Of the Southfield School Board of Education in public for the per purposes of conducting the Southfield Schools district business and is not intent to be considered as a community meeting. There is one opportunity for public participation during the meeting, and comments are limited to three minutes per individual. The board will listen to comments but may not respond during the meeting. If If you wish to address the board, please submit a comment card immediately. Roll call. Yvette Wardevall, board president. Good evening. Talisha Belk, board treasurer. Nicole Denson, board trustee.
Good evening. Paris Whitman, student board representative. Jennifer Green, superintendent. Taking minutes this evening is miss Carolyn Foster, and technical support is being provided by m one studios. And for the record, Leslie Smith Thomas will be in shortly. Our trustee vice president, Monty Johnson, is out of the country. If we could please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America and to the republic allegiance to the republic to the republic under that, indivisible, with liberty, and justice for all.
At the top of our agenda, we have board matters. To the trustees, do you have any board matters that you would like to share with our community this evening? Through the chair? Absolutely. I have a few that I wanted to lift this evening. The first I wanted to lift and make a request for the update of our, district website and the redesign implementation timeline. I'm hoping that we can possibly get, like, a ninety day turnaround to where the board can have something to review for the implementation of our website. I know that it's been lifted a few times, so I just wanted to, put
that out there for one of our board matters. I have another one for our transportation update. We know that our community have been has been complaining and talking about our transportation, but we've been hearing that, things are back on track. But I'm just requesting that we receive updated thirty day report that we have discussed previously, so that we can get that through the superintendent's office. Absolutely. Poor treasurer, I received those request, and I do wish to share that we have the thirty day meeting with First Student scheduled for next, Tuesday, December 16.
So I will have a full update for you on that, process shortly thereafter. And as it pertains to the website, as you know, we are in the process of doing final selection for the new communications coordinator, at which time that person will be onboarding, and we are looking to make any necessary changes with the website effective in January. So for next semester, I will have that update for you as well in January. Okay. Perfect. Thank you. One more. Absolutely. I know we're ending the, the year end and the calendar year, but I have
not seen anything on my calendar. So I wanted to lift this to make sure that we have, year end superintendent evaluation, on the books. I'm not showing that we have that on the books, and I believe that all of the trustees have been trained on the evaluation tool because I know that it's important before the end of the year. So I just wanted to lift that. I haven't seen anything on the books for that. Other chair? Yes. As a new board trustee, I haven't received the super evaluation information into training. We'll make sure that happens, trustee Denton.
Okay. Thank you. I have one last one. You can. I just want to, know if we have any dates on the calendar for town halls for university, for our move, for I saw that we have we know what day we're doing the groundbreaking. We have that information, but I was wondering if we were scheduling any town halls, just for our parents so that we can make sure it's clear. I did look at the sign. I was asking miss Foster about that. So if we have anything, then we can get it out to the parents so that they can participate. And that concludes my current matters. Thank you. Doctor Green, you'll make sure we get that information.
We will have those dates at the beginning at the top of the year as well. Okay. And, board president, if I may, add, unfortunately, due to the weather, you know, we had the legislative update scheduled for tomorrow. And, unfortunately, due to the timing of the inclement weather, we had to cancel that, and that will be rescheduled because that was one of the additional opportunities that we were going to share information regarding our bond updates. Okay. And all parties who are involved have been, brought up to speed on the weather
conditions that we have coming? We did send notification to all of our elected officials as well as our partners that our bond partners and, most importantly, we sent notification to all of our families. Okay. Thank you. Any other board matters? The only, board matter that I would like to lift is, first of all, as you can see, we do have a a trustee, our previous board member, board trust, board president who has moved on. And I am working with you all as well as our board to, fill that
seat until our organizational meeting next year. So I am excited to be in this, position as well as to work with the community, to make sure that we get things done at least in the next thirty days and moving forward. Happy holidays as this is our last regular board meeting. We do have a few other meetings that we will be part of, but this is our last regular meeting. So happy holidays. Find some time to spend with your family and friends. There's currently a lot on our calendars as it relates to activities within our district. So, please support all of the children, to the grandparents and aunties.
And, of course, we will be out doing our best to make sure that we are present and supportive in that manner as well. With that said, we're gonna go ahead and get into our student board rep's, presentation. I understand that one is not feeling well, so we can move through yours quickly, Paris. Okay? Thank you. Good evening. Good evening. I'm Paris, one of your student board representatives, and I'll be reporting for Southwood A and T today. As we enter December, a month filled with celebrations like Christmas, Kwanzaa, and Hanukkah, and other traditions families honor in their own way, we're reminded of the importance of togetherness,
gratitude, and supporting those we care about. This season highlights the strength of our community and the warrior spirit we show through kindness and connection. For December, here are the past and current highlights for Southwood High School for the Arts and Technology. I will first report on our sports. Winter sports have officially kicked off, and our teams are already making momentum. The boys' basketball opened the season with a strong win on the road against East English Village Preparatory Academy on December 2 while also working hard when they face Canton on Friday. Our wrestling team began their season on the weekend with their first match against Warren
Lincoln. Bowling is off to a good start with many returning athletes leading their team. Their most recent competition was December 8 at Astro fizz at Astro Lanes versus North Farmington. Our girls' basketball team will make their home debut December 12, which also doubles as middle school night. We hope to see the stands filled with spirit and warrior support. Tryouts for competition cheer have wrapped up, and athletes have officially placed have officially been placed on their teams. They've started practices in our building routines as they prepare for the upcoming season. Our marching warriors have also had a busy season and successful one as well.
They participated in the Harvest Fest at University High School where they completed six rounds against 10 different schools in an event hosted by Levy Middle School. Some of the groups they performed alongside include Oak Park, Renaissance, e course, and Levy. The band also represented our community at the Americans Thanksgiving Day Parade in Detroit and helped bring community holiday spirit to the South Florida Municipal Center tree lighting where they performed several pieces that brought everyone together. I'll begin with the leadership and activities highlights.
Our Rocket League esports team is currently in the playoffs. They've been practicing consistently and have the support from students, which has motivated the players to continue through the bracket. They are also holding a second set of tryouts for another season of sports. The National Honor Society has welcomed 16 new members for the twenty twenty five, twenty twenty six school year. The National Honor Society's Menace for Kitties donation drive is underway with steady preparation and participation. Several teachers in seminar classes have become quite competitive about securing the lead. The winning seminar class will receive a popcorn party.
This initiative of service is to donate gloves and other winter gear to the elementary schools in the district. The senior pinning ceremony was a meaningful event honoring our seniors and celebrating their accomplishments. The speeches were well received and the and motivational to the class, especially the poem read by vice president Carys Pate, but was even more popular was the Jim Jones donated by the PTSA and the senior rock painting tradition attendees enjoyed afterwards. The TV production Thanksgiving show highlighted student creativity and spirit through student made segments, which
featured great music. For senior movie night, students watched Zootopia two on opening day, and thanks to the PTSA sponsorship, every attendee received a goodie bag with popcorn, water, and candy. There was also a photo area so students could capture memories with friends. Our book club, on the same page, continues meetings on Wednesday mornings at 07:05 in the Media Center and encourages students to explore new reading selections and connections. They are currently reading One of Us is Lying. Our student council food drive was a major success. They they prepared 12 full Thanksgiving dinner baskets of non perishables and delivered them to
the counselors so they can support the students in our own school who need them. This initiative, originally started by a past student council president, shows how leadership and service continue to build our warrior spirit over time. Let me now tell you about the academic highlights. Our new apprenticeship wall continues to gain attention throughout the building. The main interactive display is set up outside door one by the main office, and we also have mini walls outside the library, the cafeteria, and inside the counseling center. Students can scan the QR code to watch a short informational video and access specific
apprenticeship applications. GEAR UP has been sharing more information about career pathways to the seniors in the trades. Their class visits and resource prep presentations have helped students better understand certification programs and hands on career op options. The c two pipeline university STEM lab recently held its grand opening on November 22. C two pipeline students and other students who were interested had the chance to take the bus to the lab and spend the day exploring, experimenting, and working on hands on activities. The experience encouraged curiosity, innovation, and teamwork, and teachers said students were highly engaged throughout
the visit. Students in the health careers NAFF program also experienced a unique learning opportunity when the physical therapist assistant program from the WCCC visited the anatomy and physiology class. They taught students about the PTA career and learn and led them through real PT, balance, and strength assessments such as standing on one leg and repeated sit to stand exercises. I now have a specific highlight about security and safety. On November 20, the PTSA meeting was held in the media Center. Here, parents learn about recent changes that'll soon be made as well as current programs
and events that are happening in our school. Our school will receive four new metal detectors, two at the field house and two by the media center entrance. Each monitored entrance will have security guards or officers present to assist and maintain safety procedures. Before I wrap up my December report, I would like to highlight the leadership shown by two seniors, Eric Miller and Xavier Jenkins. Our senior class board initially struggled to promote the after school movie night event, but Eric and Xavier helped us gain momentum again. They recognized that we needed to do what worked best for us as teenagers, social media, and created a group chat that brought the entire senior class together.
