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[Music] [Music] call this meeting of the Board of
Education to order uh the board would like to welcome the audience and thanks you for attending viewers may watch Board of Education meetings and board committee meetings live at tcaps.net backboard reported meetings may be viewed on demand at the same address please rise and join Mrs M Ross's kindergarten class at Eastern Elementary no pledge of Alle alce to the flag of the United
States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation godible liberty and justice for all okay we at the review approval portion of the agenda uh I would like to make a change
to the agenda okay um I'd like to move item D2 under uh discussion to consent sorry D sorry D1 discussion to consent D2 okay and that was how it was sent from the finance committee and I believe in the executive committee we accidentally either didn't move it or we put it on the wrong one so so I do have B1 moving to
consent that's the transportation School Bus purchase from from consent yes that's the firearms and weapons policy
correct okay B3 okay I'll get to reordering this in a second after I get the other changes so I'll move that one onto discussion um I do also have an additional discussion item that I will uh suggest putting uh as item uh a and then we'll bump everything else down which is meeting schedule um we've got a
lot of things to figure out with meeting so I'd like to put that as a so we can get that done because it may affect some other discussion items um so if that was became a everything else we go down one see E and F and then uh item B3 off of the consent
we go to item G any other changes to policy um under discussion which is see if you want to just add it to oh thank you so yeah so we will that works so yes
thank you that will be I think easier too so we we'll scratch it from uh the consent calendar we will move it to the discussion item that's already on for board policy which is now section that can discuss additional [Music] it be item d8 it will become okay after we get through the uh so do I
have a motion to or any other changes but motion to approve as amended I move to approve the agenda as amended sorry um CC police cour I think oh sorry sorry Tammy please conduct a local a while trusty Ballinger yes truste Raymond yes trustee bird yes trusty pack
yes trusty Schmidt yes and trusty Newman Bale yes motion carries um so moving on to the next uh discussion item recognition found Dr okay so uh toight uh we originally were going to have possibly I'd let you know the West High School uh stem group they wanted to wait until maybe the opening of the stem Labs with that um so we'll uh we'll see from them a little later but tonight we do have um our next round of teaps compass
Award winners so I'm going to go ahead and pass it over to con taylor to introduce our award winners thank you so much um for tonight if you are present in the room when we call your name will you please stand why we read your recognition and then when we're done you can have a seat and then when everyone is done we'll call you all up to receive certificates and we'll get a picture with you and the Board of Education okay we're going to start out tonight with our winner from the ask me group Gary
Garvin Gary is all right Gary's not here but I am going to tell you about him his nominee says Gary cares I remember when Gary started for teaps in 2000 from when he started at the high school third shift to lead position at CED ask anyone Gary was always there to do his best he's the ground department now and never leaves until the job is done and done to the best of his abilities he's always looking out for the safety of staff and students he's been with teaps for 24 years he's put on 100% in everything
that he's done his endless hours and dedication is worthy of this honor he arrives early and leaves late why because he cares he cares about the job he cares about the way things look and most of all he cares about the safety of teachers staff and students when he was the lead at custodian for many years the students at the secondary school now see him and remember him he's done something positive to make them students come up to say hello Mr Gary honor Gary
Garin our next winner is Matthew O'Brien bus driver best nominator said that he's always willing to jump in in help where needed he helps staff around facilities and transportation all the time he's extraordinarily Rel reliable with outstanding attendance he also volunteers for extra work he pre-trip an extra bus every morning he's a great role model for students and very seldom has disciplinary issues on his bus his
calm demeanor helps him work great with our elementary students also because of his knowledge and attention to detail he's part of the state police pre-inspection team and he goes through every bus and expects inspects them for our mechanics and lastly he transports students for for SSN he's a strong and consistent consant presence for the students who need him most congratulations [Applause] ma all right our next Honore is Emily
Dillinger wi from tcea Emily's an instructional coach at Blair Elementary she goes above Beyond being an intrical part of our school her commitment to improving her practice in order to support the development of our teachers is inspiring Emily aspires leaders follow through the tcaps teach America program and also is a member of the Blair leadership team she serves as a district Ela curriculum coordinator
and stepped up to serve as administrator for BL summer school program to Absolute rave reviews they might add Emily's impact is so great much greater than she realizes within our building she's a trusted adviser for staff they seek her out to balce ideas receive feedback and learn Emily has done an amazing job cultivating relationships within the building and Beyond her work as summer school administrator absolutely stands out the staff loved working for her and she helped to create a fun family-like
