? Mr. McDaniel. Thank you, Madam President. No, I can't necessarily explain why companies didn't elect a bid. However, we made the bids available during our normal processes as outlined in the memo.
Others did attend some of the pre bid meetings, but for whatever reason, chose not to bid on some of these projects. Okay. Was there other discussion or questions? Okay. Moving on to the vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? Okay. So that passes seven zero. Moving on to 10.2, we have the Stoney Creek High School Orchestra Lift Modernization. Is there a motion to approve the orchestra lift modernization at Stoney Creek High School in the amount of $290,956
coming from the general fund? So moved. Moved by Trustee Ioannis with support by Trustee Butel. Any discussion? Trustee Butel? Mr. McDaniel, I wondered if you could, just give a little bit of a maybe some additional information because when I first read this, and I'm wondering if the community thought the same way, it seemed to imply that this was damaged from a flood. And my first thought was why isn't insurance covering it? So I know I got a greater story on that. If you would share a little bit of that, I'd appreciate it.
Yes. Thank you, Madam President. I can't speak to if there's specific questions other than the information I was provided. So this flood dated back to 2002. I was a junior in high school, so I don't have a ton of info on that. But this has sort of been an ongoing issue, but that was when it started. Repairs were made, at that time. However, issues continued. So, this is a full replacement of the Stony Creek Orchestra lift after repairs that occurred in various time frames including, I think 2008, there was a group gala out to inspect.
It failed completely in 'twenty one and 'twenty two. We have worked with Gala as well as sorry, I need to bring up the award as well as, who is it, Metro Elevator Management to see what the best way was to proceed whether or not we can, say, retrofit this and make repairs or if it needed a full replacement, a full replacement is more expensive than what we went with. This is a kind of a retrofit to make it to work and not to replace or not to have to replace the full orchestra lift,
just the mechanics to make the lift work. Trustee Lawson? If something were to happen, is there a warranty on the repairs or anything? So you're saying if it Yes. I'm not sure on the specific warranty. Typically, it's a year, but I can follow-up to Trustee Lecoye. Alright. And, I'm first of all, I'm glad we're addressing this. I heard about it from a community community member recently, and it sounded like it was going on for a while. This has probably already been addressed, but I'll I'll ask the question. Have prior flood risks been addressed so that the new equipment will be protected? Yeah. I am not aware of any recent flooding that would affect the Stony Creek Orchestra
Lift. I'd also defer to Doctor. De Luca or Mr. Cuzzimano as they're maybe more in tune with the Stoney Creek High School, but I'm not aware of any flooding that's occurred recently that would cause a failure of this. The only knowledge I have of our auditoriums were the fly offs, large, facilities that you see outside of each high school. They recently were serviced by our Facilities Department and a construction crew to recaulk all the seams. And that's where a lot of the failure was,
in our buildings, was the failure was the seams were opening up. Water was coming in right in front of the stage at all three of our high schools, so that was remedied, in the last year. So I'm not sure though, back in 2002, obviously, if that was the cause of the flood at the time. Although, we've been upkeeping our facilities with regards to the, caulking and winterization of our fly loss, which are those large structures that are at each high school. Any other questions? Okay. Let's move to a vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. Any opposed? That's a seven-zero vote, and that passes.
Moving on to 10.3, Sinking Fund change orders. Is there a motion to approve the sinking fund change orders for a net savings of $136,957 as presented? Moved by Trustee Alsbaugh with support by Trustee Blake. Any discussion? Trustee Boutelle? Could you talk a little bit about the Adams High School site? And, because it looked like there were some reduction in scope. So I was curious about what we were reducing in scope.
And then if you could talk a little bit about what the extra costs were versus the requested or required changes, just to try and understand what we're talking about in there? Sure. So in general, right, this is the time where we have actual costs for projects and are giving back a lot of those contingencies. But as Trustee Butel mentioned, there were two that went over. RHS storm drain project went over as well as the Adams site drainage. The Adams site piece, that you'll recall was the one that was sort of being finished just as school
was beginning. So there was extensive work outside of Adams High School, especially in that parent loop drop off. As we proceeded with that project, there were a lot of issues that occurred from drawings being inaccurate. So as they dug into the ground, they found things that we weren't expecting to be there. And to correct some of those issues, they had to relocate existing plans. So as the memo mentioned, additional work was required to relocate several existing underground utilities discovered during excavation activities.
There were a couple of times, I think, over the summer that we actually had to cut power to do those and either had to delay or reschedule programming that was occurring at Adams High School. So the good thing is now that we were aware of all those things that weren't in the drawings, we have made sure that those drawings are updated to reflect what we found. We're going to continue discussions because there may be need to continue the work at Adams High School to further the progress with the stormwater project, but we'll continue to have those discussions and keep the board informed.