Their initiative helped us communicate more effectively and boost attendance. We are incredibly proud of this impact that they've made. Thank you for listening to my report. I hope your holiday is well, and see you next month. Thank you. Thank you. We'll now hear from our representative, Chidi, from university k twelve. Ho ho ho. I'm Emily Alvisanta, but it's truly my pleasure to wish everyone a warm and joyful happy holidays. Over the past four months, we've celebrated in so many moments from Labor Day to Thanksgiving, and now we're heading to the most wonderful time of the year.
My personal favorite, winter break. So, obviously, it's the best. Before we dive into the celebrations, we at the EU would like to give a huge round of applause to an incredible woman, our newly selected board president, miss Yvette Weidovall. We all truly wish you a great congratulations. As we enjoy the season of giving, I hope we all remember the message of our last, being thankful. For all students, certainly have, first graders held their own Thanksgiving parade inspired by balloons over Broadway. They studied the history of parade balloons and the famous missus Thanksgiving parade, designed their own creations, and even gen engineered many buildings for their floats.
Our fourth graders shared heartfelt messages of thankfulness while enjoying a beautiful Thanksgiving meal provided by Dean Bowden and our grand generous parents. Of course, the holidays aren't just about gifts. No one knows that better than our talented boy talented band and choir students. As miss Barrett said, the way she can the band went to the Michigan First Credit Union. They had a festival of life members of the band performed at the sound field tree lighting ceremony. The angelic voices of the university choir under the leadership of miss Stacy Barrett signed beautifully at the Hope United Methodist Church on November 30.
Now let's talk about academics because our students have been shining brighter than holiday lights. Our middle school earned an impressive state index score of 89.24 boosted by programs like academic gains led by miss Nelson, whose team placed third in their first tournament. A k to five students achieved an outstanding 95.97 on the state index score after hands on learner learning at Leonardo da Vinci's machines in motion exhibit, which connects science, engineering, and literature. Your minds are easily made with way better memory than last of us.
I know I would never be able to connect that. Have you ever heard that the saying that when they smoke, there's fire? It's usually meant to mean that there's almost every truth every rumor. At the u, rumors are at the u, the rumors are true. We excel. We scored near perfect on the state proficiency index, 99.03. This demonstration of brilliance shows that scholars at our school don't just follow other people's definition of what it means to be provided for college. We define it. While most schools will be fine with their students simply hitting their expected array, we would never settle with such an outcome. Our school casually scored an almost perfect score on the growth index.
We also achieved an almost perfect score on the group. Girl, students don't just make oh, students don't miss expectations. They exceed them. The U High has consistently had a word it's boring shadowed on all of us. The thing that most people don't know about the U has a massive of opportunities. This means if the U is boring, every school is boring. Last month, we talked a great deal about children knowing the importance of helping their community. Our school recognizing this importance, our study skills classes are mentoring our a graders on academic habits. Team in Sabindi, House of Courage, won our school rise can't fool drive.
The elementary students held their first meeting house meeting on November 19. Our intermingle program is teaching young students teamwork, grit, and resilience through small goosebrawl sessions, November. While physical activity is great, doubt me. I know. The value of music should never be understatement. It can be a way for one of us to show the truest version of themselves. For Ivan, it's not just a way of showing his immense creativity, it's way of showing his leadership skills. Adi continues to be the drum major and leads it with passion and confidence. However, that's not the only way to show creativity.
Kelsey well knows that. He's crafting Kelsey cast out to support the middle school theater club fundraiser. Calling shows daily leadership simply by helping classmates. Providing leadership is more than a title. It's a mindset. We as charges believe in charging right into the future. But as you know, charging into things is dangerous by our plan. Our charging our home plan starts with with the winter concert, is December 11. That's probably gonna change. Sixteen, seventh graders beat the streets play on December 17. The payment is due December 12. Blood Drive is December 15.
Sign up to save a life. Middle school's basketball is December. Eighth grade trip is in Franklin is December 17. The Valentine's Day bazaar is for the eighth grade is February, and the first half of senior dues were just collected. I know your bank account is not in. The next half is due on February 14. The middle school house party will come up soon. As charges, we challenge the future with purpose, and this semester has shown just how bright that future is. Thank you, and happy holidays to you all. To both of our board reps, thank you. Does anyone have any questions? Thank you so very much for your first half of the year, and your reports
and the details that you add and the information that our community really needs to hear. At this time, you are excused from the meeting if you need to do some studying for your finals and exams. Okay. Or go home and get rest. With that said, I also would like to just mention for the record that secretary, trustee Smith Thomas, entered at 07:40 07:14. We'll move on to report of the superintendent. Doctor. Green? Thank you, board president. This evening, as with every December, we are, fortunate to have guests with us from
plant Moran to share the results of our fiscal year twenty five audit findings. Gentlemen. I appreciate that we normally don't get the claps. Once you start, we might get the boos. Good evening. Thank you for allowing us to present this evening. My name is Michael Foster. I am the partner from Plant Moran in charge of the Southfield Schools audit. With me are Paul Bryant, who is one of my partners at Plant Moran, who's very involved in Southfield, and, we're happy to have him with us tonight. And then, also have Phil, who is the manager on the engagement this year.
We're gonna talk about the results of the audit. And as we're going through the results, please don't hesitate to interrupt us if you have questions or if things aren't clear. Don't forget our c our c, of mister Mark Ingram. Yes. And joining us this evening is mister Mark Ingram, who's the chief financial officer for the district. We've asked him to join us, and hopefully, he can provide some a little more detail on some of the items that we're gonna present from a district perspective.
Thank you. So I'm gonna start out talking about the qualitative results of the audit. First of all, the basic financial statements. So the financial statements are the responsibility of management. We've been hired to put a opinion on those financial statements. This year, as we have in the past, we're issuing an unmodified opinion on the financial statements. That is the highest level of assurance that we as auditors can place on the financial statements. Our audit report is dated, October, which is before the due date.
The reports are due to the state of Michigan by the October, October 31. As part of the audit, we're also required to look at your, bond expenditures and, sinking fund expenditures. So, we did did that as part of our audit engagement and found no noncompliance. This year, the district did implement a new accounting standard, GASB one zero one, which was related to a slight change in how the district accounts for compensated absences. That happens at the district wide, doesn't impact the fund level financial statements, but was
a change that was implemented this year. Any questions on that? So next is the single audit report. As you could see on the graph, it says it's in draft. Part of the single audit guidance that we get comes from the federal government. They give us guidance as to what we should test and how we should test it. Typically, we get that prior to beginning the audit. This year, the federal government issued that compliance supplement on October 28 after we had already issued the financial statement audit.
We had gotten a a draft of the compliance supplement prior to doing the audit, so we were pretty much aware of changes that were in the compliance supplement, but we didn't have the final compliance supplement. That was recently issued on October 28, so we're now in the process of finalizing the single audit, the federal awards audit. But that's why that that's still in draft and hasn't been finalized. We did test the education education stabilization fund and the head start program, and we're
happy to report that we're issuing unmodified opinions with no findings on those two programs. The third and final document that's part of the audit process is the report to the board. We're happy to report there was no issues in the audit process, no disagreements with management or anything like that. The most significant estimates that the district has are the pension liability and the OPEB asset from the MPSERS plan.
And as I stated, there were no, difficulties encountered in performing the audit. I'm gonna turn it over to Phil Norris. He's gonna walk through more of a quantitative results of the audit. We're gonna focus mainly on the general fund. Again, if you have questions, please don't hesitate to interrupt us. Those. Thanks, Michael. So like Michael said, he focused kind of on the qualitative aspect of it. I'm gonna focus on the quantitative aspect of it, so some of the items that are reported in our financial report and and the numbers that you see in the
financial statements. So starting off first, this is a condensed balance sheet for the district's governmental funds as of sixthirty twenty twenty five. This is prepared on a modified accrual basis. So this is a focus on resources available for current operations instead of long term assets and liabilities. This slide breaks out the the major funds. So you see the general fund, the two building and site funds, and then it combines all of the the non major funds in that one column there as well. So the general fund, like Michael said, that's gonna be the focus of a lot
of our presentation, and, this is the the main operating fund of the district. And then the the building and site funds are are capital projects funds that are each tied to specific bond issues for facility improvements and equipment. And then the nonmajor funds include your special revenue, such as food service and student activities fund, your nonmajor capital projects funds, and then it also includes your debt service funds, which are used to record bond proceeds and and pay down debt. So this includes your your assets as the first piece of that.