environment most importantly our students reported having so much fun the staff and students alike thoroughly enjoyed summer school as a testament to her vision and Leadership I'm proud and honored to work alongside Emily [Applause] congratulations our next Honore is Brian rager lead principal at East Middle School nomination it says is with great enthusiasm that I recommend Ryan Ranger
for the compass award in his new role as lead principal of East Middle School he has consistently demonstrated the exceptional leadership dedication and positive impact that this award celebrates he has fostered a positive welcoming environment at East Middle School he's known for his approachable demeanor creating a space for student staff and parents feel comfortable sharing ideas and concerns this open communication style has been instrumental in building trust and collaboration with the school Community Ryan's commitment to fairness is evident
in all of his interactions he consistently applies policies and procedures equitably ensuring that all students have access to the resources and support they need to succeed this commitment to fairness has fostered a sense of respect and belonging among students and staff alike Ryan is incredibly hardworking and dedicated individual he's often the first to arrive in the last to leave demonstrating a tireless work ethic in his pursuit of Excellence for East Middle School he actively participates in school events engages with students in the classroom in his visible and
supportive presence throughout the building congratulations Ron next I have Shelley Burton with our non-affiliated support child care Shel is the toddler manager at teaps Monas school she miss shell is a beloved Lead Teacher guide in our community and has been for the past seven years Shel is very committed not only to monor methodology but also the program she has helped curate recently
Shelly has graciously taken on a position to Mentor our new toddler team she does this on her own time she has provided training and professional learning to her team to help them better understand monaster education and the school culture Shelley is a true monosan she encompasses Grace courtesy and peace in all that she does she's a true advocate for early childhood education and the parents in our community she understands that this expertise for our family is far more than just school it is creating an
environment where students and families feel nurtured safe and connected she celebrates all that is good in TCAP strategic plan for seal learning in our District's very youngest Learners congratulations sh next we have Ken O'Brien uh building manager for [Applause] facilities Ken has always been a person I rely on to lend a listening and understanding ear that is hard to find
in a leader nowadays he responds to my emails and texts timely I feel comfortable sharing anything with him whether it's simple facilities needs or a personal issue I feel it's important to have the open two-way communication relationship with management and staff and Ken does exactly that empowering others by giving staff resources when he can and supporting them to take ownership of their work he engages in transparency he builds trust and The credibility by ensuring that his staff members are informed and involved and
values their opinions he also demonstrates empathy Ken can see things from the team members as well as management side and takes into account ideas from both Ken has calm relaxed demeanor that is perfect for the job he does and for the people he manages congratulations Ken next is Christine Novak Food Service kitchen leader at Long Lake Elementary Christine goes above and
beyond each day for the students at our school She's a wonderful person to work for and makes the days fly by with laughter and love for what we do Christine not only ensures that every child receives a nutritious meal but also creates a warm and welcoming environment where students feel cared for and valued her leadership inspires the team to work together seamless L and her positive attitude is contagious she handles challenges with Grace and always finds ways to make the cafeteria a bright spot in everyone's day Christine's hard work and compassion
make a real difference in the lives of both students and staff and we're lucky to have her Christine is dedicated to making sure that every child gets the nourishment they need while ensuring that students have access to the same quality meals regardless of where they are in line she's especially Vigilant when it comes to the safety of students with allergies always double-checking ingredients daily even for familiar products to prevent any risk her commitment to detail and student well-being is unmatched and her compassion makes her an exceptional leader I feel truly fortunate to work
alongside someone who cares so deeply about the students and our team congratulations Christine and lastly we have Kristen Harish TC capsa special education Aid Eastern Elementary School her nomination States I want to recognize the special ed and behavior team at Eastern they work the work that they do is so important and they all excel at it to pick one person would be difficult since they function at the
team this group is so absorbing and I hope you'll consider recommending them as a group Christine inspires others with how to approach their job there are days that are pretty challenging but she does not let a hard day impact the next day she starts each day fretch which is important for the students she's a fierce advocate for her students she supports teaps by supporting students she makes her team stronger not only by improving the educational outcome but also showing true acceptance for all
