##VIDEO ID:jO1GN5tST-U## good evening everyone and happy New Year this is a meeting of the Southfield Board of Education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and is not to be considered as a community meeting there is one opportunity for public participation during the meeting and comments are limited to 3 minutes per individual the board will listen to comments but may not respond during the meeting if you wish to address the board please submit a comment card to immediately Ashanti Bland board president good evening you word of all vice president happy New Year and good evening Leslie loves Smith Thomas board secretary Telicia Bel board Treasurer ammani Johnson trustee Jillian Holloway trustee Nicole Denon trustee Michaela Beford student board representative Eric spragin student board representative Dr general for green superintendent taking minutes this evening is Miss Carolyn Foster and Technical Support is being provided by M1 Studios um along with Mr Ron CLE we are also joined by our executive District Network team and many fabulous members of our community um we will now stand for the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all we will start this evening by um having our reelected board secretary trustee Leslie love Smith Thomas and our newly elected board trust trustee Nicole denen take the oath of office I'd like to say a big thank you to the honorable Judge Kamisha Gant thank you for coming we know it was short notice but you availed yourself and we are truly appreciative trustees we will ask that they approach the podium please you need anything that's fine well first I'd like to express a sincere congratulations on your um election successful election and a year ahead of you serving the students and the families of the Southfield Public Schools and um with that I'm going to have you raise your right hand and repeat after me I state your name I Nicole Denson do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will uphold the Constitution that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of of this state and the constitution of this state and that I will Faithfully discharge and that I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office the duties of the office of member of the Board of Education of member of the Board of Education of Southville public schools of Southville public schools in Southfield Michigan in Southfield Michigan according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities congratulations thank you absolutely come on all right please raise your right hand and repeat after me okay I st name I Leslie L Thomas do solemnly swear do solemnly swear that I will uphold the Constitution that I will uphold the Constitution of the United States of the United States and the constitution of this state and the constitution of this state and I will Faithfully discharge and I will Faithfully discharge the duties of the office the duties of the office of member of the Board of Education of member of board of the education of Southfield Public Schools of Southfield Public Schools in Southfield Michigan in Southfield Michigan according to the best of my abilities according to the best of my abilities all right real congratulations thank you and I wouldn't be I would be remiss if I didn't incor happy found day to the ladies of thank you judge G another cupcake we will now have um and congratulations to both trusty Denon and trusty Smith Thomas thank you you we will now have the report of the suit and board representatives and we will start with Michaela Beckford of University K12 Academy good evening everybody and happy New Year good evening well first I just like to start off quickly by saying congrats to our newly elected and reelected and I cannot wait to work with you guys for the rest of my t my term excuse me and as of um December 12th we had our fast for day which was a huge success big shout outs to miss green miss padet and miss Foster are counselors for hosting our first fast week SL day it only makes sense for us as a college per school to for us to assist our families with this Federal paperwork which most colleges and universities require for financial aid on December 13th we had our elementary sing along it was so adorable the students were dressed up for the holidays as they had fun and sing many of our holiday favorite Tunes thank you to the parents who were able to attend on December 18th we received a special visit from the Grinch himself thanks to our incredible PTSA the Grinch made his way through every classroom from K from kindergarten to 12th grade spreading his own unique brand of holiday cheer on December 19th we had our Winter concert and it was amazing huge shout outs to Mr Lucia Miss Pope Mr Gary Miss Barrett Miss Marsh and R with the drama club with special thanks to Miss Wilson for their Cameo everything was well run showcased and students creativity was amazing it was just a really nice performance our University winter holiday special was a performance to remember featuring stunning dancing performances across genres incredible live bands and captivating drama acts and even a surprise teacher performance the winter holiday special had a little something for everybody and special thanks to miss Marsh and the arts department for the beautiful presentation of student artwork also congratulations to everyone who participated in the deck the door/ hall celebration with with a huge special thank you to the freshman class and staff for their excellent execution on December 20th we had our alumni in college day where the alumni came and talked to the classes about their college experience and entering their college careers thank you to all the you alumni that stopped by to speak to our Scholars today about their college experience and thank you to Mr maag for organizing another great event for our Scholars also on the same day we had our annual student vers staff alumni B basketball game it was a huge success and thank you to the class board for hosting this event and the staff and alumni who came together to play with our students uh also the counselor sponsored a middle school field trip to Skate World of Troy and the middle schoolers rolled into fun as they hit the rink at the end of the year celebration skating laughter and memories filled the afternoon as students showed off their moods and enjoyed time with friends then we had our winter recess and January 13th marked the start of winter I ready assessments for our middle schoolers January 14th or January 15th 16th and 17 are our exams for high school only which they will be having half days Middle School and kindergarten will be having full days as scheduled um the exam times will be from 7:50 to 11:25 please be on time and when you complete your test students must remain in the testing room until full testing time is over so please plan accordingly on January 20th we will have no school due to MLK Day January 21st will be no school due to records day and on the 22nd our second semester will begin Miss Nelson provided math tutoring provides math tutoring from for sixth and nth graders during early arrival on Tuesdays and Thursdays Scholars should bring assessments and assignments and parents must notify her at least one day in advance remember the GPA requirement for University K12 Academy is a 3.0 learning compact forms can be accept accessed and returned to the main office if not already submitted also congratulations to our Middle School boys basketball team for winning against the Levi Jaguars fifth and sixth grade won 30 to 16 and seventh and eighth grade won 36 to 23 also special shout outs to the cheer team for keeping the audience engaged our fifth and sixth grade boys basketball team remain undefeated winning 22 to7 against the Bernie Bernie Bobcats the seventh and eighth grade team fought hard and lost unfortunately 28th to 35 the team will play the Thompson tigers on January 9th which pass um when I get the information I will be letting you guys know as a reminder to parents Please be aware that there is no supervision for Scholars after school wanting to attend our games so they will have to leave the building and return When the games start also the Michigan First Credit student banking had a great start opening 15 new accounts and making 27 deposits in the first week congratulations to miss Benson's thirdd grade class for making the most deposits a big thank you to the social committee for sharing breakfast with the teachers it was a great way to enjoy food and spend time together much appreciated due to the excessive tardiness also weekly hard sleep sweeps will begin for Middle School Scholars should review the process but the specific days will remain undisclosed letters will be sent to Scholars who are chronically late and your cooperation is appreciated on January 8 the seniors had their hot cocoa sale to raise funds for their senior activities also on January 18th they will be having a senior only Ice sking event at 2 p.m. at campus Mars skate rentals will be $6 and admission will be for $12 um moving on some additional information will be our title one teacher for coordinating and organizing a wonderful event with our PTSA for their generous support and making it possible starting our day with holiday happiness and made to order deliciousness thank you to our wonderful social committee for hosting a festive Christmas breakfast for our teachers special shout out to the Deans who stepped in to the roles of Master Chefs and treating them to delicious made too omelets also University High School's 5K Club presents the Love on Wheels roll SCH field trip join us Friday February or join us on February 14th at the roller rink $35 admission including transport unlimited food unlimited drinks skate rentals and admission for 3 hours first come first serve high school only I am also pleased to announce that our Varsity Debaters Lola and Dal will be going to the prestigious Harvard University to debate as more information is announced I will keep you guys informed and this concludes my report trustees are there any questions for Miss Beckford hearing none thank you Michaela great job we will next hear from Eric spragin of Southfield entt good evening happy New Year this is a special year because I finished my senior year this year I first want to begin by giving recognition to our board education as you guys know January is School Board recognition month and we extend our heartfelt gratitude to the board education for your leadership tireless effort and everything you do to make our district better as our recent events and updates our annual lip scene event was held on December 19th our Warriors showcase a remarkable Talent during the well attended event making a resounding success we were able to boost our attendance by 40% this year sheet coach your future your way was held on December 20th Southfield alumni engaged with student sharing insights from diverse fields in including entrepreneurship corporate leadership and law on January 9th Mr Reese held a great level meeting principal Ree and administrative team hosted a great level meeting that served as a reality check for our seniors with just five months left in our final year seniors were reminded to focus on acads maintain good attendance and strive for Success during the meeting student voices were highlighted with 90% of the feedback noting a positive shift in the building culture student reported visible Improvement in the overall atmosphere senior updates for the class of 2025 the deadline to purchase graduation caps gowns and diploma covers is January 31st 2025 the cost is $95 students can use the QR code posted around the school to pay or check the E newsletter that is sent out by Miss kin monthly we proudly welcome 17 new members into our chapter of the National Honor Society their formal induction ceremony will take place on January 31st 2025 and I can probably say I'm one of those 17 members business professional business professional of America congratulations to Michael Owens and Brooklyn Williams of the South BPA chapter Michael Owens Who sered as a chapter president play seventh in presentation and to visual competitive and Brooklyn Williams a new member play second in entrepreneurship both members will compete at the BPA State leadership conference in G Rapids Michigan from March 13th to 16th 20125 our Warrior athletes wrestling our wrestling team have excelled in its first year back carrying first place as a team at Waterford m key athletes include Aiden Sanders Jakari Dixon Keith Finley and Carson McKenzie they both home all medals special recognition goes to Jeffy n Nicholson who is serving as the athlete of the week for his impressive performance as a freshman boys basketball despite a few tough losses the team have shown determination and is preparing for a strong comeback as we are returning from winter break girls basketball the team have a 5-2 record a three-game winning streak and demonstrated Community Spirit by adopting a family for Christmas athlete of the week includes Kaya Harrison who is recognized for her outstanding heart and dedication competitive Shear the team achieved third place recently and is gearing up for the