That includes cash, investments, amounts owed to the district, prepaids. And then liabilities include accounts payable, accrued payroll, deferred revenue. And then the difference between your assets and liabilities is your your fund equity or fund balances, which we'll break down further on the next slides. So taking a little bit of a closer look at your fund equity, so this is, fund equity for the past two years. So you'll notice fund balance decreased from 13.1 in 2024 to 12.1
in 2025. Most of the fund balance at 68% this year is unassigned, meaning that it's available for general use. And then the next portion of that pie is the assigned fund balance, which is 32%, which represents the use of the fund balance included in next year's budget. And then the last piece is nonspendable, which relates to items like prepaid and inventory. And since those items have already been spent, they're considered non spendable when looking at fund equity. And now I'm gonna kick it over to to Paul to provide us a little
bit of background on the importance of fund equity at the district. So as we were just talking about you saw the $12,000,000 in fund equity regarding that. So usually the question think of fund equity as your rainy day fund. We always you hear a lot of auditors talk about rainy day fund. So what's the importance? What does that mean to you as a district, to you as individuals within the audience? You'll see so the first thing, it it gives you a chance even if you can correlate it to your own home. Having fund balance and a ready day fund allows you to minimize the need to borrow to meet cash flow.
So you have the opportunity to meet the day to day activities because you have cash on hand and you're not at the mercy of outstanding or external borrowers at whatever the interest rate is currently regarding that. It also helps you prevent operating with a structural deficit. Although these numbers are large, if you start peeling them back, there are times districts have structural deficits because the liabilities that they owe are indeed greater than the assets that they own regarding that.
So because you have a fund balance, it prevents you from worrying about a structural deficit, allows for cash flow flexibility, contingency for the unexpected. We all know. We live in Michigan. We have older schools, a roof, a furnace in the middle of the winter. Just the different things that happen, overall because you have that fund balance, fund equity, it allows you, to have a contingency for the unexpected as those things happen. It also helps you with maintaining your credit ratings, which comes into play when you
go out to borrow dollars as you've had for all of the construction that's going on. People look at what your balance sheet are. They look at how they're going to charge you from an interest rate, so it helps your credit rating overall regarding that. So, again, what does that mean? MSBO recommends that your fund balance be at 15 to 20% of total expenditures. There's very few of any schools in the state of Michigan that are able to hit 15% overall where their, fund balance is at least 15%.
This district has always had a policy of setting theirs at a balance of 10%. You're currently at over 11 regarding that. So not only have you set a minimum balance goal that you've shoot it for, you've exceeded that at 11% overall. And, again, nice to have a goal to shoot for at 15 to 20%, but internally, you know your district. So you've always set it at 10% and you've exceeded that based on the current situation and what you have going on regarding that. And then here's here's the biggest thing.
It allows that you as a district to run your own district and not with state of Michigan interference. So there is something called the early warning legislation we've all heard about for years that have been out there where districts have been triggered, where the state now comes in and possibly takes over your district regarding that. That warning starts at a 5% of general fund balance. Remember I just mentioned you're over 11 regarding that. So not only are you over 11, remember that second bullet from the bottom, your
minimum for your district is 10. So you've exceeded the state. You've exceeded your own minimum that you had. So, overall, the district has done a very good job structurally maintaining and using what it has under the circumstances that are going on currently regarding the state, regarding, regarding politics and everything else. You've done a really good job in maintaining your own fund equity. Because if I had to equate it to anything, at the end of the day, it gives you independence. It gives you the independence to run your own house. That's not an accounting term, but we all understand control over our own house and
the ability to do that. Oops. Mark, do you have any thoughts on fund balance and how internally you think about as you're helping to manage the district and the fund balance and Well, I wish we were closer to 15%. It's gonna be hard. But we we have a dedicated team from the EDN to the business office committed to keeping us we're shooting for the 10%. Definitely gonna avoid 5% at all costs, but it it's not gonna be easy.
So, board president, if I may ask Mark to expound on the fact that it's going to be difficult specifically as it pertains to the increase, cost that we incur annually with the benefits within the state of Michigan. So it's not something that we as a district are struggling to manage. It is something that's on a more broader scale. So if you could just expound on that so that everyone understands that it's not it's something being imposed on us. Between benefits, obviously, we also wanna be competitive with our salaries.
I mean, other districts, they're using whatever resources they have to try to steal our high quality teachers. So we gotta be competitive, but also our enrollment dropping a little faster than we want, and that and our state revenue is tied to our enrollment. And if our enrollment is lower than we expected, then that probably will mean we're overstaffed during the school year, and then you don't want changes in terms of instruction
midyear. So you're left with overpopulated school, which means your salaries are a little high and probably don't match your revenue. But last year, we are over the 11% as Paul mentioned, but, as doctor Green put on her real estate hat and sold a couple of buildings, without that, we would have been under the 10%. Yes. So we're we are over 10% right now, but without we we only have one
more building to sell. And at that point, we have to figure out between our enrollment and our staff and our contractual expenses because our contractors, they don't have to they don't really care about our enrollment. They have their own cost. So their their cost are going up even though our enrollment's going down. So In a in a good way to object here, looking at the numbers, though,
you see the first column, the general fund, exactly as Mark was mentioning, you see where it says the expenditures? You relatively held your expenditures the same over a prior year, and you will be able to see that in your budget to actual when we show it to you in a couple slides. So you see where those expenditures of a 105 are greater than a 102? Mhmm. So you were in essence, you spent over your revenue. If it wasn't for the sale of those buildings, that other other financing sources, you see the 2,100,000.0, your deficit would have been larger regarding that.
So some of the assets that were able to be sold, and when we're looking at percentages, as Mark mentioned, you would have fallen below the 10% just mathematically if it wasn't for that 2.1 that's sitting there. So again, there are things that are out of your control. All things being equal, if you keep all of your expenses at a 105 every year, but your student count is going down, remember your foundation allowance is 12,000 plus, all things being equal. You have larger expenses doing nothing but inflation and health care cost and all of
those things that are going up that are kinda out of your control regarding that. That's where it hurts you. Reason being, if you lose 200 students, that's not one classroom. That's five from kindergarten. That's four from the second grade. They're spread across the clap, but you still have to heat the classroom and pay the teacher and the lights. That's why it's not always a dollar to dollar revenue versus expenses regarding that. And, also, trustees, we're going to have some difficult conversations As Mr Ingram mentioned, they
are businesses and they are for profit and we have to ensure that we have the right subcontractors working in our district to best support our scholars. Thanks, Paul and Mark. Appreciate the input. Okay. So now that we looked at the balance sheet side of things, we're gonna take a look at the district's financial activity during fiscal year twenty twenty five as opposed to at a point in time that the balance sheet was presenting. So this slide summarizes revenue expenditures and changes in fund balance, and this is presented in the same manner as the balance sheet previously.
In the general fund, expenditures exceeded revenues by about $1,100,000 at year end. And as previously mentioned, the year end fund balance is $12,100,000 statewide, the average fund balance as a percentage of expenditures is 24.7%. And as we mentioned previously, the district is at 11.45%. It should be noted that that statewide average has kind of been inflating recently. A lot of our our districts and and what we're seeing and, as Paul mentioned, it's it's not common that you're seeing districts hit that statewide average.
And then as noted earlier, there was a a $2,400,000 transfer, including that other financing sources and uses that, increased that percentage to 11.45%. And then looking just at a couple of other columns on there, the 2023 building and site fund decreased as remodeling projects continued within expectation. And then the 2025 building and site fund increased by about $50,100,000 and that's just due to the the new bond proceeds. And then non major funds saw a decrease of about $700,000 in aggregate.
So this is looking at the revenue aspect of that that previous chart, and this is just looking specifically at the the general fund. So this is looking at the past two years again. And, what you'll see here is that local sources of revenue that about 45% this year, that makes up the largest portion of of general fund revenue. And, this is primarily related to property tax revenue that the district receives. And so this totaled $45,700,000 in 2025. The next largest portion of this is state sources at about 37%, which is partially
made up of state categorical revenue, but primarily made up of the district portion of the state per pupil foundation allowance, as we discussed previously, which is determined by taking the per pupil rate of 12,410 by the pupil count at the district. This past year was 4,482. And since this revenue is directly tied to to headcount, the the trending decrease in enrollment at the district has contributed to a decline in state revenue, as evidenced by
the decrease year on year over year in that in that category. Federal revenue comes in at about $10,000,000, and we tested about $6,000,000 of that as a part of our aforementioned single audit. And then the decrease in in $2,000,000 is primarily related to expiring COVID funding. So in total, revenue declined from a $106,800,000 in 2024 to a 102,100,000.0 in 2025. So kind of hand in hand with state revenue that we were looking at specifically
on that that previous chart is your your state aid membership. So this is kind of outlying the reduction in enrollment that we've seen going back to 2021. A little bit of background on the drop after 2021, that does reflect the end of the COVID related Superblend formula, so that there was a larger than the normal drop there. However, as you'll see in the subsequent years, that reduction was steady as well. And so lowering birth rates, increased competition from charter, private and online schools continues to
drive this trend. Yeah. Can I say something real quick? So everyone, always keep your people shot, not shot when they see this. If you look at your student aid membership for 2024 compared to 2025, that drop is about 303, whatever the math is. Students, if you time that times your foundation allowance of 12,000 something, you get probably $4,000,000, whatever it is. If you go back here, do you see the difference between the one zero six and the one zero two, you're dropping revenue?