students and displaying a recognition that each student brings something special to our community all students should be valued and she demonstrates this each day the impact that she has on the school is invaluable the world of education is re warning but it's also hard the work that that she and the team does and the attitude in which they do it help helps everyone come to work each day with a positive outlook we feel fortunate to work with Christine and the team and Christine is lucky to have them
congratulations and if all of the award winners will please come up front and be recognized by the Board of Education thank you for doing last
doing last time a nomination but to get it from somebody that works for you [Music] I didn't say hi yet how are you I fig I'd see you
after sty I don't think I'm very much needed anymore but I'm just G to get one more round ofuse [Music] [Applause] [Music]
[Music] set mess up one time well it didn't seem like it be
like as people filter out that's fine um go ahead and say the next item on the agenda is public comment and uh the board has set aside this time for public comment and indiv addressing the board should have one opportunity to speak it shall be limited to 3 minutes individuals should not make personal attacks unrelated to actions affecting the school system and we strongly encourage common courtesy and
constructive feedback detail rules and procedures including complaint process are outlined in board policy 2504 T the first comment would be Scott Richards green L Township um America spends United States of America
spend indust students i' like to talk is these [Music] books CRA all boys
AR um school is pornography the kids want to look up pornography taxpayer money does not need to be spent on the other thing I'd like to talk about is Jordan deay of Marquette Michigan Jordan deay is a very sad story and a lot of people get caught up in that
especially are going crazy and sad last thing I'd like to talk about is uh the First Amendment Congress should make no law respecting any establishment of regation some people think that's Freedom you know why that came about because Dan B Baptist got a hold of Thomas Jefferson because they were afraid that the government p a one
denomination religion like these PMs and these Puritans that came across the sea they were in religious persecution maybe the queen of France was Catholic so you couldn't be Lutheran in France they would take your property and K you out on the streets or maybe the king of England was a church of England so you can't be Catholic so we kick all the Catholics out and pick the
property that's why freedom of religion came in to the First Amendment it wasn't to take religion on government I think the most Integrity people which are Christians us to they answer to God should be in government look at our government look at all the weights that's coming out from Elon Musk and boys do not need to be in girl Sports boys have bigger
Hearts they had bigger lung capacities they got more muscle mass they should not be competing against against fale students Trump was right there's only two genders male and female the next is Sebastian Eden
Ellison so I'm a senior at West High School I'm also in the health science program at CTC but I'm also a member of nthf westmen Cal model un the msvma Boy Scouts of America have two JS and I'm also the president of West's GSA apparently some members of the community believe that we are promoting suicide or promoting gay sex I'm sorry
that's cannot be further from the truth I've been hospitalized for Suicidal Thoughts I've been hospitalized for suicidal actions and a community that has been created by ogsa has helped save my life and it's supported by some of many of our Educators here I'm bisexual and have a boyfriend a lot of people say confused or natural and get called I get called slurs and receive death threats often just for existing even by many adults in our communities this has been happening to me since what 10 or 11 I would say and
the whole time I knew many of those in power either supported it or did not care and it was made even more clear when I was 13 at West Middle School when rocks were thrown at me well I would say size of my fist they were thrown at my head and when myself and others reported it we were told by principles and staff that oh no they were just calling me happy and they wanted that's how they showed that they wanted to be my friends
do you guys think that's true and that was made oh do you think they wanted to be my friend when another student with a trump flag on the back of their truck tried to follow me home after school what about when I was pushed up in the wall of the bathroom at wesy High by two kids and choked and the whole time nothing I get called slurs walking to class on a normal basis issues like this are ignored and put off by a lot of teachers and and frankly most
administrators at the lower levels yes there are teachers like Mr waman Miss Cole Mr gpie and Miss Miner who coincidentally is here today who they'll do anything they can to address it but nothing's done the Department of Education stated that they no longer support us by removing title n protections to those like myself and many I know who are gender nonconforming this is why we need an organization like our GSA now more than ever so people know that they're not
alone so they know that there are people who support them even when our government bodies refuse our GSA will be there to support them we have created a safe space where people can have fun where people can be safe and a space where hopefully like with what happened to me can help save their life [Applause] next is Jordan