third annual Beach blast that took place on January 11 2025 and more details for upcoming events from them will be posted soon bowling the younger bowling team continues to show steady Improvement under excellent coaching our our swimming team is led by two dedicated seniors and that they are striving for success with t Tanner expected to qualify soon our United basketball a joy to watch the unified basketball team Foster to um with teamwork um they face Lake oron and Berkeley in upcoming games College and Career support upcoming events on January 22nd 2025 University of Detroit Mercy College ad Mission will have will host a presentation that will be from 12:30 to 1:30 January 29th 2025 we have our invest in your future creates your FSA ID event that will be during a lunch for our students and B lunch for our B lunch students and on January 30th Baker College admissions will host a presentation from 12:30 to 1:30 if you would like to register for this event as a student and for the parents who are here in our audience they can set they can scan one the QR codes around our building or please check the day the monthly newsletter that is given by Miss kagens parents I just want to encourage you guys to register for the upcoming FAA webinars that'll be hosted by the College of career support center it will be on January 15th 2025 at 6:30 p.m. and they will host another one on January 28th 2025 at 12:30 p.m. um you can find that information also included in the newsletter that is given by Miss kagens monthly and so parents I just want to remind you guys to just take very good look at these opportunities that are being offered many of these can be offered to your students so if you have your student student attend southa an just let them know that we have upcoming presentation from colleges we can help with FAA they also help with career writing resumés interviews we offer all of that and so we want to make sure that we're taking the advantage of those for our College panel ninth and 10th graders will attend a college panel on February 11th 2025 in the auditorium our Wolverine Pathways n9th graders with a 3.0 GPA or higher are invited to attend a wolverine Pathways presentation on January 22nd 2025 third annual blood Thrive for anyone who like to participate student council will host their third annual blood thrive on January 31st 2025 stay tuned for our registration details and just some important dates our first semester finals will be taking place this week from January 15th to 17th those will be half days for the high school students at Southfield senior Penning will be February 12th our midwinter break is February 17th to the 21st spring break will be March 31st to April 4th senior exams are May 27th to 28th prom is on May 29th and graduation Hallelujah June 6 Eric thank you for that very enthusiastic report I'm not mad at it um trustees are there any questions for Eric this evening hearing none to our student board reps great job per your usual um if you need to go home and get some homework done or some studying or some FAA whatever it is that you need please feel free you are dismissed thank you both as our student board reps are making their exit out of the building for the evening um I like to call attention back to board matters as so many have said this is National School Board recognition month and I would like to take the opportunity to provide our school board members with a gift from the Stevenson Elementary family um principal Tanya Hickman she actually dropped some gifts off for everyone so um happy National School Board appreciation month everyone thank you to the Stevenson family yes thank you to the Stevenson family thank you again thank you to our Stevenson Elementary School family and principal Tanya Hickman um I had one other uh board matter um that I wanted to lift and I'd like to say to um those who um are in our community and part of our Southfield Public School District family who lost a loved one over the break um you're in our hearts you're in our prayers as so many of you all know um more than one of our principles experienced um death and their family and we also lost uh Jabar Miller who was um our announcer um for those of you who went to games um you saw him his children are in the district um so please keep those families in your thoughts and your prayers um and to um the Hickman family you also are in our thoughts and prayers and I just like to thank this um District you all showed up for the families um I attended the service um along with some of the other members of this district and Dr Green attended the service of Mr Miller and um we showed up so thank you for once again being the community that we've all come um to love and be proud of um lastly um MLK day is Monday um I would like to announce here that our band will not be marching did you tell doc did you tell Mr Gary before you make that announcement Mr Gary this is it's going to be too cold and so I just wanted everyone before you got disappointed um -5 is a bit much um but but we will be in attendance and Mr Gary will work out all the other Transportation things but I just wanted to let everyone know I know some people come out to see our bands um it is going to be too cold so I did want to make that announcement um today but um Mr Gary your band is absolutely wonderful um they they show up and show out they make us proud they are always on their best behavior um um I received um pictures from trust Smith Thomas over the break of y'all just showing out and and looking good and clean and all the things so thank you um for stepping in when we needed you most you're doing an excellent job no problem um other than that did anyone else have any board matters board secretary thank you yes so um as we have entered our 2025 calendar year I would like to remind the trustees U this is a perfect opportunity to pull your masb transcripts um to take a look they have now added two more specialty um certifications one is finance and one is community relations um the other two advocacy and data I do data skills I do have both of those so I'll be going after uh the finance certification um will be my my next one I'll be tackling um and being a level six uh Master Platinum award um all right no um I am also going after the president's award which is the highest level um but I say all this to say that I would love to see Southville Public Schools return back to our honor board status um which has the community we have achieved over the years and so I think this is a perfect opportunity to pull your transcripts identify be intentional um let's be responsible we've always uh been physically responsible when attending different conferences and um and classes I think just being uh taking the next step and being more intentional about it identifying classes have a reason you know for taking the class and and moving forward in that way and so that we can continue to be educated bring the best practices back to the board to the district um for the betterment of our district and our community thank you thank anyone else board matters hearing none uh I will pass it over to Dr Green for the report of the superintendent thank you board president and you actually led into much of the uh commentary that I had this evening so I will keep it brief I just wanted to publicly thank each and every one of you the success of the district rest on your shoulders and I cannot do the work that I do nor can anyone in this District without your full support so thank you not only during the month of the Schoolboard recognition but thank you every month for all that you do underneath your desk there is another bag with gifts in it from the uh Office of the superintendent that looks something like this so you would think we reliving December here this evening but you are definitely worth um this gift and and much much more so thank you for that um also you led into what I wanted to say relative to our employee of the month because we have one for last month and one for this month and it is none other than the Mr Lesean Gary as you all know Mr Gary stepped up and showed out when we needed him the most he took our band not only local National but they were International and that is something that not many school districts can State um to the extent that they were recognized via their performance at the Thanksgiving Day Parade and we have been approached about taking the band to Dublin Ireland in December of 2026 so Mr Gary is so humble and when I walked in his classroom he didn't want stop with the students practicing and he is all about our children every day of the week I cannot thank him enough for being the employee of the month so please wow wow right yeah so I just want to thank you uh thank the board uh thank uh Dr Green Mr Jack and my building administrators as well for you know all the support you know it definitely takes a team I'm enjoying it it's a lot of work it's a lot of work we've been very very busy very active like you said in the community we took first place in the Thanksgiving Day Parade which was you know I'll standing so I'm very proud of the kids and the work that we're doing as a community so I just want to say thank you you know man a few words I have to say all right all right thank you again a lot of notes all right thank you all right good evening my name is James Jackson I'm chief of staff for southa public schools and it is truly an honor to nominate Mr lesan Gary as our Employee of the Month Mr Gary stepped into this role and hit the ground running he has LED our band in so many events from the Thanksgiving Day Parade to parades in Canada so it has truly been an amazing beginning of the school year just to see all the activities that our marching band has participated in what you just witnessed further re intergrate why I am here to congratulate you on being the employee of for being a coun professional when your name came before me I was humbled to be able to extend this congratulations than you very much so we got you some balloons but you will get an award you will get a certificate and we'd like to welcome you to the next for me so prob thank you thank you truly a pleasure give him another round of applause next we have our partner of the month someone that is petite in stature but strong and mighty in all that she does you have probably seen this person in every school building throughout our district it is my honor to acknowledge Miss Maya Rivera as our partner of the month where's Miss Maya well thank you everybody thank you Santana thank you Leslie thank you Mrs Green oh thank you everybody again thank you come stand and take a picture hi my name is Joe corus I'm the Chief Operating Officer here at South of public schools and I nominated Maya Rivera from uh GDI our janitorial staff uh this month Maya is a one of our Spanish speaking partners and she has done a great job since she's been here my Rivera uh is our translator too as as well as being a a GDI employee she helps with the Spanish speaking people here uh communicate better with uh Southville Public School staff she'll uh always be the first to chip in and and want to uh volunteer for work that needs to be done uh we had a special instance in one of our outdoor concession stands that needed some work and she dropped everything to help us in our hour of need so uh that's why I nominated Maya this month and she's done a tremendous job since she's been here well hello team how are you good to see you Hyo face you hello happy New Year there are very few names that are synonymous with excellence and yours is wonderful so I'm here to congratulate you on being the partner of the month for the entire South Ro public school thank you no matter when we call you always come and come not only come to assist but you come with a smile on your face and a wildness you so much appreciate and as I started the conversation we were a month behind December was quite busy with student performances throughout the district so we didn't have an opportunity to surprise our December um partner or employee of the month so we do have them here with us this evening um at this time time I would like to recognize lesie Singleton who is also from GDI as our partner of the month I just want to say thank you to everybody um I'm going continue you to do a great job for Southville District that's all I can do she making it happen that's all I have hi my name is Philip Curran I'm the director of operations for Southfield Public Schools I nominated Leslie Singleton for her award because Leslie has consistently shown excellent leadership ability and gone above and beyond the Call of Duty when asked my other surprise you were the partner of the month for December and because of all of the holiday celebrations we didn't have an opportunity to congratulate you so wipe that off come get your photo and give her a Applause as well and it is such an honor to for me to do both of these because like I said your name is synonymous with excellent your name come over here in terms of being a leader it is difficult to lead yes it is trust me I know but to also lead as a servant leader is a very unique Propet that you possess you two are always willing to help and it's not