Guess what it is? It's your dropping your students times your foundation amount. So you see how the two correlate? You didn't do anything, you just lost students regarding that. But that has an effect on your revenue regarding that strictly tied to your student account. I mean, there's some other things, SR funds and different things. But the majority of that drop, if you do the math, is about 3 to $4,000,000 sitting right there in front of you regarding your students. Alright. Thanks. So this next slide is looking at the other side of the income statement, looking at the general fund expenditures.
So this is presenting all of the expenditures by MDE function, which is each type of service or commodity obtained by the district for each expenditure. So overall, expenditures are are pretty consistent with what we saw last year. And then looking at just kind of some individual functions within the the chart, the largest that you'll see is 54% this year, and this is primarily related to instruction expenditures. This includes teacher salaries and benefits or resources spent directly in the classroom.
And so this kinda makes makes sense given that the district is a people based organization and, in line with expectation. That's where the majority of expenses are are occurring. And then the next piece of that is support. And that that portion is coming in at about 42%, and this relates to things like librarians, counselors, extra instructional aids, things things of that nature. And then the remaining areas, all less than 5%, include capital outlay, community services, and athletics. So so, again, just doing the plain math, you kept your expenses in line.
They even dropped from 24 to 25, but we just saw your student count drop as well as your report on revenue drop on the same level of experience of expenses. It it it cost to run a district. Everything you're trying to do budget wise, you're doing it. But then again, the revenue driver of your students, we can see the math jump off the page. K. Now now rounding it out, just looking at now that we've looked at general fund activity, I wanted to briefly touch on how the general fund activity occurs to to
the budget that was that was passed for the year ended 06/30/2025. So as you can see, revenue was $2,300,000 above budget, and then, expenditures was $2,200,000 above budget, both of which represent variances of around 2%. And then after considering these variances as well as a variance in other financing sources, the net change in fund balance was about a a $1,050,000 increase, which was about $275,000 better than expected.
So in summation, budget was was fairly close with what we see as as actual activity. And then within these categories, one thing that we do look at as a part of our financial statements is that we, disclose any variances by function code of greater than 10%. And we did note in our report that there was, an athletics fund or an athletics function, actual expenditures of about $92,000 greater than budget, which represents about a 15% variance. So with that, I'll turn it over to Michael for the last couple of slides on here. Thank you.
So we spent a lot of time talking about the fund level financial statements. In your financial statements is another set of books called the government wide financial statements. That takes all of your funds, adds them together, also includes your long term debt, your pension, and MPSR's assets and liabilities, as well as your fixed assets. Those are called the government wide financial statements, and those are done on a slightly different method of accounting.
It's done on the accounting method that for profit entities use. And so we just wanted to highlight that there is a separate set of financial statements included in this document that are were also subject to the audit. Those have more of a long term focus whereas the funds are more short term current year focus. The government wide statements include all those things listed on the graph and are also included in that report. Any questions?
Mister Ingram, anything else we wanna mention? I want to mention. Yeah. For experience, that was my error. It was it was under budgeted. Coach Q doing a good job of it with with their expenditures, so I accept responsibility for that. Or do you have any questions? I don't have any for the team. Thank you all so much. My question, is for you, board president. I actually have a request that we set a date for a budget study session that specifically, walks through this, audit and look at very closely what are some of
the spending trends, budget trends, as well as the alignment to the services offered. And with that, I'd like to also request that, transportation that we're looking at the routes and what are the trends for the routes now as opposed to the beginning of the year. Thank you. Thank you. I think it would Be, prudent of us not to take a look at, and have a study session around the budget report, at definitely transportation and how that aligns with how we need
to strategize in working with, our students and enrollment so that we don't continue to, to bleed in the manner that we are. Thank you, gentlemen. I appreciate it. Sorry, board president. In addition to that, I'd like to know what are the trends for our enrollment loss. So at what grade level? And I'll put this all in writing so that as we set a date, we understand what it is we're coming to the table to talk about. Thank you, sir. Sure. I just wanna make sure that we discuss the, the overspend. I know Mark just discussed it in athletics so that we're fully aware of how
that'll be corrected going forward as a board. Absolutely. As mister, Ingram indicated, he had not accounted for the, athletic invoices in the month of June. And because our fiscal year ends at the June, those invoices came in after the June 30 deadline, so they had to go back and journal entry all of those additional invoices. So moving forward, coach q, along with the team, has come up with a proactive plan on how to avoid that moving forward. I'm sorry, board president. One more thing before the gentleman leave.
There was a correction to a document from last year, and I didn't hear that lifted in the conversation. So I think that's important that we also share with the community that, one of the findings from a previous year had been corrected and is no longer a finding of the district. Thanks, doctor. Thank you. So as part of the federal awards planning process each year, we look at the results from the last two years federal awards audits because that helps us determine which
programs to test, which ones might be considered high risk. So as part of the planning process for this year's federal awards audit, we were looking at our 2023 federal awards audit. That year, we tested the food service program. There was a finding that was related to on-site visits that were not completed. That finding that part of the finding is still correct. The part that we adjusted the finding for 2023 was that we were not required
to test the controls around why that didn't happen. We reported that we did test them and that the controls were not adequate. We weren't required to do that, and so we removed that part from the finding and have reissued the 2023 federal awards audit. It's now been corrected and submitted to the federal government and to the state of Michigan. Thank you for bringing that up. Any questions on that? No. Thank you.
Doctor Green, report 6433. I'm sorry, board president. Just wanted to lift that, our previous board president as well as our board treasurer did have an opportunity to have a meeting with the auditors separate and apart from administration to to ensure that all of the questions that the trustees had lifted had been asked of of the auditing team. So if there's any additional questions that any trustees may have, our board treasurer is very well versed to answer those questions. Thank you. Moving to the next item, which is perfect alignment.
Our report 6333 south of public schools, 2026 school building and site bond resolution. As you heard the gentleman mentioned, every time we go to market to sell another series of the bond, we one have to ask you for approval to do so. And two, we have to ensure that our credit score, if you will, our movies or S and P rating are aligned and supportive of us doing that. Originally, when we went for the bond, the 2,022 bond, we had it divided into
three series. We since reduced the number of years that it will take us to complete the bond work from ten years down to that of eight. And as a result, we expedited the request or the sale of some bond. So instead of going to market for three series, we are now going to market for four series. We have completed series one. That request was 75,000,000. Series two was 50,000,000. We are on track and asking the trustees, if it is the pleasure of the
board that we go back to market this spring Not to exceed $100,000,000 as recommended by our financial partners so that we can continue the work on schedule and, in a timely manner. We know that one of the things to get our scholars back is to have adequate learning spaces for them. So we're working feverishly to get that done. Doctor Green, this is a this is a legal resolution drafted by our bond counsel for consideration. And you're asking this to be moved as an action item this evening?
Given that we have no other meetings in the month of December, if it is the pleasure of the board, I would ask that, trustees consider it actionable. Actionable. Is there a motion on the floor to open and approve report sixty four thirty three, Southfield Schools 2026 school building site bond? Support. Was there any discussion? Board president, if I may just add, again, this is not additional monies. This is monies that have already been approved. We are taking the bonds to market to sell them for the revenue to come to the district. Any other discussion? Ward secretary, you can call for the vote.
Trustee Belt? Yes. Trustee Denson? Yes. Trustee Holloway? Yes. Myself, yes. Trustee Weddoba? Yes. Unanimous. Terry. Thank you, trustees. Next on, the agenda is the swing space building readiness report. We've had a number of meetings as lifted earlier with our Bernie parents regarding their move to the swing space that will occur 01/05/2026. Hard to believe it's already approaching 2026. Nevertheless, when we come back from the midwinter break, our Bernie scholars will be at two different locations.
