Good evening, and welcome to the Rochester Community Schools Board of Education regular meeting, call to order at 06:04. For those who choose to do so and are physically able, please stand for the pledge of allegiance. Good evening. It's good to see everyone here. I hope you dry out soon. This Board of Education regular meeting is a meeting of the Board in public for the purpose of conducting the school business school district's business. To preserve its freedom to act, this body follows Robert's rules of order newly revised. This process is not a tool to be used to circumvent fairness,
and as president of this governing body, I will work to ensure that it this isn't the case. But please know this, I'm not a parliamentarian and will extend the same grace to you all for not knowing everything about this process, if you are willing to extend that same grace to me. For the public before this board who may be asking why is it so important that we follow these rules, there are several reasons. This is a public meeting of the Board of Education. This is not a meeting with the public, a town hall or a political rally. Expectations of decorum will be enforced on this body and the public attending this meeting
by following Robert's Rules of Order newly revised edition. It also allows the body to go about our business in an orderly, efficient manner. It also allows for every member to have a voice about the issues before this body, ensures fairness for every member at this table, including and especially for the members who are in the minority of opinions on the matters before this Board. When you entered the auditorium through that back entrance, you may have noticed a large poster with the school board's norms and information on effectively communicating with school partners.
These norms were agreed upon by the board and reflect our commitment to ensuring that the business of this school board is done in a fair and expedient manner. You can also find a copy of the chain of command information to help parents and community members effectively communicate with school partners. This information is also on our district website within our Board of Education handbook. We value community input, and public comment will be heard under Agenda Item five. If you wish to speak tonight and have not already filled out a yellow card,
They are found on a table near the entrance. Once you have completed the card, please put it in the box on the same table. Please note that cards must be completed prior to speaking, and a card must be submitted before this agenda item concludes. And I will call speakers in the order received. For roll call, all members are present, and I'd like to turn it over to, superintendent Russo before we would continue with our agenda. Thank you, president Nannes. This past month, we have been heartbroken about the loss of two loved ones in our school community. We are sad to note the passing of Ryan Fuller, a long time member of the RCS facilities and maintenance team.
Ryan was proud to represent the third generation of the Fuller family to work for Rochester Community Schools, enhancing our learning environ environments across the district. We also mourn the loss of Erin Holden, our beloved k twelve music coordinator and West Middle School band teacher who served students and encouraged musical talent in our district for over twenty six years. She will be dearly missed. Our thoughts and prayers remain with the Fuller and Holden families and the students, friends, families, and colleagues who love them. At this time, we respectfully ask that you join us in observing a moment of silence for Ryan
and Aaron. Thank you, president Haas. Thank you, Superintendent Russo. Next up is item three on our agenda, which is spotlight on success. And I'm proud to welcome tonight, Joanne Badoun from the RCS foundations. Take it away, Joanne. Is it on? Do I have to do anything? I'm good? Okay. Good evening. I'm Joanne Baduen, Director of the RCS Foundation. The Foundation is a nonprofit five zero one(three) that was established back in 1995 with a sole mission to support and advance learning for all RCS students by obtaining contributions
for academics, arts, and athletics. The RCS Foundation works in partnerships with the school district district to support outstanding educational programs and services. In partnership with Michelle Beitelchees of Pino Insurance Agency, we have had the privilege of spotlighting excellence within our school since 2007 Through a very generous donation from Michelle and previously by her parents, John and Marie Pino, the Excellence in Education Award has sustained for almost twenty years. Throughout the years, we have recognized more than 140 employees and awarding more than $75,000
to support our schools. Excellence in Education was created to recognize outstanding performance throughout the district. Award dollars are used by the recipients to purchase materials or services, which will enhance a classroom, a facility, a program or a service. This year, we received over 50 nominations from community members, from family members, coworkers and even students. The following four recipients were already presented with a twenty twenty six Excellence in Education Award in front of their peers and students. And tonight, we welcome them to present them to the Board of Education.
Recipients, when your name is called I'd ask you to join join me here to my right. Okay. Mr. Jack Vera Claw, math teacher at Van Heusen Middle School. He was honored because he views every academic challenge a student faces not as a barrier, but as an opportunity for personalized mentorship. He encourages students to explore unconventional solving methods, fostering a growth mindset that values creative creativity alongside with mathematical rigor. He builds confidence.
Mr. Veraclaw is also recognized for bringing the AMC eight American Mathematics competition to Van Heusen, helping boost academic self esteem and foster a vibrant math culture within the Van Hoesen community. Congratulations. Missus Claire D'Addario, Spanish teacher at Rochester High School. She was honored because she makes learning vibrant and impressive with a balance of high academic standards and a genuine heart.
She hosts cultural food parties. She leads interactive lessons that make students comfortable speaking Spanish. She organizes service projects to benefit the Hispanic community. She also sponsors the Spanish National Honor Society, and she engages students to understand and appreciate Hispanic cultures and traditions. Students stated that her supportive classroom learning environment makes a difficult subject feel manageable, interesting, and very fun. Congratulations. Mr. Charles Hung, fifth grade teacher at Musson Elementary,
was recognized for creative and inclusive learning environments where students are encouraged to express themselves and support one another. He ensures that every child feels valued and heard. Mister Hung makes lessons engaging, interactive, meaningful. His ability to connect with students, inspire a love of learning, and creative positive classroom environments sets him apart as an exceptional educator. Congratulations, Mr. Hahn. And Ms. Lena Hajdar, RCS District English Language Development Parent Liaison Coordinator,
received 15 nominations from individuals, from students, from families and from parents who expressed gratitude for her support in rebuilding their confidence, their identity and their sense of belonging at Rochester Community Schools. They agreed, you make people feel welcome. You make people feel seen and capable. This free resource is open to RCS families who speak English as a second language, allowing the families to interact in a form of sense of community. One individual shared, What do you do here is more than teach people English.
You help people find their way back to themselves. Many people arrive here having very having insecurities or feeling a fear of starting all over again. Little by little, through your patience, your kindness, the environment you've created, and the people that begin to change inside and out, they begin speaking, they begin connecting, and most importantly, they begin believing in themselves again. Thank you, Ms. Haydar. Each recipient will receive a $1,000 donation from the P and O insurance agency, which can be used to purchase materials,
attend conferences, provide services to improve a classroom, a curriculum, or facility, or even enhance a school initiative. Congratulations to all the recipients for receiving the 2026 Excellence in Education Award. Your exceptional dedication to providing high quality of teaching and learning is very greatly appreciated and valued at RCS. Thank you. I think we wanted to get we wanted to get a picture here too. Yeah. I had the privilege of attending at least three of the surprises that were presented
to those excellent educators. And I know that doctor Wynn Perdue attended the one I couldn't attend, and they are amazing, opportunities to see, some excellent educators receive kudos. So I'm really proud they're in our district. Next up, we're on to item number four, which is communications. This is where we reference various communications that have been received, by ourselves and, the board itself. First up is the secretary of the Board of Education. Secretary Pita? Yes. At this time, seven communications were received through the district's portal and those are in the packet for
reference. In addition, we received a postcard from, Ms. Cherup, regarding drug testing. Thank you. Thank you, Secretary Vitell. Next up is members of the Board of Education. Are there any board members who received communications that were shared directly with them and were not sent to the full board? And just need a synopsis, one or two sentences will suffice. Anyone? Seeing none. On to item 4.3, which is the PTA Council update, and that is Jamie Rockcliffe, the president. Jamie? Good evening. As the school year is winding down, it has still been a busy month for the PTA Council and each of our
individual PTAs. During the April, all our schools welcomed visiting authors and illustrators through the authors in April program. It was a fabulous week filled with presentations, autograph signings, artwork displays, and more. The recently added high school visits with a career focus were highly attended this year and offered students the chance to hear from published authors and illustrators on their career Path. On May 2, our health and wellness team hosted its annual health and wellness fair in partnership with the district. There were 55 vendors, including a host of community health organizations,
in attendance to share resources with our school community. 60 kids visited the kids zone, 36 people attended the free fitness classes, 39 lives were saved through the blood drive, and so much more. The May was filled with lunches, activities, and other events for teacher appreciation week as each PTA celebrated their teachers in their own special way. We are beyond grateful for our partnerships with teachers and staff that help to make our PTAs so amazing. Last week, PTA Council sponsored its second annual College one hundred and one night for parents and
students. We were excited to grow the event this year in addition to financial aid and admissions presentations from Oakland University. We had a presentation on what happens when your kid turns 18 as well as presentation on applying to selective colleges and universities. We also had Oakland University's disability support services on hand to answer questions as well as RCS administrators. National Reflections competition results are in. Rochester had nine students move from the state to national level. Of the seven students from the state of Michigan who placed at the national level,
three were from RCS. For the second year in a row, Rochester High School's Edwika Samvanthamorthe received the award of merit for her dance choreography piece. In addition, Longmeadow student Adish Kushwawa won second place in the literature category and hugger student Oliver Lipavsky took second place in the photography category for the accessible arts division. Once again all 21 of our schools including the John Schultz campus received green school certification this year. Most of those were at the highest level of evergreen status.
Recycle bank grants are underway again this year. Several of our schools have submitted grants and we're just waiting for the communication from, Recycle Bank and the city on ways that our community can support those by donating their points. And as we wrap up our school year, we just had our elections last week. And after six years, reporting at this table, this will be my last night. I am proud to share that Jamie Sack, who has served as vice president for the past three years, will be moving on and she'll be stepping up as our president. So she will be the one you hear from next year. Thanks again.
Thank you, Jamie. Next up is Item 4.4, and it's a PAC update with Jackie Marker, the PAC President. Good evening, everyone. I wanna start by sharing a little bit about our jam packed main meeting hosted by Stony Creek High School. We were excited to welcome Jason Lacy, Stony Creek teacher and creator of the Bread by the Creek program, where special education students operate a micro enterprise designed to help build employment, independent living, and resume building skills. We were even treated to fresh bagels made through the program, and if you had not had a chance to have them,
they are phenomenal. I had, like, two on my way home from the pack meeting. They are phenomenal. We also welcomed Jennifer Bland, who provided a demonstration of the assistive technology tools available to students throughout the district and highlighted ways that these tools can support learning and accessibility for all students. In addition, Unified Robotics shared an update on their efforts to expand the Unified Robotics program throughout the district. Unified robotics is a team based experience where neurodiverse students work alongside their neurotypical peers to build and program LEGO robots together.
It is an incredible example of inclusion in action, and more information about the program can be found on PAC's website. Finally, special education admin shared a presentation regarding updated guidance from the MDE on specially designed instruction or SDI, which I understand Tiffany and her may be presenting tonight. The updated guidance reinforces that specially designed instruction must be individualized to meet the needs of the student, documented within the IEP, and delivered or supervised by qualified special education personnel. While that may may have been our final PAC meeting of the school year,
PAC will remain busy over the summer as we continue planning programming, educational opportunities, and ways to strengthen connection and support families for next year. As this is likely my final report out of the school year, I would like to end on a note of gratitude. This was my first year serving as PAC chair, and our theme this year was inclusion in action. We challenged ourselves, our schools, and our organizations like the PTA to think intentionally about inclusion and accessibility in the everyday experiences we create for students and families. When I first stepped into this role, very few schools offered some type of sensory accommodation at their events.
I am incredibly grateful to our PTA leaders, administrators, and staff because we have seen meaningful progress this year, with many schools now offering some form of sensory friendly spaces, sensory friendly time, or other accommodations to help students feel welcome and supported. I also had the opportunity this year to have some meaningful conversations with REA leadership and Tiffany and her team regarding ways that we can continue working together to make events and experiences more inclusive for our students. I truly appreciate their partnership and willingness to collaborate.
We all recognize that although meaningful progress has been done, there is still a lot of work to be done. But meaningful progress often starts with small intentional steps. At our May meeting, our past PAC chair shared an analogy that really stared with me stayed with me, and I would like to share it with everyone here tonight. She said that if you were building a home for your family and one of them had a disability, you would not wait until after the house was built to think about their accessibility needs. You would plan for those needs from the very beginning because without them, they would not be able to enter the home, and every family member belongs in the home.
In the same way, inclusion works best when we intentionally consider all students while planning our programs, events, and experiences from the very start. Small accommodations can make a very big difference in helping students feel like they belong and are truly part of the RCS community. Finally, I would like to thank the Board of Education for continuing to allow us to come and share these very important updates with our community And with a special thank you to Jason Blake for being our liaison and continuing to show up at our meetings, even though I know a lot of times they jut up against you very long
and late board of ed meetings. So we we greatly appreciate that. Thank you all, and I hope everyone has a wonderful summer. Thank you, Jackie, and thank you for your service to our students through PAC. Next up is item five on our agenda, and that is public comment. And that gives an opportunity for our Board members to hear from community members. If you wish to speak during public comment tonight, please fill out a yellow card now, and I have several. Cards must be submitted before this agenda item concludes, and speakers will be called in the order received. If you miss this deadline, we encourage you to attend our next meeting or contact the Board by e mail.
All cards received on time will be heard. If comments exceed thirty minutes, the rest will continue under agenda item nine. If we have more than thirty minutes of comments, the rest will be heard then. When your name is called, please move to the microphone in the center of the room and address the Board. When addressing the Board, you will have three minutes to speak. We 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. To protect student privacy, we ask that no one identify a specific student without their permission,
even if the student's name is not used. Any comments that could directly identify an individual student are not appropriate in this forum either and will not be tolerated. We will stop the meeting to protect student rights and privacy, and please keep your remarks focused on broader issues and avoid personal references that may compromise privacy. Also, we ask that you address your comments to the entire Board and not an individual Board member, school district employees, or to members of the audience. The Board will not be responding to comments or questions during this meeting.
However, someone will follow-up with you if needed. The Board reserves the right to exclude from our meeting an individual who engages in conduct that constitutes a breach of peace. So beginning this evening with Bob Bloomingdale. Please come forward. Good evening, and thank you. Robert Bloomingdale here. I've appeared in front of the board a few times before. I am part of what we call the Harrison, Center Project, which is, our intent would be to if we can be successful with you all to take
possession of and repurpose the former admin building as a community center with four areas of focus, one being community health and well-being, which would be serviced through a number of nonprofits, some of which are here tonight. All of them, I can tell you for sure, are high quality nonprofits. A second area of focus would be community engagement to use that auditorium, the atrium and other areas of the building to bring in community for a number of different events, seminars, old movies, school board meetings. If the school board were to be part of that building and if we were
to have school board meetings here, I will personally guarantee you the acoustics in that building will be far better than what they are in this building. So I think it's really hard to hear. Anyhow, and then a third area would be art and culture and a fourth would be community safety and security. So I'm here to talk about item, 7.2 on the agenda, five zero one West University. And I want to just want to run through a few brief facts about the building. My focus is that this building has been part of this community for a long time.
The building was first housed a, it's been a house to school since 1847, 1847. A few years ago, the building was vacated, not abandoned, but vacated. And it's currently awaiting its next role in the community. That's where we hope to participate. The building, served the Rochester community for nearly a hundred and eighty years. That's seven generations that that building has been around and be and been part of the educational system.
It began in 1847 as the Avon Lyceum, which I understand means a concert or lecture hall. It was a private academy. Harrison Street just behind it kind of goes uphill at that point, and it became known as Academy Hill. In 1857, it was transferred to Avon School District and became a public school building. In 1899, it was rebuilt after a fire. In 1916, a new high school was constructed on the site closer to university.
In 1928, an addition was constructed that connected the two ends of the building. In the construction world, we do it differently than that, but that's the way they did it back in the day. Next up is Patty Jacques Jacques. I'm so sorry if I mispronounced your name. Thank you for letting me speak. I'm Patty Jacques. I'm cofounder and executive director of Gifts for All God's Children. We are a five zero one c three nonprofit based here in Rochester Hills. Since 1987, we have been meeting children's needs as a conduit of God's love.
So we began as a Christmas outreach thirty nine years ago with a small, number of children. And last Christmas Christmas, we provided over 18,000 gifts to over 3,500 children from 55 different churches and nonprofits in the whole of Southeastern Michigan. We, primarily are run by volunteers and have, like, over 400 people that volunteer with us, and we are in need of a large space that, can house all of our things that we collect all year. We collect brand new socks, underwear, coats, hats. You name it, we collected books.
And so, we have toured the building, the Harrison Building and feel that it could meet our needs if, if it was available. And we, love the location. We love to be with we are this conduit. We work with so many different nonprofits, and we feel being in a building with a number of nonprofits in the same location would be a real benefit to our community and to our nonprofit too. I we have other programs that are outside of Rochester, but, our heart is here and our support is here,
and we love being in this community. So we would ask that you would consider a proposal about the Harrison Building with all the nonprofits. Thank you. Thank you. Next up, we have Lawrence Halushka. Next up is Gina Kelspeth. Hello. I'm Gina Kelspane, and I am the cofounder and president of New Day Foundation for Families. I'm going to lower these mics so you can all hear. I'm going to speak loud and clear. I we are a nonprofit that's been in Rochester for twenty years. My husband and I cofounded the organization, and we've started off by serving one or two families a year who are suffering
with cancer. Their families have lost income as a result of their cancer diagnosis and are unable to afford basic living expenses, such as housing, transportation, utilities, food, you name it. We make sure that they have those things while they're going through cancer so that they can maintain medical compliance and get well and get on with their lives. These are hardworking people across the state of Michigan. When we started, it was one or two families. Today, it's 800 families per year. We've helped over 14,000 moms,
dads, kids, patients, caregivers to, be held up and sustained. And so the reason I'm here tonight is because we are here, talking about the Rochester Administration Building. And I had a chance to tour the building. And I've seen a space that is so incredible and perfect for the needs of our organization. And I also know for Patty Jocks, who just spoke, it would be absolutely incredible for her as well. They have loading docks for all those gifts. Anyway, I've seen all the space. And the truth of the matter is, we we've been talking about this for a long time.
This beautiful building is, as Robert Bloomingdale was just describing, it is meant for community, for the purpose of community and and hopefully not for developmental purpose development purposes. I mean, we we want to be a part of this. We are currently, as an organization, in a 1,500 square foot office with 14 employees and some of which are part time. But the point is we are squeezed on space, and this would be an absolute perfect answer for us. We have we're a statewide organization, but we're very proud of the fact that we're based in the Rochester,
Rochester Hills area. The organization's address is my home address, and so I'm I'm very passionate about keeping it here in town. We just feel very strongly that it's a great opportunity. So as I dream about the future, I dream of having a place in this community that houses a lot of nonprofits, that creates opportunities for volunteerism and engagement. And I hope you will support the efforts that are being made to do that. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, we have Mike Reno. Mike Reno, it was interesting hearing all the history of 05/2001. I spent some of the worst years of my life there on the board.
Former board member, I'm here tonight to ask a very direct question about how RCS complies with Michigan's record retention laws when board members are conducting personal, conducting official business on their personal devices. And And this really isn't a hypothetical concern. Trustee Blake has stated publicly and I'm paraphrasing that he uses his personal device for board business because people text. That's just what they do. And with respect, Michigan law doesn't really care what people do. It cares what public officials are required to do. So under FOIA MCL 15.231,
a public record is defined as any writing prepared, owned, used, blah, blah, blah, and the performance of an official function. The law does not limit that definition to district owned devices. If you are a board member texting about board business, that is by definition a public record. Michigan's record retention laws, M. C. L. 399.5, requires public bodies to retain and make available records according to schedules published by the state of Michigan. Those schedules do not care what device they happen to be stored on.
This board is already on notice that this is a real problem, not a theoretical one. At the last meeting, trustee Lucui presented a communication that had not appeared in, response to a prior FOIA request. Now there had been speculation early on that it may have traveled through a private channel and we were surprised to learn that that wasn't the case. But that moment of uncertainty itself is revealing. So this board sat with the very real possibility that official board business had been conducted off the books and its response was not alarm.
It was silence. So trustee Lacoue then brought forward a policy to close this gap. And what followed was really not a very good faith debate. Trustee Blake methodically picked apart a working draft, not to improve it, not to offer alternatives, but to discredit it. He offered no suggestions, no fixes, no path forward, and the board majority supported him. So that tells me something. You don't really fight that hard against accountability unless accountability is really what you're afraid of. This flex flexibility this loophole provides appears to be something this board values more than
compliance with the law. So my question, I really would like a formal written response to this is from the administration is what specific procedures does RCS have in place thirty seconds to preserve, collect and produce public records on demand that exist on board members personal devices? The district is responsible for compliance. So what good faith steps do you take to check board members personal devices and what happens if and when board members simply just delete these messages? Because right now the answer appears to be nothing,
no and no one. So thank you. Next up, we have James Vitrano. Thank you very much for your time this evening. My name is James Vitrano, and I've been helped to asked to help the Harrison community team consider options for the historic building for public benefit. As a former city manager of the City Of Rochester and university faculty member focused on public good buildings, I appreciate your time this evening. This building represents a unique chance to create a long term legacy project for the community. RCS mission statement in part is to provide quality education so all students can attain
necessary skills to become lifelong learners and contribute to a changing world. Whether it's the Harrison Center or another public benefit project, I hope you'll view options through the lens of your mission statement. The property can continue to provide opportunities to people to become lifelong learners and contribute to a changing world. You can condition in an RFP those, alignment to your mission. A recent a recently completed nonprofit hub in Oakland County developed from a closed school building estimates the first year will have 200,000
visits from 16,000 different people. RCS has the ability to do something similar. In addition to the consideration of its mission, I urge the school district to consider the land use plan of the city. The City Of Rochester's master plan approved in 2022 specifically advocates for the historic preservation of the Harrison Building, and the city's future land use map identifies it for quasi public use, which would be another way to say public benefit. By choosing to continue to utilize the building for public benefit, RCS can retain and align with its mission while supporting the city's long term community
vision. Thank you very much. Thank you. Next up, we have Lynn Anderson. Good evening. My name is Lynn Anderson, and, I'm representing the Rochester, historical, commission and, also the project that we've been talking about with the School Administration Building. In addition to the Rochester Historical Commission, I also live one block from the school board office, and I have been a resident there for forty six years. The Administration Building has been had a rich history and can continue to play an
important role in providing services in the community for many years to come. The building has been vacant way too long, and this we just must have the school board look at moving this project forward. The building is falling apart, and, we have a group of people who want to do something to make this better and for the entire community. The historical commission and my neighbors strongly urged the school board to look closely at
the Harrison Center's proposal for repurposing the building as a collaborative with other local nonprofit organizations. Look at similar, vi revitalizing projects that are getting outstanding results in Pontiac and in Detroit. Many nonprofits have left the Rochester area because they can't afford to rent in the city of Rochester or Rochester Hills or Oakland Township. The Harrison proposal will bring vital health, youth, and other community services to this community.
We have the the wherewithal within our group to make this happen. Please work with us to create a new proposal for this remarkable community landmark. I also, I believe They have copies of of these. We I also have, we have support from the Michigan, Historic Preservation Network, obviously, from the Rochester Historical Commission, the Rochester Avon Historical Society, the City of Rochester, and Oakland Township. And we hope that,
you will take this into consideration tonight. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have Andrew Weaver. My name is Andrew Weaver. I have three children in the district ranging from eighth grade to kindergarten, two boys and one daughter. So, again, when I approach this board, I understand the dynamic that these students face at multiple levels and from both genders. So I've come to speak specifically about the, lawsuit settlement that's on the agenda. One, I first wanna recognize the community and understand the history behind this. Prior to you using your voice and your vote to elect trustee Lacoue and I, these settlements went off the boards.