Teasdale my name is Jordan Tio I use any pronouns and I'm currently a senior and I've been a student at West in seventh grade I had to leave West last year because of the sheer amount of bullying I was enduring it was so mentally straining I felt like I was going to kill myself I did not receive any support from any staff during this time the bullying I have endured while being at teap schools is degrading and I wouldn't wish it upon my worst enemies
I've had slurs yelled at me I've had items and food thrown at me in the cafeteria I've been barked at all while just trying to mind my own business all in front of Staff members mind you and these staff members did absolutely nothing I know many other students who have experienced the same thing as me and like me have not received any support my mom has had to call the school my dad has had to call the school my sister has had to send an email to
the principal outlining exactly what has been happening to me just to been just to be told we'll look into it we'll look into it it was never looked into I was brushed off and I was ignored and I was forgotten you all ignore the bullying and tell me and other students like me that the things being screamed at us in the hallway you tell us to not give them any power and that words will never hurt us
and yet these words are slowly destroying us mentally and slowly killing student Souls making them feel worthless and making them not even want to show their faces at school the GSA is meant to support queer students who feel like they have nowhere to go and the fact there are people who think that we want to push students to hurt themselves is disgusting the GSA was made to uplift support Inspire and give a voice to queer students who feel as if they've been silenced their whole life we won't be ignored and our voices will not be
silenced any longer thank you for your [Applause] time next is Grace Kar so I'm here to talk about Wilbur the therapy dog at Westwoods Elementary School um so I live by the dog uh two of my
kids go to the school there and uh I walk my dog regularly along Fisher Road and uh this dog attacked my dog so I looked into it a little bit further and um you know and talked to the owner of the dog and said I don't think it's appropriate the dog goes to school anymore considering it's showing a propensity for violence and uh you know the person doesn't want to take the dog out of the school and so I looked into a little bit more to figure out how the dog got allowed in the school in the first place and
there's an application from 23 to 24 and an application from 24 to 25 and on both those applications to be a therapy dog here at tcaps they indicated that the dog is a uh mixed breed is all it said and Certificate of Insurance that they suppli to you to prove that they are insured and the dog is covered says that the dog is a Labrador retriever mix um the dog's veterinarian records that
are also part of the Foya to teac caps shows that the vet knows it's a pitbull it is a pitbull and I believe the owner is not telling you it's a pitbull and not telling the insurance company that it's a pitbull because it wouldn't be assured and it wouldn't be allowed to be a therapy dog in the school so you possibly have a dog that is even once it does let's say attack a kid at school the insurance company is just going to deny the claim saying that's not the dog that they were told that they were insuring that the person submitted a claim for a breed or a insurance policy
for a breed that isn't that dog if you look at the Certificate of Insurance and I emailed all this to you before the meeting if you haven't had an opportunity to look at it because it was only two hours ago but if you look at the Certificate of Insurance Number one you're not listed on there as an additional insured that's a mistake the school should be listed on there as an additional insured if that person cancels the policy mid midterm the dog would be without insurance and you guys would know nothing about it if you're listed as an additional insur then an insurance company notifies you with coverage stops second you'll also notice
that the uh location of the insured is a PO Box in North Carolina and they're using an LLC in order to Ure the dog there so I doubt the insurance company even knows that this is a therapy dog in Michigan and at teaps and I'm sure if there is an incident you're going to end up getting sued and the insurance company's going to deny coverage and we'll be on the hook for it I don't want our dollars going to that but more importantly I don't want any kids to get attacked by this dog your application doesn't indicate on it um do you know
one thing your application should add do you know of any propensity for violence that this dog is exhibited make the owner at least answer that question and likewise every time that they apply for a uh the next year they should have to update their recognition of whether the dog is a act another person or another dog so um thank you Mr K your time is up appreciate if you look into the dog thank you next is Bill
weasner Bill Weisner travor City and uh I was glad to hear from the two students that spoke on this issue of homosexuality and I think if this was allowed to be spoken of more people would realize that um I I
agree with them no one should be physically bullying anyone but there's a difference between physically bullying and communicating and disagreeing with someone and it seems like for 20 years 24 years I followed this uh one side only has been introduced in other words this is people are born that way well if you look at the real information which