because I'm a supervisor I don't do that you ask what needs to be done how soon you need it done and you're willing to make it happen so I thank you thank you for all that means and last but definitely not NE least as I mentioned we had so many activities happening in our district throughout the month of December and there was one name at the root of almost every production happening at a district level and that name is gwendelyn Whittington G come on up Miss twin so I'm G to tell my Gwen story because um I I just think it's so befitting that um Gwen is up here I have never met a person who I've never seen have a bad day um I've never seen Gwen have a bad day uh when I got elected she made it a point to find me and welcome me to this district and I just think it's her character um she welcomes people into the district and she's always kind she always is solution driven I appreciate you so much um and thank you for all you do and and you're a Community member on top of everything else so we appreciate all the service you've been here for a minute you can't go I'm not I'm just letting you know you can't go already sign I I just was letting you know so thank you Glenn we appreciate you I appreciate it so much and thank you thank you Dr Green yes you know I'm you guys I'm a doer I don't like to talk much greetings my name is Summer cwell KS and I'm the executive director of instruction for Southfield Public Schools and I nominated Miss wenderland Woodington Reese for employee of the month Miss Woodington Reese is the support coordinator for the instructional infrastructure for Southville Public Schools Miss gwy helps everyone she jumps in she's a team player and she always brings sunshine to the workplace um Miss Gwyn was also instrumental in helping us organize the Santa sleigh ride in December and so I want to take this opportunity to thank you Miss wendelin Woodington Reese we were actually coming to see you because you were for the December Employee of the Month surprise you but of course in December you were so busy making it happen for everyone in the district that we didn't have an opportunity to surprise you then so we wanted to thank you than you we have so many phenomenal individuals in our district making things happen on a daily basis I wish I could bring more before you but that is just a sampling of those that we've had over the last two months and we will have more uh forthcoming in the next few um at the next few meetings at this time without further Ado I would like to bring another group of amazing individuals before you to demonstrate the phenomenal programs happening at Thompson K8 Academy Miss Porsche Eubank Miss Diana ector we have our IB coordinator we have several staff members who all is coming up what's this what's in the more gifts what's in the B all right good evening um Dr Green president Bland vice president Deval the rest of the board and the community I am Miss Porsche Eubanks the principal of Thompson Ka international academy I have with me today Mrs actor our assistant principal Mrs Romeo our IB coordinator and Mr Parks our seal academic engagement officer we are honored to be here today to Showcase all that we have going on at Thompson as majority of you know um for the 2425 school year we embraced the unique opportunity to unite vandenbberg World cultures Academy and Thompson k international academy and a shared commitment to Excellence and so our theme for this school year is united in excellence this evening you will learn let me remember to click this evening you will learn about our community as a whole including our academics our IB programming our seal and culture and stakeholder engagement so here's our community snackshot we are a IB School and we have the IB programs pyp and nyp pyp is our K5 program and nyp is our 68 program we also have uh currently five self-contained issn classrooms with two resource room teachers to support our Scholars with special needs as a magnet school for ESL which is English Second Language we have two ESL teachers and five PA professionals to assist Scholars that have language barriers Extended Learning clubs we offer a eight Extended Learning Club to our Scholars at Thompson K we have a zenzone club for our Scholars to practice mindfulness we have art choir we also have sister toister mentoring which is K5 we have project Womanhood which is 68 and then we have project manhood which is 68 at Thompson we offer Spanish to all of our second through eighth grade Scholars through um a program called mag languages and we also have a Spanish teacher being that we're IB we have to offer a foreign language Scholars have access to four core Plus classes uh these are our elective classes they have an opportunity to take music art Gem and design which is uh technology throughout the school year Tuesday we have therapy dog Tuesdays and we see the most attendance on therapy dog Tuesdays because they enjoy being visit um they enjoy going in our Zen Zone to visit our therapy dogs we have maybe about three that come every week and again our attendance is really high for those days for Tuesday uh this year we recently established a PTSA um we established it in October and so now our parents and our Scholars have a voice in decisions that are being made at Thompson on the next slide you'll just see some evidence pictures of project manhood um our issn classroom a lesson um in nyp which is middle school and then a ESL lesson uh now I would like to invite Mrs ector to share more information about our academics at Thompson good evening everyone good evening Thompson anomis yes Titans Titans this school year TKA is intentionally analyzing schoolwide I have three remembers to click schoolwide data concerning academics so that growth isn't just um um happening in pockets in the school but throughout every subject area and all grade levels to do this all team members are involved in mtss and schoolwide academic initiatives as a school we Implement implemented 30 days of practice 30 days of practice was was developed after identifying the strategies and Concepts that our building found the most challenging each month our instructional staff is not only following the Scopes and sequence of their subject matter but also intentionally highlighting these specific items of best practice so on this slide you will see that in November we focused on vocabulary terms and academic language we know that when our students understand um and are able to Define vocabulary words that not they're able to answer questions that they're unfamiliar with in December we focused on identifying the questions so that our students know exactly what the question is asking them in January right now we're focusing on using charts and diagrams and as you see we have a plan for the duration of the school year this next slide is November's evidence you see some of our Scholars showing off their word wall that picture of the scholars showing off their word wall is actually in one of our music classrooms so we're doing it in every subject area um and then you see some other pieces of evidence here you have December's evidence and January's evidence we know that these best practices are being taught schoolwide because each month our instructional staff provides the evidence this schoolwide initiative ensures that our Scholars will be able to perform at a higher level in the classroom and on all types of Assessments such as I ready mstep and the district's comment assessment another schoolwide initiative that we are focusing on our IR challenges and incentives within this initiative the entire school is given a goal in reference to I ready and incentives are given when Scholars meet the goals for instance from November 25th to no December 20th excuse me Scholars were given the challenge of passing 16 reading and 16 math I lessons at 75% all Scholars who met the challenge will receive an academic field trip that is free in the month of February it's free free of cost for those students the current challenge is for Scholars to meet their individualized goals on their winter assessment in reading and math Scholars who meet both goals will receive the fan favorite of pizza party our Scholars begin testing this week and are excited about meeting their goals they are aware of their goals because their our instructional staff are having oneone conversations with them regarding their goal for each test we want to make sure that our Scholars are being accountable for their learning and their growth one scholar came to the office today excited because she met her goal in Reading in her hand was a data sheet that she filled out with her fall score her winter score score and the actual score that she earned today she shared her data with both admin assistants and both administrators at the end of the conversation the scholars shared that she would exceed that math score that's coming up this week she told me it was easy we are looking forward to more um interactions with excited Scholars regarding their academic growth this school year I would like to Now bring up Miss Darcy Romeo who will show information regarding Thompson's two IB programs good evening so as we know Thompson has holds the distinction of housing not one but two IB programs we have the primary years program for K through 5th and the middle years program for 6 through 8th this affords us the unique opportunity to really be able to dive into those IB philosophies that as we know are best practices to be able to provide our Scholars with a very well-rounded education the way that this is exemplified from each program is with the pyp exhibition where the fifth graders are afforded the opportunity to select one of the sixth trans disciplinary themes work collaboratively and give back to the community this past year that was seen in the form of a book that was published and then um put out to the community for actual purchase at the exhibition for the nyp Showcase that the eighth graders are involved in this is then taken with the Trans disciplinary themes and the eighth graders expand this to include a global context they then work with either an themselves as an individual with one partner or a group of three to engage in a community service project this is then showcased towards the end of the year last year which I believe Miss Smith while Tom Thomas you were at correct thank you for coming this year it's scheduled for March 6 so be on the lookout for an invitation as we would love to have you come because as we know the best way to see a program and its benefits is Through The Eyes of the scholars themselves and their work so with that I thank you and we'll turn over to Mr Parks thank you I'm markn Parks I'm the academic engagement social emotional learning officer at Tompson K8 in the world of sces excuse meal and culture we have morning greetings in the courtyard and in our car line You'll see our staff members in the courtyard greeting children helping them to get into breakfast and those of us who are outside opening car doors listening to the music that the parents are playing reminding folks of backpacks we're out there unless there's inclement weather every single day um while that's happening we have students who are reciting the pledge shortly after that um and that pledge in it has uh components of having them be better people and being able to fail and then succeed after that by not giving up um we do building walkthroughs where we're checking in on our Scholars some of them need a little extra attention in the morning to make sure that their day takes off correctly we might end up doing a breathing exercise a staff member might need a Diet Coke or just a moment to go to the bathroom and so we provide opportunities for things like that as well as checking out how your weekend went we uh follow the lead of Bernie and we are I'm sorry please excuse please excuse me ly with our Ron Clark Academy house system uh students are really excited about that the house of Riv is in the lead U so that was an amazing experience to go to Atlanta and the kiddos are really enjoying earning the points for doing the things they need to do we've connected it with our PBIS and our IB program so the kids are aware that their communication or their determination helps them to earn points for their team and everyone was able to get slide certified including Dr Green um we have with the district uh initiatives and Mrs uh paulle we also have our um free parent coaching sessions where the parents can check out the QI code and have the opportunity to talk with people about how they can be better parents uh from there we also have have our our district initiatives in Explorer which gives students a mindful moment maybe after class or lunch like that as well as the navigate 360 that gives them opportunity to doal lessons to help them with their uh character excuse me when it comes to staff we're always engaging with one another we might have a rock paper scissors uh contest and the winner might receive a gift card there may be uh who named That Tune over the loudspeaker um we have themed days where we wear a camouflage or lions or Michigan versus Michigan State and then Spirit weeks as well we are um also whoa we