You would know that in the Duverno case. You never saw that come to the board table. You never saw the board vote on it. Money was just handed out to make things go away. Again, that was a lawsuit that involved members of Russo's staff that are currently still employed that collected information on parents that raised concerns back during the pandemic and that ultimately led to one's employer being called and being fired. It led to a federal lawsuit, again, which the board settled away from the board table. So again, community, that is why your votes matter and your voice matter. That's bringing transparency. Also,
thank you to trustee Lecui on making sure that our documents are appropriate and that closed sessions also state the cases in which they're involved in. That is in compliance with, the Open Meeting Act and being transparent of why you are going into closed session that is not protected. That ultimately brings me to the heart of what I wanna speak about. Based on the closed session being about the Spears case, that is what I believe tonight's settlement is about. You all have the opportunity to prove me wrong later in this meeting. For the community, the Spears case relates to a West student,
West, West African American student football player that was subject to racial slurs in a team text message. It was not disputed. It was confirmed with a district email that those events happen. That parent went to the political parent group, the DEIPN, which is now just the RCS cons page, seeking help. Former appointee Alspach was there with interim superintendent John Silveri. They did nothing. They did nothing because they are a performative political group that has built over the last fifteen years the idea of telling kids,
telling students, telling them they're marginalized, and that they're there to fight for them, referring to them as a black and brown students, which who does that? Who actually refers to students that way? And then when an actual situation came up of a real act of racism Thirty seconds. Shown, there was no debate. But what happened? No accountability. That is all the parent was asking for. When trustee Lacoue and I tried to bring this up to have the code of conduct corrected to make sure at minimum, those students should have been removed from the football team. It is a privilege to wear the uniform of RCS.
That so, again, looking for actions, this board's that silent. So, again, we're gonna see here in a little bit how much that silence cost us. Last up, we have, Carol Beth Lukuy. I'm Carol Beth Lacoue, a trustee on this board. And at our last meeting, superintendent Russo reported that the steering committee had been discussing bringing back work sessions. That's something I publicly requested and genuinely support. Work sessions give us room to dig into issues and ask real questions and have the kind of open dialogue that leads to better decisions, thinking at one meeting and voting at another.
But there's a catch. The proposal so far is to hold work sessions in school buildings and not record record them. The stated reason is that setting up cameras is disruptive to the school day. Now I know some board members enjoy meeting in the media centers of different school buildings, and I understand the appeal. But board members can visit schools on their own time, and that preference shouldn't come at the cost of public transparency. The solution is really simple. Just keep our meetings in this building where we're already fully set up and add
work sessions to the schedule. Then everyone's needs get met. Here's why recordings matter. In 2023, this board made a deliberate decision to start recording work sessions. It wasn't arbitrary. It came from real experience with what happens when you don't. And I'll thank former trustee Andrew Weaver for helping to make that happen. Now for example, the removal of sixth and seventh grade advanced language arts happened at an unrecorded work session. Nearly 500 community members responded to a survey expressing concern. And when they asked what happened,
what was presented, what arguments were made, how was the decision reached, nobody could show them a recording of that meeting. Our community deserves better than that. Recordings protect everyone. They protect the public's right to know what's being presented on their behalf. They protect board members who wanna refer back to what was actually said, and they protect the district too. Because when there's a clear record, there's less room for confusion or dispute about what was decided and why. So we don't have to choose between work sessions and transparency. We can have both, and I hope that's the direction we choose to go.
Next up, we have the consent agenda, item six. 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 say which item you would like pulled from the consent agenda. And as a reminder to members, the maker of the motion will speak first on their motion. However, any further explanation beyond the item number that has been said is is considered out
of order. Our consent agenda tonight consists of item 6.1, current bills payable for 04/01/2026 through 04/30/2026, in the amount of $18,775,619.46 And item 6.2, the Oakland County School Board Association annual awards banquet for Barb Annis, Doctor. Julie Allspaugh, and Michelle Butel in the amount of $135 Is there a motion to approve the
consent agenda as presented? So moved by Trustee Doctor. Alsbaugh, the second and that's Secretary, Butel. All those in favor? Madam President, I'd like to remove Item 6.1. Okay. Trustee, Liqui would like to remove Item 6.1. At this point, we will vote on Item 6.2 since the motion is on the table. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any nays? Okay. That's a seven-zero vote. Trustee Locuhi, you pulled item 6.1. Would you like to speak to it? Sure. I noticed I looked through the invoices this month and we spent about $25,000
on legal. And what really stood out to me was how much attorney involvement there is not just in litigation but in routine governance matters like FOIA and board communications and ballot proposal issues and parent complaints and even just responding to community inquiries. Now we all know that some legal review, of course, is going to be appropriate, but I think taxpayers would just be surprised by how much taxpayer time and money is spent on matters that seem like they really ought to be handled through clear policy and good straightforward records practices and straightforward communication.
So I think that's something that we really ought to be reflecting on as a board. Okay. Is there a motion to approve item 6.1 of the consent agenda? First by, Secretary Beutel. Do I have a second? Doctor. Sherry Wynn Perdue for a second. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Any nays? No. Okay. That is, Mrs. Lausanne, are you a Okay. Sorry. I didn't hear you. That is a, six-one vote. Next up, we have reports under item seven of our agenda. And first up,
we have our superintendent update, and I will turn that over to, Mr. Russo. Thank you, President Hannes. Just three updates. One is we we met our superintendent's business and operations committee met, and here are the highlights of what we discussed. Contract renewals for food service, which you saw, on our agenda for today. Regional budgets, we discussed Oakland Schools and the International Academy budgets. You see the IA budget is on today, for your consideration. We went over March financials, and we talked in general about the school the state school aid budget proposals and
what the foundation allowance was in all three. The foundation increases at that time, in the Senate, the House and the governor's budget was all $250 per pupil, it's an increase. And then just discuss the nuances and the differences amongst the Senate and the House proposals as it related to, as it related to the different categoricals that are presented. And some of those stipulations within them, not only is the amount different, and some some are the same, but the stipulations across those, vary as well. Is it better? And our superintendents policy committee,
that was on 05/13. The committee reviewed a policy and administrative regulation recommended update to 8003, the website and digital content accessibility policy. The policy will be brought for a first reading on June 8 with the second reading scheduled for June 22, and the administrative regulation will be updated accordingly after the thirty day board review window. Discussion on policy 5,003, purchasing, and 4,003, outside professional activity was moved to the June meeting. Additionally, president Annas discussed your recommendation for edits to the board handbook. And then lastly,
just a legislative update. The governor has signed, house bill four five five six and house bill four five five seven, which is now PA 10 and PA 11, on May 14, that removes the mandatory essay component for Michigan merit exam and ending the requirement to place test scores on high school transcripts. At the district level, the legislation reduces certain compliance obligations by eliminating the writing component requirement and removing the mandate to include MME scores on student transcripts. At the same time, it introduces a more standardized testing schedule by replacing a district wide testing window with
a fixed statewide administration period. This bill takes effect 06/30/2026, which means it will be in play for the 2627 school year. And those are my three reports for today. President Annis, you want me to move to 7.2? Sure. One moment. Go ahead. Madam president? Yes. I just wanted to say I really appreciate that we had some outlines of these committee meetings today to look at, and that's a great change. Is this something that we could add to our board packets? If that's the will of the board, we have been providing them at the table, I think,
for the last month since we decided that this was the format, but I'm I have no problem with that. The first time I've seen outlines like this, but I think the public could benefit from seeing what happens in the committees also. With the board packet, it's fine to add them. I have no issues with that if as long as it's within the time frame. If we had a Friday meeting, it might not make it for the packet or Thursday meeting. It could always yeah. We can always add later just like we do typically, but are there any board members that would object to including it in the packet, or does it seem like a good idea?
Sounds fine to me. Okay. Take it away. Alright. Thanks. 7.2. 7.2 is 501 West University discussion. So, before I turn it over, I just wanna give a little bit of a background, to this. So I know that we've had a lot of background today, at our public comment. And I know that we've had most of the people in our community know the history of five zero one West University as it relates to, moving the Administration Building. I think it was back in officially, it was like '21 or '22. Earlier this year, the board asked me to do a study,
on our usage needs across the district to determine whether we needed five zero one West University. I went and did some research on that, knowing based on what our board, or I'm sorry, our enrollment projections will be for the coming years. And that we know, though, that our data is only as good as the current data we have right now. We all know a recession. We all know a different, a play in politics can change those five year projections, right? We're really only fairly certain of what's happening in the next two, three years. That could change drastically given a lot of different,
things that could happen in the world. But, our five year projection does not indicate that we need five zero one West University. And back in September, I think it was September 22, of 2025, I was asked to make a recommendation on what to do with that building. And my recommendation was to sell it based on not needing that. At that time, the board said that we would revisit this in May and you're doing so today. So with that, I'll turn it over to president Hannes to lead that discussion. Thank you, superintendent Russo. I appreciate you bringing us up to Snuff. I know that, lots of folks know that this,
property formerly housed the district's administrative offices and prior to that served as a public school in the greater Rochester community. But due to the dilapidated condition, of the building and the significant costs, estimated costs required to bring it up to code district administrative offices were relocated, to 52585 De Quindre Road, which is still located in Rochester in 2021. And at that time, the District also formed an advisory committee to evaluate options for the 501 West University property.
Based on this advisory board's recommendation, the District did solicit bids through a public RFP process. However, the Board declined all offers at that time. To be clear, bond and millages have been passed over the years, and some of those dollars were invested in this property. However, the building's needs far exceeded available resources, and past boards chose to invest in facilities that directly served students, which is where, in my personal opinion, those tax dollars are best spent. Several months ago, as Superintendent Russo had mentioned, the board directed him to do an analysis and come to the board with a
recommendation, which he recommended that we sell. And at the time, the board deferred that decision, pending an update this month and really to determine if our plans might be informed by some of the work that's being done through our current strategic plan. And clearly from what, Superintendent Russo has said, it's not the case at this point. The Board is also aware that many in our community hold strong opinions on this matter, and this Board is likewise divided. Some members wish to retain the property for future use,
while others prefer to sell it. So today's discussion is intended to inform the decision inform the Board's decision moving forward. And so at this time, I'd like to open the discussion on this topic before we take any motions, if any, are brought forward. Who would like to offer some opinions, thoughts on where we currently are regarding this property? Anyone? Yes, Secretary Vittell. First, I'd like to say thank you to those people who did come to talk about their, thoughts and ideas about, the building. And, my comments that follow have
nothing to do with what was said. I think, it's a great idea, but I believe it would be shortsighted for the district to sell our five zero one West University property. This property is centrally located within our community and represents part of our district's history and is an irreplaceable asset. Once it's sold, it's unlikely we will ever have the opportunity to reclaim a site of this size and location for future district needs. While I understand that maintaining the building carries costs and that significant upgrades would be
required to keep the building, I believe we should view this property as a long term investment rather than a short term financial burden. In the future, the district could consider including renovations to the building in a bond proposal and explore returning the administrative offices to this location, or the site could serve as an early childhood education center or be adapted for other educational purposes. The loss of such a valuable and strategically located piece of land would be significant. I also don't believe that what we could sell the building for will drastically change the education of our students.
For these reasons, I believe we should preserve the 501 West University property. And that's why I will be voting against the motion to request proposals this evening. Okay. Thank you. Anyone else? Madam President? Yes, Trustee? Before I make any kind of statement, I wanted clarification because back in 2021 when the previous board sold this building, I thought it was due to really prohibitive cost estimates to repair and, restore the building. And I was wondering if you could remind us exactly how much they were estimating
that would cost. Oh, jeez. I thought it was in the $30,000,000. Yeah. So Go go ahead, Jason. So I looked at this last night, and what they were estimating at that time was 20 up to 29,100,000 to renovate and up to up to 31,400,000 to not get down and rebuild on that site. And that's with I I believe it was within twenty eighteen numbers. Pre COVID. Yes. And anyone else? Okay. Yeah. Trustee Lecuey. Okay. Well, especially given that information that we've just heard too, I think that we have to be realistic about where we're at with this property
because the board neglected to maintain the building, and it has fallen apart to a large extent. And that's why we ended up buying the new administration building in the first place. And we've now carried this vacant building since 2022 at ongoing taxpayer expense. We delayed our decision about this from September. And honestly, between September and now, we haven't received new meaningful information in the meantime. The appraisal supports mister Russo's previous recommendation to sell the property as is,
which gets us to a similar place financially as demolition first, but with far less risk to the district. And we want less risk to the district. So personally, I think the next step should be a transparent public RFP process. Let interested parties come forward and let the process be open and competitive. And we've received advice stating that we should do that. I also think that we should be careful about trying to place too many conditions on future redevelopment. My understanding is we have authority over the sale process,
but overly restrictive conditions can reduce competition and lower bids and create proactive law enforcement questions later. And that's not good for our community, for the fiduciaries of this community. The future land use decisions ultimately go through the city's zoning and planning process anyway. That's their job, so we should stick to our job. Thank you. Anyone else? Trustee Ospa? So I really appreciate everyone coming out today and giving us your thoughts on the building. And I think that project would be very interesting. But just to quote Mr.
Bluendale, this building has been in Rochester school since 1857. It's one hundred years. That's seven generations. It is in the heart of our community. We will never be able to have that location again. I have a lot of concerns about selling this, and I completely agree with Trustee Lukuy, who said we can't be too restrictive. You're right, we can't be too restrictive in our sale, which means that this could end up being a charter school. There's lots of interest in certain magnet programs in our community.
It could easily become a competitor right in the heart of our downtown. The cost issues, we've heard greatly ranging differences, information about the cost. I understand that it would be very expensive, and that is a lot of the result of the past mistakes we have made with ignoring the building and the past mistakes we have made with moving the administration away from there. Our Administration Now building is closer to a Utica school. You can see a Utica school from the front door. It's closer to any Utica school than any Rochester schools.
Where we're meeting right now, We've had constant and valid complaints about temperature, about acoustics. Why wouldn't we sell this building instead and move all the surfaces here down to that part of the community, where kids, if they were in early childhood center, they could walk to downtown. I understand there is a cost. However, the Historical Society and Mr. Bloomingdale seem to think it's a viable building. So they believe it's viable. I wonder what our costs were and what the motivation for giving us those costs were. The past decisions about renovations and upkeep and resources have put us in this bad
situation where we are today, But I think it would be completely shortsighted for us to make a permanent decision on the mistakes we have already made. That building is a property that we will not be able to get back and has been part of Rochester Schools for seven generations. While I think the Harrison project is wonderful, I can't support selling this property. Thank you, Trustee Ospwa. Anyone else? Yes, Trustee Lozant. I just wanted to say that I support what Carol Beth said about putting out a request for RFP. I also agree with her that we shouldn't be putting so many restrictions on what
we're doing. Our our process is to, you know, set a minimum price, financing and such and the what it's going to be used for, that's the City of Rochester. That's the Zoning and Planning Commission. That's their team to do that. So we don't want to put any restrictions on that type of thing. While it would be lovely that it stayed a community and not towers of apartments, that's definitely something that we can't we cannot control as a school board. That's out of our purview. So I would I definitely think that sitting on this longer is going to worsen
the condition. The prices that we just heard were pre COVID, so 2018 and everything has grown exponentially since then. Everything. I fear that we're going if we sit on it longer we're going to just be repeating this entire process in a few years again. And it's just gonna get worse and worse every time. If there was a need, I was hoping, you know, there would be at least some sort of mention in the strategic plan, but there was zero. So we sat from the fall till now with zero discussion on this until we got the agenda last week.
And I said, what's going on? And there was nothing. So I don't want to sit on it any longer. Thank you. Yeah. Trustee Blake. So I had never been in this building while it was operable, but I did get taken on a tour of it right after I was appointed. And trustee Lucui, trustee Butel were with me and mister Silvery, mister McDaniel. And it was apparent from being in there that we were not gonna be able to use this building for anything without, like, some monumental it it just was not gonna be able actually, I think trustee Lucuy's suggestion is it would have made a good haunted house because
it was October when we were there. And I kinda laughed because I I agree. But, we also were told that it's not even considered a historical building except for a piece of it. Because of the way they renovated it in 1988, they had destroyed some of the historical aspects of the building. I will be honest. I dislike our current admin building incredibly. I don't like the location. I don't like the way it feels. I don't like that big wood door. When you come in, it's like blocking out the the peasants. But, you know, it's it is what it is.
So I, and I have thought oftentimes, well, you know, if I had been on the board in 2021, I I don't know if I would have agreed to that. But the fact is I wasn't. And when you look at the dollars in the sense, you can understand why it was done. The numbers that I already gave, 2020 up to 29,000,000 to renovate, 31,000,000 to rebuild. The De Quindre Building cost $7,000,000 and they were gonna put 3,400,000. I mean, I was reading all the articles last night and all the the things. And so they got that building for about one third to one half of what they would have to do to renovate.
And I don't know what other options were available in 2021. I don't know what was available on the on the market. I don't know. So at this point, I think it's not productive to continually second guess and criticize. Like, if it was up to me, I would love to have everything back on, on university, have this building not here, have the De Quindre Building not here. But we can't do that. We don't have a time machine. And if I did have a time machine, I would go back to 1988, and I would make sure that the building was renovated constantly. So I guess where I am at with this is it's four years now since
we've moved out. We have not identified any strategic use for that building. I also was hoping to see something in the strategic plan identified, and it wasn't. Nothing came out of the facility study that we had a need. Mister Russo hasn't evaluated any need for it. I mean, I think of things in my mind that I'd love to put there, but we have to be realistic of what can be done. And then and so then I'm looking ahead. Okay. Well, we could save it. Maybe we need it down the road. Well, in the next ten years, we're not going to have a dramatic influx of new students. I mean, we know demographically what's going what what that's going like.
We're we're holding our own here. We're we're going down slightly. We're going to continue to go down slightly, but we're not going to go up. It's very unlikely. So we're not gonna need that for a new school. And, I think what we need to do is focus on our buildings that have students in them now, get rid of distractions. We're a school district. We're not historic preservationists. We're not real estate speculators. I mean, we are a school district, and so I do think the right thing to do is put an RFP out and sell to the best offer. And I was looking up what our legal requirements.
We are required to get fair value for the property. We are we cannot legally give the property away. We also cannot stop a school from going there. There's a specific law for that. So, I I think that's what we have to do, and we just have to move forward. Doctor Winford. Yes. I support, the sale of the property. It's a beautiful building. I remember going there for things with my daughter, but the reality is there's not enough space for parking and for other things. Whereas the buildings that we have, like our current administration building,
does have space for us to modify it for a room that would better hold people and be more conducive to these meetings. I would also be supportive of selling this property. But I think, I do like the idea of encouraging bidders to put a community benefit in intended use as part of the proposal. Of course, we want to meet basic basic expectations financially. And as somebody who loves history, I understand it,
but the building has severe limitations for us, not for organizations and others. But I think there's a big difference in using it for a school. When you're talking about inclusion and accessibility and all of those things, that building does not meet our needs. So I would be, supportive of going ahead and issuing an RFP. Doctor. Alsba? So obviously, I made my position clear on this. I do I love the way the building looks and I'm very I love the
fact that it is historical even if it isn't a historical building. But in order the spirit of compromise, while it sounds like other people want to use that building as is, if and I understand there's a cost to this, but if the district wanted or if the Board wanted to level the building, I think the most important thing is to keep the property because the location will have a future use, I believe. I think we can find something to do with that property in the future. And I just think it's shortsighted of us to take a hundred years and, let it become a tower of apartment buildings or whatever the city wants it to
be. Thank you. Trustee Blake? I I don't remember the numbers now, but we we had it appraised with being leveled and being or as is, and it was worth it cost more to level it than the increase in value. And, you know, do I want a high rise apartments? Probably not, but people need to live. And so I'm not if that's what ends up happening or if it ends up going with these folks, you know, I I make no judgment on that at this point, but it's not something that we have a need for. So I want to add to the discussion,
because I really appreciate hearing everyone's opinions. And I do think we, as a district, have been kicking the proverbial can down the road regarding this property. I think that the time has come to make a decision. I felt like that last fall when we asked you, charged you, Superintendent Russo, to come to us with a recommendation, and you did. And we deferred a decision then. So we continue to kick the can down the road, which I don't want to see any longer. And I know that clearly, the public has heard. We have some Board members that have a lot of different opinions about how to
proceed. But as the chair, I do see that we have enough to proceed with making a motion, so I'm going to put one on the table right now. And that is a motion to approve, pursuant with Board Policy 5,004, the superintendent to initiate a public request for proposal or an RFP process for the potential sale of the district owned property located at 501 West University, Rochester, Michigan, approximately 4.33 acres, subject to the following conditions and time line. The property shall be offered for sale as is,
with no district funded improvements or repairs required by the buyer prior to sale. Number two, in consultation with the superintendent, the Board shall establish a minimum bid price reflective of current fair market value prior to the release of the RFP. Legal counsel to review the RFP conditions and time line to ensure alignment with the Michigan Revised School Code MCL380.11(three) public school property disposal requirements and any applicable statutory notice periods, which could affect the time line proposed tonight.
All submitted bids must also include a written business plan, a full intended use of disclosure and financial statement demonstrating secured and committed financing. The Board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. And lastly, when evaluating bids received, the following criteria will be used to determine the top three finalists, who will then be required to publicly present their business plans, intended uses and secured financing to the Board and community before any final award decision
is made. 5.1, financial strength and offer price. The bid must meet or exceed our minimum price, backed by secured financing and a financial statement proving the buyer can actually close. 5.2, community benefit and intended use. Proposed use must serve a real community need, fit the character of the surrounding area and show respect for the property's historical significance. 5.3, business plan and quality and feasibility. The plan must be detailed, realistic and backed by relevant experience with reasonable development time.
And 5.4, the development and site plan proposed use must be appropriate for the 4.33 acres, account for the building as is condition, and reflect City of Rochester zoning requirements. I've shared with everyone here at the board table. On the back is a schedule, which outlines a proposed time line for this RFP. Today, if the Board majority agrees, we'll be passing this RFP, the conditions. Next then, our superintendent, legal counsel and his administrative team will draft an RFP from May 19 until June
22. The Board reviews and approves the final RFP on June 22 at a regular Board meeting. Then the RFP is publicly issued and advertised on June 29. Bid submission deadline is August 31. Submitted bids evaluated on September 21. The top three finalists will be notified, and public presentations will be scheduled on September 22. The public finalist presentations to the Board will be on October 26 at a regular meeting of the Board.
And then Board deliberation and a final vote on the bid award will be November 16. Do I have someone to give me a first on this motion? Doctor. Sherry Wynn Perdue, can I get a second? I guess I have a question before I'm willing to do that. Sure. I I guess I had I know you sent this around, but I hadn't read all the the details here. Mhmm. Like, 5.2, it has to serve a real community need, fit the character of the surrounding area. Like, there's a lot in here that is really could be onerous.
I don't know if it's legally permissible. Well, that's why we would have if we passed it tonight, we would give it to the superintendent who would work in conjunction with our legal counsel to formulate an RFP based on what we desire. And obviously, if legal says that some of this language is ambiguous or I forget the legal term you just used, but it would be edited and come to the Board for final approval before it sent out as an RFP.