teaps doesn't have in their libraries there's not one book showing a compassionate view on the other side there's 500 books TC West TC Central 400 promoting the homosexuality as normal it's very risky Behavior especially for the men and um this there's reasons that that occurs and uh one of them is environmental association with their father is often times for the men hard for some reason it doesn't click and
they identify more with their mother and then they gain these attractions but the information on both sides should be shown right now it's only one side The Librarians from TC West TC Central were complaining about book Banning but the book Banning is really one-sided and those sexually explicit books listed on my website TC family.org you can go right to the table there is 52 books listed there's 37 of them in either tcaps TC West or TC Central they're all
sexually explicit not one of them should be shown should be promoted to these kids it's not something they should be learning they can learn like Scott said elsewhere there's plenty of places we shouldn't be we should be protecting them and not encouraging this this is a picture a book burning in Nazi Germany 1933 and people say it was the right side doing it but that but actually the
quote here from the book this book Nazi Germany's dirtiest secrets and I hope some of you got it we sent this information out to thousands of individuals um but a quote from here why was it then when why was it then since we were completely a nonp party that our purely scientific Institute was the first victim which fell to the new regime the answer is simple We Knew Too Much it would be against medical principles to
provide a list of the Nazi leaders but he says not 10% of the men who in 1933 took the fate of the Germany into their hands were sexually normal homosexual was all over and it's not good for them and it's not good for society now thank you Mary Van
Valen I'm maryan Bal I live in the city and I want to start by just thanking you for your service um this isn't an easy job you have and I hope you know you're appreciate I'm here to because because I noticed in the packet that you're going to be talking about an ad hoc committee to look at differences in um academic achievement and I just um just really
hope that that committee can take form and address what we're seeing in terms of just trying to balance out opportunities for all of our students and um we certainly have evidence from our report that we have a whole lot of kids that that need something more and so I hope you'll consider that committee thank you
again all right thank you uh that is the end of uh public comment requests um we will move on to the next agenda item which is the superintendent report up Dr yes so I had the opportunity uh share some information from laning uh the governor has uh put out her plans for the school aid budget of what her thoughts are um and they are uh
definitely a lot of positive things there um that we've talked about and that we've shared with our staff on areas that we're continuing to try and advocate for for instance the Transportation uh categorical um of the 125 million is in the in her current budget not in increased um but it is uh in there um and uh and definitely an increase in the per pupil Foundation at 10,000 per student again not quite the 500 we were hoping just a shy under
400 um so you know there there's definitely a lot of good there there's still some areas that I want us to try and continue to look to advocate for the mental health and school safety money was again 150 million versus the 300 million that was there two years ago it's the same as the total last year you might remember there was only 25 million originally and just before the election it was added a supplemental of about 125 million um so the governor went with that number versus the original number
of the 300 million knowing the amount of of uh Staffing and things that we could use in that school safety and mental health dollars that is something that I think um we're going to continue to try and work with our uh Northern Michigan uh School Alliance to try and advocate for for more funding in those areas um but again a lot of a lot of good things in there um for us to advocate for and continuing it'll now be talked about with the house and the Senate um I will
tell you that I think that there's not a ton of hope that we will have a school year budget by July 1 even though we're required to have an adopted budget by July 1 it is probably more likely to be closer to October 1st so which means we will start the school year without knowing what funds we have most likely um I hope to be pleasantly surprised but the speaker has already kind of tampered that saying that it's not really required in law and that uh he expects that it'll it's going to take that long
so um we're going to continue to watch it again I think advocating for all we can in the foundation um trying to increase that school mental health and school safety funding at least keeping the transportation categorical if not adding more and again those items that I shared with the board and staff for all of us to continue to advocate for so that we have the resources that we need to not only continue what we're doing now that's essential but even if there was an ability to hire some more people
to help again in those critical areas of mental health um school safety uh um with atrisk dollars um that are there all of those items um she has put in some money more for uh literacy uh that we're going to see the component um but with that there's also a transparency component um um mostly for districts that are failing in the uh bottom 5% um that are quite a bit but we do expect
there'll be some things that all districts will share with parents and others that are part of the metric that she's created but we'll see again where the legislature agrees or disagrees and points of difference are and continue to work at that so any questions on any of that I actually have a question about Federal funding um because uh Michigan Association of superintendents and administrators and Michigan Association of school board jointly had a webinar two weeks ago about navigating the federal executive orders and they talked