don't do that um we are also one of the of all the buildings that has a calming Corner uh with chairs in there where you can get a nice massage kind of turn out the lights and zone out for a moment we also use that for the students and the staff as well um we also do the sisterto sister manhood group and Womanhood group as well getting them together to learn more about what's going on with them and also preparing them for the future uh without further Ado like to turn it over back to Mrs Porsche EU banks for the stakeholder engagement thank you thank you Mr and this is just uh some more pictures of um if you see Miss Wallace she won the rock paper scissors challenge uh they had to wear gold sticks around their neck and then they had to give it up if they lost and so as you see she collected majority of them and was able to get the gift card for um in the other picture Dr Green she was certified slide certified I did put you on there Dr Green um she was the only person that um injured herself on the slide none of the kids not out of the 545 kids no one else injured them themselves but Dr Green came away with a boo boo when she slide when she slid down so you did Dr Green all right and so now um I'm going to um give you some information on stakeholder engagement uh at timeson we pride ourselves on building strong relationships with our stakeholders this year we um as I mentioned we launched our PTSA uh we also uh gathered input from our families by conducting a parent survey in December and then you'll see some of those results on the next slide and additionally we hosted family events and we have a few Partnerships but we are looking for more Partnerships um at our building this is just some evidence from the parent survey um one thing that stood out from to me is is that's one page and here's the next one question was to what extent do your scholar I think enjoy coming to Thompson we have a lot of somewhat happies our goal is to turn that to extremely happy um they're somewhat happy with coming but we want them to be extremely happy with coming to Thompson K8 I see one but I see a lot oh listen I see I see some but you know that's what it says yes I'll to to to um and so uh our plan is to uh also do a staff survey and a student survey um because as you know um you give your students and your families and your staff voice when they're able to provide you with feedback on how the school year is going looking ahead uh we have some goals for Thompson Ka we would love to transition to a ib Community School I want to say that again we would love to transition to a ib community school to better support our Scholars we also want to expand our Partnerships um as you know with the bond we were able to upgrade um our facilities we received new bathrooms and now we are having all of our interior doors replaced and so we will continue to get upgrading um items in our facility we also want to host career Readiness events and extend uh learning opportunities for our Scholars we want to strengthen our collaboration with Southville anti University K12 because as you know with middle school with eighth graders they feed into one of these schools and so we want to strengthen our relationship with them have uh some representatives from both schools come over to talk with our Scholars um so we can feel that we know that they're going to Southfield ATI or university um we also want to enhance training for our new staff members with us merging Vandenburg into Thompson uh a few of our vandenbberg staff members were not trained and so we want to uh enhance training for them so they can be trained in IB practices all right but before you have questions I would love and I would be remiss if I did not recognize and public recognize our our Thompson team uh Mr Ray thank you for coming to support us uh our Thompson team is doing a phenomenal job job as you know merging two schools is not easy but they are doing a phenomenal job working together and doing what's best for our students in our overall School Community what questions may you have um so I I do have a question but I first really would like to commend all of you um you said it it's not easy merging in school um I think we've seen The Good the Bad and the Ugly and I think this is an example of the good it is um I also would like to just say if you take a look at the people standing in front of you you have Stevenson vandenbberg Thompson and you've done a really good job of taking everything you've learned from being um inherent to the school coming in from another school you moved around this would be your third school um and and you've been in the district for a while but I think you're bringing the best of everything to that and giving Thomson a culture which I think you've heard us speak about a lot so I really want to say thank you I attended a game and it was really nice to see the staff actually sitting and serving and actually in ingrained in the game cheering um it was just really Pleasant to see your presentation was amazing I have one question um and that is what can we do to help you we would just love for you guys to show up at our events come support us come walk around come talk to our students at anytime you're always invited just come support us and you know our students they'll they'll give you real answers be prepared but just you know we will invite you to our um fifth grade yep our spelling be is coming up on January 30th we also have on January 23rd a Tigers luncheon where we're inviting families in to be able to eat with their um Scholars at lunch time and so we are we have a few events and we would love to have you guys come okay thank you you're welcome any other questions I don't necessarily have a question but a comment to add on if you will you had mentioned Bridging the Gap between our eighth graders and and our high schools and I saw Mr Gary of course give the thumbs up and and how he leads that charge um Bridging the gaps but it would be nice to have um eighth grade go Shadow a 12th grader for an afternoon or um something along those lines and reaching out or having a field trip to one of the high schools I know it doesn't always sound exciting but there's ways to to make this happen and make sure that our um Scholars stay in the Southville District so thank you you're welcome and Mr Gary and I have been in conversation about how we can get some of our eighth grade band members um to participate in his band program before they transition to the high school so we are in conversation about that any other questions no good job well thank you guys for listening if you get a chance please follow us on Facebook and you'll be able to keep up with all the things we have going on at Thompson thank you and principal Eubanks Before you depart it's ironic that you were on the slide that referenced and you reiterated your goal is to become an IB community school because I sent a message to the board president and I said they will be ready to become the next community school so Dr Green thank you all right as they are departing we will will update the slides in front of you um you also have a presentation in your packet with our ongoing commitment to that of Staffing we do have some new staff members here this evening for you to meet at the district level I'm not sure if Mr Jackson would you like to come up and introduce our new Communications coordinator to the Board of Education I'm sure that they are all very happy to hear that we now have someone on board in that position thank you sir well good evening everyone uh again my name is James Jackson I'm chief of staff for the district and I am honored to uh welcome to the southa public schools team and family uh Mr Tyler SMI uh Tyler will be taking on the role of our Communications coordinator for the district uh he will be helping with uh all of our messaging that goes out to The Community our social media presence our website management uh all those things that I have been struggling with as of late but uh but but Tyler will come in and just take that over and and run with it so we're excited to have Tyler here uh Tyler you want to come up and just so everybody can uh put eyes on you and and see uh so and take them off from me right uh but we're we're honored to have you as a part of the team uh and I'm looking forward to working with you all right and and um I I heard you when you said Mr Jackson that those were all things you've been struggling to do but let me acknowledge that you done a good job and um we appreciate you um you you have done uh quite a a great job with our um our brand management team Advance you guys are on it um I can't even check my email fast enough and it's already sent out so good job um we look forward to you joining our team and um and and we know you're going to do great things so thank you uh for filling in the gaps where they were needed and welcome to Southfield thank you so much when is his official first day uh the 27th bright and early good all right awesome we'll be waiting thank you welcome did Mr Jackson before you left you were struggling in another area as well and you've now found a replacement for that so do you want to come share that good news also well you're two for two you're two for two at this point at this point well I'm also proud to announce that we have uh we have hired an assistant athletic director to complete out our our our team running our Athletics um Mr uh Glenn Blackwell will be joining uh on the 21st actually starting on the 21st uh and we're excited to have him uh as as everyone's aware you know our athletics department is continuing to do great things and it's growing uh as we begin to offer more uh more Athletics programs uh and we need a solid team in there to manage all of that uh and to make sure that our our scholar athletes have the support and the resources that they need and the leadership that they need uh to to achieve the greatness that we know that they're capable of so we're excited to have him on board and excited again to get him started as well all right thank you thank you indeed so miss Foster let's go directly into Adler Elementary um this slide is familiar to you all this is the same slide that we had up last month uh we currently have those positions being filled by substitute teachers or the issn member as I lifted in Prior meetings the issn member filling the position is one that is on an alternative Pathway to certification so we do have a number of individuals in our district doing that and we are grateful for their service next slide please uh McIntyre again very similar to what you saw last month being mindful that we were missing two weeks in between the last presentation and this presentation we didn't have a lot of movement the candidate that has been identified for the gym vacancy we were looking to onboard that individual there were some uh pieces that we needed to get in place regarding their credentials so that um has been a little prolonged in the process but we are still working on getting that um position filled as well Stevenson last month I um shared that they had an individual working with them they have transitioned to another person um at the behest of the building leadership so of course we supported that recommendation and they have now uh filled that with another individual so we will see how this individual works out and if not we will move in another Direction regarding Bernie again this is identical to what you saw last month uh we have all of these positions being filled by substitute teachers as uh I mentioned last month many of these substitute teachers have been with the scholars for the entire school year so they have that consistency they know these individuals and they are doing um a very good job in accordance with what the principal has shared Thompson and I think they slipped out already um but you can see that they are making progress they have their ecdd room filled by substitute teacher they have the ASD room being filled by a a team member they have the first grade vacancy that person should be starting any day the social studies vacancy was just created on the 17th of December with that teacher transferring over to the levy vacancy so that one is posted and they will be U scheduling interviews relatively soon of course um the three pair of professional substitutes that we have we're still working on and one clerical staff member last but definitely not least the one resource room vacancy at Levy Middle School uh because their social studies position that they had last month has now been filled by the teacher that transferred over from Thompson moving on to southf High School for the Arts and Technology I can't say that I have ever seen their report this clean in all the years that I have been in Southfield Public Schools and even going back the last decade to only have one vacancy and that is with the issn Department is truly a a compliment to that staff and the rebranding that they have done at Southfield High School for the Arts and Technology so kudos to that entire team for filling all of the vacancies and our HR team for helping them to get those positions closed out last but definitely not least the associate Dean position K5 at