I mean, I could see saying, you know, the following criteria should be addressed. Like, we want to maybe hear about these things, but this is saying these will be used to deter I don't know. I'm just trying to play through my mind how this how this Sure. Madam president? Yes. Trustee Lucully? While I appreciate you putting together a detailed framework for discussion, you did send this to us at 04:30PM before this meeting, and I had sent a a alternative RFP on Friday Right. Afternoon to the board to consider for discussion. And one of the reasons I sent my RFP motion the way that I did
was because I really do believe we have to, get out of overly constricting the use of this building or else we really risk losing out on a lot of potential buyers, And it reduces competition. And the advice that we received said exactly that. We can't be controlling areas where we're not supposed to be controlling it. We have to let the city planning commission do its job. Well, it's based that in item 5.4. So I move that we replace this motion with the one that I had shared with the board on Friday afternoon,
and we could discuss it and prepare and modify it however is needed. But, perhaps I could give us a starting point at least. Well, if you, so we have a motion on the table. It's been first. I moved to replace it, which is a secondary motion. Yeah. Let me withdraw my support of the motion. I'm sorry. What did you say? Yeah. It's it only has a first. It hasn't been seconded. And so Oh, well, then I make a new motion, and my motion is to consider, the one that I sent to the board earlier, which was I move that the board authorize administration to initiate a public request for
proposals process for the sale of five zero one West University with proposals to be returned to the board for review no later than July 20 and final board consideration scheduled for the August 17 regular board meeting. Okay. Trustee Licui has put a motion on the table. Is there a second? Trustee Luzon has seconded it. Would you like to speak to I mean, you've already spoken to it, but you could go on. Yeah. Okay. So I I put this out here just because I think it's time. You know, we've had this building vacated since 2022. We've gotta get the ball rolling and move the process forward.
In doing some research about what a a regular type of deadline might be, the advice was given thirty to sixty days. So trying to be fair about this in terms of July 20 seems like perhaps that could be a good deadline to receive our proposals. Think about it. Give us a month, and then the board can make final decision the next month in August. If there's any reason why that sounds unacceptable, you know, we can entertain those ideas, but my goal is to not slow this process down anymore,
to just keep things moving forward and stay within our role. Thank you. I would like to comment to that. The last RFP for this building took sixty days. There was a sixty day window in which, bidders were allowed to review the bid and submit one. So I think I will be voting no on your motion because I think the time frame is too short, especially for the significance of what we're dealing with here right now. We have to give the superintendent and his administrative team time to draft the RFP.
We also have to have time to review it as a board. And there has to be time for it to go out into the ether to be advertised and to be to be bid on so that we get them, and give the bidders enough time to come back. And then lastly, I think the other reason that I'm concerned about your proposal is I think it is too vague. You say that mine is too in the weeds. I think yours is too vague, especially after we've heard from one community group that has a keen interest in this property. And we have other folks that have come forward that have a completely different interest
in the property. So the decision that's going to come before this Board is going to be a challenging one. So laying out the motion in the way that I did was one that would help put some guardrails on how the Board can proceed to make an informed decision that is, at first, the most beneficial for the district that we serve in terms of fiduciary responsibility, but also taking into account the needs and desires of the community in which we serve. So does anybody else have any yeah. Trustee Plais. So I also don't like that proposal either because of what made basically what you
said. It's it's too fast. It doesn't have it doesn't give us a lot of information. So I won't vote for that one either. Trustee Luzon? I have an amendment to hers. I don't know if I was working on it before the meeting, but I didn't have time to send it out because we got it so late. So I don't know if I could make a motion to amend hers, or do we have to take care of that first? Well, actually, you want to send something down to her, that piece of paper? Because really, you should have it in writing so that we can have record of it. I know, but I didn't have time. That's okay. I have it in writing. I can e mail my stuff. That's okay. I'm going to send you something.
Can I ask a question while she's ready? And I guess this goes to Trustee Lecui. I'm voting against this no matter what. But my question is, when you initiate a you're authorizing the administration to initiate a public request for proposal process, they could take input from this evening in that process for what they would want to put in there. On the date piece, could we look at some of these pieces that you had, Trustee Annas? And I'm wondering, like I didn't even know when
the bids are being evaluated, who's doing that? Well, I think that the traditional process for the district when bids are sent out and Mr. McDaniel can correct me or Superintendent Russo, it comes into the business office team, and they already they have a matrix in place in which they evaluate it. And then they bring forward, the information on, the one that they would recommend. Okay. Well, that was the question because I didn't know if we were going to be evaluating and picking the top three or if the administration is evaluating and picking the top three. I think, go ahead. So I I just what I maybe have some clarifying points for a few of
these things. It it sounds like there's a couple motions that are trying to be worked out in terms of how how much detail. The sale of a property is different in terms of an RFP than the usual matrix we use for a good or a service, right? So I think the position that President Anas was trying to take is to say what kind of qualifying, what are the thresholds, what are the things we want to see as part of the RFP process. Whether we settle on we have details whether you have details in there or not, we will go through with, a real estate attorney to make sure that we are creating an RFP that meets the needs legally,
but also meets the demands of what the board is in essence and concept. Right? No matter how you if if this gets passed, I just wanna be clear and reassure you of that. Number two, the the timeline does matter, because when we want when I think the words that president has used was put it out into the ether. Right? The Rochester post publications have times on them. We wanna be putting this out to, you know, a wide net and we don't wanna just have it be word-of-mouth. And so I think our, if I'm if I'm remembering correctly,
and I think I typed in here so I can look, June 4, June 11, and then, in the eighteenth, our Rochester post posting, publications, then not again till July 2. If we have an RFP in place, today is May 18. If we can have one by three to four weeks from now to make sure that we're doing this the right way, sixty days from there puts us at late August, mid August. So coming back for a September or October review for you all, We would collect what those proposals are, have the board determine what that is. I'm trying to split the difference here between what,
what this timeline stated with November 16, which seems, well, actually, September 22 said top three finalists notified and public presentation scheduled. I think if the September the the September date is where it gets presented back to you, that makes sense. It doesn't feel like it's slowing it down. It's feel like it's doing giving us due diligence. That's the only clarifying points I wanted to make. Madam President? Just one moment. I have a question. So you're saying that when based on the time line that you were looking at, so the bids are submitted and evaluated,
beginning September 21. And then you're saying where I have the top three finalists are notified on the twenty second, what That seems appropriate to me. That part of this seems appropriate to me and gives you enough time. It gives a nice sixty day window for people to give their best pitch forward, right? So but bumping up into that timeline into the May, to meet the publication requirements you just listed, what are are there any changes that you would make to this timeline to meet those requirements? No, that's a great question.
Maybe I should have been more clear. So on the timeline that you present that was presented May 19 to June 22, that feels like enough time for us to meet with the correct people. I I'm not sure that the the Rochester Post doesn't have anything until July. It only has one publication in July, I believe. I don't know how many they they have in July, but we can find that out, to just be sure that we're getting this out to a wide cast. It's going to go to more than that, but I know that's going to be the core of who responds. So I'm just trying to put this in the right frame. I was just handed, an amendment to the motion,
which is currently on the table from Trustee Locuhi. And Trustee Lausanne is do you want to read it? I can read it. Yes, please. Today. I move that the board authorize admin the administration to initiate a public request for proposal process for the potential sale of the district owned property located at 501 West University, Rochester, Michigan, subject to the following conditions. One, the property shall be sold as is with no district funded repairs or improvements prior to the required sale. Two, prior to release of the RFP, the board shall establish a minimum bid reflective of a fair market value.
Three, all bids must include proof of financing or financial documentation demonstrating the ability to complete the purchase. Four, the board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. And five, the administration shall return proposals to the board for review no later than to be determined based off I like those dates that we just discussed. Yes. September 21, with the final board consideration scheduled for the following September board meeting. I don't have the schedule in front of me, so I don't know what that is. Yeah. No worries.
So, Trustee Lausanne has put an amendment, on the table to, the first amendment from Trustee, Liquui. Can I get a second on her proposed? What? I just wanna explain that to me. This is not a, motion to amend. This would be like a motion to replace. Right? Because she's not amending. So now you're looking for support. Support. Yes. So this, Trustee Lausanne's, proposal is to replace the amendment that is on the table. So, can I get, a motion to approve her A second? A second. Yes. Madam President?
There's I'm asking for a second. Anyone? I would second Trustee Lausanne. I want to second I want to speak to the first motion before we start a new amendment. I never got a chance to answer anybody's questions. So I'd be glad to be your second. I just wanted to get a chance to speak to the previous motion before we move on. Okay. Well, go ahead and speak to the I mean go ahead. Okay. Thanks. So what I was going to say was, I trust our professionals in the administration to do their job to send out a good RFP. We pay them to do this work, and we've already been hearing from interested buyers.
So I wasn't concerned about that aspect. And as far as the dates, I do think that we're making this overly complicated. But I was open to adjusting the dates if people would like to do that. We have a board meeting on my calendar. It shows as August 17. I wonder if we would be able to receive the our proposals by August 17, and then it sounds like people are suggesting September 14 for the other date. I would be perfectly fine with adjusting those dates in that fashion.
It wasn't September 14. It was September 21. The submitted bids would be evaluated. And the 22, they the top three finalists would be notified. Okay. So you're suggesting adding new Board meetings to the calendar rather than using September 14 or September 28. In any case, I would be okay with When did 06:30? What? I would be okay with adjusting those dates. But if Trustee Lawson would like to make her motion, I'm happy to second an amendment. But thank you for allowing me the opportunity to answer your questions. Yes. Thank you.
So I have a question regarding your amendment. Because if we use this time line, one thing that I would like to see is that the Board consider who those top three finalists are and have a public presentation so that the not only the board publicly, but the community gets to see the top three bidders. So it's very transparent what we're considering and why. That to me would be the most prudent way to
proceed. And I'm just curious to hear what other people think at this table about that. Trustee Blake. I'll answer your question, then I have one for you. But, I thought it was weird when I first saw the way that you had set this up, to be honest, because I had never heard of people coming in and making these public presentations. And but I've thought about it over the last few days and, you know, people in this circumstance, it might make sense. I've never sold a building. I've sold a lot of buildings in private practice and things, but not for public entities. And everyone is suspicious
in this community, but things are being done behind closed doors or people are getting, unfair advantages. Or so from that perspective, I guess if everybody comes in and says this is what I'm offering, this is, you know, these are the and everybody sees us talk about it, and then we accept a bid, there's less room for that suspicion. There's less room for people to think things that are not true. So I'm fine with doing that even though it's a little odd. Back to I just want to make sure I understood what you because you're basically
taking hers, Bart. Push the two of them. Yeah. But is the number three not in there anymore at all? No. I don't think it's our business as to what people are going to intend to do with the building. Well, I especially, though, want 3.3 because I did say financials. Okay. So that one is kept. 3.3 is card. Yes. Okay. And then five, you've taken all of that out. Right? Pretty much. Yeah. K. Because my concern with five was just that it it's a deal. They'll be used to determine, and it's all these things, some of which are intangible or unable to be.
But I know people some people really care about these things here, and they wanna hear it. And so I don't know if there's a way to make it say that, you know, we're asking them to provide this with their bid, but we're not saying that this is the this is any of these are one deciding factor. Doctor. Purdue? We could do a two part process. I mean, I do think we need ninety days. And I like, the revised proposal, but we could say we'll take the three best bids, the ones that fit all the requirements and have a public presentation and then we
could vote on it. So it would be two parts. You know? Basically, yes. They have the financing. They have and then they come and present. And out of the three best bids, we make a decision. Trustee Lozant? Since it's a 90 time frame, I mean, that's a long time, I feel like mister Bloomingdale has come to the meeting now twice and presented what they're doing. Are we gonna have him come a third time? I feel like there's enough public comment. If somebody is very interested in purchasing this building, they can come up and do public comment just like everybody else from now until
when the bids are due instead of having a whole meeting just based off of interviews or our interviews. Doctor. Alsmaa? We've gotten some very strong feedback from some interested parties that they want an equitable experience for everyone at the same time. So just sharing that. Trustee Blake. Well and right. And I would just say that, yeah, some other people had felt it unfair that mister Bloomingdale did get to make a presentation and other people interested had not. That's one thing. And number two, even though we have heard a presentation, I still have questions, and I,
particularly the financing is is a question mark for me. So I would wanna hear more about that. Madam president. Yes. Trustee Lacui. I just wanna draw us back to I I really do believe it's the board's job to simply make sure the process is transparent and competitive and financially responsible for taxpayers. And I don't think it's realistic to try to act like we're going to control what's going to happen with the future of the building. And something I'm concerned about with having these presentations is, you know, it looks like we're planning to we're planning to make our decision in part on what we think the future
of the building is going to be like that, and it could deter a lot of potential interested buyers. That was some of the advice that we had gotten is that if you try to do that, if you try to act like you're going to be placing these kinds of restrictions Well, I appreciate that comment because I want to draw you back to even though Trustee Blake thinks that some of these items, the 5.1 about financial strength and offer price and community benefit and intended use, those four items could be assigned a numerical quality,
so that when the bids come in, they are ranked with numbers based on these four characteristics. And so you're not necessarily looking at it in an ambiguous way. You have four criteria that are given numerical assignments for how much of their bid has that in it. And then people are ranked I mean, I think it's not very far from the way a matrix is set up for and you can correct me if I'm wrong, Superintendent Russo for when bids are sent out and we get bids in for equipment
that we purchase and so on? Right. I think the parallel that we don't always go with the lowest bidder because their service model might not be up to snuff or they have a history or something like that. So if that's what you're saying, then yes, if there's a matrix that the board is looking to complete in terms of what's important to to you all, then I think it's, well, within your purview. Madam president? Yes. Trustee Whitley? Do you really think it's appropriate, though, for the board to meddle in the operational aspect of the RFP? Because that's what I thought we could trust our administration to construct the proper RFP.
No. And I don't think, I do think it is within our purview to provide some guidelines on what the Board would like to see in terms of how the RFP is evaluated. I think that's absolutely within our purview. I don't Doctor. Purdue? And I do think it's important that the district and the board weigh in on how it's being used because this money was public money used for schools. It's gonna be in an area that used to be a school. We have accountability to our community to consider what the commune the immediate community could
use. And if there is an excellent bid for a community center that meets all of the requirements and it also provides a service to the local community, then it's a win win. And I think that is a legitimate consideration for us. Thank you. Madam Chair, Trustee Boutel, did you have a question? I saw your hand before I called on Trustee Lacoue. I was just looking for, specifics on where we were with dates on this proposed replacement motion only because some of the dates,
as Trustee Liqui pointed out that were on yours, are not listed on what is the proposed schedule for meetings next year. Okay. Let's call up the, do you have the If you want to look at mine. Yeah. September But not some of these things aren't don't need to be meetings. Top three finalists notified, you don't have meeting to notify them. Somebody just calls them. Right. But I'm just looking for the dates that, are to be TVD'd on trustee Lauzins. So, return all proposals to the board for review no later than
what date. And then with final decision. If the submission deadline I guess this is about process. Right? Right. Because this is different than we are not doing an RFP for a service for students that we're just evaluating internally and then coming to the board for recommendation. If you want us to evaluate the bids between August 31 and September 14? Because that would be what that that Two weeks. I would assume, but that's going to be us recommending to you what these bids are based on the parameters that you're you're you're looking at.
This is different. Remember, this is different than purchasing a service service for five years or one year or a good. If you're gonna sell the property and you have parameters around that, we have a have a little bit of guidance to do At work to bring to you what we feel are the top three. If it's only based on that's why that matrix that you mentioned earlier, president Anas, made sense to me because if if value is going to be the greatest component of what you want to sell for, then that's going to determine who we bring forward. If it is about community involvement, then that would be higher on the matrix that we would bring forward.
If it's, like I said, if it's only about cost, well, then that's what we'll bring. Okay. So then I would like to ask this Board to reconsider those four criteria, which I initially brought forward in this motion that could be incorporated with Trustee Lozans because I really think it's important that we give these guardrails to the district in terms of what to look for when evaluating the bids. Madam President? Trustee Lausanne. I'm I'm Licuy. Alright. Trustee Licuy. I would just say that what I would be looking for is a clean sale
and that we trust the city planning commission to do their job when it comes to future use of that property and zoning and all of that because that's their job. Our job is to be fiduciaries of the residents in our district. Right. Which is why if you look at what I provided, the first item was financial strength and offer price. So if you rank it, that is the first thing that we should be looking at. The second thing is community benefit and intended use. The third is the business plan and feasibility. And the fourth and final one is development and site plan,
which includes reflecting, Rochester City the City Of Rochester zoning requirements. President Andis, we're not actually considering this proposal right now, though. And one reason is because it does try to get into areas that are outside of our purview. I don't detract potential. I don't necessarily agree with you because if we're going to, as a board, evaluate when, this information comes to us, I think we should have some And, President, are we discussing Trustee Lozan's proposal right now? Yes, we are. Okay. That's what we've set us up to then.
And I was proposing that we add those four items back into her proposal into her motion so that there is more of a guideline and more guides to give the district and the administration when considering the bids? Trustee Lausanne, could you repeat what those dates were that you wanted to change it to? Because I feel I don't know if waiting until November to put somebody in in wintertime to if they wanna start going with the can we bump it up a little bit? Or what were those dates, September?
So if we make an agreement today, the superintendent, legal counsel, administration, they draft the RFP from the nineteenth to the June 22. The board reviews and approves the RFP on the twenty second. The RFP I'm sorry? The fourteenth. Oh, the fourteenth. Hold on. Sorry. Final RFP. I'm sorry. I apologize. Yes. Yes, June 22. And then the RFP is publicly issued and advertised around June 29. Then, the bid submission deadline is August 31. And then submitted bids are evaluated on September 21 or the fourteenth,
I guess, which is a Monday. And then on the twenty eighth, the top three finalists would be notified and public presentation scheduled. And then, I had October 26 for a regular or special meeting, but, I don't have that What's the calendar? That was that is a meeting of October 19 of the twenty sixth. Okay. So that is a regular meeting date on the twenty sixth. And then the next meeting would be on November 16, so that would give the Board two weeks to deliberate and come back to take a final vote. Yes. What? Trustee Blankens. So are you were you trying to add in your thing?
You were starting to talk about Well, yes, I would I would vote to approve her motion if it included these four evaluation factors so that at least the administration and the team have an idea when the bids come in, they can formulate a matrix based on what we want. I mean, I what I didn't like about it was that it's it's it's very specific, and it says these are the criteria and, like, it must serve a real community, all these things that are that are subject She's expecting nine between these deadlines.
This this is She's expecting nine, but maybe these deadlines. This this is her. No. No. But I think she's talking she's back to talking about adding these. So what I was gonna say is you you could you could just say you could just add on to hers. Bidders are encouraged to address the following in their bid. Just do the five point one financial strength, five point two community. Don't put all the wording after it. Okay. But just say they're encouraged to address these, and they can address them or not. And you can get whatever information you get out of it. Okay. I would be willing to compromise for that. Trustee Lozano. My only question is instead of waiting until 11:16,
we can't just do it the following meeting on 10/26? You said 09:28 for the presentations and then tentwenty six regular meeting. There's a regular meeting on tentwenty six? I believe there was. That's what I wrote. So could we make that decision on tentwenty six? The '26. Oh, because we're going back to work sessions. Yes. The twenty sixth would be the regular meeting. So we would vote on the twenty sixth? No. That would be when if we went with having like the top three bidders come in and give presentations. I thought that was September 28.
No, that's October 28. October 28. Okay. What could we do The '26, sorry. Could we do October 19, the presentations and October 26, the decision? That's a week. The work session could be October 19, but yes, we could do that. So October 19 would be the public finalist presentations to the Board. And then October 26 would be the Board deliberation and final vote for the bid award. That's awesome. Yes.
Yes, Trustee Olska. I'd just like to raise the point, that in the period of time we're voting is in the middle of an election. And after November 16, we might even have new board members that are waiting. And I'm wondering if the existing board should be making that decision. Yes, that would fix that. 10/26 would fix that. That's what we're talking about. But I don't but that's, like, putting it right before. I mean No. My point is that if we if we're gonna be voting after the election, we'll have the public would have Whoever the had some input on who the and
what the board will look like in the new year. So do we want to do this in the middle of an election? Steve Blake. I don't know that we should let that guide what we're doing, but I will say this, and Sherry may not realize this. You're you're off the board as the day of the elect as soon as it's certified. And then if you get same thing what happened to me. And then if you're so if you win your election, you come back again in January. So if we do it in November, you could potentially not be on the board. But I don't think we should let that It's one, yes. Implement or affect what we do. Your point is well taken,
Trustee Alspa. But I agree with Trustee Blake that we shouldn't let that be the determining factor for figuring this out. So it's one seat. It's not like it's the whole Board. It's one seat. Secretary Gautel, could you read, Trustee Lausanne's motion to include the dates that we discussed as well? Unfortunately, I'm still not sure on the dates here. So I move that the Board authorize the administration to initiate a public RFP, that, one, the property is sold as is with no district funded repairs or improvements before the
sale. Two, that we set a minimum bid price of fair market value. Three, all bids include proof of financingfinancial documents. Four, the board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. Five, the administration shall return all proposals to the board for review no later than And I'm not sure on the date. Is that ninefourteen? Is it ninefourteen. Yes. Okay. Ninefourteen with final decision being made on then October 26. Okay. I would like to amend Trustee Lausanne's motion to add
the four items. What was your language, Trustee Blake, again? I just said bidders are encouraged to address the following in their bid and then just the names of the items, but not all of the verbiage after. So bidders are encouraged to address the following items: financial strength and offer price community benefit and intended use business plan quality and feasibility, development and site plan. So I guess I need a second for the amendment to the original motion to add that.
Anybody? Trustee Blake? That got to second. So we're back to the original motion from Trustee Lausanne. With the amendment. With the amendment added. But we're voting on Oh, I'm sorry. Yes, we have to vote on the amendment. I'm just getting ahead of myself here. So the amendment, to include those four additional items to modify Trustee Lausanne's motion, all those in favor, please. Oh, okay. Discussion. Yes. Trustee Licuy. I like Trustee Lausanne's motion as it is, and I don't want to scare away potential buyers by adding in some added contingencies,
which is why I'll be voting no on the amendment. Okay. Anyone else? Trustee Lozanne. I agree with that. If we're bringing them back in for presentations, we will see the use when we see the presentations. Okay. Anyone else have comments? No? Okay. All those in favor with adding those four points to Trustee Lauzan's amendment, please say aye. Aye. So how many is that, three? Oh, four? Okay. And those not in favor? No. So that's three. So it's four-three. Those four items will be added to Trustee Lausanne's motion.
So Secretary Vittell, would you mind reading the motion one more time before I just want to make sure that we get this right. Thank you. I move that the Board authorize the administration to initiate a public RFP that includes, one, the property is sold as is with no district funded repairs or improvements before sale. Two, that we set a minimum bid price of fair market value. Three, all bids include proof of financingfinancial documents. Four, the board reserves the right to reject any and all bids. Five, the administration shall return all proposals to the board for review no later than ninefourteen
with final decision on tentwenty six. And, that bidders are encouraged to address the following items: one, financial strength and offer price two, community benefit and intended use three, business plan quality and feasibility four, development and site plan. Thank you, Secretary Boutel. So there is a motion on the table. Can I get a second? Yes. Yes. Trustee Blake? No, I'm sorry. The motion was already made by Trustee Lausanne and Trustee Annas.