Our k five babies will be at that of Vandenberg and our sixth through eighth grade babies are scholars. They're not babies in middle school. We'll be at that of the former South Regional academic campus on Evergreen. That being stated, the bond team has been working along with the operations team to ensure that those spaces are ready to receive our scholars. The movers will come on Monday and Tuesday of next week, the fifteenth and sixteenth, to begin moving the furniture furnish some of the furnishings from that of Boerne over to the new locations.
TJ from plant maroon real point, our owners rep and I have an appointment scheduled for Friday at 2PM to walk those campuses to ensure that they are properly ready to receive our scholars. We also have some contractors that will be coming in the district over the two week break to ensure that any last minute touches will be, completed prior to our scholars arriving on January 5. Are there any questions to the chair? I believe that there's a virtual meeting, but I don't have that information. It's on the sixteenth. There is one final virtual meeting for our our families.
If they've not had an opportunity to attend in the past, that will be on December 16. I know that our principal Baldwin did put it out in the weekly newsletter. I will ask that she pushes that out again so that everyone has that link. Thank you. You're most welcome. Doctor Green. If you could, after your walk through, can we get a final report on the state and the status of the buildings? I know there was an extreme concern from a lot of our educators. The rugs, the flooring, and that type of thing. So if we can get a full report from you, that would be great. Absolutely. And one of the reasons that our walk through has been pushed to that of
Friday is, we had some ongoing abatement happening, particularly on the campus of Vandenberg and the replacement. The carpet was taken out of the media center and one particular classroom of which was of grave concern to our, our educators, and it would have been concerning to our scholars. So once that, piece is finished, and TJ just gave me the nod, we will be doing that walk through on Friday, and Thank you. Staffing update. Lastly, well, not lastly, but, the staffing report.
Miss Foster will pull that on the screen we have a lot of progress I am pleased to report this month trustee Smith Thomas I don't have the actual dates on there as you requested I will have those moving forward but I do have a lot of updates on progress so including some interviews that are scheduled over the next two weeks. So if we can move through this swiftly, Adler still has the ASD position, which is being filled by an ISSN team member, the speech pathologist being filled by filled by a partner. The resource room teacher, we have a candidate identified, although it's currently being filled by
substitute teacher, that candidate is being onboarded. So we will have that, position filled. The gym teacher at McIntyre, again, that is being filled by the long term sub, of which was the request of the building leadership. I am pleased to share that the 0.5 art teacher will split with Bernie K eight so that will be a 0.5 at Bernie and a 0.5 at McIntyre. So that's a one point zero F. T. E. And that candidate will start on fifth, first day back from the midwinter break. Stevenson secretary, will begin on Monday the fifteenth, and the third grade position will be
posted. I do want if you can go back one, the third grade position that will be posted is due to the vacancy being created by the art teacher voluntarily transferring to the art position. So that is not because we lost someone. That individual asked to go to another position, thus creating, this vacancy. Bernie, the ASD position is being filled by substitute teacher, the EI teacher. We have a candidate selected. However, it's currently being filled by an I. S. S. N. Team member. Again, the point five art teacher that I mentioned being split with McIntyre.
The internal candidate will make the transition over on January 5. At Thompson, we have two ASD t ASD teachers being filled by substitute teachers. The science position is still posted. We have the Spanish teacher vacancy but again that is being supplemented by the meds language partner platform and that has been approved by the I. B. And then we have levy and that is not a typo. We have no vacancies. We are proud of the work having been done there.
That's not a typo. High school for the, software high school for the arts and technology. Again, when I look at this page, I am amazed. They only have one ASD teacher vacancy and that is being filled by substitute teacher for a high school of that size that deserves an applause. At university we have another candidate identified, yay, Chidi, well I'm working towards it And then we have, a guidance counselor that is retiring at, the end of this month, and we already have an internal candidate that has been recalled and will be there
on the January 5 to fill that vacancy. So that vacancy when I oh, look at Chidi. I got major points from him. That's awesome. KLC on one s x I teacher, again, being filled by substitute, one s x I teacher identified and will be starting there on the sixth and one social worker being filled by a partner. Two speech pathologists both being filled by partners at BUSI. Two ECSE teachers are being filled by substitute who are retired employees. So they are certified. They are just, in the substitute position and they are retired and one EIB, which
is early intervention and district wide positions. Yay. Where is our newest employee supposed to be? There he is. That's our new executive director of HR. Please stand, mr Stevens. Yes. Mr Devon Stevens will be joining us from business and industry. He has a lot of experience coming from highly regulated fields. One of pharmaceutical and the other chemical and aerospace and defense. So he brings a plethora of knowledge to us, and we are looking forward to
partnering with him as we move forward. So, Mr Stevens, welcome to Southfield public schools and back to the state of Michigan. Alright. One I. S. S. N. Medicaid billing supervisor is posted and then the communications coordinator I mentioned earlier, we have final interviews next week. We have three final candidates. We have some very good options that came forward. So we are pleased with the pool and then one director of career focused education. We have those two two final interviews slated for this Friday. So tremendous progress having been made with the staffing.
Any questions? Yes, I have a question as it relates to the, I noticed a lot of the the special education positions, being filled with by substitutes. What qualifications are required? Are these is there a certain, like a separate set of qualifications for those positions? So I'll ask MS smith to join us at the podium because we have we have a variance happening in the district. So we have some that are technically substitutes, but they are in programs to earn
their full credential. We have others that have a certain number of educational credits that are on ninety day plans. We have some that are on the full year per permit. So, miss Smith, if you could add to, the answer for trustee Smith Thomas. Yes. Good evening, everyone. Good evening. So in order to sit in a special education position, per MDE, you have to have a undergraduate degree. It doesn't necessarily have to be an undergraduate degree in education, but you still have to have and then you can only sit in those positions for ninety calendar days.
But we do have some staff members that are on alternate tracks, Talent Together and, Teach for America and things of those sorts. So with those Okay. So with those, those different programs, has MDE allowed us to apply for interim certifications on their behalf so that we can keep them longer, or are we do we have to keep switching them out? So the the those that are on the alternate, routes that I mentioned, they do
have the waivers for the year. So every year, we have to reapply. But those that are sitting in those substitute positions for those ninety days, they do have to exit those positions in ninety calendar days. Okay. So my concern, doctor Green, would be just the consistency for those scholars, especially the stability needed for the most our most vulnerable scholars. So I would like to ask, board president that we, talk about how do we develop some type of internal pathway.
It sounds like we are recognizing at least what some candidates are already coming to the table with in terms of, you know, the different programs, but that we have an internal, I don't know, structure of some kind where we can have an internal pool to strategically place people. And and trusty Smith Thomas, if I may through, the chair, we are not necessarily just identifying what people are bringing as they as we engage these staff members, we
sit down with them and look at their backgrounds and we try to identify programs for which they would benefit in going in the alternate route. Some of them have no desire to do so. Others that are interested, we are trying to pair them up with those appropriate programs. So, we do sit down with everyone that comes forward and and try to get them in the best program in a timely manner. But I'm very much concerned about the ninety day turnaround. Yes. And placing them where you know, yes ma'am. Yes ma'am.
We did have an audit with M. D. E. Regarding some of the individuals that had been in those positions and unfortunately, had some challenges with the pathway that they had selected. Their pathway wasn't recognized by the state of Michigan. So we're trying to work really closely with them to ensure that they are not just going through coursework, but coursework that's actually applicable in the state of Michigan to earn their full credential. Absolutely. Because I guess it's most concerning this space is most concerning, true I'm sorry.
This is really concerning to me because this is a a true, need statewide, where it's not just and nationally. So we have, you know, the teacher, shortage, but then we also have the special education, you know, that is in in even more of a need. So and I know MDE is recognizing, and they're trying to put together alternate route programs and things like that. And so making sure that we can partner with them and then perhaps even have them, I don't know, send us some folks if they have.
And actually met with, the executive director of talent together. Most recently, they opened up their window again for applicants and for the 100 spots that they had, they had over four fifty applicants prior to that. So definitely working closely with them to ensure that, Southfield is being considered when they have these candidates apply. Thank you. But I will keep you posted. And last from the report of the superintendent, we have doctor kelly wash, our director of bussey early childhood center. Doctor wash. K. Well, good evening, board president, board members, and superintendent Green.
My name is Ursula Kelly Walsh, and I'm happy to present the BUSI director's report for December. So as I've stated before, BUSI, this year for the 2526 school year, our theme is one team, one dream. And we are living that each day as we, celebrate teachers. So we have our quote for this month, good teachers help other teachers find the good teacher in themselves. And so through our programming, through, our just our daily classroom environment, we're really trying
to promote teachers as leaders. For our director's report, I'm going to review our enrollment enrolled students wait listed and our, wait listed data, our average daily, attendance, our monitoring report, which is based on our child find data, and I'll give you some updates regarding education, health and safety, and family engagement. So for our December enrollment, data report, we actually had one, infant enrolled today.