quite a bit um among other things about Title One title two title three um you know expecting that there could be some real cutbacks if not eliminations of those Federal funding streams I'm just wondering what you might have heard in the past two weeks along those lines not a lot you know I think that the important thing has to be realized is obviously that has to go through the legisl legislative and appropriation process and there are many um districts
uh that especially you know Southern districts that have much more poverty than Michigan that that would be a real a real um uh a real hurt for those those States even more than Michigan um that tend to be more red Republican districts so I think that you know we'll see where that lands I I'm more optimistic that that because of that need across um areas uh of the South and places such as Alaska you know that their legislators
are going to be pretty Keen still on making sure that students get those title dollars as a component um could it be tweaked and for some things for such as vouchers others that are there could be you know we'll we're in a little bit of a wait and see pattern on that element and title to is professional development right so that's something that we learned in CC committee that correct our district has used funds for for the instructional rounds so that's also important and I don't know can you just speak briefly to title three what
that is for us um our title three others are title three is the immigrant immigrant program yeah it's it's very low amount of funds yeah yeah but every dollar matters and so we'll continue to look at that and work with our our advocacy groups at the federal level and working with all of our legislators to um make sure that they understand the realities of that so thank you $2 million or something in
federal restricted funds so budget is that correct last year no we have way more than that way more than that total because that's what I thought I was uh seeing when I was reviewing you think of the title to specifically maybe no it just said Federal Income Revenue Federal restricted uh from the
budget information that we got last year so I was just kind of curious about that we we'll share what that is but it's much larger I mean I'm in the byet total of our budgets around 20% Christine what do you think I would think so somewhere right in there there um of our total budget of federal dollars when you take food service in you take a lot of those elements in of all the title funding it's uh in that neighborhood you get any clarifications
on I see what you're looking at 3 million yeah yeah two million yeah and it looked like it was a sizable drop just from the prior year so what was that line item just to be clear to the public it's Federal restricted money for our general fund Revenue 2.9 General fun right here um okay all right any other questions okay and then for district highlights uh give you uh TC West and TC
Central basketballs fight the freeze uh game is Friday February 14th at West Senior High nickolay bank is sponsoring tickets attendees are asked to bring cash donations gift cards or warm clothing for the TCAP student support network uh West Senior High wrestling girls wrestling participated in the mhs's first individual girls District Tournament TC West girls who moved on to Regionals are Abid doll Anna beers Eddie the good anuka yunker and Alex Moser
Moser sorry um and then on the boys side um for the boys individuals three Titans qualified for individual regionals Brady vaugh Matthew Quigley and Gavin Brown the boys team won the mhsa districts in Marquette last week and will compete against Davidson and regionals this Wednesday in Oxford Central High School student athlete leadership organ organization Salo volunteered at the special Olympic uh games this past week um at Grand Trevor Resort uh Salo members are
student athletes selected for leadership skills they meet monthly develop those skills support other school clubs and teams and work with future children at our feeder schools and serve the community Silver Lake Elementary School's family reading night on January 28th was a success with 113 attendees the event featured reading activities for all grade levels um there was dinner and books for students to take home West Middle School students engag in Rich learning experiences this month students showcased impressive vocab vocabulary at
the spelling be with top spellers uh Finley noan Nolan s ambrosus and Roman Douglas earning honors um and then we had uh Mrs beitz and Dr witz classes uh commemorated International Holocaust Remembrance Day with a gallery walk-in discussions um Mrs deette digital media students gained Real World experience with uh designing travel cups for clients and Mrs Donnie Hugh's class celebrated Lunar New Year
by creating festive lanterns Westwood hosted 16 tcaps Elementary Middle School Educators on January 28th for the instructional rounds uh District visit I know that uh trusty Binger was able to make that and be able to see those instructional rounds I don't think anybody else just I thought um but um but a great work there and and really uh excited about uh continuing instructional rounds Across The District Central High School's Key Club worked hard on its first weekend on the first weekend of February pulling together