And then we made the amendment that was approved. So now we're just voting on the original. Okay. So now we're back to the original motion with the amendments, correct? So all those in favor of voting on the original amendment language for the RFP with the amended language, those in favor, please say aye. Aye. Shelley? Doctor. Purdue? Okay. Those not in favor? No. Okay. So that's a four three vote. So I'm sorry. Four three? You also voted no. I'm sorry. I missed it. You two and Doctor. Alsbaugh. I voted aye.
Oh, you did. I'm sorry. I didn't get that. Okay. So we have an RFP. Superintendent Russo, you can proceed with your team. I appreciate everyone's input. Thank you very much. And we will proceed to the next item on the agenda, which Sorry? Oh, okay. All right. Is it short? Should we take a comfort break now? Madam President? Yes. I request that we take a short recess. Yes. And I will agree with you. So we're going to take a five minute break until we go back to item 7.3 on the agenda. Agenda is item 7.3,
and it's the strategic plan update year two. And I'm gonna hand that over to, superintendent Russo. Thank you, madam president. So we have, four updates for you today. Plans five, six, and eight. We have presentations four. And then plan 19, I have a verbal update for as decided, on our in our January retreat. So I will turn it over to miss Hampton to begin, strategic plan five. Thank you, mister Russo. Good evening, superintendent Russo and board of education. We have a lot of exciting momentum to share with you this evening over a
number of plans, and three of the plans, as mister Russo shared that we're going to highlight come from the teaching domain. So in strategic plan five where we've been working to establish consistent data collection, analysis, and response protocols. This work is led, in partnership with doctor Jill Gums, and I'd invite her to join me here at the podium while we walk through some of the, wonderful work that's been happening in this particular plan area. Miss Hampton? Yes. May I interrupt for one second? I this is the wrong thing to do, but I I don't know if you all, recognize what miss Hampton just did,
but she introduced doctor Jill Gumbs who just received her doctor. Thank you. So while it's never good to interrupt the presenter, this was worth it. Congratulations. Thank you very much. Thank you. Incredible accomplishment. We're so very proud to be able to learn and lead with Doctor. Gumbs. We have a lot to share here tonight, so we'd ask that you jot your questions as we go. There's been an incredible amount of synergy with the work of this plan, along with many teams across the district and a lot of the many of the bodies of work that are underway throughout the organization will be touched on as we
move through. We've had touch points with Team Rochester, which is, the leads of all of our departments across the organization. This work in this particular plan has sat within our k twelve teaching and learning admin team and at every building. So with that, doctor Gumbs, take us away. Sure. Well, good evening, and thank you for this opportunity to provide some updates on strategic plan five. As, we said earlier, the central goal of this plan is to establish consistent protocols across the district for how we collect, analyze, and respond to data. So this plan is fundamental to empowering our educators,
teachers, administrators, ancillary support staff, ensuring that they have access to focused data sets to customize their teaching approach, their approach to intervention, their approach to extension and enrichment, and meet every learner's individual needs. Our team for strategic plan five is robust. We have 31 members. This includes teachers, learning consultants, school psychologists, learning interventionists, building principals, assistant principals, our ELD coach, instructional coaches, special education staff, curriculum consultants, and district administrators. We also have representation from elementary,
middle school, and high school, ensuring that we have consistency and relevance across all levels. That's okay. Not quite so quick. Our timeline, here highlights this team's, learning. We've learned about platforms, about we've conducted some system inventory work, and also we've learned about protocols, and engaged in protocol training. In addition, the the timeline highlights some of the development in data collection and identifying some needs, and you can also see we're engaging in piloting, some of this to inform our K-twelve work.
In addition, you can see that this includes important preparatory work, like planning for district MTSS steering committee next year and future training and protocol work. So, like we said, our core purpose, is really to establish consistent data protocols. We're learning and applying these protocols so that we can make even better student centered decisions and positively impact student learning. Ultimately, this work will significantly improve data literacy across our entire organization. This is really good to great work or great to greater work.
All of our RCS schools already collect, analyze, and respond using data. This work, strategic plan five, is to develop our collective capacity and k-twelve coherence to develop systems and structures that support our educators who are engaged in this work. It also aims to amplify, this work and bring in some more resources, lift best practices, inform our larger district needs, and make our data collection, more robust and coherent to support, all students k through 12. And to ensure that our work is grounded in expertise and best practices,
committee members completed data protocol training, which was led by the Oakland Schools Research Evaluation and Assessment Consultants. Following this, we are now developing a robust resource bank of data collection, analysis, and response protocols specifically tailored for our RCS educators. And so while every building in RCS is engaged in data collection, analysis, and response, it, primarily has been at building level. And so now, we're working to build this collaboration and gathering our processes in one space,
and this will lead to coherent k 12 best practices. So we're building an organization data collection map. This involves creating a universal calendar for when data is collected, ensuring consistent practices across the organization and within each school level. This map absolutely is essential because it's informing first, informing the needs for our new data platform and system. So if these are collection moments, how can we, leverage a platform to help make this more efficient data collection? It also helps to ensure coherent protocols by suggesting specific pairings of collection methods and
analysis protocols. Yep. Okay. So not it's not just about protocols. It's really developing our capabilities of one, knowing that we should use protocols. Two, are developing our capabilities and selecting, protocols that make sense for the dataset for our targeted needs. Three, developing our capabilities and being able to facilitate these protocols, so that we can best launch, the best responses. And then four, so that we are actively reflecting on our processes. How do we keep getting better? And so, we've moved into piloting some of these protocols within our different roles and the initial
feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. The key takeaway from our observations is that using a structured data discussion protocol within some of the data meetings already happening in our district helps keep our conversations focused, efficient, and centered squarely on student needs. It provides a clear framework for analyzing data and planning next steps. So to manage this scope of work, we have organized into three parallel subcommittees: our district data platform and data mapping team, a data for building team supporting our MTSS work,
and then also data for responsive teaching. These groups are simultaneously working to inform our future platform needs to develop k 12 processes in areas such as our child study systems, and also supporting teachers in using data to intervention moves. And then we're continuously planning for, a major district MTSS launch scheduled for the twenty six-twenty seven school year. So diving deeper into some of these subcommittees, starting with the data platform and mapping subcommittee, their key action has been completing the building level data collection mapping.
And this mapping is vital for informing the specific features we need in a new platform, such as supporting the early warning and intervention monitoring systems already in place, in our district. EWIMS or early warning intervention and monitoring system is, already being implemented in RCS. It's a database process that schools use to identify students at risk of academic or behavioral challenges or attendance challenges early and then provide targeted support interventions to improve student
success. It's a very proactive data approach. And so, the recommendation from this subcommittee, is to fully utilize the data collection mapping to ensure that we build truly coherent protocols. In addition, we must use this information to inform our platform needs, which includes supporting the early warning and intervention, monitoring system. This would help to ensure that we get some customized data pulls to meet the intervention, extension, and enrichment, needs. For example, if we know in our early warning systems that in September, late September,
many of our high school teams will do, an attendance pull and a low grade pull only five weeks in so that we can say okay so what are some students that might be at risk for attendance and low grades? So that's just part of our system and so if we know that we run these reports, in each building somebody maybe it's a counselor at this building, maybe it's an AP at this building, maybe it's a learning consultant if we have a platform that knows that that systemically happens, can that platform run that report for us so that we can really lean into
the analysis and response? Our second subcommittee is the data for building teams, our MTSS subcommittee, and they were currently focused on extensive data gathering. We are collecting current MTSS processes and artifacts from across the district. They conducted a survey to understand the current practices and needs of our building teams and our child study groups. All of this work is foundational to the planning and preparation for their recommendation, for an MTSS steering committee scheduled for twenty six-twenty seven. So So like I said, the key recommendation from this MTSS group includes first organization wide training on facilitation protocols
and strategies. Specifically, we've identified the adaptive schools training from thinking collaborative as a high impact choice. Secondly, we're recommending the launch of the MTSS district steering committee for the twenty six-twenty seven school year that would support learning shared learning and collaboration on the implementation of consistent scalable k-twelve data protocols. And, our third subcommittee, is the data for responsive teaching subcommittee and it focused on identifying, common datasets that are currently used by teachers, such as I Ready or common unit assessments and,
it was identified by the subcommittee that there are some protocols being used in different pockets and so how can we scale some of these best practices coherently? For example, I Ready data has, in our middle schools a really neat, analysis and response protocol already being implemented and so in what ways can we scale that to our elementary schools who also use the same data and can we use these same kind of protocols in authentic and meaningful way at the elementary school level. We also have some protocols in coaching. For example,
in math coaching we use data to intervention moves and so this can be utilized and scaled into other subject areas as well. And so this work is really being, done in close collaboration with the team that's working on strategic plan 11 which focuses on responsive teaching support. So the collaboration of those two plans in using data to, collect it and also analyze it and then respond and then using the strategies from, strategic plan 11 to implement. And so the recommendations from this third subcommittee, for responsive teaching,
they recommend continued collaboration with strategic plan 11 within course and grade level team meetings. Two, looking ahead to future scaling, we're focused on achieving k eight cohesion with our I Ready analysis and response protocols. And, three, we also want to improve how we handle data during transition years and create more interdisciplinary opportunities using shared data. So there are already some of our committee members are piloting some of our protocols in the move up meetings that are happening right now. So we're gathering information through our pilots to better even recommend,
what we might attach to those meetings. So to summarize the path forward, we have some key recommendations. One, using our new mapping to inform our system needs, to support our data teams, and especially inform a platform, to support our EWIMS and custom data pull needs. Two from our MTSS data team, we recommend the launching of our MTSS district steering committee and facilitation and protocol training, for these teams and finally, a focus on K-twelve data needs,
scaling iReady analysis and response protocols and also scaling some protocols for our transition move up meetings. Thank you so much, Jill. You can see from the first slide the deliverable to design common data protocols has far been exceeded with this plan reaching into many different areas of our MTSS models of support. And there have been multiple areas where agendas are getting reshaped. The observable conversation in department or grade level or building team meetings around the use of multiple measures of data and the way that data is organized,
is really taking exciting shape across the organization. As Jill mentioned, our our goal is to think about all of those areas, that have successful pockets and and learn from one another for a systemic implementation. There were a few things mentioned across the presentation that I would touch on within these success criteria, one of them being a partnership with Qualtrics, which will continue to help us leverage, that informed action at both the building level and the district level. The goal of that work is to provide both point in time and longitudinal, snapshots of student success within that data platform coupled with the student experience or survey
responses, the staff experience from survey responses, and the way that those items will intersect, to let us know how students are experiencing their learning opportunities, how that juxtaposes with traditional academic achievement measures, or items that might fall into that early warning indicator as was mentioned with chronic, absenteeism or, discipline, referrals, things like that. But the the protocol pilots that were mentioned, the focus on multiple measures that really has permeated, many different meeting types. You'll hear about it again, within our my cup goal, presentation.
And that notion of data analysis and a depth deepening, if you will, of our literacy around the use of data across the organization has really been, advantaged by, the hand of this plan and the work of doctor Gumbs and her team. What questions might you have? Members? Yeah. Doctor. Purdue? Yes. I'd just like to know, I see that you trained the committee, and that's wonderful because data literacy is so important. As part of this and you've been piloting, will we build in training for the teachers beyond using Qualtrics and having point people
for the departments? Is that a part of it as well? Yes. So, one of the one of the ways that we'll provide this kind of training in such a large organization, we're kind of hitting different areas. And so one is our adaptive schools training. We're starting with administrators and our MTSS folks, and so that is, facilitation protocols and strategies. In addition, where central admin might work with building team leaders, we're working with MTSS and we're also working at building levels and in our coaching conversations. So there's different training rollouts based off of the types of data collection that's happening.
So when it's our early warning or child study, that's probably our MTSS folks. When we're talking about a teacher using classroom data, that would be here are some pairings that we've sort of suggested. Okay. Thank you. If I may add to the notion of the training around the protocols, that's been an interesting conversation to watch unfold because when grade level teams are sitting around some information about a student, we know they may have a quick purpose to do some analysis and move into action planning. And from a program evaluation lens, we may want to stay in that sort of curious study the problem phase when
it's coming to knowing what type of return on an investment we may have, either with a program implementation or with next steps for professional learning. And so, we really have tuned into the protocols that folks are using for a purpose that meets their needs rather than getting in an analysis paralysis or just Right. You know, meeting to talk about the situation. We wanna make sure we're positioning the tools for the purposes that those various groups have, and that's that's gotten to be a bit of a complex puzzle as as Jill mentioned. Yeah. I really appreciate your effort to do that because so often,
people lack the tools to understand the data and starting with that is unimportant. Yeah. And that's part of the data mapping. And so it's what's the target, who, and then the suggested protocols, what happens next, those sorts of things. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. So you talked about your data platform and determining the needs of the data platform. And correct me if I'm wrong, my understanding of Qualtrics is it's more of a survey tool. And I know in other districts I've worked in, we've worked with like Power BI to get into and do some dashboards. So what so talk to me about your data platform tool.
Are you determining which one you need? Do you have one you're using right now? And if you're still in that staying curious and determining, what is the time line to pick a tool? It's a great question. Yes. So Qualtrics will meet that need for us. We're going to be building data dashboards that pull in that information from attendance, discipline, student achievement, whether that be grades at the secondary level, our state data, our, meaning M STEP and, PSAT and SAT, as well as the way common assessments or unit assessments may evolve,
across the district. And so those dashboards are are what, we're referring to when we think about the ways that folks have access to information that can be efficient rather than a building based spreadsheet creation. We know our iReady platform does provide an ease of use in terms of reporting, but that's looking at a single measure and not able to pull in those other things. And so we we are intrigued, and and feel very confident in some of the dashboards that will be built pulling our academic data into that space with Qualtrics. That's fantastic. I've worked in a lot of districts that those dashboards are there for everything.
But we always had a person dedicated to creating those dashboards. So are we looking who's gonna do that work? In the short term, we've used some grant dollars to be able to purchase some of those services along with that Qualtrics contract. When we look long term, we know that data leadership, and continue to continuing to expand our expertise in that way is definitely a need. Secretary Boutel. Hi. Thank you for coming forward. Because I am not in that education field, I was really curious.
The slide seven was very exciting to me, and I was hoping, I had asked if we might be able to see this universal calendar, because I'd love to see, like, what we're collecting, how like, what the response protocols are, and how they're implemented as a result. So is that something that you could share with us so we can get a better feel for, you know, what is what this has accomplished? Well, I I could share that we've put together a spreadsheet. There's so many things on there. This is really neat. We're in piloting process, so the attaching of the protocol suggestions to that is,
it's neat because we're seeing it being populated, and that's kind of neat to see, too. In terms of sharing it, I'm not sure at what point it makes sense, but just because it's still piloting. But it is a really neat tool to see like, wow, over our district, how many different data collection moments we're having and what we do with our early warning. And not all of it actually even fits in the spreadsheet. It's kind of like this starts and then we have to move to a different one because there's so many things that are, like when we think of child study. That just happens every time there's a referral.
So that's not even part of the time stamp. It's another tab. So it is really a neat tool for us. That that needs analysis in terms of what might be collected at one high school as compared to the way another team at a middle school might gather information. And the mapping of that is what has made visible, some some of the variance in terms of our processes that this particular goal is meant to create some alignment around. And so what started off as protocols has expanded to various meeting types. And what do we map? What do we bring to the table?
So the plan has really become a bit more in-depth as it's moved along from what its original start was intended to be. And that mapping will help us guide what is the material that should be present within some of those data dashboards so that as our teams are looking consistently across, let's say, early warning indicators, we would set those thresholds for ourselves as a district. What would we consider? The state gives us a chronic absentee, or a chronic tardy kind of definition. What might we deem as appropriate intervals for response within those things? And then, how might those data points in time relate to a dashboard marker,
for example. So in terms of what to see, we could give you lots of examples of what's been mapped. But at this point, it's in design process, I guess I would say, in alignment with the protocol work that this plan had originally launched with. So I guess I'm confused. So do we have a universal calendar at this point or we do not? We have a universal assessment calendar for the what we'd call kind of the big three. Right? Our benchmark assessment, there's a state directed M STEP and PSAT and SAT calendar. We do have some common points in time when we're looking at things like chronic,
absenteeism. But and as for the rest of the the material, that would be by department or by grade level team that they establish the rate at which they, dig into the material that supports the learning need, whether that's come from child study and a challenge that might be, being experienced at the building and how that team of specialists sort of rally around that challenge. And then our grade level teams and departments at the secondary level, of course, also have regular data, driven meetings based on their own assessment calendar, let's say, in their classroom. If I were teaching an algebra course,
then my department would sit together around an assessment that had been given in class and use the data at that time. That may be different than what's happening with algebra class down the road, for example. That wouldn't be on a universal calendar at this time. Is that fair to Yeah. I think we have some that started. So, like, for example, you know, in five weeks in at the September, we do, at a high school level, they said, okay, we're doing our attendance and low grades. So what are the at risk behaviors? It might be a student that has missing, more than 10% and also is maybe having two low grades.
And so then we the data team takes a look at that. And then, through, like, a protocol, they'll say, okay, they identify these students. Now what are the response? So is it, reaching out at home, offering the academic center to drop in, checking in weekly with the counselor, seeing what barriers a student might have in in coming to school? And so that, we have it as a map, like, okay. Around this time, around this time, and around this time. So we're starting to build that in. We also have, like, grade level, in an elementary. Like, second grade through fifth grade has their first unit one is kind of around that
same time. So this is a a data moment in time that we can kick off response protocols and looking at that first unit data. So we are starting to build some of those things. Is it, that way someone who is, when you think of, like, your building team or your data team in your building, you can look at that and say, okay, here's the map for the district as a guidance. And so how are we following this? Or how what other additional data will we pull? What additional things, might we need to be responsive in our building? So it's kind of a guideline right now, and that's just this continuous process.
I think next year, when we have our MTSS committee, that will be another thing we look at. Like, so now that we've pulled this together, what should we add in? What makes sense to be coherent for everybody? What should be something that is more responsive as a suggestion? Those sorts of things. So it's being built. So will these three subcommittees that you already have continue next year, and they'll flush this out? I guess I'm trying to figure out, like, when we'll actually have the, you know, like this universal calendar so that everyone knows this is when you pull this data
and here's, you know, what you're looking for and here's what you would do. That's a good question. So we've shared that with, you know, our teaching and learning administrators and so now it's the passing of, okay, which teams do we need to bring this through? So So is it taking it to the administrative team? Is it taking to the MTSS committee and kind of continuing to build it that way? There's certainly springboards from this work into year three that you'll hear about, next up after these planned presentations, for sure. This is a topic, that has, as I said, been moved into many different layers of the organization and many different meeting structures and certainly will be work we
continue to take up under that umbrella of MTSS. Doctor. Ospa. So I appreciate your work on a universal calendar. We've always or other organizations, we've had what we call a YAG, a year at a glance. So and I appreciate staying curious. I know this is a big lift to bring the whole district. But you've talked about, piloting or developing a universal calendar, and you've also talked about piloting protocols. What is your time line to come to a decision or get some cohesion around these and move out of that piloting? So go ahead. I was going to say, our we did one cycle of pilots and then we have another one that is
going to be ending in June. So we'll do our like we also have our own protocols to go through our data that we're collecting through our pilot. And so then that's going to be used to inform next steps. So in year three, when we when we look in here about those plans, we'll see like, okay, you know, how can this universal calendar that we've started to put together, how can that inform the next work? Where should these protocols live? Well, they're they're tagged here as suggestions. We'll probably take them to the MTSS team. We're gonna take them into our coaching, groups because we're working and facilitating a lot of groups that way too and implementing
them that way. So in terms of the vehicles, I know, in in my scope, I can speak to that, is just probably in MTSS work and coaching and, our, like, consulting groups that we have. And so that sort of spreads those folks in wheels. More officially as a district structure that might have its place in different places of strategic plan year three. So you think you'll have this universal calendar and the piloting done in June so that you can inform the next year's work? I'd say draft one because it's the steering team.
And then now it's, okay, let's take it to now the building administrative team. And so they wear that hat because we've had pockets. And now let's take it to the MTSS team. And so like what will we contribute with it? So it's, I think it's going to be a great guideline, but it is still a living document because we are such an enormous, and amazing district, right? We've got 13 elementary schools, four middle schools, three high schools and alternative center early ed. And so to get all the eyes on it, to say this is the one and stamp it, I think really we've come a long way to just get the all the data
that we have and put it in here. And now it's taking it to the teams to get that kind of feedback loop. Well, I definitely understand there's some time that like it becomes a living document that will live, that will change a little bit. But I was just trying to get a sense of that because we also don't want to stay in kind of the analysis paralysis that you talked about. I mean, there's a balance between staying curious and piloting indefinitely. So, some I guess I'm still not clear. I think what I would offer is that the protocols that are established will be sitting within a toolkit. We would not say to a building team,
here is the way and the four questions that we would analyze data around at the building level. We want that to be very responsive to the principal and their teams and, again, to the point different protocols will elicit different types of outcome, whether we're going to look perhaps as a school to think about what our goals how our goals might tailor to the district's, my KIP goal, let's say. If we were going to look over a two hour meeting as a whole staff, we might move through information differently than when third grade meets together to look at their reading or their math unit tasks,
for example. This particular plan did sit under the vision area that was committed to our educators having, access to a variety of focused datasets to enable customized approaches to teaching to address individual student needs. And so in terms of the systemness coupled with, the need for teachers to be able to be very responsive to what's happening with the teachers in front of them is definitely a tension within this work because systemizing that on week 10, let's say, we all move through these steps,
really moves us farther away from the way teachers read their classrooms and use the tools at hand when needs arise. And so we wanna hold on to both of these things as important when we equip educators to feel, more data driven and hungry for what else might I need to know about my children. That really is at what's the heart of this work. And so when we think about our protocols as a set of tools, we'll want to keep those no different than instructional strategies. When we have a set of strategies we might employ in our classroom. We'll think about that protocol set in the same manner.
Here are a variety of tools that are familiar to RCS. We've all been trained in them. Understand what the outcomes are similar to, thinking routines. Right? If you're looking to elicit a certain type of of thought, you engage in a different type of routine. When you're thinking about where you're driving for the end in mind, for what's accomplished during that meeting. We know that the access points for our datasets, though, need to be more efficient for our folks, and that's where this data dashboard is is really online for the fall, with some of those data points that have already been mentioned in terms of the
way that we're looking at benchmark information, state information, and then, attendance and discipline for now as as has been named. Unit assessments in some areas are are ready to go, and then in other areas, they're either experiencing new curricula or the curricula is in transformation, and so those will be, further down the road. But the goal of this is really to, celebrate and learn from the areas of excellence across the organization and huddle in so that we're using common nomenclature. We have common expectations around our, pulling up a seat at the data table and making informed decisions for students and
then also for the programming needs that our administrators consider. So I hope that some of the things you've heard tonight feel like they hit that mark, but that's really the umbrella for which this plan was sitting within. And I'll just can I add one more thing? And really, like the immediate use of the data mapping is to help us when we're working with Qualtrics and developing their platform and customized pull, we now have this visual at all levels that says this is these are the data collection moments that are happening and our needs and what we're trying to do.
Can you make this more efficient for us by creating customized reports that hit our already identified needs. So that's sort of the immediate use of the data mapping. Yeah. Those data dashboards are amazing. I've seen them used in other districts. The reason I was wondering the piloting is because if we're to piloting protocols, I totally understand about creating a toolbox because you don't wanna dictate everything to everyone. But if there's a great idea, we wanna share that. Or if there's a bad idea, we wanna kind of think about, that this is why this doesn't necessarily work that well. So thank you. Absolutely. Very fair. So thank you.