Probably in the next couple of months, we'll need to make a decision on whether or not to move forward with additional work items for the stormwater project. Did that cover Trustee B. Scheller or did I miss something that you were hoping for? I didn't understand how we reduced the scope, so that's one. And then because it's broken out, other changes requested or required and unforeseen conditions extra costs. I guess, it seemed like you addressed the unforeseen conditions extra costs, but I wasn't sure what the other changes requested or required were as well as the reduction in scope.
Yes, I think it was sort of along those lines. Once we made those additions, for example, there would be unforeseen conditions that wouldn't necessarily be finding the electrical. Once we found the electrical, then we needed to make sure that we moved it in compliance. I think the unforeseen conditions could be, it took longer to dig. There was more man hours required due to weather or something like that, and that couldn't be foreseen rather than we found things there that we did not expect. I can provide an update. I'll ask Mr. Muscio to work with Frank Riewald to give a little bit more context on what
happened with the Adams project specifically and what it means by other changes requested versus unforeseen conditions and extra costs. I'm sorry, just so you did not know what the reduction of scope was? No, there was additional work at Adams to actually fulfill the entire stormwater project that we did not complete. We essentially ran out of time. So we could have done more work, but that I think they were estimating another two weeks of having that front entrance closed, and we didn't want to start the school year without having access to the parent
loop. Yes. So does that mean that those are things that still need to be done? I think that's the piece that we're reviewing as well or now we need to do the full project or if this will address the stormwater issues to the extent that we needed to, right? As the board remembers, from time to time, we'll have floods that come in that main entrance that's sunken down and then lead to water being in the gym. So that's happened a couple of times. One of the reasons is the stormwater drainage system. So we'll continue to have some discussion.
I know that Doctor. De Luca and Mr. Muscio and I were going to have future discussions about whether or not we think this work is enough or if not, do we need to inform the Board and complete a change order to complete work this summer. So that one's kind of to be determined as whether or not we fully rectified the issue to resolve any flooding issues at Adams. Great. I guess, personally, I'd like to request that we get a update after that's been reviewed or decided on so we understand if future work is needed or not? Yes. And that would require an approval by the Board as well.
Okay. Any other discussion or questions? Seeing none, we'll go to the vote. All in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed? So that's a seven-zero vote, and that passes. And now we move on to 10.4, which are board handbook, review and revisions. Part of the board's organizational meeting per section 1,002 of our policy manual is a review of the Board Handbook. The Handbook was reviewed and updated through the steering committee. It is listed as a regular item to be considered in this organizational meeting.
Before we begin discussion, is there a motion to approve the changes to the Board Handbook in full? So moved. Moved by Trustee Annis. Is there support? Trustee Alsma? Anne, any discussion? Madam President? Trustee Lacoue? Alright. I, emailed the board ahead of this one, two, three, four, five changes to consider. So, I will make amendments since you've said we should approve this all in full. I'll just make amendments for each of the changes I was planning to make. So I move, on section 1.5.1,
documents and document requests. I move to amend the proposed board handbook by striking the revised language in section 1.5.1 1.5.1 on document requests and restoring the January 2025 approved language. Is there a second? I second. Discussion? Madam President? Yes, Trustee Lecun? Alright. Well, first, I'm not convinced it's even legal to deny a trustee access to existing documents. But under this change, a trustee could no longer simply ask for document documents. Everything has to go through the board president and the superintendent can label a request
an undue burden without even defining what that means. If that happens, the president would pull other trustees behind the scenes to see if the request was popular enough. And if it isn't, the trustee is blocked unless they try to fight to add it onto the agenda. There's no timeline for that survey, and there's no appeal if the president withholds support. And at the same time, you'll notice later in this draft, the Board majority is trying to remove approval of agenda altogether, which means there may be no real path left to get the information. So in short, it turns a basic right to information into a popularity contest controlled by one person.
Any other discussion? Trustee Elspa? So I understand Trustee Lacoue's concerns. I do believe there is appeal process, which would be For you to talk to other people to get it on the agenda. And therefore, you wouldn't have to worry about it being a surprise at the Board table, a surprise agenda item. We'd all be prepared about it. And if you want to talk about putting something on the agenda, I'm always willing to have that conversation. Trustee Buttel? I was surprised to see your concern about this one because really the intent was
to make sure there was a process for being able to request the items after the change to the bylaws. So for me, I see this more as protection versus removing it altogether, which gives no pathway forward other than just going straight to, identifying people to add it to the agenda. Any other discussion on amending the motion, on voting to amend a motion? The original motion? Madam President? Trustee Lucknow? I'm listening to my board colleagues and, I guess my concern is that I read through the process and I was trying
to envision how does this actually play out, and that's where I found it to be kind of incoherent and contradictory. Like, for example, why would we expect that if the trustee is trying to ask for something and they don't have enough support from other trustees that they're even interested in receiving it, why would the trustee have success adding it behind the scenes when there was already insufficient interest? It just doesn't make sense. And we also have language in here about approve the agenda. And if the rest of this goes through and we get rid of approve the agenda, like I said, it's it's it won't exist anymore.