University K12 Academy um I did have two additional interviews for that position on yesterday we had most of the interviews before the break literally up until the last day and we couldn't get the other two scheduled until yesterday so you will have a recommendation coming before you relatively soon for that position um we also have KLC uh whereby we have a person that is serving in the leadership role that was making a decision on whether the decision was positive so she stand in that role yes no we haven't we don't know yet okay so but we have a leader there that uh we hope is staying um you all know this individual this individual has run many of our programs including the uh program through General Motors in the summer um and she's doing an awesome job so we're hopeful that she will decide to make the decision to stay there we do have some other positions being filled by issn team members as you see on the slide and last for our district to round us out uh the two speech pathologists as mentioned last month we do have both of those positions currently being being filled by our partners but we do have two eiv teachers that we are still in need of supporting um the district positions we kind of already started with that so we have the communications coordinator Phil date started and the assistant athletic director the chief of talent management is being transitioned to that of an executive director so that is being posted the good news is that Oakland schools now has a uh HR pathway where they are taking recommendations from districts and training people up South public schools is not the only District struggling with having um individuals in HR so through our advocacy at Oakland schools they have started an academy specifically for HR professionals and they are looking to start one for finance professionals as well so we're really excited and hopeful that coming out of those first or second classes will be individuals that can join us here in Southville Public Schools any questions board president uh so I not necessarily um a question well there is one question but we we talk about Staffing often and I'm going to continue to say it I'm Dr Green you know this um in order to not have the issues that we've had in the past right we cannot control um who leaves who stays who comes but what we can do is make the district welcoming get people the training they need the onboarding they need and um try to make the hiring process one that is fluid and not so stagnant right um my biggest question is we know we'll have people retiring and I know that in February there is a um an ask for those who plan on leaving the district um to let us know so my ask of you is once we get that information what are we going to do closer to March than May to ask those people if they a have any interest in coming back per what governor Whitmer has offered and we've already had some people taking part in that b finding out what the vacancies will look like in each building just based off of this report and those retirement reports that we will receive and then how are we going to combat it so we're doing three things synonymous um with what you stated so we have the retirements coming in for the month of February so as we get those we're charting those so that we know where those retirements will be in which respective buildings while the HR team is doing that the building level leaders are currently building out their Master schedules for next school year based on student requirements at the high school level based on student interest based on interests of the families based on industry interest what do our next customer expect for our Scholars so they're building out those m master schedule so that we know where the vacancies will be the other piece of it is that we are already building a list of those having retired that are already interested in coming back unfortunately those that retire this year will have a waiting period they have to wait for uh six months before they can come back to the school district unless we receive something different from the state an exception to the rule so as we continue to build the list of those staff members that are interested in returning from the previous year of retirement we already have them in the queue we know that they're high quality we know all of their evaluations we know how amazing they were with our Scholars and with our families so we have them ready to go in addition to that we are facilitating job um job fairs for Scholars at the universities that are graduating we recognize that the numbers are few and we have to make Southfield more appealing to them why would they want to come to Southfield um when you think about the eastern michigans they are looking at the in Washington County they've spent four years or five years in that area so they're looking around where they went to school the Michigan States they're looking around East Lancing so we are really trying to Target individuals relative to location and to where they initially graduated so we have a lot of Scholars that are from our community so we are making an a concerted effort to reach out to them and to welcome them back into the community we hosted a student teacher breakfast for our Scholars at the end of for our adult Scholars at the end of uh their last semester and brought them over to jwe and talked a lot about the district and what we had to offer and provided them with opportunities to fill out applications and to hear from our HR staff so that they understand how that's working and in terms of it being a fluid system we have started meeting with plant Moran to develop those standard operating procedures to review the ones that we have in an effort to ensure that no one is um finding challenges with navigating our system I have another question along the lines um of what was already mentioned um how often are the uh building leadership identifying some of our guest teachers who um perhaps have a desire to return to school um to perhaps take an alternate route towards teacher certification how are we um doing in that area I'm glad that you lifted that um in talking to one of our K8 building leaders um they mentioned that two of those individuals that are currently serving in those sub positions that I shared had been with the scholars all year they have identified them as individuals that want to go back and earn those certifications so as we have the conversations with the building leaders and we learn of those individuals we are working with them to try to help them find the appropriate Pathways based on their own personal experiences to get them in the right programs to help move them forward yeah and my last question would be um eventually some of our leaders are going to leave and so my ask is how are we succession planning to prepare those who would like to become leaders who are already here and established getting them um geared up to become the Future Leaders because we've noticed that um and this is a prime example right um if you look at principal Eubanks if you look at assistant principal ector these are all people that started their careers so to speak in Southfield they are long-term lifers is what we call them and they've worked their way toward a goal of becoming Administration so how are we kind of vetting leadership because and good leadership not just people who say they want to be in charge but people who actually know how to be in charge big difference AB to be in charge and knowing how absolutely it's interesting you lifted that um Paula Miss Paula Miss April and I spent a a large amount of time together on this past Friday and that's one of the topics that we covered identifying leaders and um suggesting that they step into coordinator roles or suggesting that they step into different building leadership roles to see if that is something that they're truly interested in right you can have someone that's an amazing physicist but they can't teach physics um or someone that is amazing in science and and can't be a doctor or don't have the appropriate bedside manner if you will um but know the technical skills so we are looking for those individuals we don't it would be ideal to have a Leadership Academy here in Southfield we don't have the bandwidth for that right now so what we've done is we've partnered with organizations such as massp which is the Michigan Association of Secondary School principles and we have some individuals that are enrolling in those platforms so that they can get the professional development through these professional organizations um I mentioned Oakland schools doing some of the more central office positions but they too have some leadership uh trainings that they're offering and we are affording all of those opportunities to our staff that are interested because sometimes you don't know what you don't know what you don't know and then when they go through it they say this is not what I expect it I don't want to do it so would you rather them go through the experience and know that that's not what they want or they are more passionate about it than having the on the job training and and discovering that that's not what they're interested in thank you you're most welcome at this time we will have Dr Thompson come to the podium to give us the busy uh Center for early childhood education report good evening Dr green board president vice uh vice president president and the rest of the board um happy New Year to everyone so I'm giving the report um reporting December numbers December 2024 numbers so the first part is a family engagement um had a lot of things oops what did I do here we go um policy Council and parent Representatives continue to greet students and families on a daily basis we held our parent teacher conferences December 6th and 13th um we had donuts for dads on December 10th and it was a really great great turnout um we had our winter showcase on um December 11th for classrooms and um some of the classrooms our head start and Early Head Start classrooms didn't um because of the weather they did they canceled theirs so they're coming tomorrow to to finish up and then for um before the the holiday break we had um giveaways so we had the bicycles 39 were given away and toys were given away by the Christ cares foundation and that was December 19th and 20th um for the toys all the students as well as their siblings were given a toy so it was really great and then um another family engagement piece um the link sheets that's where we um those are educational resources that are provided to parents to support and extend their child's learning experiences from the classroom so that's the connection between the classroom and home and those are just some of the pictures from K Christa car's foundation and the giveaways some of our par volunteers and then um this is December 2024 enrollment so um for Early Head Start we had um 14 students and um pregnant mothers enrolled we had two um vacancies and then seven on the waiting list um for Head Start we have um 81 enrolled and 47 vacancies and then for gsrp we had 63.5 slots filled and 16.5 slots that weren't filled and for drops um Early Head Start we um we had two students that transitioned to Head Start so we'll have um and December well in January we have new students that are starting we have one already start and another will start um Head Start there were no drops and gsrp no drops the December 2024 average daily attendance Ada was 84% Ada so that's one percentage point below what we're supposed to have but that's because of illnesses I wanted to go back to enrollment there our enrollment will change for the U month of January we were enrolled we were um awarded the Head Start um enrollment reduction Grant so the name the numbers will change next month so we're really excited about that um and again as I mentioned with the program transitions two students trans transition from Early Head Start to Head Start in busy Center and the families on the wait list were contacted in order to secure a slot for their Scholars for the child adult adult care food program we served 4593 meals and then for the number of children receiving Support Services we have two with IEPs ifsps we had two referrals compliances 13 which will be reduced um this month and then one compliance for Early Head Start for curriculum instruction we continue to implement the high scope curricul curriculum um we're in the second period for core Advantage data collection so that's uh started um November 18th and it goes through March 2nd 2020 so in March we'll be able to compare the fall and winter um data um the education manager conducted uh teacher postobservation conferences and this is for the lead teachers as well as the assistant teachers um we provide weekly tips for teachers in our weekly staff updates so academic and social emotional to support our students and then with the education manager she is implementing uh today a reader tomorrow a leader program where um she's implementing this to support literacy development reading in the classrooms with the Staffing vacancies um we had four teacher CD um vacancies um two were in the hiring process um one is still in the hiring process um is getting