Well well, it should start today. She the enrollment process. It's a process, so it's already taken place. So right now, we have, six team for, early head start. For head start, we have, 55 students, and for GSRP, we have 75. So we're constantly enrolling students, and, our goal is to, really kind of promote this during the summer so that we can always have our classrooms, you know, enrolled as
as much and as greatly as possible. So but we're happy to always receive, students. For our, early head start, we transition kids. They transition out due to age. And so our transition process is that when they are about to go to head start from early head start, they spend a few like, they spend two weeks, taking, like, short stays in the head start classroom so that they can become acclimated to the learning environment. So that's working out very well.
For our average daily attendance for early head start, it's 8484%. For a head start, 82%. For our blend classrooms, it's 82%. And for GSRP, 83%. So, I think that's pretty high, you know, with that age. We do have, you know, some illnesses to report sometimes, but the parents are very committed in getting their scholars to school on a regular basis. For CACFP, program, this is our November data report because the report is always, well,
designed to be given at the end of the month. So for our breakfast, our students, we fed 1,726 students and 320 adults for breakfast. For AM snack students, that's 171, and for adults, 64. And for lunch, the students, 1,072, adults, 334, and for our PM snack students, 1,045, and for adults, two ninety six.
And we're defining adults as, each classroom at Bussey has two teachers, a lead and an assistant, And we also have a foster grandparent program, and so we feed the foster grandparents as well. K. So for our child find reports, that is where teachers are doing their observations and trying to meet the needs of students cognitively, socially, and emotionally. And so, right now, we're making sure that with every child find form that is submitted, that we are submitting data as well.
So we're submitting the Brigance scores. If teachers have anything to report regarding core, which is the child observation record, they're submitting that too. And so we're using that data to make sure that we're meeting the needs of our scholars, and, holistically. Okay. So for our child find, I'm sorry, for our core, our child observation record, we, just ended period one. We're on period two now. We had eighty four percent completion from our teachers, hopefully, at period two, which ends
in March. The, percentage will be higher. Core is based on teachers' observations, anecdotal notes, and aligning those to KDI's, which are key developmental indicators that are based on math, language, science, social emotional development. So when teachers are taking notes, if you come to BUSI, you'll see them. They're like little researchers because they're constantly looking and observing and taking notes on students, and then they're aligning that to the KDI's to create core notes.
And those core notes basically are the report cards for our, our scholars. So we did we had, two days of successful parent teacher conferences. And last Friday was the end of our first report card marking. And it was great. We highlighted that. We also had, like, an art gallery too. So parents and, their scholars, they were able to create art projects. And in the gym, we had it like an art gallery. So once the parents had their parent teacher conferences, they were able to enjoy the student made artwork or the family made artwork in, our media center as well.
So our conferences are they went pretty well. And then also for I always talk about our e three program, our educators, empowering educators, which the staff they present at the staff meetings. Our last report was about donor shoes and which is a phenomenal program where teachers can basically go and put in a request about a project or a wish that they want, and they basically have, partners match, what it is that they want. So a teacher did a presentation on basically how to get your donors, choose project
funded. And she requested, you know, our students go outside, on a daily basis, and she requested coats, hats, scarves, mittens, and the project was funded. So now we have, you know, it doesn't matter how if a student if their coat is not, you know, warm enough, we always have something that can be, given to our scholars. And because we have washers and dryers at school, they can be claimed as well. Mhmm. So for our family engagement for the month of December, last week, we had, well,
right before, the Thanksgiving Day holiday, we had a parent workshop called Mastering the Art of Budgeting. It is, due to the holiday season, is very a lot of parents, they struggle with trying to manage their money. And so that, parent workshop was well attended. And then also, we had our, family art gallery during our parent teacher conferences. Okay? And then last, I sent all of you an email, about three emails. Right now, we have our FA one review, which is where we have our monitors
who are at BUSI. They were this today was your first day. Tomorrow, we will still have some virtual meetings, and Thursday will be our last day. They are looking at classroom explorations. They were going into classrooms. We had a fiscal data review. We had a building operations data review today. And, they're looking at education files. They're asking questions, and it's it's a review. So we, are doing that, but, also, they want to talk to parents, and they also want to talk to the governing board.
And so I set up a a link, hopefully. They need at least three members to participate. And so the meeting tomorrow the virtual meeting tomorrow, I believe, is, 10:15 to let me check my notes. 11:15 to 11:45. So, hopefully, someone at least three people are able to, join in on a conversation with Ruth Prescott. She is the lead reviewer. Okay. And that concludes my presentation. Are there any questions? Thank you, doctor Walsh. Board, do you have any questions? Unfolded. One question.
You said tomorrow is a virtual Virtual. Yes. Virtual what? Well, they they they call it governing board discussion. Governing board discussion. I think that's a virtual meeting. I I yes. I did. Already have it. Okay. Okay. I just wanna make sure. Okay. Great. Because at least three people need to, participate. Okay. I plan on the agenda. Thank you. 11:15. 11:15 to 11:45. Yes. Okay. Great. Thank you. Mhmm. No. Thank you. Okay. Any other questions? Doctor Green, you were mentioning that, of course, four board members cannot be based on
OMA. Four of us cannot be on any meeting. Okay. So I'm not sure. Are there three that can be at attendance? We know that no. We know that trustee Holloway can join for that, time frame. You're joining as well. Okay. So we have our three. Trustee Holloway, Trustee Belk, and Trustee Smith Thomas will all be on your call tomorrow. Right. Because we cannot. So I I just wanna make sure that we have participation. Wonderful. Thank you. Thank you, everyone. And happy holidays. I do have one other question. Doctor Walsh. Thank you. Doctor Green, how are we marketing, Betsy? So I'm glad that you asked that question. We've struggled in the past with, getting individuals to properly market, but I am pleased
to say that with our new communications person as well as the vants being on staff, we're doing some creative things with, bussey moving forward. And we have our kindergarten signing day. You didn't mention that. And I think it's important that our families know, as our our athletes and others go off to colleges, they have these big signing days. We think it's a big deal for babies to go off to kindergarten. So on January 15, we're having our big kindergarten signing day, there at Bussey. So while we encourage, everyone to participate, I know January 15 very important.
We also want to make sure that we're spreading the the word via social media and, word-of-mouth is the most important tool. Pleased to announce and as you see with the reports, the culture is changing back to one that is very positive, very educationally driven. And and I attribute that to doctor Kelly Walsh, very professional. So thank you, doctor Kelly Walsh, for accepting the challenge and for really doing what's best for our early learners. And I say that not only as the superintendent of this district, but as the great grandmother of one of your scholars there in your thinking.
So thank you. Thank you very much. I I share with our reviewers today that everything that we do at Bussey is data driven. And so we had the documentation for our meetings, sign in sheets, and to just let them know that what we're doing is intentional, and there is purpose behind what we're trying to do at BUSI. So thank you very much. Good to share. Yes. Not a question. I would just like to, to ask that you would tell your staff person, your staff member who did the DonorsChoose project, kudos. Yes. That took a lot of courage to step out. I know what those type of projects entail and to think of our scholars and,
you know, in that way to put themselves out there to make that request and then get it fully funded It's amazing. Well, it's a challenge now. So every teacher the challenge is that every teaching team do a tone donors choose project. And so now if they mention the teacher who actually did the, the project, she'll receive a $25, gift card so that and like she said, it's not just for her classroom. She'll use whenever they refer or use her name, she'll take the $25, and we'll
do something collectively for Bussey as a whole. Mhmm. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes the report of the superintendent. Thank you. Public participation. If you wish to address the board regarding a school related issue that has not yet been resolved by school administration, please submit a comment card immediately. Comments are limited to three minutes per individual. As a matter of fairness, speakers with complaints against individuals are not to mention any persons by name. Complaints concerning employees pursuing a board policy 9130 should be brought to the attention of
school principals and other administrators before coming to the board of education. Your cooperation is appreciated. If we can have miss Robinson please step to the podium. Good evening, miss Robinson. If you would state your address for the record. Sure. Betty Robinson, former, board president, former school board member. My address is 21889 Glenmora, Southfield, Michigan. And just sitting here listening to some of these reports, it's really amazing and astounding that what's being reported is not actually being happened in the schools.
I have, three grandkids in the district. One is at Bussey, and, it it just truly amaze me, the information that that is written given about these situations. First of all, I wanna talk about the, I attended about five graduations, last summer this this summer. And, in Twickenham neighborhood, my neighborhood, and another one. And most of the kids who graduated did not attend our school district. They went to Brother Rice, U of G.