So I just don't understand if you actually imagine going through the process how that possibly plays out. I guess I'll just say, from my standpoint, I think that is in keeping with the idea that the Board acts in one voice through the majority. I mean, that is how it works. So, you have to make a compelling case. And if you can convince others that your idea has merit, then you get those votes and you can move it forward. Any other discussion on this particular amendment? Madam President? Trustee Lacouni? Is it in keeping with the idea that the board is entitled to existing documents
if you're not allowing a trustee to see information? Because we've been through this before. I remember when I requested to see invoices from former President Butel a couple years ago. She met with three different law firms, and all of them confirmed that, well, trustees are responsible for the finance of the finances of the district, so you do have to let trustees see invoices. And she relented because she talked with the three law firms about it. I guess I don't really understand. If we're asking advice from lawyers, why aren't we taking it? Well, I'm not gonna address that sort of speculation at this time. We're focused on this particular,
particular, amendment and whether or not folks want to support it. Certainly not moving backward. We're moving forward. So, based on this amendment, let's go ahead and see a vote, on whether or not this one's going to move forward. So, all in favor of amending the original package to include, Trustee Lecuye's amendment, section 1.5.1, documents and document requests to strike the revised language and restore the January 2025 approved version, say aye. Wait, this is to Yes. Aye. Aye. All opposed?
No. So that is a two five vote, and the amendment does not pass. Going back to the original motion of the, Board Handbook revisions as presented in the packet already moved by Trustee Annis and supported by Trustee Alsbaugh, is there any additional discussion? Madam President. Trustee Lacoue. Alright. I move to amend the proposed board handbook changes by striking Section 2.2.2, approval of the agenda in its entirety and retaining the current language requiring Board approval of the agenda and to direct administration
to renumber all subsequent sections accordingly. Is there a second to this amendment? Trustee Lausanne? Discussion? Madam President. Trustee Lacoue. Under Robert's rules, like we heard earlier, the Board normally adopts the agenda at the start of the meeting so that the body, not just the chair, controls what's being discussed. This is standard practice. Feel free to pull out your phone right now. Ask it, are public boards supposed to approve the agenda before they begin meetings? You'll find that the president prepares a proposed agenda, but it's binding only after the full board adopts it and has the chance to
amend it. Removing that simple step puts all control in the hands of the president, including the ability to quietly, behind closed doors, block topics that the community may care about and deserve to hear about when the trustees they elected as their voice are advocating behind the scenes. Forcing trustees to suspend the rules just to add an item turns oversight into a procedural battle. That's not what the spirit of that rule was ever supposed to be meant about. That rule is for rare and extraordinary kinds of events. I can think of no good purpose for this action.
It hides issues from the community, weakens transparency, and just continues to shift more power away from the full board and into the hands of one person, which is not how a governing body is supposed to operate. Madam President. Trustee Annas. I, will not be supporting this amendment, proposed by Trustee Lacoue because as I said before, it's not always required if there's a meeting of the whole. And that's exactly what this body is when we have an agenda before us. It's a meeting of the whole. So under Robert's rules of order and that depends on whether or not if we
decide, which I think we should include in this particular section, saying, in the second sentence, it says, The board will not approve the agenda at each meeting. Perhaps it should say, adopting a standard order of business, the board will not approve the agenda at each meeting. And I will note that prior to 2022, this board never approved the agenda because we didn't I guess I should say there was a lot more congenial, the ability for board members to speak freely,
and get along and talk about issues away from the board table that would influence the setting of the agenda was stronger. And, so I will not be supporting Trustee Lecuey's amendment. But I do recommend, and I can make another amendment, after hers is voted down, to add that language that as a standard order of business, the Board will not approve the agenda at each meeting. And I would just add, maybe, a superseding point, which is, that while, our bylaws do say that when something is not already addressed in our own bylaws
and handbooks, we will refer to Robert's Rules. So it's not that we only use Robert's Rules. It's when it's something that hasn't been addressed. So, you know, we've heard feedback from, board colleagues about wanting more efficient meetings. We have a process also, in here within our, handbook for board members to get items on the agenda. We have three people who want it. It goes on the agenda. So there's really not a barrier to getting, some, topics on the agenda where there's potential for traction. So Anybody else?
Trustee Alsbaugh? So the items in setting the agenda, although it is, led by the president, is not totally influenced by the president. Our superintendent, our administrators will suggest topics we have. We have a well defined custom, and even in our bylaws that if three trustees want something, it will be put on the agenda. And also, the controlling rule of hierarchical matters according to Robert's rules of order newly revised, the authority follows the following order: state laws, then our bylaws board policy or special rules of order custom,
then Robert's Rules. So it's not required by Robert's Rules that we approve the agenda every meeting, especially if our bylaws specifically state a way for us to get something on and that we're not going to be doing that every time. Any other discussion? Trustee Lacoue? I guess the question that I'd just like to pose to you guys is why do you want to supersede Robert's Rules by taking this away? It doesn't really make a lot of sense to me. This is a standard kind of procedure. I also would ask Trustee Innis, what do you mean by adopting a standard order of business?