background checked and one declined to come on board um and then we had one family service worker vac see we had a reset resignation in December as well and then for our inine contributions July 1st 2024 through December 31st 2024 um the screen says 119 but it's a little bit higher than that um we have collected so far $134,800 then for upcoming events so we already we held our staff mental health and wellness day uh Friday January 10th 2025 and that was um a lot of fun we had some Wellness activities Wellness presentations um we gave did some giveaways and all of that and we went to this to dve and Busters again like we did last year the staff really enjoyed it and expressed gratitude and seem to have fun um we have the dentist RS visit Thursday this coming Thursday the 6th 16 and then um our Multicultural day is scheduled for Monday January 27th from 10:00 a.m. to 2: p.m. so that's another example another opportunity for family engagement that's all any questions do the chair uh trust okay just a quick question on the enrollment Grant you mentioned will the enroll Grant have a decrease in the vacancies that we're showing for the Head Start program for Head Start yes okay and how much do you anticipate um so we're well it would be Head Start and gsrp um well actually Head Start so we are almost there so what we did was we we closed two Head Start gsrp blend classes and so um we already have so we have four Head Start classrooms now we changed one from a head start gsrp to straight Head Start classroom so we'll we just have um maybe 10 11 12 vacancies that we'll have to fill for Head Start and then a little more for um gsrp so we're we're close to our targets and I can I'll share those numbers next month okay cuz you're saying we'll go from 47 to it'll be down oh yeah oh yeah okay thank you thank you I have a few questions um first I would like to to ask um what are you seeing in terms of the trends for kindergarten Readiness you mentioned about the data collection and comparing the fall and winter um where do you see our scholars in terms of of being on track so that's one of the things that we can look at with the core Advantage as we move forward they do have a School Readiness piece with that so we are closely monitoring our uh Scholars um and closely monitoring instruction as well so we will be um observing that in terms of School Readiness as we move forward when will the board have because I believe I asked for this quite some time ago some data that show comparison to where our Scholars are um with our our youngest scholars in comparison to being ready and to transition uh specifically around uh early literacy okay yeah I can that data is in core Advantage so I actually I can get that for you um so you can look at it so okay thank you for that um when because I see your your activities here listed I don't see anything for Kindergarten Roundup or any transition efforts when are those going to begin that's scheduled for um I didn't put the February on there that's scheduled for February 27th for the kindergarten showcase so we're going to do it like we did last year where um where we have um our students who are well we actually invite everyone so even the students who aren't going to transition next year but we invite our families in so we'll have the um kindergarten teachers and principals um at busy and we'll have a night where we discuss the kindergarten um transition and all of that okay so that's a one night activity MH and then with the uh kindergarten roundups too um within the district we will publish those for our families as well so how often are the kindergarten teachers getting with Kindergarten Roundup is this week we at the respective buildings Adler cannot be here tonight because they are actually hosting their kindergarten round up tonight so all of the families have been contacted relative to the kindergarten roundups separate and apart from where they go over to busy to have it inhouse at busy okay how often are the kindergarten teachers and preschool teachers coming together to talk about Trends and and observations and Readiness in that regard so we've had them over um they were over in the fall I can't remember the date specifically we had um two of the kindergarten teachers to come over um for an event and to collaborate with us so that it's been it's been once right now and then it'll be um when we do the kindergarten um showcase and then as we get prepared for the um boot camp as well for the summer so we'll have them over trusty SM Thomas to your point to your that you brought on before now that we have Miss Daniels in her position as data um supervisor uh we will LIF that for her to make sure that she is collaborating with both sets of teachers to make sure that we get that information and that that's moving forward thank you and I did share the the data with Miss Daniels too last year so I'll I'll share it again okay I'd like to see it okay thank you sure the in kind um numbers are we still partnering with the grandparents program okay um and then uh this is more for for uh Dr Green where are we percentage wise with um busy as a a a grant funded program and the district are percentage I don't have those exact numbers I will get those from um Miss April Rogers who provides oversite for that and I will send that out to all the trustees on tomorrow um I'd like to see i' would be interested to know um because we've heard about several changes that have happened over the last few years um with the program I'd like to know how we have trended in terms of how much Financial fiscal support the district is providing for this program to cover cost as opposed to um what that balance has been over the years because being a grant-funded program of this magnitude should be carrying its own ful funed um and so i' I'd be interested to see where that stands and I will actually um message Miss Rogers unfortunately she couldn't be here tonight but she is watching so hopefully we can get that information before we leave in an effort to be transparent not only with the trustees with our community as well so I will message her as we um sit here this evening okay um and uh another question oh y thank you I I have one question and um perhaps um I'm novice in this in this ask but considering the amount of inflation um and and price and all of these things and you hear all the time that people have are having issues getting Child Care like it's still a problem so why are our numbers so low like I'm just trying to understand what is it that is keeping us from filling up classrooms because I know there's a need so why aren't we the ones meeting it busy was a premere space in this city and surrounding cities to bring your little people and so while um the cost of living is different people are struggling so I would think that these Grant funded programs that would provide food care and education would be they would be beating our door down to get in so what is the reason and if we do not know the why we will never fix the problem if we are not honest about the why we cannot fix the problem so I have sat here meeting after meeting and after meeting waiting to hear the why and so now I'm going to ask what's the why so the why is the Staffing piece um so I have Subs in the classroom and then I had I didn't have I had a couple classrooms that weren't open so with um I do have a class that SL to open that they're working on um so as we get new staff as people come on board will'll be able to be fully functioning you know fully enrolled and that's what the um that's what the intention is and we're working on um getting the the classrooms filled and I understand the the why but it's been difficult just with the Staffing shortages and you know the subs in the classroom and things like that so so essentially we can't bring in kids CU we have no one to teach them that's the bottom line yeah and we don't have people to teach them because the pool is so small to get or is is there so much competition that everybody is grabbing from the same people or is our turnover so high I'm just trying to understand how we help com back this because these families need a place to bring their kids and we would not see the student reduction if we could feed from the spot where we get them I mean once kids get their Core Group you know a lot of times they want to stay with it once parents feel connected they want to keep moving forward so I'm just trying to understand how do we help what of the the big things for us is um and this is a um a commitment for the office of Head Start and this this is something that I've thought about since I've been here but um with the starting salaries and all of that they've at times haven't been competitive so that's where the Head Start enrollment uh reduction Grant comes in as well so um we'll be able to to increase the salaries and and hopefully get some more quality people and that's what I'm looking for I'm looking for getting the right people in front of our kids um president Bland and that's that's the bottom line I think about health and safety and things like that and being able to pay people who are qualified to be in the building and to work with kids and who are passionate about kids so I I feel that we're in the position to do that now we've gotten the Grant and we're working on that so we continue to um interview and hopefully get the right people and um I have my teachers in place and I'm looking for assistant teachers now so I'm thankful for that I have the teachers that are and I think one thing and I I'll would be remiss if I didn't say it um and I've said it about all buildings once you get the right people the way you keep them is by having a nurturing and fostering environment cuz one thing I tell you people don't leave because of the money they leave because it's not a healthy space and so we must continue to Foster and nurture healthy space so if you know I I want to see buy succeed I want to see all of our schools succeed but I just hear the stories of of families that want to get their children in affordable preschools and it's so difficult so I I would love for busy to be that space so we'll keep chomping at the bit thank you Dr Thomson yes ma'am um Dr Thompson you mentioned that there were out of four teachers your C CDA assistant teachers there were um two in the hiring process one which is still in the process how long is that process taken um this usually it's a lot faster it usually is about I would say about two to three weeks it just depends so if a person's already in child care um they have the background that goes through the school district and then they have to go through the the Lura or the myap um but if they haven't been in the school district it's a little bit it takes a little bit longer but for this particular person it's taken probably um I think we interviewed before the um the break so before the break as in November or no December so I don't have the specific date but I can look at that yeah so and then you mentioned that one person has declined did they mention as to why they declined the offer um they they talked about salary and they just took another position and um yeah and they didn't they didn't say anything about counter you know countering about the salary or anything they just when they were we did the whole background check and everything and yeah they just said they took another position so because this process seems to be taking so long what is the propensity that we're going to lose this last person that we have in the pipeline um I I don't think that there's going to be an issue with that because the person is going through the um is going through the process it is a um a parent as well so wants to be on board so I think this will be fine and and the process has sped up um since I would say last last May when they got a new person but it it has sped up this is just two of them that were like that so and you you um also mentioned a resignation is that resignation part of any of these numbers or is this something new that was something new yeah okay yeah what position is that it's an assistant teacher assistant teacher okay so I have all the leads I don't have I need the assistant teachers are there exit interviews that happen um with resignations um when I think with the staffing company they do exit interviews um oftentimes when people are letting me know that they're going to resign they will give me the reason most times they do they you know and do we we do something on site or in inh house for our own resignation so we understand what we need to do as the busy Center in order to improve our staffing so the culture yeah so um I usually get a general reason may talk to the staffing company as well but don't do I haven't done a specific exit interview but we'll do that okay through the chair um Dr Dr Thompson um I'm looking at Early Head Start I see the four there's 14 in row correct how many slots would it be available if you had at the stair with Early Head Start there's 16 so Early Head Starts um not an issue we have so there were two kids that transitioned from Early Head Start to um Head Start yeah so we just had to fill those slots okay so you have two available but you have