I don't think I see any oh, doctor. I'm sorry. I just think the confusion is around the concept of universal calendar to follow-up on Julie. I think what I'm hearing is that you wanna make data available on right in regular increments based on what you're already collecting. And we were thinking it was like universal calendar, like the data was going to be assessed at certain times. I get the protocols. It's also I just wanted to clarify. So Well, thank you both. I think the thing that I am going to take away from this that I
liked hearing was just how what you're developing can really inform our educators and our buildings in terms of helping kids who are in transition because I think as a former parent, recognizing that the transition sometimes from elementary to middle school and then middle school to high school can be somewhat precarious for students. So to be able to have something that helps identify, some students that may in the past have fallen through the cracks, I really like what I'm hearing regarding that.
And then Kimberly, you mentioned talking about having a toolbox and but then the word coherence was also used. And I think in a district this large, I agree with you that it's hard to have coherence in so many buildings, but still allow for individual buildings to address student needs in their own unique way. And I'm hearing that too. So thank you all for bringing this forward. And if nobody else has any more questions, I think we'll go on to item four,
which is strategic plan year three. Thank you very much. We still have a couple more presentations under year two. These are we have two more it's okay. We have two more presentations than one very short oral, presentation or update. But for strategic plan six, I'm turning it over to miss Monero and miss Hampton together. Thank you. Hello, and thank you for having me back again. I am Rachel Monero, our instructional technology specialist, and I work in our teaching and learning department. I look forward to sharing an overview of the work that has been done this year around strategic plan six,
which is implement AI literacy and best practices for staff and students. AI literacy means the set of skills, knowledge, and attitudes that allow individuals to critically understand, evaluate, and effectively use AI tools. Here you can see that our vision statement was provide the technologies and support needed to deliver engaging, real world connected learning. The deliverable was to research, develop, and implement AI best practices. And tonight, you'll see examples of how we completed this work to implement AI literacy and best practices for staff and students.
I know I shared these definitions in the fall when we last spoke about AI. However, I think it's important to make sure we all have the same understanding of these AI terms when we discuss this work tonight. These definitions come from the Oakland Schools generative AI guidance that was developed in 2024 by the Oakland Schools a s AI task force, which I served on. So what is AI? Artificial intelligence is a general term that is applied to the functions carried out by machines that are commonly associated with human intelligence.
So examples include spell check. You have your Siri or your Alexa or predictive text in a message or a doc. Another layer of AI is generative AI, AI, and generative AI or Gen AI is when large language models, also known as LLMs, are prompted to create text, images, music, video, code, or more that were previously only created by human intelligence. And an example of a large language model would be like Google's Gemini. You can see from the graphic on the screen that there are multiple categories of
AI, and the one that we're gonna spend the time talking about this evening is generative AI. Oh, here we go. Okay. As shared in the fall, the strategic plan work started this August by releasing its 12 page guidance on generative AI. This was rolled out to all teaching staff on our opening professional development day. This guidance was developed the year prior by a team of k through 12 educators and administrators and included feedback from students. The document sets forth the guiding principles of generative AI for our entire district, which are student centered learning,
ethical use, promotion of AI literacy and critical thinking, academic integrity and responsible creation, and continuous learning and adaptation. The guidance goes into further detail about each of these principles and is located on our district website. The purpose in creating this documentation was to promote AI's educational benefits, foster AI literacy, and equipped our community with the skills to navigate AI while upholding academic integrity and the learning environment. In addition, the AI steering committee developed one pagers of AI best practices for both staff and
students, as well as an AI disclosure statement doc that outlines how to properly cite and credit AI when used. These best practices include understanding the nature of AI and that it is only a tool that is trained on data, the importance of critically evaluating the outputs you receive, protecting your personally identifiable information, and being mindful of what you gain and lose when using AI. Another support resource we shared this year was the RCS generative AI appropriate use scale. The same scale is used in all classes so that students are aware of what
level of AI may be used in a class or on an individual assignment. Teachers share this with students at the start of the year, many of them including it in their syllabi, and then they pull it out when assigning specific assignments based upon the level of AI use. The support just didn't stop after the first professional development day. In total, I've offered over 29 PD sessions on AI, both asynchronous and in person. These sessions were curated based upon the learning needs of the group. For example, we ran a math instructional tech cohort where we explored how EdTech tools can be
leveraged to support the math curriculum. This cohort led to one of the tools called Snorkel, which you'll hear more about from one of our students later, being piloted and integrated into strategic plan 11, responsive instructional practices playbook as a formative assessment tool. Again, we continued to support our educators through information we shared in our teaching and learning and bimonthly newsletter, which, with the designated AI corner section. Here, we shared AI literacy teaching resources. Many of these were short videos or articles. There were lessons that they could use with their students,
and invites to educational conferences such as the AI Edcon at Oakland University as well as the Canva Education Statewide Michigan Conference that RCS hosted this past fall. We also provided information when AI tools were updated as well as opportunities to learn about AI during the Oakland County AI Community of Practice or joining Oakland Schools AI Book Studies. We also had the chance to participate in the Oakland Schools AI Collective and send three educators to the Michigan Association of Computer Users and Learning Conference,
also known as McCall. They attended sessions on AI best practices and connected and collaborated with local educational leaders on AI integration. They were able to bring back what they learned and shared it locally with our schools, departments, and our larger AI steering committee. The AI steering committee further helped to achieve the measures and milestones of this strategic plan. They led in, individual PD sessions at their buildings. They reviewed the AI guidance and district policy, which is, admin regulation 8,001, gathered feedback from staff and students,
engaged in professional learning as a team and on their own, as well as expanded the team to include more elementary voices. We invited Oakland Schools director of AI and innovation to speak at our last meeting to share insights on what is happening across the county with AI integration and next steps we need to consider as AI continues to evolve. While the work from this year is done, the group is looking ahead and working to develop a scope and sequence of AI skills by grade level bands, continuing to evaluate the AI tools we have available to ensure they meet our safety
and security guidelines. We're refining and making additional support resources to continue to share with our community and planning PD sessions and support options for next school year. While the success criteria for this plan focused on our teaching staff being introduced to AI guidelines and understanding expectations for AI, we also know that this work impacted our students as well. So I have a short video where you will hear from our students about the ways they are using AI in their classrooms. Innovation is more than a goal at Rochester innovation is more than a goal at
Rochester Community Schools. It's the standard. That's why our teachers are empowering students to safely and responsibly leverage artificial intelligence to support their learning. So I really like notebook LM because it's a resource that allows us to put our own activities and information that we need and we find useful for that specific class. And then we can ask it questions or, like, explain things that we didn't understand, and it'll give us, like, a summary, like, based on how much, you understand. Like,
if you say you understand that specific part but don't understand something else, it'll give you the explanation for that. And it can also give you, like, podcasts and videos generated by AI that will sound, like a teacher is teaching those things to you. I use that on writing. Like, if you need to start, like, an introduction, it helps you a lot. It doesn't give you, like, a full, like, paragraph, but it just helps you so you know what to write. And if you ever need, like, three reasons for, like, your essay, you could always ask it to, like, help you,
and you can also ask for examples of, like, some essays so you can help so I can help start this. I use school AI for math also. If I'm stuck on, like, dividing fractions or multiplying fractions, it helps me think of strategies like keep change foot and more. And it doesn't give me the answer, but it helps me solve the problem. We used our AI, and we learned how AI was used in the medical field. We checked people's eyes, and we had to use, like, all these tools that involved AI to see how they work, which we're really fun to involve in the end.
We our teacher is giving us the chance to use AI to, you know, ask a question to help us, you know, self learn better. And what I've seen with AI is that every time I use it and I ask it specific questions, it always answers my specific question and then follows it up with more more details, allowing me to learn even more about the material and help me understand it even more and get a better understanding. And it's not only in that class as well. Even after school hours, you know, I'll use other AI to help me study for my math class, for example, and for my chemistry, and it's helped me out a lot.
I'm in an accelerated math class, and we use a tool called Snorkel. And I think it's really cool because we get questions that we're doing based on the learning, and we get to either draw or or speak our answers. And then once we speak our answers, the AI will detect if we have the right answer or not. But But if it doesn't, it will very constructive feedback that is appropriate for our level of learning. So I think it's a really good tool we can use. SchoolAI is like a writing coach. It helps me get ideas of what to write and makes my writing better.
It also, helps you a lot, but it doesn't give you the whole, like, answer. For example, if you're doing a paragraph, it doesn't tell you what to write because or else you would have not used your brain at all. In my fourth hour class, it's my history class, we use it as, like, a study or, like, a tutor more of, and we don't do, like, casual test taking. We use the AI to, like, deep dive on assignments and then write essays or discuss what we've learned compared to, like, just using it as, like,
a question and answer. The tests are completely different, and the deep dive on it really helps me focus on, like, the actual assignment and, like, learn more than what's just required. In my media class, I made a game about, like, how distractions can affect people. We used Standby AI to help us generate a game. Game. Mhmm. They code us for us just like really fun and easy. By integrating these innovations today, Rochester Community Schools is preparing students to attain the necessary skills and knowledge to become lifelong learners and contribute to our diverse,
interdependent, and changing world. Our community communications department released a series of two podcast episodes on the topic of leveraging AI in the classroom. These episodes served as resources for educators, students, and the greater community about the work being done in our schools. The first episode focused on voices from practitioners, and the second episode focused on voices from our students. I encourage you to listen to them if you haven't already. I would like to thank our incredible educators as well as our students who have joined us this year, with this learning and implementation.
Your willingness to learn, try, and provide feedback has been the driving force behind this AI journey, proving that our school community doesn't just adapt to change and the future, but we build it. Any questions? Yeah. Trustee Blake. So I'm I'm gonna be the dinosaur or the curmudgeon or or whatnot. But, like, some of those use cases I thought were really interesting on there, but the whole subject worries me because, you know, putting aside, like, whole categories of jobs that we're gonna lose in economy and all that, but that's not you know, like, some of the things that were in here,
like spell check, is it just a form of a of AI? It's not even generative. But first, you have to learn how to spell. And and then once you do, then then spell check can help you. But I wouldn't want a child to be able to, you know, and they're just learning how to spell words to be able to use spell check before they're trying to spell. And some of these were like, help. I I need an idea. And then then it's brainstorming and giving them ideas of what to write about. And part of the writing process is thinking of an idea and and coming up with pieces of it. So I don't know if I'm just, like, way last century and I need to learn more,
but I worry that we're skipping pieces of the educational process by letting them just dump it into AI and it answers half the question for them. What can you tell me about to to calm that fear? I appreciate you sharing that perspective, and I wanna let you know that they're not moving away from learning these skills, that we're still developing those skills of how to spell. Right? They're still practicing writing with their, pen and paper. But there are times when we can leverage these tools to think deeper about specific
topics. For the example of notebook LM, the great thing about that is that students are able to put in their own sources. They know that they're vetted. They're choosing to put them in there. Large language models, you don't know where that information is all coming from. So with something with notebook LM, they're then able to generate based upon something that they've already checked and they know is factual. And then they're able to create additional study materials for themselves. We have students that are using notebook LM They're then creating flashcards to help them study for something that they have coming up for a test. Or if they have a question about the specific notes that they took,
they're uploading their notes in there and having them help them analyze and figure out what do I still need to learn. So this notion that AI is replacing the skills that our students are learning, it's not. It's helping our students to even think more critically about the stuff that they are learning in the classrooms. Well, I'm gonna take your word for it, but I'm still worried. The, you know, just like I you know, taking notes in class back a hundred years ago when I was in college, like, rereading those notes at before your before your exam helps you learn them again. But if you're just dumping it into something and it's summarizing them better for you,
it I don't know. I do worry about that. But I I will take your word, but we we're gonna keep watching this. The one thing I like is that you can find more information. But, also, though, there's there you always could find more information. You just had to know where to go. So I don't know. I I don't think I'm the only person, though, that has these fears. Yeah. Trustee Lacui. Well, I appreciate your presentation and I appreciate AI and all of the different kinds of worlds that can open up. Piggybacking a little bit off of what Trustee Blake said, I was curious what your perspective is about some districts that are moving away from
digital technology, especially in the elementary grades. There's been more of a movement to do some of that, especially since we got so into it over covid and the one to one devices and all that. Some districts are moving away from it for the similar kinds of reasons of practicing those handwriting skills. I've even noticed with my own elementary schooler that he gets a lot more lazy about spelling and grammar when he's able to use word processors so often, and they do seem to do it quite often.
So, I was just curious what your perspective is about that idea that's been going around. Sure. I always go with the fact that technology is a tool, and it's only as good as the way that you're using it and making the outcomes that you want for it. I equate it to another tool. Right? If I'm choosing and picking up a hammer and my objective is that I need to cut down a tree, then I'm choosing the wrong tool to use. And the same thing happens with technology. We can understand that a paper and pencil at one point was that advanced technology. So there are times when technology is developmentally appropriate for our students to be using,
and there are times when we need to think of other ways the learning can happen too. I think it always goes back to, is the tool you're using actually helping to meet the learning outcome that you need for your student? Anyone else? Secretary Vitell? I believe I heard you say that, Oakland Schools, their AI department had come and done some professional development. What do you see going forward that Open Schools can provide to our district? Is it just PD, or are there other things that they can provide to help us with?
Sure. So I I'm the only one in our district with this current role, but there are multiples of me in other districts across Oakland County. We get together at Oakland School three times a year. It's called the EdTech leaders, meetings, and we talk about these specific topics. And right now, a lot of it has been AI integration and how do we do this both ethically and safely for our students. So it's not just them coming to us to PD, but it's also that I'm going there and working with that group. Oakland Schools also partnered with both Macomb and Wayne, and we did a tri county exploration this year in regards to AI.
And they continue to provide resources and a thought partner to help us to see how what we're doing at Rochester can also help other districts and what other districts can also help us too. Mhmm. Anyone else? No? Thank you so much. That was super informative. I have to say I kind of agree with Trustee Blake to some degree, but I also think the horse is out of the barn, and we need to help our students stay current with any tool that is available to them. So thank you so much for this presentation. You're welcome. Thank you.
Thank Thank you, miss Monero. As we get set up with miss Gautier and her team, I just the the last presentation that that we just sat through through strategic plan six update, it's a is a perfect example of how our strategic plan is set up and how we have to be nimble. When we came when I came here and we had just finished the survey of what where we need to go as a district and etcetera, I mean, I know this is a it's a complete matter of timing, but AI wasn't even mentioned in there. Right? And so the things that we have to adapt to it on the fly and and the work that Rachel and the team and their task force have done over
the course of the last two years, I can go on and on about the amount of work, but what's come out of it has been benchmarked across other districts, not only this county, but when I go to my superintendents conferences, at Mesa and at the one that's national where there's 50 of us, they were asking for all of our documents and Rachel was very intelligent in blocking and locking them all. So I couldn't share them. So, when I told them what our task force was doing and how we were getting to policy and admin rules and regs, and what does it look like for a K three student compared to what does it look like to a secondary student.
We had districts the size of 50,000 kids, 70,000 kids, 500,000 kids. They were like, can I please take this? And I was like, yeah. No. So great work, Rachel. And now I'll turn it over for strategic plan eight update with miss Gauthier and miss Saka. Thank you very much. Good evening. My name is Tiffany Gauthier, and my colleague here is Amanda Saka. We are administrators in the special education department, but we're here tonight to represent the Teaching and Learning department, which is general and special education. We're excited to provide a comprehensive update on strategic plan eight.
Our core objective this year was the successful design and implementation of a cohesive district wide behavior support system. This initiative was broad and ambitious, designed to positively impact all staff members and every student, spanning from traditional kindergarten through the age of 26. Our vision for strategic plan eight was clear, to empower our RCS teachers in creating positive learning environments for all students. We focused on developing proactive approaches to managing student behavior and fostering supportive environments across
the entire district. Tonight, we're excited to walk you through the cohesive behavior support framework that we've implemented. As the data we've collected and the feedback that we've received from staff will demonstrate, our team strengthened existing school systems and provided educators with the necessary tools to help foster truly inclusive and supportive learning environments for all students. For tonight's presentation, we will first provide a broad overview of the RCS District Behavior Support Team,
and we reference it as DBST for short, and highlight the many accomplishments that we've achieved throughout the twenty five-twenty six school year. From there, we will take a closer look at key components of the District Behavior Support Team model, measure, review the measurable data we've collected, and outline our plans for future school years. At the beginning of the twenty five-twenty six school year, we formally established our district behavior support team to ensure that all schools have access to a consistent, proactive, and inclusive behavior supports.
This work moved us away from isolated reactive responses towards a cohesive district wide system that's grounded in prevention and consistency. A key achievement was creating a structured, instructional partnership model that guides our work. This includes goal setting, student observation, hands on implementation support, and ongoing progress monitoring. Our district behavior support team model clarifies how and when teams access support while actively strengthening our tier one through tier three systems to ensure all students are supported appropriately.
Staff have access to a growing collection of tools, strategies, and resources that can be implemented immediately to support student needs. To build internal capacity, we increased opportunities for staff learning through targeted coaching, open office hours, and ongoing consultation with the district behavior support team. Team. The impact of this work has been significant. Over this school year, we have seen stronger consistency across buildings and increased staff confidence in how they respond to student behavior.
Staff are deepening their understanding of the why behind behavior and are intentionally using coregulation and inclusive practices. Furthermore, with open office hours and ongoing consultation now available, staff have had quicker access to real time support when challenges arise, fostering a feeling of collaborative support. The structure of our district behavior support team has significantly strengthened our ability to support students with the most intensive behavioral and social emotional needs. This has been made possible through the integration of registered behavior technicians,
also known as RBTs, support, and a strong commitment to data driven interventions and problem solving. As a result, we have seen improved student outcomes with more students successfully supported with inclusive classroom environments. When we refer to an inclusive classroom setting, we mean supporting students alongside their peers in the general education environment to the greatest extent appropriate while still providing the individualized supports that they need to be successful. The goal is to build student skills,
increase access to instruction and peer relationships, and provide proactive supports within the natural learning environment before considering more restrictive special education placement placements or settings. Overall, we built a system that is sustainable, scalable and ideally positioned to continue growing and strengthening support across the district for years to come. Our new framework, which Tiffany introduced to the board last June, is built on four core components: professional learning for all staff, a clear tiered support system for students,
dedicated team collaboration and specialized RBT assistance for students with the most intensive needs. Our work is firmly rooted in a clear mission statement and a set of guiding principles. These principles are intentionally listed on all internal documents used with teams, ensuring that they remain at the forefront of our practices and decision making. These guiding principles are truly the heart of our team and reflect our commitment to current, evidence based, compassionate education, and we wanted to share them with you tonight. We believe in connection over compliance. We prioritize building strong, positive relationships with our students,
recognizing that connection is the most powerful tool for engagement. We believe in understanding the why behind behavior. We are shifting the narrative from simply reacting to challenging behavior to understanding the underlying need a student is communicating. We live by doctor Ross Green's philosophy of kids do well when they can, and if they can't, something's getting in the way. It's our responsibility as educators to figure out what's getting in the way and then support accordingly. We believe in trauma informed practices. We're building district wide capacity to recognize the profound impact of trauma and stress on learning and behavior. Trauma looks different for everyone,
and we should approach behavior with empathy and compassion because we don't ever know what anyone's life experience has been. We believe in coregulation before self regulation. We believe that students can't regulate without supports from a calm and connected adult. A lot of our work is focused on supporting adults as they support students and recognizing the importance of coregulation, especially for some of our youngest learners who haven't yet learned to self regulate. We believe in skill building. Our framework is centered on the belief that if a student is struggling behaviorally, they are missing a necessary skill and may require additional teaching to develop those skills.
We believe in inclusive and neuro affirming supports. This is a vital commitment to ensuring our learning environments welcome and honor all students, including those who are neurodivergent. We aim to understand and support individual differences with a strength based approach. And lastly, we believe in collaboration and consistency. Our instructional partnership model ensures collaboration between building teams and the behavior team, fostering a shared language and consistent approach to behavior support across the district. This consistency provides students with the predictability that they need and then ensures all staff feel support in their practice.
Thank you. So how did we get here? A lot of thoughtful planning and collaboration with our stakeholders went into designing this framework. We began last May introducing this model to our elementary administrators, gathering their questions, concerns, and hopes for their team. We hired our team of seven behavior specialists and consultants last June. Throughout the summer, we continued to plan and collaborate with our admin team to ensure this framework would be most impactful for what their buildings needed. We worked through the summer to hire RBTs. We built our internal processes and then created cohesion with a team of people who hadn't yet worked together.
In September, we were intentional about launching this initiative. Our team was present in building starting the first week of school to build relationships with staff, students, and principals. We created a resource guide for all staff to easily access and then gave presentations to all of our building leaders, including our learning consultants, our teaching consultants, and our principals. We wanted our leaders to have a clear understanding of this resource and how we could support their teams. After the first trimester, we met with our teaching and learning team to review the current data of submitted referrals at that time and gathered valuable input to refine our approach. We've continued to gather feedback from administrators,
teachers and other stakeholders to ensure our supports remain responsive, effective and aligned with the needs of our students and staff across the district. The first component of our model is team collaboration. We designed our instructional partnership to capture the true art of team collaboration. This is a structured collaborative process through which building teams work directly with our district behavior support team. So four step cycle is initiated through a referral process. First, we ask that teams collaborate and utilize buildings within their within their building teams as a first layer of problem solving. If additional support is needed, then they request support through a referral process.
Once we receive that, we reach out to schedule a goal meeting with the team. Then it's followed by observations from a behavior team member, development of student support recommendations with hands on modeling, and then it concludes with a data review meeting to officially close the cycle. We'll walk through the entire partnership in the next couple of slides so you can see what that will look like. So our first component is our goal meeting. But prior to our goal meeting, the behavior support member conducts a thorough record to view the student's history and current data to ensure they have an accurate picture of the student. When the team comes together, we collaboratively design student specific goals and intended outcomes for the partnership.
Sometimes we have multiple goals for students, but we try to narrow them down to one to two achievable goals so we can measure progress. After that, we have our observations. Our observations are highly targeted. Our behavior team members observe during specific times that teachers report that interfering behavior, but we also observe throughout different settings and times of day. This holistic view helps us identify not only challenges, but it also looks at potential environmental variables that could contribute to a student's behavior. And then once those observations are complete, the team receives written feedback in the reflective format we call a See, Think,
Wonder. Following the observations, the team develops customized support recommendations. These are strength based, meaning they already build on what students are doing well, and then they provide concrete resources for staff to use. These recommendations are actionable and can be incorporated into behavior intervention plans, support plans, or used as new interventions. We like to provide the actual resources, as you can see in some of the images, along with additional learning for staff members to understand the why behind our recommendations. Most importantly, once the recommendations are suggested, our team members spend multiple sessions coaching and modeling the strategies directly in the classroom
with teachers and teams. That way, they can ensure a successful, practical implementation. To close the loop on the instructional partnership, our behavior team members review and analyze the data that the team has been collecting. During this final data review meeting, the team determines the effectiveness of the plan and then revisits the goals that the team has set. If the intended outcomes haven't been met yet, the team works together to develop clear next steps and then to ensure implementation fidelity. We're proud that in most cases, teams are able to celebrate data at these meetings. They get to show decreased behavior and increased engagement and learning, which is ultimately our goal. Our registered behavior technicians,
our RBTs, are a vital part of our tiered model. They provide consistent, individualized supports to students who require that specialized support to decrease interfering behaviors and increase their skills. Our RBTs receive direct supervision from our behavior specialists, who are BCBAs, to ensure they implement behavior intervention plans with fidelity and then collect meaningful data on student progress. They're highly skilled at pairing with students and making significant connections to help increase engagement in their learning environments. This year, we were able to provide specialized RBTs support in nine buildings across both elementary and secondary levels.