There are certain things that we approve at some meetings, other things we approve on other meetings. I'm just not sure if that takes away some of our flexibility of sometimes we add or subtract things and the body approves it before we speak on it. And finally, I would just say talking about issues away from the board table is not what we're supposed to do. Our business is supposed to be conducted at the board table in front of the public. I would just push back a bit on that. I would just push back on that last statement a little bit.
I think I understand what you're trying to convey, but the reality is that we would get nothing done. It would be operationally operationally unfeasible if we had no discussions other than when we're here at this board table. The rule is that we can't speak we can't talk as a quorum or make any decisions as a quorum, away from the board table. But clearly, there have to be communications and conversations away from the board table in order to operate do our oversight role in the District.
So I guess I'm kind of confused by that statement. Are there any other discussion points or questions? Trustee Lipkooey? Did you you thought that I meant that we should never have any conversations? Well, that's what I I just heard you say, that all of our communication should be here at the board table. I'm sorry. Maybe I misunderstood. Yeah. I'll clarify. I didn't mean we're not allowed to have any kinds of conversations outside the board table. Those it's defined in the Open Meetings Act, but our public business is mostly supposed to be conducted in front of the public. I didn't mean I ban you from talking to each other ever.
Okay. That's not That's a great clarification. Thank you. Any other points on this? Okay. So now we're voting on the, amendment, Trustee Lecuis' amendment to, on section 2.2.2, approval of the agenda. So this is, amending the original, motion to strike Section 2.2.2 in its entirety, retain the current language requiring board approval of the agenda, and renumber subsequent sections. All in favor say aye. Aye. Aye. So I hear three ayes. All, opposed?
No. So that is a three four vote, and it does not pass. Madam President. Trustee Annas. Can I bring forward an amendment to this particular, 2.2.2? Yes. As I stated earlier, the second sentence, which says the board will not approve the agenda at each meeting, I believe it should say, as a standard order of business, the board will not approve the agenda at each meeting. I'll put that in writing and pass it down. Give me just a second. Is there a second? Trustee Alsbaugh. Discussion? Trustee Vitell. I just have a question as to exactly what that means,
why you think that needs to be added. Because it clarifies that, we're not approving the agenda because it's a meeting of the whole, which is germane to Robert's rules of order. That particular language. I apologize. Can you just, standard order of business, where do you find that that says that that's a meeting of the whole? Or I'm not familiar with that. I'm wondering if this might be something that needs a little bit more research away from the board table and then it would be brought back maybe at a future meeting. I would be happy to do that.
Okay. So do you I don't know how that works. You have to withdraw your I'll withdraw the motion. Okay. So now we're back to the original motion, which is to approve the Board handbook as included in the packet. Is there any further discussion on that? Mhmm. Trustee Lacoue? Well, I guess, before I make a motion for this next one, I was wondering, was did steering committee intend to only remove board member comments from the ends of the meeting but leave the administrator comments? Because I noticed,
you know, for instance, even in this meeting, we had the superintendent report. All of the administrators spoke during that time. Makes sense to me. Seems like, their spot is planned. They can put whatever they'd like on the agenda. Do we want to duplicate that? Or is that a bit redundant? And if you're trying to save time, maybe you cut both board member comments and the administrator comments if that was the goal. Yeah. Good question. My recollection of the conversation was that we asked for, preference by the, administration and that the preference was to still have that opportunity to speak at the
end. The Board and the Board would like to just include that redundancy then? Well, it felt like a It might have seemed like it would be redundant based on how we did things today, which is different from how they usually go. So I guess, you know, I would ask, Mr. Russo if you see that as being redundant moving forward. I can respect the idea that it could be redundant today. We had multiple reports from SBCC, some legislative ops states, etcetera. The point of having a three minute at the end was to have a kind
of recap of anything we felt that we couldn't get to that wasn't something that was related to new business and that wasn't related to a consent agenda, just information that we wanted to share, maybe something about our participation, you know, at a unified game or something. But I have spoken with our cabinet members. And if that's something that you want to drop, I would only ask that at the end, you I we get three minutes, a full one one set of three minutes for just the superintendent to speak or his designee or her designee, in case there is something that they want to say, in closing the meeting.