20,000 dried meals these meals will be distributed locally through Father Fred and on February 8th 24 West Senior High band students participated in 17 events at the annual msboa District solo and Ensemble Festival in Kingsley 16 of those events uh events received medals 14 earned first division ratings all students who earned first division ratings have now qualified for the state solo and Ensemble Festival in March so I know a lot of other things going on across the district as well robotics is
getting ramped up I know soon and and are in their build and uh um again just ski teams I know are right in the midst of getting ready to uh start all their uh their state tournaments and so uh In the Heat of of winter sports kind of starting uh get to those tournament times and uh again robotics will get going really in March with their tournaments and so excited to see that and again we'll be hosting a regional at Central High School this year so more to come on that so that's what I have for
district highlights what's the update on the opening of the two uh Innovation and Manufacturing centers the the lab at um the practice area at West Senior High will be available for the students to practice the inspections Thursday or Friday so it'll be fully open next that's temporary occupancy just so they can practice on the for the robotics team yep about Central and so Central is a little bit further behind right yeah
Central is further behind we anticipate the first week of March but our goal right now was to get West and your high available so both teams can practice is is the biggest problem the doors some of it had to do with more of a fire rating um we had to remanufacture a couple of the doors BAS on the fire rating that was required by the fire department and that required ordering different doors okay so last we heard at Finance it was going to be end of January possibly first week in February now it's
early March the the goal that we have been focused on is getting the bigger practice room at West Senior High available so that they can practice their robotics I met with the robotics team and folks and so they had asked they said we're not ready for a move and all that they said we need practice space so that right now was like our ultimate thing to try and get they're inviting Central to come over from that standpoint to get that um but they are they are struggling still to complete you know getting all the the necessary
materials and getting inspection set up all that to be able to do that and so right now um Central is definitely behind West West is much closer to being you know finished but again waiting for some components to be able to really finish it up from that standpoint it's still going to take a little bit yes teachers focus is to move the week prior to spr break so that's what we've been working on is there anything that we can do as a district um is this all the state inspection process or and materials it's m it's everything
materials labor everything we're in every day check in looking and the robotics team from Central do they have the transportation they need to get they'll work at that for sure with it so they have a trailer for their yep robotics yep right one update live in was the skiing results were um Central did take the girls today so in
the then Central and West second and third in boys too so all all both girls and boys were in the top three so yeah move on okay congratulations a lot snow to play yeah it's good it's been a great just out at shenny and it's definitely nicer than last year so um okay um any other questions moving on to pool committee reports first po curriculum committee
January 28th okay so we called the meeting to order at 8:30 a.m. there were no public comments we approve the meeting am minutes uh from January 7th as posted um a new committee chair was appointed um given Erica M's move to the finance committee so I will now be the chair for this coming year we approved our meeting
schedule however we so we are sticking with Tuesdays but we slightly adjusted our time to 15 minutes earlier to start at 8:15 a.m. um and then in terms of agenda we miss hotton um presented a few updates and changes to our district course catalog mostly they were approval U um seeking approval of virtual classes both Middle School and High School levels but I will give a shout out to a
couple of um in person two are at nmc the pre cambian geology of Michigan and another introductory craft skills and then also at our two primary high schools an advanced placement research class um so those are new addition adds to our curriculum this year and that has been moved to our consent calendar uh for approval this evening um under informational items um Misty Warner who is our District's director of whole child
systems um gave us basically notified us that there is a film called screen agers like screen and teenagers but this is the elementary school edition which is going to be shown at Central High's Auditorium on Monday March 3rd uh doors will open at 5:00 p.m. the film will run from 5:30 to approximately 700 p.m. so this is going to be promoted in all 11 of our elementary school's
newsletters as well as the district social media posts and we trustee said we would do our part two to share on our Facebook pages um again this is a an effort to help parents students families in general understand how technology and screen means impact young people's lives and of course will'll be shown at no cost um moving on we got an O to uh Traver City High School we got a nice overview um by principal Jen choic
talking about uh the growth that travor City High has experienced this year with their new um Compass Learning Center so I'll just kind of skim over some highlights here first of all to be clear Travers City High School still offers full-time in-person classes to students who are seeking an alternative path um to complete their High School um get their and get their degree but they also