They went to Cass Tech, West Bloomfield, Cranbrook, and, Country Day. Now I think that's the problem because they live in the neighborhood, but they choose not to attend our schools. Why they choose not to attend our schools? Because they, if you look at the Michigan Department of Education, educational statistics, We're like 34 in academics, math, reading, and science in the district in the state of Michigan,
and that's a problem. Twelve years ago, when we had, doctor Cook Robinson as our superintendent, enrollment drop was 12,000 and it dropped to to 10,000. At that time, she asked people to take a buyout, the layoff, and our current mayor was one of them. He stepped down to save the district money. I don't see anybody here who's stepping down to save the district money. You had five different human resource directors since doctor Green been here. That's a problem. You guys don't see a problem with that.
And how many of you actually go and visit or attend the meetings at Bussey? Like I said, my niece was there. She said that, one day she came in, the security guard was on her phone. Another day, she was eating her lunch. And another day, she was asleep. That's the problem. Those are children there that anybody could walk in and abduct them. And the lady's asleep? What are we paying them for? We are not doing a good job at educating our children and making sure they are protected.
And I I I strongly recommend you guys go over there and visit that district, busier, because it's a hot mess. It's just a now you may say your your your grandchild is there, but what about the other kids are there? My granddaughter, the teacher quit. They didn't even tell the parent she had quit. She didn't know who her new teacher was gonna be or anything. And here we go. Alright. Thank you, miss Robinson. And that that's another problem. You're giving parents three minutes. Your parents are your constituents. You report to them. Miss Robinson. We just a second.
I was on the board when we instituted that three minute. You need to listen to what the parents are telling you because they're not lying to you. They're telling you the truth, and this is why we are losing enrollment. Okay? Thank you, miss Robinson. You're welcome. If we can have Vanessa Solomon please step to the podium. If you would please state your name and address for the record. Thank you. Vanessa Gregory Solomon. 21405 Constitution, Southfield, Michigan. Good evening, superintendent, members of the Southfield School Board, and distinguished guests. My name is Vanessa Gregory Solomon, and tonight, I'm honored to share the progress of
something I spoke to doctor Green about a few years ago, my vision to support Southfield student athletes through what is now Team Vinny Foundation. Team Vinny was created in memory of my youngest brother, Vincent Vinny Gregory the second, a proud Southfield athlete who whose determination and spirit left a lasting mark on everyone who knew him. When I first discussed this idea with the superintendent, my dream was simple, to remove financial barriers so that no Southfield student would miss the opportunity to play sports because
they couldn't afford the to participate. I'm proud to stand here today and say that dream is no longer just an idea. It's happening. Over the past month, team Vinnie has already begun awarding scholarships to Southfield students. These scholarships help cover spirit packs, essentials, athlete athlete athletic cost, allowing students to fully participate, feel included, and represent their schools with pride. I'm I'm seeing firsthand the excitement, confidence it brings when a student receives support that
ensures they can step onto the field and carry out in court without worry. This just isn't it this isn't just about equipment. It's about belonging, opportunity, and the message to our community that our community believes in them. And we are on we are only at the beginning. Southfield is my home. I graduated from Southfield High School. I volunteer here. I remain committed to helping our students succeed, not just academically, but socially, emotionally, and
athletically. As we continue to grow, team Finney's goal is to partner closely with the district so we can expand our our reach, support more teams, and uplift even more young athletes. Thank you for listening, and thank you for your early encouragement, and thank you for the work that you do every day for our students. I am grateful for I am grateful I'm I'm grateful for your support of team Vinny as we continue our mission to level the playing field one player at a time. Thank you, miss Solomon.
Miss Banks, if you would please step to the podium, state your name and your address for the record. Good evening. My name is Marie Banks. My address is 29506 Andover Boulevard, Farmington Hills 48331. I just wanted to speak to you. The chief of staff came to our last PTSA meeting and spoke, with our group regarding the high school move to SRAC. And I gave him a message to give back to you guys, and I just wanted to say it to you as well.
I heard one of our board members ask about a town hall, for the parents. But I also want us to really deeply consider, and I know we just heard Plant Morant's, report and with our declining enrollment and as a mother of an eighth grader listening to a lot of parents making those decisions, that we put a lot of effort in making this transition to a school that not really is a full
experience high school acceptable. And it will be. But I think we we can't let it slide like it's something normal, that we gotta think outside the box as a school board and as a community to make it worth their while. And we need to do that now as so decisions are being made because there are a lot of schools being built and as we speak, but none of them are being displaced.
So not that it's a bad idea, but what I'm saying is we need to make an extra effort, and it may cost. But we have to start the culture now, capture the people that we accept early and welcome them. Throw just really welcome them. Take a tour of just the culture. Maybe not of SRAC yet because it's a middle school there now. You can't send new high school students to a middle school. Middle school students, but, I mean, we can send them to university right now.
But we have to start just really thinking outside the box. Cuices kept university, high school just got really high scores in their proficiency, higher than CAS, Renaissance, West Bloom, a lot of our peers in their proficiency in math, read in math and reading. I think it was 90 something 90 something percent. I don't have it. But I really believe that we have to in order to make this effective, especially for the high school, we have to create a culture that makes us bigger than
life and make it seem like we're gonna go outside the box and really make this a special time. And, oh, by the way, by the time you're a senior, you're gonna be the first inaugural class in the new building. So with that, I don't want we can't have status quo. Oh, this is just gonna happen. We gotta make it happen with a deliberate attempt to make it special for these students who sacrificed some of their high school. Thank you, miss Bates. Understood. That's all we have from public comment. We'll move into, action items.
Consent agenda. Approval of minutes. Is there a motion on the floor to open and approve our consent agenda? Some of. Support. Any discussion? Board secretary, you can call for the vote when you are ready. Trustee Wordoval? Yes. Myself? Yes. Trustee Holloway? Yes. Trustee Dancer? Yes. Trustee Boat? Yes. Unanimous. Motion carried. Report sixty four thirty, revised policies. This is our second read of policy fifty five fifty and policy seventy four seventy. I'm sorry. Fifty five hundred and seventy four forty.
This is just our second read. For a second read, is there a motion to open and approve? Reports 50 57440? So moved. So moved. Board president, I don't see the, I don't see the policies here. Were there any additional changes? Not to the ones that you had from the first from the first read that you did last week and the specific verbiage that you mentioned you wanted to see in there. So we've had we had no additional feedback from trustees, so they still remain the same from the first read that was presented.
Okay. Is there a motion on the floor? I'd like to Oh, we already did. No. I guess No. We opened it, but do we wanna accept them? I support it. Did you open Did you open any for Open them for discussion. And then granted there were no additional, comments. Yeah. Or or anything change or no additional changes. No additional changes. Yeah. So then my motion is to, to approve that. Okay. Support. Thank you. Board secretary, call for the vote. Trustee Belt?
Yes. Trustee Denson? Yes. Trustee Holloway? Yes. Myself, yes. Trustee Whiteman? Yes. Unanimous. Carried. The last report that we have is 6434, personnel action reports. And do I have a motion to open and approve personnel action report 6434? Is there any discussion? Is there a chair? Yes. I don't see any, action problems. Okay. Thank you. Is there any other discussion? No? Okay. Board secretary, you can call for the vote. Trustee Belk? Yes. Trustee Denson? Yes. Trustee Holloway?
Yes. Nine seven PMs. Trustee Werderweil? Yes. Unanimous. Gary. Information items. Report 6435. Thank you, board president. Joining us this evening is miss TJ from Plameroon Real Point. You will see that seven a b c and d all pertain to our bond projects. 6435 b d s environmental. This is, for asbestos abatement, specifically to that of Southfield A and T O House. Not to respond to our, community directly, but, these are some of the reasons that
we have had to pivot from not utilizing the high school as we originally planned. But we want do wanna start remediating that area so that we will have a viable area, to utilize in the future. So this is for the asbestos work that will be taking place specifically there at OHAUS, which is the oldest portion of that building. 646 6436 is Arch Environmental Group. That's the environmental consulting, specifically, not just to the project coordination, but, the air monitoring because we will have scholars in the opposite side of that building.
So monitoring the air quality throughout this process is extremely important. 6437 g two consulting, that is professional surveying to ensure that the grounds of, both UK 12 as well as Southwood A and T, the extended underground utility testing, etcetera is completed, which aligns with our, environmental services and our sustainability piece as well. And then, of course, 6438, Fannie Howey Associates, the professional surveying of those properties for,
storm water, sanitary utility locations on both of those campuses. Did I do did a pretty good job with that, TJ? You did. Alright. Any questions that you can ask the subject matter expert? '39 is, Oakland County School Board Association, so that's separate from the bond. Those are the, amended resolutions that, Oakland County School Board sent. So bond stops at 38. 38. Yes. Okay. Board president, given that we don't have any more meetings for the month of December, regular meetings, if it is a pleasure of the board to keep this this work
moving. Understood. I would ask the board to consider moving them to action. Okay. Did you all have any questions regarding the reports that were just lifted by doctor Green that are time sensitive? Yes. I have a question about the, the air monitoring. Now how do you plan what kind of barriers will you be using to protect the students? So doing the lead abatement? There are, one hour firewall separations between occupied and the construction areas as required by the state of Michigan.