All right. Trustee Vitale? I would keep it, at this point. And I mean, I think that the administration would make it a point that it wouldn't be, what's the word? Like they're not going to say the same thing twice, right? So it's for different purposes and different reasons. So for that reason, I would leave it there. Madam President, okay, then I guess I have a question. I'm wondering why staff are guaranteed time to speak at the end of the board meeting, but the elected board is not. Well, we each have lots of time to speak during the action items that we're voting
on as we're going along that are germane to the top topics on the agenda that we've approved. Alright, that would bring me to my second issue that, I think we should keep board member comments. So, I move that for that section two point two three and two point five two, I suppose, that we ensure consistent treatment of Board and administrator comments and restore Board member comments. Is there a second? I second. Discussion? Any more discussion? Trustee Blake? Oh, sorry. It was your motion. Go for it.
Yep. I'll speak to my motion. So I think we should keep the board member comments because it's the only guaranteed time that trustees have to speak publicly about issues they choose. We already got rid of approval of the agenda. We know that the president has full control over that. So for instance, if I wanted to bring up a school related issue that was not already put on the agenda, I wouldn't have that chance anymore. The draft I noticed here says that MASB recommends removing this, but I know for a fact that MASB has no official position on this.
Maybe individuals in the organization do, but not the organization itself. I also saw a rationale that comments are too contentious. But I just wanna point out that I'm comfortable with disagreement. I believe in the issues and principles that I'm advocating for, and this is how the public sees real debate. We aren't supposed to just be filtered through one person. So taking this away just limits what families get to hear from the people they elected. Yeah. And I I would just mention a few things there that, it was a recommendation from someone by MA from MASB.
And and also I would say, I think we're all pretty comfortable with disagreements when, we're having, mutually respectful conversations where we're disagreeing on topics, and but but all focused on attacking a problem and not each other. But what we heard, over and over again from our community in the strategic planning feedback and sense is that our community would really like to see us not being so contentious with each other and more productive in our dialogue. And and we all have many other options, that we utilize.
Some of us utilize quite a bit to get our voices heard by the community, whether it's, you know, writing op eds on Facebook, social media, etcetera. So, some of us do chat with the board. Some of us are volunteering in the buildings on a regular basis and interfacing with community members in that manner. So I think we have lots of opportunities to, share and have dialogue with our community that go well beyond the low three minutes at the end of these meetings. I know, Trustee Blake, you were waiting to speak. I was. So I actually do support this amendment.
I understand the concerns that you just raised, and they're valid. I mean, the board member comments have really devolved over the years. It used to be people talked about, I went to this event or, you know, an issue like that. And now, more often than not, it's different people talking about their grievances about other people or or so forth. And that that's different that's divisive and and so forth. I get all of that. I don't disagree. But I still think there's value in the public hearing from us about how we feel about things. And I'm just like Trustee Lacoue.
I'm willing to hear things I disagree with. Sometimes I feel like people say things that are wrong or false or misinformation and I want to be able to speak too. So, you know, there's a saying the antidote to speech is more speech, and I believe that. So I support this amendment. Thank you. Any other discussion? Move to a vote. Everyone in favor of this amendment to amend the original motion, Sections 2.2.3, say aye. Aye. So I heard a three. And all opposed?
No. So that would be a three-four vote, and it does not pass. Any further discussion on the original motion that we're back to now to adopt the revisions as provided? Trustee Lecui. Alright. I'm getting through. Only two more. So Section 2.6.5, Public Comment Procedure. This one I hope we can do. It's simply my motion is I move to correct the language to reflect a single motion to suspend the rules for a specific purpose. Is there a second? I second. Trustee Lausanne, discussion.
Trustee Lucuy? Alright. This one is just procedurally incorrect the way it's written because under Robert's rules, a motion to suspend the rules is just supposed to state the specific purpose. It's not supposed to be a vague two step process. So the correct motion that should be listed here should just be I move to suspend the rules to add discussion regarding the public comment. Not to approve the agenda to then do that, but just to add discussion regarding the public comment. Any other discussion on that? Seeing none, we'll go to a vote on this amendment.
All in favor, say aye. Aye. Okay. So I've got, Trustee Lozan, Trustee Petal, and Trustee Liqui. Did I miss anybody? All right. So that's three. How about opposed? No. Okay. So I've got, four no's. So that does not pass. Back to the original motion. Any further discussion? Madam President? Trustee Lacouette. All right. We're here. We're at the last one. We made it. All right. Section six, process for complaints against a board member. I move to strike Section six in its entirety and direct the administration to remove
the issue a serious complaint portal from the district website. Is there a second? I second. Discussion? Trustee Lacoue? Oh, yeah, sorry. Yeah, so we know that this was created with one person in mind, but the reason I mean, there's no reason to for the board to have a special complaint pipeline that is filtered by one person when the board already has a transparent contact the board process. It's simply not needed. If there's real concern about a trustee's conduct, the board already knows how to handle that. Anybody can make a motion to investigate or censure,
and we see if there's support. Any additional discussion? Seeing none, we're going to move to a vote. All in favor, say aye. Aye. This is of the amendment. So, Trustee Lozan and, Trustee Locuhi. All opposed? No. So that is a two five vote and does not pass. So now we are back to the original motion, which is to pass the board handbook revisions as included in the packet. Will take, or is there any further discussion on that?