We're proud to be ending the year with six dedicated RBTs who will continue their work into next school year. Our goal is to add two more RBTs to our team, and we're currently in the midst of interviewing candidates right now. Collectively, our RBTs have worked with at least 15 individual students to decrease behaviors. They've also provided in the moment training and capacity building for our educators, for our paraeducators who are working with our most complex students, giving them the additional tools that they need. Our professional learning component is designed to build foundational capacity across the district. We made a professional learning catalog available to building administrators in the November.
We provided opportunities for buildings to bring our team in to offer professional learning during building PD time on district professional development days. The sessions offered included critical topics like proactive classroom supports, trauma informed practices, and building effective teacher and para collaborations. We are thrilled that our asynchronous professional development, which was provided on November 3, this year, 2025, had incredible participation with over 300 certified staff members who participated
Throughout the school year, we were able to deliver substantial in person trainings Between the February and April District Professional Development Days, we provided learning to approximately two fifty to 300 total staff members, including para educators, across seven of our 13 elementary buildings. We were prepared to do this for December as well, but inclement weather shifted that day to asynchronous. Throughout the year, we also provided additional training opportunities specifically tailored to the needs that arose,
including targeted for paraeducators at Hugger, West, Hamlin, and Reuther to support complex student needs in those specific buildings. Additionally, we invested significantly in our nonviolent crisis intervention, or NCI, training. This training emphasizes proactive de escalation strategies, relationship based responses, and safe, supportive practices. The goal is to help staff effectively respond to escalating behaviors while maintaining dignity and safety for all students.
We offered 10 training sessions and successfully trained approximately 200 staff members this school year, spanning general education, special education, paraeducators, ancillary staff, and administrators. For teams needing more intensive, hands on problem solving after their initial NCI training, we also offer dynamic practice sessions at several buildings. To maintain consistent communication and immediate access to support, we shared monthly newsletters with all teaching and learning staff highlighting effective interventions, strategies,
and supportive practices. Furthermore, our district behavior support team members created a dynamic Padlet resource hub. This hub provides a centralized digital location featuring reference articles, visual supports, and videos specifically highlighting tier one interventions and strategies that support all students. This year, we successfully continuum of behavioral supports for staff and students across the district. The design of this continuum is entirely focused on proactive, preventative approaches and building staff capacity throughout the district,
moving beyond just responding to challenges. Our tiered system moving beyond just responding to challenges. Our tiered system provides comprehensive support at every level. Universal supports at Tier one are delivered through professional development, office hours, and strategy cards. Our targeted supports for Tier two involve our collaborative instructional partnerships and classroom based consultations. And finally, we deliver our intensive individualized supports at Tier three for students with significant behavioral needs through specialized RBT support and team collaboration. We've developed many tools and resources that are easily accessible for staff throughout the district. You'll notice, in your addendum packet,
we provided these strategy cards, for staff members to have at the at the ready for them. To further enhance this capacity building, we are currently trialing a program in one of our elementary buildings where our behavior consultants are explicitly teaching teachers specific strategies to use in their classrooms with students. This hands on, in the moment coaching is designed to help teachers feel confident and prepared to proactively support all students Throughout every level of our supports, emphasizing relationship based, neuro affirming, and student centered practices remains our focus. To measure the success of strategic plan eight,
we established a clear quantitative criterion. The goal was to fully implement our cohesive framework, resulting in at least 70 complete instructional partnership rounds by May 2026. We are proud to report that we have met this goal. So let's take a deeper dive into the success criteria for how we met and surpassed our goal. As of today, we have completed 71 in total referrals and instructional partnership rounds. The data shows that 77% of these referrals were for our elementary students,
with 21% of all partnerships focused specifically on our youngest learners in kindergarten. This focus ensures we are building strong, positive, foundational skills early on in a student's educational journey. Of the 71 instructional partnerships completed, 77% were for students with individualized education programs or IEPs and 23% were for students without IEPs. This demonstrates that our team is successfully providing valuable support to both our special education
population and our general education students who require additional targeted interventions. We also saw fewer referrals for students without IEPs this year, which could reflect the positive impact of the proactive supports, resources, and consultation provided to staff. The increased access to consultants with specialized knowledge may have also helped teams address student needs earlier and more effectively within the classroom setting. Our focus is and will continue to remain on supporting all students who need us.
We proactively measure the effectiveness of our efforts by gathering staff feedback on their confidence levels of behavioral supports. This slide shows initial data regarding, excuse me, regarding how confident staff feel in their knowledge base of tier one behavioral supports and their confidence in implementing those supports. We sent out a survey in November 2025 and had 290 responses from certified teachers, primarily from general education. 60% of the responses were from elementary and 40 were from secondary.
In May, we provided the same survey and received 142 responses from teachers and paraeducators. 38% of the 142 responses were from teachers and 31% from paraeducators. 75% of the May responses came from elementary and 25% came from secondary. The feedback that you'll see on this slide is an average rating of the two surveys. These metrics will guide our future professional development efforts and highlight the positive strides we are making in building staff capacity.
A critical measure is staff confidence in managing disruptive or challenging behaviors in the classroom. Tracking this feedback is essential as it directly informs the district behavior support team about where additional coaching, modeling, and resources are most needed to ensure that staff feel prepared, supported, and successful in their classrooms. At times, we are asked how the current district behavior support team model compares to the previous behavior interventionist model in terms of staff support. While the timing of the transition can naturally invite that comparison,
the two models were developed under different circumstances and different structures in mind. The behavior interventionist model was supported through grant funding available at that time, while the district behavior, support team model was intentionally designed to create a broader, more sustainable system based approach to behavior support across the district. As with any new model in its first year of implementation, ongoing feedback has been an important part of the process. That feedback has helped identify areas of strength, opportunities for refinement,
and priorities for future growth. Overall, staff responses to the district behavior support team model have been positive, particularly around increased collaboration, access to support and shared problem solving. Looking ahead, our next steps build on this year's success. As I mentioned earlier, we're excited to pilot a new model of proactive elementary classroom support. Behavior team members will work directly with teachers in the moment, coaching on strategies to increase their confidence and preparation to support all students. We're intentionally beginning this pilot now so we can thoughtfully refine the process, learn from feedback and then work through any adjustments before expanding the support more fully
in the fall. We also recognize the immense value of our paraeducators and are committed to investing in them through meaningful and applicable training opportunities that will build their skills, confidence and consistency through our schools. As our earlier data indicated, there's a need for further support for our youngest learners. To ensure a strong start to the next school year, our behavior team members will focus on proactive support for kindergarten classrooms. We'll support early elementary teachers as they create predictable, positive and engaging classroom environments from day one. Furthermore, we plan to create additional professional learning opportunities for staff to further build their capacity
around functional behavior assessments, behavior intervention plans as well as interpreting behavior data while continuing our focus on preventative measures. As we close tonight, I really need to recognize all of our team members who poured so much of their heart into helping build this district behavior support team this year. We've moved from isolated and reactive practices to a more cohesive, proactive and sustainable district wide system of support. Through instructional partnerships, professional learning, coaching and collaborative problem solving, our team has worked to strengthen staff confidence, build capacity within classrooms, and improve outcomes for students across Rochester Community Schools.
What makes this work especially meaningful is it's not centered on one program or one intervention. It's centered on people. It is centered on relationships, collaboration amongst colleagues, and empowering staff with practical tools and ongoing support so all students can access positive, inclusive learning environments. This year, we saw teams become more proactive, staff grow in confidence, and students experience increased support earlier and more effectively. While we're proud of the progress we've made this year, we also recognize it's just the beginning. The systems, resources and partnerships established this year have created a strong foundation for continued growth.
As we move into next school year, we're excited to continue refining our practices, expanding proactive supports and strengthening the capacity of staff across all buildings so that every student has the opportunity to be successful, connected and supported in our amazing district. We are grateful for your continued support of this work. Thank you. Does anybody have any questions for us? Sorry, we were long winded. Thank you very much. I really appreciated, your addendum because that helped me see what you had created, gave me an idea of, you know, what was being covered. So I really appreciated that.
I was curious on slide seven, you say improved student outcomes and access to to inclusive learning environments. How did you measure that there were improved student outcomes? For this particular year, we were doing it by the instructional partnerships, and with the amount of referrals that were coming to our district behavior support team. And so with the fact that there were not as many referrals, coming to the district behavior support team with all the other proactive approaches that we have been doing, we felt that that was a great way to measure success.
And can you share, like, what was it last year versus what was it this year? Well, this is our first year operating with the district behavior support team, so we don't have data, from last school year, to be able to show that because this is our first year of implementation. So so I guess I don't understand because I thought you said you were comparing it. So what was the improvement for the improved student outcomes? I thought you said there were less referrals. In our overall data, when we did the surveys from November and from May, we saw that there was a percentage of students with IEPs,
that were accessing the district behavior support team, and we saw that there was fewer for students without IEPs. And And so one of the ways that we were attributing that was the student outcome was through the proactive approaches that we were able to put in, place for this school year. Okay. I'm not sure I understand that, but I'll just I'll go on and ask my next question. Overall, are there any recommendations for any change in the staffing and the way this team is set up? Did we did you feel that there were sufficient number of team members on this
behavioral support team? Does is it something that we think we need more of, less of? Yeah. So, of course, we would always love more members, because that just allows us to make a greater impact. But for starting in our first year of implementation, we feel that the ratio of our BCBAs, our behavior consultants and the amount of RBTs that we had really sufficed. But of course, we're continuing to grow the model. And with the feedback that we've received from this year, we certainly would look into expanding that into the future, of course,
if it made sense, on many different levels. Thank you. Anyone else? I did want to ask because I'm just I don't remember the funding sources. Is it a grant funded source for the RBT for our DPTF DPST? You guys love your acronyms. There's a lot of acronyms. Yeah. Yeah. So, District behavioral support team. That's what I'm talking about. There are parts of the team that are grant funded because they fall their their parameters and their certifications can fall into the the grant, but, like, our RBTs, for example, are not grant funded, but our BCBAs and etcetera portions of them.
Is that a fair assessment to say? Because we can't cover all of them in the grant, but most of them are covered in the grant. I am very impressed by what you presented. I think, I'm just always concerned about ensuring that we're not pushing more onto our educators that distract from the job that they should be doing, which is focusing on the education of our kids in the classroom. But I understand, too, you can't teach a kid until you reach a kid, right? So you've got to be able connect with them in a way. And as you said at the beginning of your presentation,
you really don't know, what a child brings into the classroom, right, especially a young child coming into an elementary school setting. So I like the fact that we have things that are implemented at such a young age, and it will be interesting to see over consecutive years, being able to track, you know, this cohort of students that are starting with this model, to see how that develops as they transition into middle school and ultimately into high school. So thank you for this presentation. It was very, very comprehensive. Great. Thank you. President Nunez,
the last update I have is is, a verbal update on, strategic plan 19 focused on gathering internal and external stakeholder input. I believe you have do you have a copy on this in front of you? I think so. Yeah. Adam, we have a lot of stuff. Thank you. Adam, there's a lot of paper today. I apologize if it got lost in I believe you have it in front of you. The surveys so, yeah, the two opportunities for input would be shared with community as measured by two community wide surveys. The surveys were provided during the 2526 school year include surveying the community to make
informed decisions about strategic plan priorities for year two and offering an opportunity for stakeholders to get involved, gathering staff feedback to inform district practices regarding the use of Phones and other personal tech devices across the schools and surveying all community members regarding the use of mobile phones and other personal technology devices. Reminder that these were district wide surveys, not building wide surveys or grade level surveys, etcetera. Although the success criteria for plan 19 was achieved, it is anticipated that processes processes for surveying the community will continue to evolve and,
increase as the district utilizes the new Qualtrics platform moving forward. Yes. Yes, Trustee Vitale. Just a quick question on this. Can you share more about, like how many stakeholders requested to become involved and how many were able to join committees or where their involvement was? I don't have that data in front of me now, but I can get that to the board. Okay. I would appreciate that. Sure. Any other questions? No? Seeing none? Okay. I believe that we're on to item five. Is that correct? The energy bond, and I believe that's Doctor.
Deluca. No. Strategic plan three. Sorry. I'm just writing. Give me one second here. I just keep jumping the shark. That's okay. Strategic plan three. Sorry, doctor DeLuca. Just Can I just jump in? Yes. We have I know. It's four Yes. Four reports left. We have or maybe it's four four new business items, and it's nine thirty. And strategic plan year three is huge. Mhmm. So I don't know if we wanna make some adjustments to our agenda at this point or not. I can I can recommend support that,
trustee Blake? Strategic plan year three, I can skip in terms of our presentation because you have the information in front of you if it if it's if you're okay with that, and you can provide feedback back to me. We do have I do have three slides that are in addition to the strategic plan three that I can forward on to you as well after this meeting. I mean, I'm fine with whatever changes you wanna make, but I'm happy to do so. Or it might be that we want that brought back up. Madam President, Trustee Vitale, or I mean, Trustee Lecuey? Or I'm sorry, Vitale, I saw saw your hand first. I I was just as we're discussing what we're gonna do,
I am concerned about skipping strategic plan three just because to have the opportunity for all of us to discuss it in one time, because otherwise we're we're pushing it back. Right? Like, when are we going to vote to approve it? Like, we're not having any of that discussion. So for me, I would rather do some of these, the action items, but then potentially come back to it. So Since saying that we would never discuss it. Excuse me. I haven't recognized your trustee Blake Trustee Lacoue. One thing I would suggest, we're almost here for about four hours is what it looks like.
And one of our goals from back in July was to make our meetings more efficient. And something that has been asked multiple times behind the scenes through emails was if we might consider putting time limits on presentations and stuff to allow room for if board members have questions then there's room for that but to just make presentations as high level as possible so that they are constricted to a certain time limit because I did notice that you know we had multiple plans and they went a very long time and it could be as small as ten minutes and have Board members
ask questions. Is that something that steering committee has been discussing or giving any kind of parameters? And if not, is that something we could do in the future? No, it has not been something that steering has been discussing. It would definitely help toward our board goal from July because right now, I think we're failing. Well, I think part of the issue is that we're trying to do board business in a meeting along with getting reports and updates on issues. So I think going back to the workshop model is going to be helpful in addressing some of that. However, I believe that Superintendent Russo, did you have something you wanted to say? Thank you, President Anas. I think there's been kind of a push and pull since year one of the
strategic plan and how we wanted, information. When we talk about just these presentations here, I know we've had multiple discussions through our strategic plan steering committee last year during steering. And I I mean, we're open to anything. It was it was this was kind of decided as a cadence to say, here's what's really important to us to get a presentation. The rest of these, you can give us in the superintendent cabinet notes, etcetera. We're fine to to do whatever the board is, but it's been a push and pull for two or three years, and there's no,
like, no arguments there. But like the presentations for energy bond and etcetera are critically important to new business, so I would not want to make them a limit. Madam President, Trustee Liqui, Is anyone opposed to setting time limits for presentations? Well, I personally am not opposed to that. However, there are instances, like right now, where there's important information that at least one member and I'm sure others would like to hear as a group sitting here. And I think that's contingent on whether or not the folks who are doing the
work and presenting the information feel like they can convey what they need to convey in a twenty minute time frame. I think there are times when that's appropriate, and there are times, I think, when that might not be shortsighted. Any other comments, Doctor. Alsbaugh? In the interest of time, I would suggest that we get back to the agenda. If we want to bring this to the agenda and put it on the agenda as a formal discussion later, we have a process, and we can do that. But, like, we're off topic about getting off topic. Trustee Blake. I just moved that we table 7.4. Is is that the right word that we table it to the next meeting?
Postpone to the next meeting. Postpone to the next meeting. Postpone table, it would take it off entirely. I second. Okay. So we have a motion Postpone to postpone. We have a motion to postpone 7.4 strategic plan year three, and there's been a second. Do we have all in favor? Aye. That's a six or I guess. Okay. That's a seven-zero vote. All right. We will move on to 7.5, which is Doctor. DeLuca and the energy bond. Come on down. The good thing is I talk fast. Good evening. Well, it says good afternoon from the time we started.
So I got some friends here who'd like to join me today, tonight to to talk about the energy bond. Before we begin, I just want to recollect with the board. Can I go back? We did approve, the start of this process back and I believe Mr. McDaniel, was it February? Were you in December? It was last summer around that time. But tonight, we're introducing the potential opportunity to strategically address facilities, infrastructure and operational needs across the district through a guaranteed energy savings performance contract in partnership with a company called Trane. As we continue to navigate increasing costs,
aging infrastructure and ongoing need to preserve resources for student learning, it is important that we explore innovative and fiscally responsible solutions. Tonight's presentation is intended to provide the Board with an overview of how energy performance contracting works with financing options that may be available to the district and districts across the Michigan with leveraging operational savings to modernize facilities without placing additional burden on taxpayers through traditional voting of a bond that we usually see. This is not a request for action this evening, but rather a beginning of a discussion centered around long term planning,
operational efficiencies, sustainability and stewardship of the district resources. The information tonight will help us better understand how investments in infrastructure, energy management, and deferred maintenance could potentially guarantee savings that could be redirected back to Rochester Community Schools. So with that, we have, two cabinet members, one cabinet member and one director here. I'd like to have Pete come up first to introduce our Trane representative, so Pete Musio, Director of Operations. Thank you, Doctor. DeLuca. When we started this process selecting Trane back in August, we had an RFP that was issued to them and then we selected to move
forward with them in August. In July or January and February, we did some walkthroughs after we selected them. So we got members of our team, our facilities team with the Trane team and walked all the buildings to look at what the scope may be. We had a meeting in, I think it was late March, early April, to look at all the proposed energy saving projects that we could possibly do. That amount totaled to be $32,000,000 As we looked at them and evaluated them, I met with my team,
our commissioning consultant, and we kind of narrowed it down to which ones are really feasible, which ones would pay back the quickest, and that's the Glenn's going to talk about that. So we kind of narrowed it down to a $16,000,000,000 program. So with that, I'll turn it over to Gwen Pettit. She's our representative from Trane that can kind of give you more of an overview of the whole energy performance contracting process. Gwen? Hello. Thank you for having me today. In lieu of having faster meetings, I'm going to talk fast, but feel free to stop me at any time.
So let me get this started here. Nope. That's the wrong way. Is that on? Oh, you don't have it? We we have copies of the desk too, though, if it's on there. Okay. We're gonna talk through the paper copies. Even better. Yeah. Okay. So my name is Gwen Pettit. I'm a former educator myself. I live in Oakland County on the other side of the Earth from Oak of you guys, here. I'm in South Lyon. I am a former educator, former coach, hockey coach, fast pitch coach, for high school. I have a lot of history in education. And let's flip to the first page,
and I'm gonna like I like I mentioned, I'm gonna go quickly in, kinda going through this. So if feel free to stop me throughout the process, but I think I'm very comprehensive when we go through the whole presentation. So, my history with Trane, has been the last seven years. You may know Trane as the big red ball that's on that, paper there. But I represent the energy side of Trane, so we are a global manufacturer for HVAC equipment. The company or the the side of the business that I represent is the energy side, so the energy and financial. So train itself, as Pete mentioned,
we have four service centers across the state of Michigan, another one in Ohio, just here, that we train. And we have certified technicians going out, project managers, marketing, the whole gamut of different services. I represent the solar, the lighting, charging stations. Anything that you can do to save money for a building or infrastructure in a campus or a hospital system, that's what my team does. The projects that we're building for you, we've executed well over 20 projects in the last twenty or in the last five years, which is a pretty large number for these types of projects.
I am the vendor neutral. I mentioned that we are a global manufacturer, but I am the vendor neutral part of train, meaning that if you standardize on a specific piece of equipment, we will make sure that we train you and install that piece of equipment that you're standardizing on. I'm also a lot of my job is not to mention the skilled trade piece, which we'll kind of go over a little bit, but also the rebates, the one big beautiful law, the money that comes down from that, the different infrastructure upgrade money that comes from that, the federal,
state, local funding, grants, the whole gamut of things I keep track of and help find money for districts. So that's the financial piece. We are a part of what's called if you flip to the next page. Oh, skipping my pages here. We are a part of what's called NASCO. As to do these projects, you have to be and I'm kind of skipping a couple pages. We'll just get to it. To do these projects, you have to be a part of an ESCO. You have to be an energy services company. That means we every couple of years, we have to go accreditation. We have to show that we can build these projects,
not have lawsuits, that we stand by the holistic view of these projects. So as we talk about these guaranteed energy savings projects, keep in mind that what we're doing here is we're leveraging some of your inefficiencies or your inefficiencies that we find. So, for instance, we talk about energy inefficiencies and we also talk about operational. An example of energy would be, obviously, LED lights, utility bills. An example of operational inefficiencies would be I have an air handling unit that I have to keep calling in for service, so I have repeated invoicing that is coming for that piece of equipment.
So we look holistically at the entire, operational budget. So when we talk about doing these guaranteed projects, and they're guaranteed meaning we financially, as an ESCO, have to put ourselves behind these types of projects. And TRUDE makes sure that your contract we've done all of our projects with TRUDE, and they make sure that it's written in that in their contract. So in these projects, there's two types of, nonvoted bond. Obviously, you've passed the voted bond. In our process here, we use what's called nonvoted bond, energy bonds. There's a lot of different names for them.
You have a bond, I don't know if you can tell on the paper, but you have a blue and a yellow one. And the only difference between them is, is where you fall in your SEB dictates how we build these projects. So the advantages here is the board selects, instead of the voter population, you select what the project looks like. You select to vote to move forward into a contract. You're part of the process here. But really, the board is the determinant here, not the community. It's weird not having my slides in front of me. So some of the other benefits are that these are shorter time lines,
meaning in a voted bond, you've probably already experienced, you can go out for multiple series. You have multiple years of implementation. Because the savings pays for these types of projects, we have to crash in and get things done immediately. So for instance, we're just finishing or starting Saginaw Township Schools, and they're about to sell their bond tomorrow, I believe. And our contract is finalized. They went through the whole process. And we'll start as soon as the day that they sell, which is tomorrow. We'll start engineering and state planning,
and we'll be on-site installing within six weeks. And that could be lighting. That could be HVAC. That could be controls. That could be water conservation. There's a lot of different measures that we cover. So because you have to use the loan, the savings to pay the loan, we have to get in and out quickly to make sure that we are able to provide you the savings that you need to pay the loan or offset the cost of the loan. Any questions there yet? Okay. A teacher in me has to stop and ask for questions. So the next page says 85. I don't know if it's 85. But, again, what is a guaranteed energy savings performance contract?
I want to come back to this one more time. It's a financial mechanism used to pay for today's facility upgrades with tomorrow's energy savings, which you don't have to tap into your general fund if you don't want to. Usually, if you give us you know, a lot of our schools have sinking fund or they have bond funds, and we could talk a little bit more about that. If you do that, you could stretch those dollars a lot farther than your traditional plan and spec work that, you know, schools are used to. On the right side there, the U. S. Department of Energy had a campaign starting in 'twenty two with all the last administration money.