um then it would be five on the weight list after those two after they're filled yeah and I didn't put five on the weight list because they weren't filled yet right exactly so how long will they be on this wait list uh they won't be on the wait list long they have about 30 days so they'll be this as I said I we already had one that already started so then the next one will start so okay okay um that was it thank you okay you're welcome um I have an Ask uh is there a uh staff handbook for busy m is it provided directly from Head Start or is it one that's been developed through um through your leadership or through the busy leadership it's one that's been developed through the busy leadership okay and evaluations as well are those done through busy leadership or through the third party agency they're through the busy leadership okay and those are um done regularly mhm okay any Trends we seeing um so um basically um when looking at the trends um we one of the things we know is our staff we have a lot of staff that are new to busies so they do need the training make sure that they understand the high scope curriculum core advantage and all of that so we do try to provide that training and do the modeling and all that so I would say those are yeah those are the trends okay thank you anyone else hearing none thank you Dr Thom you're welcome thank you you're welcome board president the only other thing that I wish to lift this evening um we you did mention at the beginning of the board meeting that we are not having our Scholars uh to march on Monday M day the weather forast cast is going to have wind chills of-5 to -20 um also on Tuesday as our student board reps lifted there is no school for our Scholars on that day however our staff was expected to come into the buildings we are mindful of our staff's um not coming to um out in those frigid conditions as well so um in collaboration with our sea leadership our teachers union leadership uh we are working on a memorandum of understanding to afford our staff an opportunity to work remotely on Tuesday to ensure that their safety and well-being is being considered also um given those um frigid temperatures that we are expected on Tuesday so I did want to lift that in the conversation I don't know what Wednesday will bring some people have already asked me well what's the weather forecast for Wednesday I am not a meteorologist I am dependent on the Doppler forecast from others um but as we learn of things I will Ely keep the board a breast and we will make the appropriate decisions at that time thank you thank you uh now to 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 3 minutes per individual as a matter of fairness speakers with complaints against individuals are asked not to mention any persons by name complaints concerning employees pursuant to board policy 99130 should be brought to the attention of School principles or other administrators before coming to the Board of Education your cooperation is appreciated Betty Robinson good evening good evening everyone how are you Happy New Year happy New Year Madame President I am so glad that you lifted the questions you did today regarding busy because I uh implore all of you to go to busy to visit the school um I told my son not to enroll my granddaughter in busy because it is just poly ran and uh the teacher I have phone calls from parents who have the students there and it's a train wreck teachers are fighting each other they're not teaching the kids anything kids are being left alone in the room by themselves and just the other day I I heard that a a parent a teacher attacked a child and that that's a problem so I've been talking to you guys about bus for years and you're not doing anything about it and I find that's the problem because these are our pre students this are the students that need to be protected and you're not doing that and um you need the parents are not being fully vetted no one is going out to the parents to find out um their income level where they live and the condition they live in that should be done because this is a federally granted program and if you guys don't step up to the plate and find out what's going on over there you're going to lose your Grant um parents are already calling the uh office of head start with their complaints and about the school because like I said it's a train wack I'm hearing from parents regarding um I I said that a major and should okay I have been before the board before and told you everything that we needed to know to find out what's going on in bus but you ignore um the complaints the uh Ferndale I took my my granddaughter's 10 Ferell um prek and there's about 600 students there and you asked the question about where the parents are they in Ferndale you need to go and visit Ferndale it's fantastic each room has two student student two teachers I'm sorry for about 20 students and uh it's professionally run and they have a breakfast they have a lunch and they have a snack and uh they teaching them uh things that should be taught at an early preschool but that's not happening at busy so you guys need to visit it's your responsibility to visit these schools and find out what's going on you are the board you run the district so please do your job thank you thank you Miss Robinson um I I would like to give a big shout out to the superintendent of Ferndale Public Schools who is a graduate of Southville Public Schools um Leah Gordon hello um my name is Leah Gordon I honestly just had a suggestion so when we were talking about Staffing the first thing that popped into my mind was partnering with the state of Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity office to do teacher app apprenticeship programs um and the same thing could happen and be uh beneficial with the uh Early Childhood too so I didn't have anything else but a comment or a suggestion rather thank you you thank you appreciate it action items uh consent agenda approval amendments for December 10th 2024 and December 12th close session December um oh December 12th 2024 close session superintendent evaluation is there a motion on the floor a motion that we approve the minutes December 10th and December 1224 support it's been properly moved and supported is there any discussion surrounding the consent agenda hearing none board secretary whenever your ready please call for the vote trusty waval yes myself yes trusty Denson yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Holloway yes trusty plan yes trusty B yes unanimous motion carried thank you uh report 6339 Personnel Action Report trustees this report was sent to you previously what I would like to say is that I am excited about number five I am extremely excited so you know there are a few things that I could say but um behind the scenes we are continuously advocating to see the right people get in the right spaces um this is an example I'm glad it finally came into fruition oh number two I am um sad to see I am sad to see um but hopefully but I think those are that's one of the individuals for sure yeah trustees any other discussion surrounding the Personnel Action Report hearing none board secretary please call for the vote motion oh I apologize I motion that um we vote on report 6339 we approve we open and approve support re tired it's been properly moved and supported is there any other discussions reing report 6339 hearing none board secretary please call for the vote trusty Bel yes trusty Bland yes trusty hallay yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Denson yes myself yes trusty raval yes unanimous motion carried thank you report 6340 budge and revision non Federal match waiver for 2324 this is a revised report by Dr Green yes this is a revised report the uh number actually changed in terms of the um Federal match waiver it's increased to 93,6 43 this was taken before policy Council this morning um at which time they did approve it so we are asking that the board approve it um consider approving it um again this is for the 2023 2024 school year Dr Green is asking that we make report 6340 actionable this is for the 20 3 24 school year as she stated the policy Council has already approved this is there a motion on the floor I motion that we open and approve report 6340 it's been properly moved and supported is there any discussion surrounding report 6340 I have a question um what are the consequences Dr Thompson consequen not correct the additional funds FS no consequences It's actually an ad it's an ad to our bottom line right I'm saying what are the consequences for for even requesting this waiver as it relates to a compliant from a compliance stand there's not a consequence as as it pertains to us adding for the additional funding we're asking that because the number has increased we will more from the dollar amount the original request was approximately 80 some thousand so it's 15,000 plus to the district's bottom line to offset not our bottom line in terms of our general fund but to offset the programming which is similar to what you asked about earlier in terms of it being sustainable right maybe I'm not understanding this this the way I'm understanding it correct me if I'm wrong we didn't meet the match that were required to meet is that not accurate and so we're asking for a waiver because of it the the revision is actually going to happen to the the budget that was allotted right so we already submitted the the waiver for the 23 24 year we need to amend it to have the accurate numbers the accurate accurate dollar amount so we were technically I'm not for lack of a better word we were shorted and now we'll get the money that we are owed I'm trying to I understand I understand okay so we had so this is not the first time that this waiver has come before the board this is an amendment I'm just speaking I'm so yes to your original question and it had already come before you relative to not meeting it and so now we our numbers have increased okay because I I see the um the comments about the challenges and so I'm wondering about what are we and that speaks to the question I asked earlier about the grandparents program right because I'm trying to understand um if we're seeing challenges and meeting our um match our non-federal match that we require what are we doing to to increase it so everything that you see in that that's not highlighted was already submitted to the federal government the changes are the things that have been highlighted in Green for the trustees okay is there any other discussion surrounding report 6341 6340 oh I apologize 6340 I'm looking at 41 hearing none um board secretary whenever you're ready please call for the vote trusty word ofal yes myself yes trusty Denson yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Holloway yes trusty Bland yes trusty V yes unanimous motion carried report 6341 apply Innovation copy of refresh phase one General funds this was actually lifted last month it now comes before us Dr Green I believe I had asked then will this need to be made actionable um because we are actually good on this one is it has it happened no this is not Dan so this is actually Allison okay um hey Al as uh you may recall our copers um in the district we have lease agreements on all of our copers and uh we bring them in in phases to minimize the impact um to the district um we are looking to refresh the first phase of the ones that came into the district shortly after I arrived so they've been with us um approximately seven years yeah 2018 okay yeah yeah yeah that was 2018 and um we didn't have much use of course during the pandemic because we went virtual but then when we came back in we got to use it got to use and now we need to refresh those so miss Alison did I pretty much summarize that you did I can come up there if you like it's up to you I know it's okay um I I guess my only question would be how many copers what one it's just the one one yeah come on come on up Allison Price is Right come on this is Phase One okay uh good evening I'm Alison de interm technology director um new faces welcome um as Dr Green stated um we're talking about applied an innovation copy or re fresh one so 2018 uh Southfield Public Schools contracted um their District copy Services out to applied Innovation um used to be Applied Imaging um obviously the the decision was cost saving um cost savings and to provide monitoring machines with C timely customer service um so as mentioned it was done in three phases um we're specifically talking about phase one uh which happened 2018 so prior to my arrival that included Southfield high school for Arts and Technology ITC jwe SRE Thompson K8 and University K12 so at the time um MacArthur and University uh in total 29 black and white devices and seven color devices we're talking about the big copy machines um due to them not being utilized for a lengthy amount of time during the pandemic um and still in high quality working order um we pushed that refresh of All Phases back it is now a year and a half so uh The Phase One machines are beginning to show their age um and need to be refreshed in order to support the Southfield Public School staff and students um the district now we now own these machines outright