Alright. Actually, madam president? Trustee Lacombe? Alright. This is the last one because since that one didn't pass, I wanna look at six point two point one. It says members of the school community may submit complaints against board members through issue a serious complaint on the RCS website. And I move to amend section six point two point one to read members of the school community may submit complaints against board members through issue a serious complaint on the RCS website, comma, which will be submitted to the full board.
Do you have that in writing? I, I don't, but I can repeat it for you. Which will be submitted to the full board? I'm going to do that this time, but in the future, let's all try to have things in writing because it just makes it, less Well, I wasn't sure it'd be needed. So I understand. But it could also be tabled to a future meeting. You could bring it. But, so for the in this case, we are, you are making a motion to amend, the proposed revisions, section six point two point one to read that members may submit complaints..dot,
which will be submitted to the full board. That's the part that you wanna change. Correct? Correct. We're just adding that. Mhmm. Trustee Blake? So I have a question. I'm sorry, but I think I need to ask for a second first. I apologize. I'll second. Thank you. Discussion, Trustee Lukuy would get first dibs. For instance, you had a question? I did have a question. I don't have it in front of me, so I'm going on memory. But isn't isn't the next part of that that the president makes decisions? And so how would if you change that sentence, wouldn't you have to change other things in there as well for it to make
sense? I mean, we could consider changing the rest of it. We wouldn't necessary I mean, you could leave it the way that it is. I think that it should be changed. But, my point is that complaints about elected officials should go to the full board and not be filtered through a single trustee? And I guess my position on this one would be that this would be something that, I would be willing to look at in the future, but I'm not prepared to make an informed decision about it in this moment because it has implications that we haven't fully considered or thought through. Is there any other,
discussion or comment? Trustee Yeltsin? So I'm hoping that, President Gupta continues the same process as I remember President Butel copying us all on responses so that, if there was a complaint, we did see the response and the justification for moving forward or not moving forward. So I think I feel like as Board members, we have been informed. Okay. Any other discussion items on this? We'll move to a vote on the amendment, to change the language to, Section 6.2.1
that members may submit complaints and then, we'll end with that segment will end with which will be submitted to the full Board. Does that make sense to everybody? Okay. All in favor, say aye. Aye. So that's a two all opposed? Trustee Annis? No. Okay, so that's a two five vote, and that amendment does not pass. So now we're back to the original, motion for the Handbook revisions. I think we've had lots of discussion. Is there any does anyone else have any discussion or any further discussion?
Okay. So we can move to a vote. All in favor of the, Board Handbook revisions as proposed, say aye. Aye. All opposed? No. No. So we have a four if I heard it correctly, a four three vote. You were no. Right, Trustee Blake? Okay. And they pass. Okay. Next up, we have additional comments. Did I skip something? Okay. We have, agenda item 12, which is additional comments. 12.1 is members of the Board of Education. So we did just pass,
a revision to this. However, this is what we already had on the agenda that we approved, so we will move forward as stated on this agenda. So, members of the Board of Education, agenda item 12.1 is additional comments by members of the Board of Education, where individual board members may use the time to share information about school visits, updates from committees or organizations they are assigned to, or to express their personal opinion. We can start with Trustee Lukumi.
Alright. I want to wish our students, families, staff, and community a Happy New Year. Over the past several weeks, I've had a number of people reach out to me, including people I've never met before, simply to say, you're not alone. They've shared encouragement and appreciation for continuing to speak up even when it's difficult, and I want you to know how much that means to me. The New Year is a natural time for reflection. When our focus drifted away from academics in 2015 with the BELF framework, we saw outcomes decline.
Test scores fell 85 points and families raised concerns. But more recently, we started focusing on the problem and setting instead of dismissing it. Did you hear the student reps mention it in their comments? We're beginning to see signs of improvement. And this is what many of us have been asking for over and over and over again. Staying focused on academics works, and that's what we need to keep doing. I'll also note that I know of at least one school board that began the year by publicly reviewing the new Michigan health framework. They listened to families and made a clear decision to keep what was already working.
They didn't avoid the topic. They didn't shut down debate. They led, and that kind of responsiveness builds trust with families. I understand why many in our community feel discouraged by Board leadership. Instead of open discussion and healthy debate, too often the approach has been to silence dissent. Through censure, restricting access to information, limiting what trustees are allowed to say publicly. We saw this today. We're instating a whole bunch of new rules to keep doing that. And based on the actions I've seen, I expect this will continue.
I can see that the effort to shift power from the full board to one person continues, and it becomes more extreme every year. And yet, as we enter a new year and an election year, I feel a renewed sense of hope. I'm encouraged by new awareness and new conversations. That's how positive change happens, and that's how we build on success. So here's what my message to the community is, you've got to get out there and tell people what's going on. There's a lot to discuss even from this meeting.