They really wanted all that ESSER money and all that, those different funds that came down from the federal government to be used in performance contract because it gives you the guaranteed piece and structure of a contract that makes the installer liable for the project as opposed to what you're used to, which is typically a regular warranty, which, let's say, boilers. You know, you have your short warranty, one year labor and material. What we what this does, it puts us on the hook to make sure that the systems are working for
the long term. And down at the bottom there, you can see the, Michigan legislation, the 380.127. That is the legislation that guides us on how to do these projects, what is required to do these projects, who is required to do these projects and then going forward, how you supply the information to the state treasury. Next page. I feel like I'm reading. Again, this is just a quick slide. Who can perform these? So I mentioned that we have to be an accredited NASSCO, every three years. So we have to make sure there is no lawsuits, that we do have financial backing to do these types of projects.
So not every mom and pop or small mechanical can actually do these types of energy performance contracts because you have to put yourself behind this guarantee. All right. So how does it work? And I've kind of mentioned this a couple of times. So leveraging energy and operational savings for infrastructure upgrades. So if you look at that first column, you can see right now, prior to us doing this project, you're paying your utility companies, whether it's your water, gas or electric. You have your maintenance fees, which we don't take into consideration the cost of your building engineers or your maintenance
team. But here is an example where we audited a school district for and we found that and guaranteed $250,000 That's leveraging that in the first year. Now, per legislation, we can leverage that up to twenty years. Really, it's 30 per schools, but for twenty years because we don't want to exceed the longevity of a piece of equipment that we put in. So our standard typical projects do run twenty years. They can go to 10. They can go to 12. It just depends on how much you're trying to get done. So, typically, majority of our school districts are twenty twenty years,
I would say, probably on average, that, that we do because schools need so much infrastructure without having the money to do these types of upgrades. So here, you're seeing that the 250,000 is leveraged in the first year to pay for the energy loan. So that money that we find and guarantee is used for a loan that you have taken out and worked with PFM, over to my right here, Nate, and worked with them to buy. So that money that we guarantee, we put ourselves behind and say, okay, we've done these measurements. We know that you're saving money.
And by the way, we'll talk a little bit more about how we get those measurements in a in a couple slides here. But that helps you pay that loan. Now you're paying your utility companies less. You have less maintenance in your operation because we've identified, hey, that rooftop unit, you keep spending you spent $4,000 on keeping that thing running for the gym. So we've used your invoicing for the operational side. It isn't numbers that we make up or anything. We've asked and did the research for a three year span of operational bills, and that's with working with the District and operational team.
That top little blue box there that says savings, that's called cash flow positive. So when we build our cash flow, which you'll see in a couple of slides, an example, when we build that cash flow, we keep that column, that last column on the right, we always want to see that positive because what that means is that all the savings that we've guaranteed and then any additional money that you want to contribute, we'll make sure that you can pay that bill year after year. So we're very conservative when we build our scope and our cash flow. We use very conservative numbers upfront, so you'll notice that in the information that I provided you.
Right now, we're in preliminary budgets just to see what fits into the project. And then the next step after this is to go and fully engineer the project, meaning we will bid it out multiple bids, bring all the numbers together, find the guaranteed savings, and we'll put that into cash flow and bring it back to the table and say, okay, what fits, what doesn't, what do you want in your project? But, it's a very collaborative process of working through. So, different than a voted bond is this non voted bond where we bid everything out. We know how much engineering is going to cost. We know how much state planning. We know we've already bid all the labor out.
We know the price. We know that all upfront as opposed to what you're used to doing on a plan and spec. So that cash flow positive, I'll show you in a couple slides. At the end of the project, you can see that you have less maintenance costs, less utility costs, you know, and you have more free money. So savings, secure entryways, buses, whatever you wanna do it, more teachers, social, emotional dogs. You know, that was a big thing for a while. So, but that's just the the real early childhood in me shows you the picture of how do we do these projects. Any questions there? Here are some things on that next page,
so the energy conservation measures. These are just a list of things that we typically see in the K-twelve space when we audit holistically. So heating and air conditioning modernizations, that's low flow boilers or high efficiency boilers, just equipment. We look at refrigerant. Many of you probably don't care, but refrigerant is a big thing in our world right now because we've had to change it, and it's costing a lot of money. So if you've got air conditioning that is you've had added refrigerant, you can see the cost, how extreme it's went up. Water conservation. So low flow toilets,
urinals, faucets, kitchen equipment, whatever you name it, we look at it and we audit it, meaning we say, is the ROI going to be there for low flow efficiency? Some of our districts we go into, some like, Dearborn, Crestwood, they have some plumbing problems. And so we always make sure we take that into consideration. Maybe we don't go to the lowest extreme of a low flow device. Maybe it's just in the middle. Sometimes, depending the district or the building, we'll say, Hey, I don't think this is a good choice to touch this building right now. The more investigation has to be done. It might be a much larger project.
But we evaluate throughout the process. Renewable energy. So I mentioned we have a solar division. We have a lighting division. Anything electric, that's what I represent. So we will tap into and say, okay, is there opportunities to capture federal money? I have a school district in West Branch, Ohio, that they're getting back almost $800,000 in federal tax money because of the project that we did with chillers and ice storage. So we look at that and say, can we capture that? Does it make sense? Is the, you know, the squeeze worth whatever that whole thing the juice worth the squeeze?
Yeah. I'm usually in bed by now, by the way. Building envelope. So building envelope could mean a lot of things, insulation, caulking, roofing. You know, we look at door sweeps, and we put numbers to that. Maintenance program. You don't have to do maintenance with us, but we will help you negotiate that with your contractors if you would like to use. So in Trenton, we used, they had a agreement with a company that we helped them negotiate back with and said, okay, you're paying too much. Energy management system, fuel conversion, there's a lot of different things here that we look at. I'm not going to go through the rest in lieu of time. But
we do holistically look at every single thing, and it's through a lot of communication and collaboration with the district. On this next page, 89, cash flow example, you can see here, go back to that $250,000 that I saved. That first year is construction year, so we only take half of that savings as we're implementing. We don't capture the whole thing. You can see the estimated guaranteed energy savings is $125,000 typically, PFM will work with you and decide, do you wanna do an interest only, loan first or payment first or a principal plus?
That's all their that's their realm that they deal with. We just give them the facts and the figures, and then they they build it out for you and, advise you on that. So you can see here the loan payment here in this first year was 97,000. The savings was $1.25. The difference is 28,000. If you look to the year two, $2.50 in savings, that's the guaranteed amount. The total is $2.32 for the loan payment. The difference is 18,000. So it just compounds. And that's how we build. Every time we build or throughout the entire process, the district will see a spreadsheet like this.
It'll have the opportunity to, a dynamic spreadsheet that we can pick and choose what's going to fit, and it all flows back into this cash form, the cash flow that looks very similar. So just take note at the bottom, not only did this district get a whole slew of infrastructure upgrades, they also saved over $316,000 to earmark to something else. And this is conservative. This is actually, a school district that was tracking their own, and we saved well over that. I think we were well over double. But because we bill them conservatively, you reap all the benefits.
And one thing I didn't mention is that we do all the rebate forms, if that was a question. We take that into consideration as well. So we will make sure that you file. We work with your, account manager for your utility companies as well, and that's part of the proofreading of the measure verification piece where they the account managers come to the district with us. They they walk hand in hand. We take light meters and we say, okay. This light right now is 80 watts. It's putting off. Now we're gonna change it to an LED and it's gonna put off 20 watts. And we take the difference. That's the math that's industry standard,
but also verified through your, utility account managers as well. So we don't make up math. We're not doing the algebra. We're just we're using what's, industry standard for us. And that's how we come up with the guaranteed savings. There's a lot of different do like, if any of you went to that toilet bathroom in there, that flow in that bathroom that just flushes water and water, we measure that. Literally measure that. I told him that's money in there. Some of the benefits here is, it's it's very collaborative. So on page 90 now. It's short in time line.
I'm doing it, we have a $35,000,000 project with Traverse City Public Schools that is, two it's a two year project, and we are more than, ahead of the schedule right now. Guaranteed. So you have the guarantee of the energy savings. You have the long term guarantee plus the performance guarantee. So it has to work. Otherwise, we're on the hook. It addresses deferred maintenance. You don't have to come out of any extra money. I know the the example we chose here was there's, some money out of out of your funds, to contribute, but we can talk about that. One of the big thing is it avoids labor and material cost escalation in the
bundles of scale, economies of scale, is because the day that you sell the contract, we start ordering everything. We will order every light for the entire district as opposed to what you'd normally see in your voted bond work, where you order over a series as you touch that. We order everything upfront. So you get economies of scale that way and you save money. On top of the fact that we don't if you do use I mean, I'm vendor neutral. But if you do use any trained products, we don't mark up our own stuff as opposed to what others would do. Single source accountability, student education programs, we'll talk a little bit more about that.
And then sustainability, and that's two things, twofold. That's an environmental sustainability, but that's also a district sustainability. Like, how do you save money and put it back into the district for the long term? So when we talk about sustainability, yes, we can talk about greenhouse gas and carbon neutrality and all that other stuff, but it's really the district sustainability. How do you have funds to move forward? So our steps here anybody have any questions? Perfect. Alright. So our steps here, I'm really trying for you guys, is we're this process right now, we haven't asked you to sign anything. We haven't asked you to pay us anything.
We take on the risk of doing these projects, and putting them together. So right now, we've done we've worked with the team on scope collaboration. You know, as as Pete said, you know, we started with a big number. He gave us all of his needs, all of his wants, and we said, wow, that's a lot. We'd love to do that project, but there's only so much money. So we scaled that down to what, you know, what can we do right now with the money that they with that you have. And we presented preliminary budget. And that's what you have in front of you right now. We do so many of these projects that we're able to give preliminary budgets and
back into the cash flow that you also see. So we present to the board. That's this. You know, we want you to be in the know. We want you to ask all the questions. If there's something when I walk away today, you have more questions, you can reach out through the superintendent or through the team or reach out to me directly. I don't care. I I present multiple times a week to board, so feel free. After this is the detailed energy study that I talked about. We bid everything out. We get the full we get final, final pricing, which is different than you're used to with a voted bond, because typically,
you get all these change orders on the backside, right? So because we're bidding out everything, you know before you sign a contract the exact price. You know, could there be skeletons or could? But typically, we've done our due diligence to say, hey, you know, we have we've looked behind the walls. You know, it's just like your kitchen. If you peel the drywall off, all of a sudden, you're like, what happened to the electrical here? That does happen, but we have some contingency built into the project for that. But typically, we don't see much of the change orders like you do with the, the plant and spec world. So continued collaboration will bring the facts and the figures.
We have biweekly meetings with the team here to just make sure we're keeping on track, checking in, does it make sense, are you happy with this, and we continue those. Final scope and pricing. And then you have the nonvoted energy bond resolution, which, Trune, will help with as well as PFM here. And then you have the contract to execute, which I just executed two in the last week with two different districts in the state, same contract that we that Trune sees every time. And then the bond sale, which is dictated by PFM, not by me. As soon as the bond sale so tomorrow,
Saginaw Township sells their bond. We are ready to go. We already have project meetings on the schedule, and we have any contractors that we need to use. They are already in the know. They're ready to go for summer work. And then training. As we finish up things, we train, and then we put it into warranty. But we won't put it into warranty until after we've measured it. So we'll Pete Pete will be the lucky one to walk around the district and say, okay. We did this light. Here's the same light. We take samplings all over the district, all over the buildings, and we ask, the team to verify and, you know,
come with us to verify those savings. And then, eventually, they'll sign off on them. And then just ongoing support. So ongoing support is not only through this process, but it's also through your capital planning. When we leave here, you're gonna have a real good idea of what you're gonna look at. You know, maybe we we're not touching everything, but how are you gonna plan for it for the next ten years? So that's one of the bonus of being a partner here because we can help with that asset and capital planning. Real quick, this next slide, Page 92, is about the educational return. So we have opportunities. I'm not going to this is an hour presentation in itself.
If you go to one of your board conferences, you'll see this presentation. We talk about our STEM learning. We have a certified STEM curriculum that in some states is from the state level down pertaining to energy. We have a skilled trade. I know you talked about AI. We've been doing AI certifications for the last two years, and we have HVAC. We have data analytics. We have a bunch of different microserves that students can, can get throughout this process of working with us. And then we have a partnership with the NC3, which is the National Coalition for Certification. It's a, non for profit skilled trade, and we have a we are the HVAC,
residential energy commercial partner there. So we train the teachers, basically. Okay. Page 93. So this is the project that I referenced. We have a 31 and a half million dollar. It's now up to 35. And, actually, they they're building a field house as well because they've saved so much money, and that was the pro that was the point of this of them doing this project. Doctor. Van Wagner, this is the second project I did with him. The first one was in Alpena Public Schools, that was very successful. And then he moved to Trapper City, and he said, okay. I'm going to do this a little differently. I'm going to give you bond money,
and I want you to guarantee. So we guaranteed this $30.31500000 dollars that has got to work. So we took off all the energy stuff, but you can see we have, I think we did 10 boiler plants last summer alone, and we're doing two or three steam plants this year. But we've helped them with their capital planning, and we've helped them save money in the plant and spec world as well. So it's a good reference to talk to those board members if you know any of them. We've done a major, major project there, and it's gone great. The next page is just some other I think you got two pages of references
because they printed oh, maybe one. So the next page is just some more references that we've done. As I mentioned, we worked the entire state. I'm working up in Hancock, and I'm working all the way down to Masonry. So, side to side, up and down, a lot of good projects that we've done across the state. And then just sharing the sharing and communicating. So a lot of our districts need help with I think you guys do a good job, but a lot of our districts need help writing press releases, good news stories, sharing what are you doing, how are you saving the district money. We do all that with,
our marketing team as well that we can help with or work with your communication. So that's just some examples. Whole public schools on the left there, they won the Department of Energy award. We got to go to New Orleans there, so that was a good trip. The middle is their rebates. They've gotten over a million dollars in rebates for our project, which is crazy and unheard of. And then just some other things that, you know, we do some signs to let you communicate to the district, to your constituents. Yes. Okay. I think I have questions specific to the proposal that we are seeing here.
Yes. So can you talk about where it's key terms and information? And it says guarantee term is five years based Yes. What does that mean? So by legislation that I reference, we have to guarantee for five years, meaning we'll include that in the project. Now in the Trune contract that we sign, let's say it's five years or it's four years, eleven months, and you say, you know what? Trane, I want you to guarantee for another five years. At that point, you can come back to us and say,
we just want to pay for it. So we can actually extend it all the way up to twenty years. But majority well, not even majority every project that I've done, we've fully exceeded our expectations because we do we are very conservative in it. But you have the ability because legislation only says you have to report for five, we include five in the project. At any time, if you in year two, you want to say, I want to add ten more years. We'll say, okay, we'll do that. We'll just you'll just have to pay for and there'll be a cost in the contract that says what it is per year to add it. But typically typically,
what our districts, because we exceed so, so far, our districts are usually, you know, they're like, why would we need to do it in year six, seven, and eight when we've already exceeded in one through five? So it's but it's totally open to you. The only thing it does is you just have to pay the difference. Do which of these schools on here that you listed have, you know, are over five years now? Let's see. So I don't know if let me go back to the list. I think I originally, I provided a huge list, and I can provide that again.
Sturgis Public Schools is well over five years. They, they owed money to the state because they had to borrow because they didn't have capital to do projects. So when we built their project, we actually left them a little bit more in that savings column so that they could pay down that state. So instead of mental health dogs or school buses, they needed to use that money to pay down their loan. So that's an example. Crestwood is another example. Trying to think Alpena, we're several years into that. My very first project, actually, Ypsilanti, I don't know if that's on the list.
Ypsilanti Public Schools. So we are in year seven So they just kept that same contract throughout because they've seen the benefits of working with us. Okay. And then I know you talked about like LEDs, which seems much easier to me for identifying what the savings will be. But who does the work to confirm that savings on everything? Yes. So we have energy engineers on staff. So we have our own energy engineers. We have a national team of energy engineers that actually, because we guarantee,
it gets oversight internally. But then, again, when it goes to your team of utility account manager I can't think of what the utilities are here, But your DTE, yes. Okay. So DTE will also use those same calcs because what happens in these projects is when you let's say you do a boiler install. You file for the rebates. You get the whatever's in the book. Like, that's they're going to give you that. When we do our projects, we bring them in upfront and say, okay, this is what we're looking at. Where else can you help us find money? Well, their job is to pay out money,
those these account managers. That's how they get that's how they have to perform and show that they're that they're doling this money out. So they come out with us, and they also verify. We have to provide them engineering documents as well, and then they do their calculations. And then when we submit it, the reason why Holt Public Schools got so much money is because we bring them in, and we holistically, apply for them at the same time. So instead of, like, you know, 1 $1,500 check, we're we're asking for lighting. We're asking for boilers, controls, building envelope,
whatever it may be. And so it's kind of like a, it's the best job they have because they're constantly you know, their job is to pay out money to customers. So they're verifying as well. And then we have to one of the things sorry. I didn't mean to interrupt you. We have to, like I said, every three years, and that's us giving applying and showing our calculations. And then the districts will also they have to give references and interviews and things like that to showcase that we're providing them. All right. And then how was it determined for this proposal that $3,750,000
would be upfront versus financing all of this? So why we that's probably a bad term to say upfront. It's a project contribution. And what that means is so in this project, you know, we found, what is it, 12 about $12,000,000 $10,000,000 somewhere in there that we can support just reallocating money. With the scope that that we budgeted for, which was over and above the energy scope, the scope that was budgeted for in our preliminary numbers that, we show or the scope that we show on this this, Word document, because we do this every day.
That's why we put those numbers together now, and we said, okay. It's gonna be roughly about three point what was it? 3.7. Somewhere in there. 3.7. Somewhere in there. What'll happen, though, is the next step is we go get all the firm numbers. You'll know exactly what that number looks like, and then you make the decision. Do we wanna back scope out, or do we wanna continue to add scope? One of the things that, from the bonds that we sold just recently for Summerfield, Nate sold over there, I think we show a 4.3 here, which we always try to be conservative. That bond was a little bit less,
I think 4.01% or something like that. So we're conservative again. We're showing you conservative numbers. It will actually be less, hopefully. And hopefully, by the time we sell yours, it will even be less than that, cross your fingers. So the way we determine is because we do this every day. We know how to we're estimating the work because your work is based on other school districts' work that we've done in the area. So everything we do is based on Michigan school districts because we've done so many of these projects. But you I guess going back, just dumb it down, the 3.75%
was not financed because you couldn't find savings to offset that? Correct. The savings only supported, let's say, the 12 somewhere around the $11,000,000 $12,000,000 But every time you add more scope, it adds a little bit of savings. So for instance, a rooftop unit or a chiller, boilers don't cash flow in twenty years. So when we build our scope, we look and say, okay, what cash flows is in less than twenty years? Lighting, water conservation, controls. You know, we look at that and say, unless it's operational. Maybe you have a piece of equipment, again, back to the rooftop unit,
where you're spending a lot of money trying to keep that rooftop unit going, then we take that into consideration. So when we make the, judgment based on the scope that the district chose to keep going with. They said, okay. We can give you another outside of the energy loan, we can give you 3,700,000 That's up for negotiation at any time. I mean, you can back out of that. But right now, we like to over scope and go out and get the numbers because once they start coming in and they start fluctuating,
we can see, you know, what actually fits in the project. So there might be stuff in here that might fall off. We might find more money, more savings, and we might be able to add more scope. But right now, just based on where is the district comfortable, this is what we put together once they prioritized. Okay. And one last question. Keep asking them. Will all of the equipment be produced by train? No. So it depends on what's in the scope. So it's whatever the district so you can see here, you know, like, we don't produce lights. We don't manufacture, but we are a global company that gets good pricing because we do these projects
all over the nation. So we get bulk pricing, and we get better pricing because we, you know, we're able to buy in bulk. Now you are gonna tell me what you wanna standardize in, which is fine. We have to make sure that it's gonna fit the criteria to last that longevity of over twenty years You'll have a longer warranty with lights Let's if we just keep it as example So typically in a light, depending on where you got them from, there's different tiers of lighting they're all made overseas, but you'll know if you've ever changed you know, bought a Home Depot light for your house and then it doesn't last and you
have to replace it. We don't want that in our projects. Not to say that it won't happen, but you have a ten year warranty in lights as opposed to what you typically would get, in most projects, which is usually anywhere from three to five years. So we want to make sure that we don't have to keep replacing them. That's my last one that I'll ask. I had submitted a bunch of others, if we can just get answers to those before we vote on anything. Anybody else have questions? No? We do have a trustee that's not here who typically likes to ask questions. Okay. Well, at this point, I guess my question is,
what's the next step in the process? So the next step is for us to get the final pricing. And keep in mind, we're doing this. We haven't we're not asking you to pay us to do this or anything. We're just going out. We're taking on the risk ourselves. So we want to keep you in the loop to make sure that you understand the process and that you're comfortable as we move to each through each milestone on that sheet that I showed you. So our next step would be, okay, this is, you know, this is where we've kind of settled here on the scope. We're going to start pricing everything out with firm pricing and firm savings.
So you'll see exactly, instead of this, this cash flow being budgetary, it'll come back with the actual pricing. So you've got to see it before you make any decision. Okay. Anything else? No? Well, thank you. That was a whole lot of talking in a really fast amount of time. I appreciate it. I'm sorry if I'm too fast. You did great considering you didn't have a visual to talk to. Thank you. Thank you so much, Madam President. I do have, members from PFM here to talk about the pricing. Real quick, I would like to talk about the bond sale and what that looks like so the Board is comfortable, if you don't mind. Sure.
So, Mr. McDaniel, can you come up? Yeah. Thank you, doctor Drew Lucas. So, I would do wanna acknowledge that Nate Watson is here from PFM. You remember him when we did bond refunding. As Gwen mentioned, there's a few steps before we actually get to the bond sale, including the board, approving that we want to continue with this process. So Nate will be back, but he's here if there's any questions that you guys have on the structure of the bond. I think, Michelle, you had asked a question about why we front loaded that $3,750,000 and I think that was partially because we want to be cash flow positive throughout this so that the general fund didn't need to support any of that.
And we have an opportunity now with the sinking fund where we can fund that. There's also statewide, infrastructure grants as well as federal energy grants. There used to be more under the previous administration, but there's still some out there that could help offset that 3.75% whether that comes from general fund or sinking fund. But I think it was important for us to explore every opportunity that we could to fund district needs without impacting our communities tax dollars. Any questions for Nate? I know we didn't spend much time on it. Once we actually get there, there'll be more. Just what, tell me month wise, like,
when do we think that, TRIM will be back and we would be going for a bond and then to PFM, an idea looking in your crystal ball of what the interest rates would be at that point or the bond rates? Yeah. I think the next step is for the board at the next meeting to give us the green light to continue. I would defer to Glenn on how long it takes to get through her next steps before the bond sale, and then Nate could discuss what that bond process looks like. Yes. I think we'll be in the fall. So it'll take us some time to get all the RFPs written for the different
ECMs. We call them energy conservation measures. So we'll get that out. We'll invite people. We'll do building walks. We do all that stuff. So we're thinking sometime September, October time frame. So we gotta get all the facts and figures. Our job is to get the facts and figures and the savings, and then we throw it over the fence to that to the PFM. And he works his magic, and then he comes back and tells me, yay or nay. The scope is good. The scope, you know, you have a little bit of room, whatever that means. You know, we need to descope or add scope, and then we just go from there. So we're thinking the fall. Sure. Good evening.