And so then Arch Environmental will also do their air monitoring to make sure that the, levels are of acceptable levels. So that is the barrier that you have. So that barrier will also be there during any construction that goes on as well. Thank you. Are there any other questions of the board? Doctor Green, did you need to add any additional information? No, ma'am. Okay. Can I have a motion on the floor to open and approve report 64356436, 6437, and 6438? Who said that? Trustee Howard. Thank you.
Support? Who's the? That's it. Oh, that was support. Mhmm. Support it. Mhmm. Support it. Mhmm. Support any discussion? Board secretary, can you call for the vote? Trustee Weidewall? Yes. Myself? Yes. Trustee Holloway? Yes. Trustee Denson? Yes. Trustee Belt? Yes. Unanimous. Barried. Thank you. Thank you. Next, we have report sixty four thirty nine. The OCSBA proposed new and amended resolutions. They sent them to all trustees electronically, and I believe miss, miss Foster has them
in your binder as well. Those are time sensitive also, as they are required to be returned to Oakland County. Yeah. I think January 9. Yeah. So you do have I think it's the day of our next meeting though. So, you think you should be okay moving them or holding off? Holding off? Holding off? You wanna look at me further detail? Okay. So those are they are presented this evening for information. Again, those resolutions came specifically from Oakland County. The district did not put those resolutions together. However, if you do have any questions, I know that there are a few of
us that are going to the joint o c s a and o c s b a meeting next week. So, any questions that you may have, we can entertain them while we're there and get you the answers that you desire. Okay? K. Thank you. Next we have the next we have is financial report and with monthly bill distribution. Good evening, everyone. Y'all still with us? Alright. We're about to talk about spending. We've been talking about money a lot tonight with Plante Moran. For the month of November, based on the current bill disbursements and monthly financials, we
appear to be on track to remain within the board approved fund balance targets, as long as our revenue continues to be the same. We've all heard the report, from Plante Moran. But at this time, the district is financially stable for this point in the fiscal year. A few findings that I had, Mark lifted it. Plant Moran was the transportation. As I reviewed the monthly billing statements for the transportation, we were trending higher than normal. This variance was primarily due to June's invoices, which was omitted, which has been corrected. Our fiscal year twenty five our fiscal year twenty six adopted budget was built using
the understated fiscal '25. So that's where the, misalignment was. As we talk about transportation, and I know a lot of people are talking about transportation, we will continue to monitor that because we do have, new routes that may be, instituted because we have swing spaces. So transportation will be under my peer review very, very closely because we're watching, the amounts of transportation that's happening. We'll continue to monitor transportation costs closely. What's one other thing that we have?
I'm getting older, so I have to write things down. Oh, I've already spoke with doctor Green in regard to the thirty days for the transportation so that we can continue to have oversight and transparency to our district, regarding the transactions. Also, I am going to meet with our team, our financial team, within the next thirty days to gain further clarity and transparency on how the system records electronic transactions, specifically understanding the differences between our system generated statuses and true payment reversals. It's a question that I've had, with Mark.
I completely understand it, but I ask the question again every month, because the way it looks on our statement. So I'm gonna gain clarity on that, and I'll report it back out to the board. That concludes my financial report. Do we have any questions on the board? Very good. Thank you, darling. I'd like to ask that, doctor Green, through the chair, provides a 31 a a funding update, just kinda like at a high level for the community to understand all Parts that have taken place and how the district has decided, potential impact, potential risk.
Absolutely. Absolutely. Indeed. This is, as you know, trustees, a moving target. Initially so, 31AA is a funding source being provided through the State of Michigan to help us with security measures in the district. It's approximately $575,000 the language that was written into, the state aid, budget for this year required us to waive certain privileges that all school districts have.
When that, was asked of this school district and all school districts, our trustees unanimously supported not applying for those dollars because it would put our district in jeopardy. Since that time, litigation has been filed on behalf of all school districts in the state of Michigan, not only at the state level but at the federal level, and they're challenging the constitution constitutionality of those stipulations. Given that the litigation we are expected to have a ruling on that litigation no
later than the end of this month. Our board has since supported us applying for those dollars with the understanding that if we are not successful in the litigation, we can withdraw our request for those successful in the litigation, we can withdraw our request for those funds. So if we withdraw our request for those funds, we are at risk of losing that $575,000 But I do want to put a caveat out there that they were grant dollars that would have been in addition to our general fund dollars. They are not regular dollars that come to the district. They were grant dollars specifically.
So we will know by December 31 whether we are in or out, depending on the court ruling at the state and that of the federal level. Thank you for lifting that, Trustee Smith Thomas. And thank you so much for, that explanation, Doctor. Green. I just wanna dial back real quick as it relates to transportation. As we pivot from moving Boerne, and I know we've got a very large move coming up, next year for university k twelve. I just want to make sure that we are in front of, the community and
parents and the students, and having those conversations. And doing the town halls to keep them updated on what's happening and how it's happening. I think that's very important. It was kind of lifted that we need to be forward thinking and think out of the box how we can make this experience, good and healthy for our students. And that's what we need to make sure that we do. Okay? So as soon as we get them settled, then we need to figure out how we need to move forward, with our communications team as well in bringing that all together for the next move. For the good of the order, trustees, do we have anything that you all would
like to share for the good of the order? I just have an ask, for president, as you begin to develop the agenda for our retreat, that you can, send out some type of survey or some type of way to get some ideas and so we can make sure that we're making good use of that time. And I know I was and forgive my tardiness, first of all, community. Thank you. And board.
I believe it was mentioned already about the, about doctor Green's evaluation Mhmm. For 2025. May I be brought up to speed on where we are with that? I do not have any further information as I need to bring it to Yeah. So one of the things that we heard this afternoon, is that, trustee Denson needed to have the training. So we're gonna get from our vantage point, we're gonna get that scheduled as soon as possible. And then, the board president will talk with you all about your availability, and we'll get that scheduled. For this year before the year closes out or are we within our You may
be in an off year, so I'd like to speak with George Pitchford about that as well because you had it last year. So we need to get that legal opinion as well. But nevertheless, we definitely wanna make sure we get the appropriate training and, get the full schedule to you as soon as possible. Then I'll loop myself in that conversation with, George and doctor Green and, get you all up to speed as well as myself through that And we can have that tomorrow. Yeah. We can have that tomorrow. Okay. Thank you. Thank you. Tomorrow. Anything else from the board? Not the board, but I did just wanna remind our community that, we did send
a letter, an email out to everyone this evening, and I know that people are saying, why did you close so fast? So for full transparency, we do we being the county of Oakland, are contracted with a meteorologist. We met with that meteorologist this afternoon, meteorologist. We met with that meteorologist this afternoon. According to their most recent, report, the snow is scheduled to begin this evening at 10PM, go through 6AM, which would create, treacherous road conditions with the morning commute to school and with our Busses being on the road. So for the safety of our scholars and our staff getting to and from the
buildings, we always air on the side of caution and school will be closed on tomorrow. The second wave of that, of course, is at would be at dismissal when the temperatures are scheduled to plummet. And while the snow will turn to rain, it is going to freeze. So the roads are going to be a very icy during the evening hours as projected between five and 6PM. Therefore, the legislative meeting for tomorrow evening was canceled as well. So I wanted to be fully transparent with our community and we wanna tell them always in a timely manner so that they can make, arrangements for their young scholars.
So that is why we pushed it out. We're probably one of the first districts to push it out. Thank you. Anything else for it? With that said, future meetings, 12/22/2025 through 01/02/2026 will be all winter recess, no school. Tuesday, 01/06/2026, our organizational organizational meeting will begin at 6PM. Saturday, 01/10/2026, we will have a board retreat at 9AM at Plant Moran.
Thank you. Tuesday, 01/13/2026 will be a regular board meeting at 7PM. Yes. Did you mention the the interview? Yeah. The second interview? The second interview. Oh, thank you. Appreciate that. Thank you. So we will have a second round. Well, it's not a second round of interviews. It's a second interview process. We had an overwhelming response. And thank you so much community and parents, and grandparents in some cases that were interested in filling the vacancy that we currently have. We had interviews last Monday, this Saturday, and just yesterday.
So we will be meeting again on Monday. We look forward to talking with those candidates and moving forward on the decision. Thank you. Did I forget anything, boy? Our meeting is now adjourned. It is 08:49. Have a good holiday.