um so we have some options we can work with applied to sell the machines um and and and get a substantial amount of money back um another District within Oakland schools you know did that so um that is that is an option um so we would be refreshing in the first days of cabby machines for a lower cost through what's called Mitten pricing Mitten pricing is available to all publicly funded entities in the state of Michigan that was bidded out through the city of farington Hills Reb bided January 2023 and awarded to applied Innovation um the current phase one Fleet we have now was acquired utilizing immunity lease um at a monthly expense a monthly expense so we're talking about the phase one monthly expense of $758 one19 utilizing the updated Mitten pricing uh and Rico equipment the proposed monthly lease payment would be $ 4,448 so this does present a reduction of $3,566 71 per month from the previous phase one monthly lease uh SPS will also see reduction in the monthly service expense with the current copier service agreement um we're paying 5 $484 monthly uh with the proposed uh refresh that would be $2,538 that's a nice prediction this presents a monthly savings of $2,964 46 um on the service agreements so and nothing changes with the um breadth of service that we we get oh that's amazing yep we are just refreshing the machines um the brand of machine is going from Canon to Rico um but we you know looked at the Quality and the functionality and it is all going to be the same can I finish one second do our copers all have the um the ability to just scan in and PDF it over so we we're up to date on software and Technology from that aspect so we're not just paper paper paper paper okay I just wanted to ask okay and we have something great that's called Global printing um we know you print you can pull it out at any machine across the district you swipe your badge I mean um I do have to say from a technology standpoint and everything that we oversee Cabo machines are like it it's an easy part of our job so um they just work consistently well we don't get complaints buildings know how to reach out to apply to Innovation you see their jeeps in the parking lot all this time um they're here quickly and they are literally located right down the road uh they are in Southfield and our rep um he stops by you stopped by a couple days ago I go out there um you know just to discuss things so um uh they really do take take good care of us here in Southfield so the fiscal fund impact would be the technology General funds um copier is our budget every year that is part of our budget every single year um so impact amount we're looking um monthly device lease cost $4,440 so 60 monthly payments over 5 years um for a grand total of $198,000 $198 ,7 I got okay sorry 8,736 63 um copy machines like I said um it's an easy part of our life here with in the technology department um so I do ask that the superintendent recommends the board of aded approval for moving forward with the refresh um of phase one copy machines um at Southville high school for Arts and Technology ITC jwe SRA and University K12 we would then work with Applied Imaging on a rollout plan uh to switch out the machines um we know with with no disruption to the staff and the equipment is available right now you um vice president president I'm sorry if I could just add I I think that one person lifted um did we have uninterrupted service and the quality of the machines I will say that uh Miss Foster and Miss pette actually went to Applied Imaging and tried out several different machines because we want our endusers input in the machines that are selected as well so we do know that that they have afforded us an opportunity to go try out various machines thank you are cartridges Auto shipped um so in the first year that's like on a um like an automat automated refresh for us so that's included um with our services and then um after that you know um we order the supplies and then pay for it you order the supplies and you all pay for it well it's part of what we budget okay right so um you know we have uh allotted in the budget for Applied innovation Staples and you know toner and things like that that's all included in what we budget for every year if we're moving to a different device what will happen to the cartridges that are inhouse will they how how is that going to work um like I said one of the reasons going to something like applied to Innovation um you know and not speaking specifically to Southfield but you know you'd have a buildup of Staples and ink like that um working with a company like that and only ordering you know um you know we know when when toner is getting low ordering only what we need um we're not going to have a surplus of those kind of things that go to waste in addition to that we as we're doing this in phases any of the Canon products that we still have in phase one that's being swapped out we will still have some Canon devices in other buildings for phase two and phase three go to chair just a quick question because I know time is well spent do we have the opportunity to sell the I know you spoke about that to sell the ones that and is that a plan Dr Green to possibly sell something to offset the 198k over the five years SP yeah so applied Innovation um provided me with you know um some opportunities and um you know people to work with to sell those um as I mentioned another District in the county recently did that um so that is my recommendation for the district to do we always try to resell resell items or cycle items were um applicable we won't give them away and so if we are able to recoup a significant amount of of uh funding then we'll definitely do that and we'll bring those results back to you as well uh you've heard um all of the information Dr Green are we asking that we make this actionable this evening if it is a pleasure of the board please and thank you is there a motion on the floor I motion that we open the approve report 6341 support it's been properly moved and supported is there any other discussion hearing none board secretary whenever you're ready please call for the vote trusty Bel yes trusty band Yes trusty Holloway yes trusty Johnson yes trusty Denon yes myself yes trusty Ral yes unanimous motion Carri thank you all thank you Allison thank you and I appreciate your time have a great evening you as well thank you um financial report and monthly bill dispersement board Treasurer thank you um I've reviewed all of the financial reports and this is something that I've asked our um board president to put on the schedule to talk about in our upcoming Retreat so as I shared with um board members last month and um to to the point of um of of comments in the past um we do have a job to do um I know that some of us carry the load um a little bit more than others but we will be discussing at The Retreat how to more adequately um service the community um the board Treasurer is going to have a larger conversation um of course with the finance department to start um moving in the direction of um condensing and and providing a more Layman's explanation of the financial report and Bill dispersement but we will go into depth in that um at our Retreat okay um well president at that time um of that conversation will we also discuss where we are um mid year in terms of the budget and um okay it it is going to be a a very extensive conversation um for for a few housekeeping things but um midyear evaluation something that we have not had the time to do cuz we're always running um to your point CBA how we're actually using the funds that we spend going to these events what are we bringing back to the table what are we bring into our community um we are looking at our policies as you all received from Miss Foster she sent a policy review document um board operating procedures which I was asked multiple times to provide have been provided um I've I've received some feedback but we're also going to move those into um action um and and just become a more um cohesive and functional board um so that will happen at the retreat as well I'd like to maybe suggest um for president that the board considers bringing um not board goals from a lens of for the superintendent the board goes as a as a member um to The Retreat for conversation we do so that we can really tie it to some meaningful actions Miss Foster will you please note that for the agenda um board goals um trustee board goals um explicitly that that is what we want to discuss for the good of the order um does anybody have anything for the good of the order I do um you mentioned earlier about some of the unfortunately some of the grief that has been experienced in the district and I think we also should uh recognize that our own trustee as well um Treasurer experience um grief in her family and loss as well and um just to the community I think you know you all perhaps May understand a little bit of what we do um but some of what we do as well is putting ourselves on the back seat sometimes showing up here um and trusty Bel did that many nights many times um throughout I want to say November and December um when her family and personal life was um in complete chaos she was here she was showing up uh for the the for the district for the scholars for the community and I think that especially in the month of uh January as we recognized board members uh board recognition service then that is something that I would like to just lift um that you know we put ourselves on the back seat a lot um to be here and of course we ran and and actually want to elect us to be here but you know we do have personal lives as well and um and carry a lot of things when we come here and trusty Bel uh did that with no complaints at all so I do want to lift that she also endured quite a bit of loss and so just I think it's just um nice that we just be mindful of that um that's actually a great lift um um some of you all know that um trusty Bel works for the city of Detroit and finance um so when you talk about qualifications um she and I have a lot of financial discussions and our lunches are spent discussing how to improve things um calling Dr Green asking questions calling Advance um I also would like to LIF that Dr Carrie um has also lost her father when we talk about grief um in this District so there was a lot of loss um and we pray that um that everyone in this district is able to heal um and when you talk about the commitment of this board I mean um she's not going to say it but uh trusty word ofal is outside greeting babies at mcar the old mearth the door every single Morning Rain sleep shine she walks the building she holds their hand she makes sure they're eating so when you talk about the commitment um there is a commitment here and I do appreciate um this board for actually stepping up and doing the work um so thank you all for that um again Martin Luther King day um we will be um at the event that takes place every single year um there are some other events that will be taking place as well throughout this District Thompson is having a spelling be um we have um Middle School basketball games that are taking place um our band is always booked and busy yes they um they keep me busy and um I just want to commend all the building leaders um for bringing your kids back Smiles on their face transportation for getting our kids to that spaces safely with these icy cold roads and I also would like to lift one other thing please note beginning March of 2025 696 eastbound will close completely from ler to 75 for 2 years so for those of us who endured what took place Westbound from what seemed to be Lancing to Oak Park and I may be exaggerating but it felt that way um this will be a complete lane closure um I have reached out to um some people in Oakland County just to ask have they considered our transportation when making these decisions our bus drivers have to take these routes and our parents it will make the commute they talking about take the Davidson who going to take the Davidson to get a lcer um so you know I just um please keep be cognizant that March we usually get once we welcome spring Mother Nature likes to remind uh us that she's in charge and we get that last ice storm um so just wanted to lift that to the community as well other than that yes ma'am um for president um I would be remissed if I didn't acknowledge the trustees that had birthdays between the last time we were together and now um our vice president celebrated her birthday on December 28th and while I reached out to her personally I did want to publicly acknowledge uh her a happy belated birthday and then our very own board president who on this last Friday January 10th celebrated her birthday so again I'd be remiss if I did not acknowledge those very special birthdays um so thank you oh that wasn't part of the agenda um but I appreciate it all and and to my VP thank you for stopping by and leaving me something beautiful at my door you always look out as well as um Dr Green I appreciate this this community um everyone have a wonderful evening our next meetings will be Saturday January 25th that is a board retreat and Tuesday January 28th special board meeting we are adjourned at 9:14 p.m.