So, usually, it takes about ten weeks after the board of education considers the bond resolution to actually have the bond proceeds in hand. If the district were to sell twenty year nonvoted debt with level, debt service payments, be about 3.9% at a taxable rate or I'm sorry, tax exempt rate. Crystal ball is very broken. You know, interest rates are fluctuating pretty good up and down, like, within a bandwidth of, like, a half percent. But as of today, I would guesstimate 3.9%. And as Gwen said,
I believe she projected 4.3%. So market rate's about 0.4% under what those projections are showing you. Yes. One last question. Mr. McDaniel, did you indicate that we would be voting on something at our next meeting or not until the, like, September time frame whenever they come back with actual numbers? Yes, I think and I'll refer to Doctor. DeLuca, correct me if I'm wrong, is that we would want the green light from you guys to continue the process at the next board meeting. When we get to the bond process, assuming that you give us the go ahead, next time that'll be another vote for the board.
Yes. So basically, we want to just your agreement that we continue down the process of the 16 point some million dollars Again, the contract is based off, like Glenn said, the final bid number. So we want to be able to move forward with this scope to get actual bid numbers. And then once PFM does all their stuff based on the $16,000,000 scope of what all that stuff, then that's when the Board resolution would be. So we just want to be able to continue this process then. If you haven't already, would you speak to those, districts that have already been doing this for five plus years?
I mean, I'm really curious about that six through twenty year and the savings that they're seeing at that point. Yes. Again, like Ben said, if we decide at end of year four, close to year five, if we want to continue and pay them whatever the fee is, whatever their fee is to verify the additional savings for years six through 'twenty, we can look at doing that. Yes. But I'm curious for the ones that didn't pay for it. Do you know what I mean? Are they still seeing those savings that were projected?
That's a Gwen question. She'll have to answer that. Or she probably Well, no. I mean, that would be us, right, calling and talking to other districts to see. I think I can share that, you know, we went through the RFP process where we ordered this to train. We talked to, two or three different school districts because I was a little skeptical and had been trained that energy bonds aren't necessarily, real numbers, I guess, is is the way to put it. But there's some questionable calculations and things like that. Every superintendent that I spoke to, and mister Musio was there as well, they love the energy bonds. You know, they I think there was a couple that had done multiple,
with Trane. So I think we can follow-up to that specific question because we didn't specifically ask if you're continuing to pay Trane beyond five years. But everyone that we spoke to, we're very happy and we're continuing to pursue future energy bonds, whether that was with Trane or somebody else. Well, and just to be clear, I'm not asking this is a to me, this is a twenty year prediction of savings, right? I just want someone who's five plus years in to tell us if they're still really seeing those savings that were projected or if they're seeing less or they're seeing
more. Mhmm. So not people who have renewed for savings, but just people who are post five years and how are they doing? Yes. Okay. Anyone else? No? Thank you. Thank you for coming forward. Appreciate it. Let's clap. All right. Next up is item 7.6, the myKIP goals. And I believe this is, again, Superintendent Russo. Good evening. I'm gonna jump right to you, mister Leary, in the interest of time. No no preface here. Go ahead.
Thank you. Good evening. Tonight, I have the privilege of sharing our proposed myKIP plan. The framework provides the means of supporting continuous improvement and meeting state and federal requirements. So what is myKIP? The myKIP platform was implemented in 2021. Prior to this, each school and the district would create their own plan, leading the work to be done alone rather than collaboratively. Mykit provides a coherent framework for one overall plan to be created with differentiation for individual buildings at the strategy and activity level.
Plans generally have one to two system goals with three to five evidence based strategies from the MyStrategy Bank, which is maintained by the Michigan Department of Education. Strategies are then tagged or assigned to buildings with specific activities to implement the strategy over the life of the goal. We reviewed our current goal and, based on feedback, determined that there was a To refresh this goal for better understanding for all stakeholders. This being the third year of the goal made it a natural entry point to begin the cycle with stakeholders.
To start the process, we reached out to Oakland Schools to assist us. Utilizing the support of Oakland Schools as we began our MICHIP cycle, Oakland Schools met with our core team, and in turn, the core team then replicated the process with our larger team building process building administrators and curriculum consultants. We look for existing structures to expand the voices fueling the process. In between face to face meetings, we met with virtually with the consultants as needed. Oakland Schools served as a facilitator of the process. As an ISD,
the role is not to provide specific input for our goal to districts, rather to be a thought partner and support. At the district level, the core team met with the stakeholders both in large and small groups to gather feedback. This process provided a means for gathering both formal and informal feedback. So a few identified areas of inquiry were achievement, attendance and learning opportunities for students. We reviewed data for each of these areas, both formal and informal, using our RCS data protocol. This process was implemented both with the core team and at district level meetings.
From these areas of inquiry, we chose to focus on one goal area for the purpose of MYCAP. The other areas will continue to be assessed and evaluated outside of the MYKIP platform. A data story summary was drafted utilizing guiding questions from the MYKIP platform. The data story is a summarization of our achievement data. Again, our protocol was used to examine the facts, looking at continued trends and considered factors within our control. We began to focus in the areas that could make the greatest impact across the system over time.
From this, we began to analyze a root cause using an MDE approved tool called a Fishbone, both as a core team and with other stakeholder groups. The fishbone diagram provided us with the means of identifying areas across the system potentially influencing our data summary. As part of the bones of the fish, the smaller bones refine the possible factors causing the effect. This activity was completed with administrators and consultants. Looking at the student bone, you see engagement and attendance listed as possible factors. Our focus is not on the individual student,
but rather what does the system need to do to make this a success rather than a challenge. Building cohesion in identified areas helps us operate as one district. Site needs are considered, and individual needs based on data can be potentially addressed in the activities section of a goal. After completing this activity, the MY KIP core team met and reviewed the diagrams in order to draft a goal statement to bring the large to the larger team to discuss and refine. So the revised goal is presented here on this slide.
By June 2029, the number of proficient students overall in Literacy and Math, as measured by state assessments, M STEP and SAT, will increase by 3% for students at grades three, six and eleven based on the 2026 results. Setting the goal at 3% is a result of reviewing trend data from five years of historical data as well as research recommended a percent increase of 3% to 5% over a span of three to five years is an attainable goal,
especially when the starting point is at a higher average. For the 2026, our current percentages are as follows: third grade ELA, 61.6% proficient math, 71.8% proficient sixth grade, ELA, 66.5% proficient math, 62.1% proficient. SAT scores are not in yet. They are due at the June. For the twenty twenty nine year, we would be looking for scores to be at least at 64.6
in ELA at third grade and 74.8 for math for third grade. Sixth grade would be ELA 69.565.1% for math. This goal would put us near the baseline of the first year where all students took the assessment post COVID for ELA in third grade, above the baseline in math for third grade and above the baseline for sixth grade in both subjects. This school is monitoring the growth by grade level versus a cohort of students. This provides a systemic way of monitoring the impact of strategies identified rather than a
specific group of student performance. As part of our data reviews of benchmark and summative assessments, we will be monitoring all grades and subgroups for growth. It is just for the purpose of MYKIP that we are focusing on three specific grades. There we go. In order to implement this goal, three strategies were selected from the MyStrategy Bank, again, an MDE resource, which supports the MYKIP plan. When selecting strategies, a protocol is used to determine if the strategy can be implemented as intended. This includes capability to implement,
sustainability and the availability of the necessary resources to implement the strategy. For example, staff capacity, access to ongoing professional learning and funding of the strategy. Once strategies are selected, then activities can be identified to ensure the strategy is implemented with fidelity. Activities are intended as the actions to implement the strategy. Examples of activities include providing professional learning and curricular resources to teachers to monitoring the impact of professional learning and our strategic plan deliverables in some cases.
Once an activity has been completed, the date is entered into the platform along with any notes. Additional activities or strategies can also be added to the platform as needed. We will leverage Qualtrics tools in the coming year to gauge stakeholder input along the way with new curricular resources, the effectiveness of our professional learning and the degree to which our teams feel their needs are being met. This provides a structure to gather and document meaningful stakeholder input and coherence with the strategic plan. Upon approval at the next Board meeting,
our plan will be finalized within the platform. Then from that, we will generate the district plan along with each individual school's plan. And then these will then be posted on the appropriate web pages. In summary, the plan is an ongoing process that continues to evolve. Our progress monitoring notes provide space for our team to gauge our progress over time, to share that progress with our MyCAP leadership team and all building administrators through our K-twelve teaching and learning leadership meetings. Our goal through this year's work is to continue to expand our areas of cohesiveness
as a district through continued collaboration, shared planning and data review. Any questions? I know I went kind of quick. Trustee Blake? Yeah. I don't want to keep us here any longer, but I did want to thank, Mr. Russo because I had asked for these specific numbers, like, twenty four hours ago, and I got them. But I'm gonna probably need you to email them so I can absorb them Yes. A little more. And I also had asked how that compared to pre and post COVID. I do wonder if, like, three percent on everything like, if every number should be three percent, some of them are like 10 points lower than others.
Maybe we need more than three here, but three is enough here. But we can talk about this further at another time. But thank you for being responsive. So I can address a little bit to that. So we can adjust after year one. So if we see we've exceeded that 3%, we can go in and adjust the goal. So there is that flexibility. That is the beauty of the MYCIP platform. You're not set for three years of these percentages. I just wanted to I was going to preface this before, but I'll take twenty seconds to do it now. I think
I know the board, specific members of the board, when I first got to Rochester, were very interested in the my kit process and what the goals were in getting a, a smart goal attached to this. Right? And and this has become on a spectrum of involvement over here. No involvement to involvement over here. We've moved the needle like this where the involvement of administrators and just the fabric of looking at data specifically, but actually looking at this type of data and knowing that there's a three year goal in front of us and aligning some of our goals across the district within
it, is definitely different than when two years ago when I got here. And that's to the work of Karen and Kimberly and and a host of people that I'll forget at 11:00 at night. So I apologize for that. But thank you. Trustee Patel. Just quickly on the and maybe I missed it and you said it, the my KIPP fishbone diagram. So is it saying that the only things we identified were engagement and attendance that were impacting that? Or what is that telling us? This is just an example. So we as a core team,
we took some of the areas and did this. And also our district administrators did this as well. So they identified they may have identified, in this case, students, teachers, leaders like is the systems and then dive deeper into those. We just put a couple of examples in to show you. So like instruction, it might be we're looking at the pacing. What are our curricular resources? How does all that play into the success or challenge that we're seeing from our data? Okay. So this is just a tool, but not we're not seeing what was actually came out of it? Correct. Trustee Locue?
Well, I appreciate seeing that we have a growth target, but I was also wondering how we arrived at the 3% because my main concern was it didn't seem like much of a stretch goal. And if we're trying to increase the percentage, it it didn't seem quite aggressive enough to me. And then when you said that, we can revise after year one to see if most students are hitting the 3%, It made me wonder, are we setting the goal to match our performance? Or are we setting the goal? No. So we looked at trend data. So we went back, like, five years and looked to see where our percentages were.
So some years, we were like, for example, if I look my glasses back, I'm going to read this. So if I look at third grade ELA, for twenty twenty four-twenty five, we were at 61.6% proficient. If I go back to twenty twenty three-twenty twenty four, we were 64%, twenty twenty two-twenty three-twenty twenty four, so kind of averaging. And then with Oakland Schools also looking at this, 3% to 5% is the typical growth goal that you would put in for three to five years, that you're growing at least a percentage each year, especially when you are a district that is achieving higher than the state averages,
a 3% to 5% net growth you want to see. We exceed it, then we'll go on and say, okay, you know what? We're doing more. We need to challenge ourselves even further. But we wanted to make something that was attainable and measurable. We also have to keep in mind, we have new curricular resource coming in next year. So that could impact. So we're kind of looking at this. But with Oakland Schools facilitating with us and our goals, a 3% to 5% was felt reasonable, which is a typical that you'll see across the state when goals are written for achievement goals are 3% to 5%. So I had a question.
Your summary says that the goal is for three years, and there'll be yearly progress checks with data. So when do those typically happen? And how will the Board be informed about this progress? So progress rate checks will come like, so if we're using M STEP, when we get the M STEP results, those are our progress checks. And we've informed the Board typically at our achievement summary presentation. But in terms of the MYKIP, I mean, is it just that metric? Isn't it more than that though that's in figuring that out?
I guess I'm So the MYKIP is the platform. So the MYKIP, we put the goal in the platform, and we use that to document and take our progress notes. Okay. Department of Education looks at it to see how are we doing, but they will also use it in terms of, for example, grant funds. Anything using grant funds has to relate to our myCIP goal and how do those funds support that goal. Okay. Anyone else with questions? Yes, Doctor. Ospwa. Are we talking so this is a goal for three years, and forgive me, it's late. Are you talking about growing 3% each year or growing three percent over the next
three years? Growing 3% over the next three years. Trustee Blake? You know what? I just think that there should at least be something each year, not just three year. I mean, we could go down, down, and then back up, and then when it's fine, and I I guess that's okay. I don't know. It just so it we're not we don't know any I guess we're having a progress check, but we don't have a goal in one year to go up anything. Divide. Well, no. Not necessarily. We have three years to do something. We don't have to do it in a year. We could do it all in three alright. Well, let's just talk about this in
Okay. Anyone else? No? Okay. Thank you, Karen. Appreciate your work. Thank you. Okay. Moving on to new business. Item eight, we have the food service management contract renewal, which is an action item for mister McDaniel. Alright. Good evening. Last year, we went out for bid and awarded the contract to Chartwells. MD allows us the ability to renew that contract for one year for four additional total years. So we are recommending that, we renew the contract to Chartwells. They have been a great partner for us,
this year, especially with the strategic plan goals, increasing the number of staff to support scratch cooking and lower sugar options and present our recommendation to you to renew the contract with Chartwells for one year. Thank you. Okay. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Is there a motion to approve the food service management contract to Chartwells in the amount of 9 point to Chartwells in the amount of $0.0978 per meal or $25,235 per month as presented? So moved by Trustee Lausanne, supported by Trustee Alsbaugh. Any discussion? Seeing none, I'll take a vote.
All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. That's a seven-zero vote. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. Before we move on, I just want to acknowledge that Marsha, our director, is here. Oh, yay. Hi, Marsha. Yes, late night for her. And on behalf of, I think, all of our Chartwells employees, thank you for renewing the contract. I'm sure that makes them very happy that they're now looking for new employers next year. So thank you. The next item is item 8.2, which is the Oakland Schools budget for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. And that's also for you, Mr. McDaniel. Yes. So the Oakland Schools budget, we receive a number of different services from Oakland Schools and we participate in the
Virtual Learning Academy consortium, the Oakland Technical Campus. They facilitate a number of different grants for us. So, I watched this budget presentation, there is a board delegate that's also able to, watch that presentation and then you guys have in the packet your information. So it's really the will of the board. If you want to approve or disapprove, I would say the ask from Oakland Schools is that if you disapprove the budget, that there's a reason why. I think my recommendation would be to approve the Oakland Schools budget. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel.
Is there a motion to approve the Oakland Schools budget resolution for fiscal year twenty twenty seven as presented? So moved by Doctor. Alsbaugh. Is there a second? So moved by Doctor. Sherry Wynne Perdue. Discussion? Seeing none. Oh, I'm sorry, Doctor. Alsbaugh. I just think it's really important for us to support the ISD and all the services they they offer. We've heard tonight how they've helped our district through many different processes, the myKIP, the AI stuff. And I really think the services they give, are very valuable in extending our learning.
Thank you. Anyone else? Trustee Buteau? I was just going to say, I know that they have their new nanotechnology sector and it covers biology as well. And I just didn't know, Mr. Russo, if we have plans to because it's one where we have to take our students there, if we have plans to be involved with that in the coming year. That has not been a topic of discussion yet, but I'm sure that's coming. Trustee Lecui? Alright. I've said this before. I don't think that Oakland Schools manages its money well, and I don't I don't like that we put in more than we get out. And I don't like some of the things coming down the pipeline,
so I will vote no on this one. Okay. Thank you for sharing that opinion. Anyone else? Seeing none. All those in favor of approving the Oakland Schools budget resolution for fiscal year twenty twenty seven as presented, please say aye. Aye. So that is five ayes. All those opposed? No. That is two. So a five-two vote, that does pass. Next, also is item 8.3 with you, Mr. McDaniel, the International Academy budget for fiscal year twenty twenty seven. Take it away. Yes. So, we have about 136 students that are estimated to participate in the IA,
next year. I would recommend that you approve this budget because if you don't, then we are exiting the IA. So that is the terms of the agreement, and I think we would like to continue with that. Thank you very much. Is there a motion to approve the International Academy Board resolution regarding the fiscal year twenty twenty seven operating budget as presented? Moved by Doctor. Sherry Wynn Perdue, seconded by Shelley Lauzon. Discussion? Seeing none, I'll take a vote. All those in favor, please say aye. Aye. I believe that's a seven-zero vote. Thank you, Mr. McDaniel. All
right. Next on the agenda is item 8.4, which is the insurance settlement discussion. This agenda item is before the Board tonight so that the Board's approval is on the record. Dollars 190,000 settlement in the case of Spears v. Rochester Community Schools was reached on 04/21/2026, on the Board's behalf and per the terms of our insurance contract with our former insurance carrier, Hanover Insurance Company. Because the District had already met its deductible, the District will not need to contribute any money towards the settlement. It is fully covered by insurance.
I'd like to make a motion to approve the mediation agreement as presented regarding Spears v. Rochester Community Schools. Seeing Jason Blake move as their support. Support from Secretary Buetel. Discussion? May I present. Trustee Locuhi. Well, we're being asked to approve an insurance settlement regarding the Spears lawsuit that had to do with real bullying and racism. And the complaint is public, and it alleges that little was done to address this. And anyone can feel free to look up the public complaint.
A student was subjected to a barrage of racist messages in a team group chat, specific anti black slurs, violent racist imagery, messages about beating black people, quote, like back in the day. And his father reported it immediately, provided the evidence, and the school acknowledged it. And then according to the complaint, no meaningful consequence occurred. No suspension, no removal from the team. The students continued sitting in class and suiting up for sports right alongside the child they targeted. The district, on the other hand,
maintained in their filings that it investigated and imposed, quote, appropriate discipline. But nowhere in the public record does it say what that discipline actually was. Ultimately, we settled for $190,000. And while a settlement is not necessarily a finding of liability, we should note that a settlement of this size involving a family that had to file a federal lawsuit to be heard is not nothing. And here's why we're discussing it publicly at all, because the settlement agreement itself required a public vote of the board because otherwise,
we wouldn't even be doing this tonight. The public might want to consider asking how many settlements are out there that we don't hear about. In fact, there was one last fall, and this lack of visibility does not promote accountability. The public deserves better than buried line items and minimum disclosure. When this board approves a settlement, we owe a clear accounting and a commitment to making sure that it doesn't happen again. Anyone else? Trustee Blake. So she's correct that this case is a public record. It's been filed in a courthouse,
but it does involve our students. And it involves the student who was the litigant and involves other students in the district. And I just think discussing our students in a public forum like this, and people know who all of the students are, I just don't think it's what we ought to do. I think the the less that we discuss this traumatic thing and I don't agree with any of these allegations in terms that they were right or that that that type of treatment is appropriate.
I'm not approving of any of it. But the less that we discussed the details of these children, the better. We had an insurance company. They made the decision. If we didn't cooperate with them, we didn't have any coverage. We were that's what we learned. We didn't have any input in whether we settled this case. And it doesn't matter if we agree on the valuation or we agree on the allegations or we agree on anything. We had to financially protect the district, and that's what we're doing. And so but I am glad that you said the reason why the settlement agreement was being,
discussed in this meeting is or the reason why this was being discussed is because it was in the settlement agreement. Because I heard Andrew Weaver stand at that stand and say the reason why it was being discussed is because you forced it to be discussed. So I'm glad that you acknowledge that that's incorrect. Okay. I'll take a vote now. All those in favor, please say I Madam president? There is a vote on the table. No. You cannot just move to a vote. Robert's rules, if you want to abide by Robert's rules, as you said in the beginning of the meeting, then you must Okay. I'm acknowledging you. You can't steamhold people into a vote. Need to say. Okay.
Well, I want to clarify something. Is this your second time speaking? Just to just to preface, this is your second time speaking. I'm gonna limit speech to two times, and I have the right to do that as the chair. So go ahead. I can count. Okay. Great. Based on our own written policies, both the student code of conduct and the athletic code of conduct, we did have clear authority to suspend students from athletic participation if we had choo if we had chosen. And I will state for the record that when it comes to the clear bullying
and racism that you will find described in that complaint that was, you know, it was proven. Like, that that is something that we didn't dispute. I mean, that was there. There ought to be meaningful consequences and participating in sports is a privilege. And, so I I will say for the record that what we should be doing in a situation like this is trying to learn from it. And I know that we often use the seven factors that Michigan law when you're applying discipline, But, you know, like factors five and six, whether the behavior posed a safety risk,
whether lesser interventions were attempted, whether the con conduct was violation of the student code of conduct. You know, I would really have to ask, which which of these seven factors resulted in in the explanation for what happened in this case? I think that there were some mistakes, and it's time for us to stop brushing mistakes under the rug. It's time for us to acknowledge mistakes and move forward. And that is what we are going to do. So now I'm gonna move to yes. I just don't know how you think it's helpful to this student to talk about these allegations and to direct people to go read.
Read the things in the in the pleadings, and you'll be shocked at the things you read. You're reading about a kid, and you're reading about other kids, and you're encouraging people to know about that. And more, I just don't understand it. I don't. Okay. I have a a brief question. I have a brief question, which is allowed under Weybridge rules. And I would just say, do you think there should be meaningful consequences when racism and bullying Of course. But that's not what we're discussing. That is the principle I am talking about. So moving on to a vote. All those in favor of approving the mediation agreement as presented regarding Spears v.
Rochester Community Schools, please say aye. Aye. All those opposed? Seeing none, that's a seven-zero vote. We're on to item nine, which is the remainder of public comment, which we do not need. And item number 10 is additional comments by the members of the administration, and I'll pass that to Superintendent Russo. Thank you, madam president. I just want to take a moment to say thank you to Jamie Rockcliffe, for her six years of presidency is something remarkable. RCS PTA has a nationwide presence and that's a no doubt related to PTA leadership, related to Jamie and others in the organization.
And I think it's just something worth noting, six years of volunteerism that brings multiple groups together is something to recognize. Thank you. I agree with you. Thank you for bringing that up. We're on to item 11, which is announcements. May 2225, there's no school. On May 26, Adam High School's commencement at seven p. M. The following day on the twenty seventh is Rochester High School. Also at OREENA, their commencement at seven p. M. And then on the twenty eighth, Stoney Creek High School, their commencement at OREENA at seven p.
M. So I'm looking forward to those three days. They're very, very joyful. June 7 is the International Academy graduation at Pine Knob, which I'll be attending. And then on June 8, we have another board meeting here at six p. M. If there's no objection, the meeting will be adjourned at 10:58. Seeing none, the meeting is adjourned.