If this continues, and I believe it will, then great times are ahead for this district. So thanks again. It's been a great opportunity to speak to you during board member comments. We've had a great run. Happy New Year. Trustee Lausanne? Thank you. Welcome back to school, everybody, and happy New Year. I hope everybody had an enjoyable break. Lisette? I'm not loud. Oh, okay. Hold on. I've officially completed one year of my six year term, you guys. Only five more to go. As we all know, conversations often happen behind the scenes to prepare for meetings, including tonight's selection of officers.
Last week, I was approached by another trustee who made it clear that the officer roles had already been decided upon. In other words, the outcome was settled before we arrived at public meeting. When I asked our now newly elected president why I was not included on these conversations, I was told it was a matter of trust. Not because I broke the trust, but because of who I align with. This is interesting coming from the same group that publicly talks about working together, yet seems less interested in doing so behind the scenes. This kind of divide does not help the board, and it certainly does not serve our district. We should be able to put aside our personal differences and focus on what really
matters, our students and our staff. And this is exactly why the board majority voted to remove board member comments at the end with the new handbook revisions. When trustees are limited in a way in what they can say, information like this cannot be openly shared. To the voters watching, your engagement does matter. Please show up and speak up. Your voice truly does matter. Thank you. Trustee Blake? Well, happy New Year to everyone. This is, my last board member comment, and I literally have nothing prepared. I'm just thinking of what I can say. But I do want to wish everyone a happy New Year.
I hope you had a good holidays. Welcome back. Thanking all of our staff, teachers, parents, and I, too, feel optimistic about this year. I think we are making real progress in real areas. And I see things on our strategic plan for the upcoming year that I think are very important that we are going to be addressing. And so I think that's great. You know, I guess I don't see this avoiding of topics among people. I see that we talk about things and, you know, the idea, for instance, this Ex Ed framework, we don't have anything to look at yet.
Our committee has not gotten to that point. So how can we sit up here and have a discussion on something that isn't ready yet? When it's ready, we'll have the discussion. So, I am optimistic because I do think things are changing a little bit. For a couple years there, we had this real anti public school kind of feeling out there, and we had candidates running, and they were, for the most part, unsuccessful. And this year now, last year, the last election, not one of the Moms for Liberty candidates who were anti public school won,
in any race. So I think that people are tired of it. They're tired of of division. They're tired of having fights. They wanna talk about the good things. They wanna talk about what things we need to improve. And that's what we are committed to doing here, not pushing our axes to grind or being mad at this one or that one or telling you why they're terrible at their job. So, you know, and I noticed, somebody talked about the voters over here. Like, we don't have an election right now. We don't even have any candidates. Why are we pitching things to voters? Because because it's I think there's a strategy underway to get people upset for for
the elections, which are ten months or eleven months away. Madam President, point of order. I'm What is your point of order? He is I didn't mention anybody. It's a strategy to get people fired. I do though. Suit. I'm gonna overrule Dan. He didn't mention anyone's name. You're attacking members' motives. He didn't attack members. Comments and said you think there's something Trustee Lacouli, your point of order has been considered and overruled. I mean, this is this is the point. We should be talking about the things that you mentioned, the fact that we're moving forward with our test scores are higher,
our literacy is moving in the right direction, our all of these things are happening good in this district, and certainly, there are things that we can improve. Any any organization can improve. Any person can improve. But to continually harp on the negativity, I just hope we don't have that in the new year. I hope that we can acknowledge where we are. And you don't have to be negative in order to improve. You don't have to be negative to improve. You can improve with positive, teamwork.
And I hope that, you know, despite everything, I hope that we can be a team and move this district forward. Trustee Annas? Thank you, President Gupta. Happy New Year to all the students, the staff, the educators, the administrators sitting here at this table. I, for one, am happy that board member comments have been dropped from our agenda. They have become and, evolved into a bully pulpit. And, as our president has said, we are a body of one. And this is not an office in which you are an individual elected representative.
You are one of seven. And when you are here, you are certainly welcome to vote your conscience. And your vote is your voice. So if citizens have an issue, they are always welcome to reach out to us as individual board members. And that's when those individual conversations are important because we can talk to one of the other and say, hey, have you heard this? This is going on. Have you gotten any feedback on this? So the insinuation that discussions away from the board table are somehow nefarious and not
transparent is just blatantly false. So I am looking forward to a continued focus on students and, their education, the great educators that we have in this district, and the great work that we're doing for our community. Thank you. Trustee Vita? I didn't have it on. Sorry. I'd just like to say, Happy New Year, and welcome back to all of our students, staff, and families. I hope everyone did have a wonderful break, was able to relax and, be rejuvenated and ready for 2026. I'd also like to wish all of our secondary students,
good luck on their upcoming exams that, I think are this coming week. So, that's all I have to say. Thanks. Thank you, Trustee Buettel. Trustee Elsvar? So also, I'd like to wish our families Happy New Year and look forward to the new start that this gives us. I wanted to thank our special education from the Adult Transition Center. I think it's wonderful work that we do. And I know particularly Ms. Anderson has been a longtime supporter of the special ed community, and I know she's just dedicated her life to work with children.
So I really want to acknowledge her work and the rest of the entire team that are providing excellent experiences for our students. I also want to thank our teachers. Hang in there. We're almost at the end of the semester. I know that this is a time for all of our educational staff where we're trying to wrap up and trying to gear up at the same time. So I want to thank you and acknowledge even, all of our staff, from the custodians to the principals. We're all working as a team to kind of get through this stressful time. And of course,
to our students, I wish you good luck on your exams. I hope you do the best that you can. And I hope you also remember to protect your mental health and don't stress out too much because I know through coaching kids for years that this this week can also be stressful for our students. So I wish everyone good results and a great start of the second semester. Thank you. And now we're moving on to Agenda Item 12.2, members of the administration. Mr. Rousseau? Thank you, President Gupta. Mr. Murphy? Just very quickly,
I just want to congratulate Hunter Cawthorn, who was approved earlier this evening as a tech facilitator. We typically do that after the HR report. I forgot to do that at that time. So congratulations to Hunter, and Hunter was a tech assistant in the district prior to this promotion to be an administrator, which is an hourly support position. So it's always satisfying also to add to Mr. Frankovich's team by promoting from within. So thank you. Thank you. Through our strategic planning process, we've been exploring opportunities to enhance digital content on our Web site so it's accessible
to individuals with exceptionalities. Last week, the district initiated the use of AudioEye. AudioEye is a digital accessibility tool that provides real time AI monitored, monitoring fixes, testing and audits for the website. Visitors can look for a small blue floating circle with a stylized figure in it. It's located in the lower left corner of our website. So no matter what page you go to, that accessibility tool will be there. When you click on that little tool,
some of the features that are available, and it's very easy to navigate, you could adjust the content or the contrast of our website, shift the colors, change the text size, change the font or even the spacing on our website. So, I encourage all community members to check it out, especially those that could use a little help with viewing the website. Also, we wanted to share to further enhance opportunities for video accessibility, specifically to board meetings. We're adding a feature that displays captions both for live and recorded meetings.
So that's really a good move in the right direction. Also, Mr. Russo had mentioned this earlier, but I do want to, extend a formal invitation to all community members to consider taking a brief survey to help inform district practices about the use of personal technology devices in our schools. The survey is open to all community members beginning today, January 12, continuing through January 18. There's a pop up banner on the front page of the district's website. It has a QR code,
and it will take you directly to the survey. Thank you very much. Thank you, Ms. Crane. Ms. Gauthier. On behalf of the special education department, we would like to invite the board and community members to join us in cheering on our unified basketball team, the Triple Threat, at their home game this Thursday, January 15 at Adams High School, and that will start promptly at 06:30PM. Our triple threat basketball team has four away games throughout the month of January and February that we also hope that you can join us at. January 23 at 07:30PM at O'Reena at Oakland University for the Crosstown Showdown,
January 27 at 6PM at Lake Orion High School, February 5 at 6PM at Waterford Mott High School, and February 12 at 06:30PM at Oxford High School. This evening, the Triple Threat team had an away basketball game at Avondale, and I'm sure it went well, and we wish them the best of luck in their season. Thank you. Thank you, Ms. Gauthier. Mr. Cuzmano? Real quick, just good luck to our students in final exams in the secondary world this week and good luck to a great start to second semester.
Thank you. And Doctor. DeLuca, thank you so much. I will close by saying congratulations to our new board officers. Thank you to all of our board. This is Board Recognition and Appreciation Month. And, again, I don't know I don't think anyone understands until you've sat in them. My mother used to say, until you've until you've walked in those shoes, which no one can ever do. So until you've sat in those seats, I don't think you can ever tell. But the amount of effort, commitment, thought, and time that you put into things so that we can support our students is very much appreciated. Thank you. Thank you. And now we're, ending with agenda item 13,
announcements. January 16 through the eighteenth will be a half day for grades six through 12 and ATPS. January 20 is Martin Luther King Junior Day, and there will be no school. January 21, we have a Board of Education meeting at 6PM. Is that right? Here, at this location. Is that right? Because I don't think it is. Okay. Thank you. Okay. Alright. So getting back on track, as I mentioned, we, oh, okay. Starting over.
Sorry. We have January 14 through the fifteenth, a half day of school, for grades six through 12 and ATPS. January 16, we have a half day of school for grades TK through 12 and ATPS. January 19, there is no school. January 26, we have a Board of Education regular meeting at 6PM here at the RCS Early Childhood Education Center. And January 31, we have our Board of Education retreat at 9AM, also here at the RCS Early Childhood Education Center.
We're at agenda item 14, which is adjournment with if there's any opposition, we will adjourn at 08:35.