now have all these virtual classes and some kids are taking a a mix or a blend so she talked about the growth um there's been a big growth in the in the number of students enrolled it fully virtually it's jumped from 58 students to 129 just in 3/4s so far meanwhile inperson has slightly declined um from 135 last year to about 115 currently so you can see how it's more than balanced out with the with the uptick and the
virtual um a nice positive for the in-person classes is that the average class used to be about 25 students per teacher now it's to about 12 which is more in line with national standards for academic success um and they're rejecting a total of about 50 students graduating this year from TC High um and then we moved on to talk about uh instructional rounds with Mr tidworth our chief academic officer for
elementary providing an overview of what instructional rounds are basically it's an opportunity where a host school will will have about 25 to 30 teachers and administrators visit with a given purpose um um for Long Lake Elementary for example they really wanted to focus on opportunities for the teachers to grow but also really Drive academic achievement for their students so um they get basically observed by by
Educators who are peers this is all within our district and this is where Miss hotton talked about how um this was used the federal title 2 funding um instead of coming out of our general fund so um after the instructional rounds observation period then the teachers and administrators come together and they basically brain storm in small groups come up with their key takeaways and observations present that to the host
School staff and that's where I was able to um immediately following curriculum actually witness this at um Westwoods elementary school and then uh lastly on the agenda we had our usual celebrations and successes and there were numerous um items uh many of which concerned our music department so number one Central High School's Corral and East Middle School sixth grade choir both won their divisions at
the 106 KHQ holiday choir competition and got checks for $1,000 each for their Coral programs secondly Cherry null Elementary School library received $1,500 from the grand Travis Regional Community foundation's tcaps excellence Endowment for new books third um they highlighted West Middle School and Elementary School celebrating Martin Luther King Day which was as you know uh a new half day of instruction this year focusing on the life of Reverend Dr
Martin Luther King and fourth um there were four music teachers who recently presented education sessions to 2,000 music educators at a conference in Grand rappers and that was Emer D Chad M Kelsey brunett and Stephanie Shaw bra fifth the TC Titans robotics got a shout out as they were launching their new season six monory band and Orchestra teachers Crest Smith and Steven Bolinger
and lastly Nick nissle from the president of Northwestern Michigan College gave a shout out to Blair Elementary School's instructional coach Emily wit who was also a recipient of the compass award tonight for her partnership with nmc called leadership Academy which is for fourth and fifth graders with that uh we adjourn the meeting at 10:08 a.m. and our next board curriculum committee meeting will be Tuesday February 25th at 8:15 a.m. okay thank you um any questions on
that all right when we move on to board finance and operations on January 30th we're pointing up my trusty Raymond all right um we had a little bit longer of a meeting so um I will try to be brief um so we met on January 30th at 8:15 a.m. Dr Van Wagner started the meeting as acting chair uh we did not have anyone in attendance for public comments um under procedural items uh we did have
a a small change to the January 9th 2025 uh committee meeting minutes um so those minutes were posted as amended um and then we had our appointment of committee chairperson which was um myself to be selected for that role uh we then reviewed uh the meeting schedule we are keeping the same uh Thursday 8:15 meeting time for the Comm meetings this current year uh we then had a um
discussion on the um first budget amendment to the general fund and school service funds um there is a presentation on this tonight so this was moved from committee to discussion uh and we'll have obviously a lot more conversation about that here in a few minutes um the next item under uh we moved on to bid services and purchases the first item was um for Transportation uh purchase of five uh 77 passenger conventional school buses um and then
eight passenger uh it 88 okay 188 passenger Transit bus sorry um those purchases also included two-way radios cameras uh tablets which what we use the tablets for our security so um students can swipe their badges on and off the bus so we know where they're at um and then computer uh for the Mechanics for repairs um this item is
for an amount not to exceed 1,461 1275 uh and that's funded from Capital bond funds Transportation the next purchase uh under capital projects is for Blair and Cate Elementary lockers uh these are to replace paging lockers most of which I believe were original or at least 20 years old um so this recommend is to uh award for an amount not to exceed
$246,000 which does include a 10% contingency and that's funded from Capital bond funds uh that's under the consent agenda this evening um next Capital item is for elementary buildings and permanent walls uh so this project construction of permanent walls to separate um kind of a sliding accordion doors that are splitting a couple of the rooms at Cherry Long Lake and Hill um and then at Silver Lake they're going to
um create a permanent wall um to create an existing classroom into two smaller classrooms so this project is far in am not to exceed $161,500 and is also funded from Capital bond funds uh and is on the this evening's consent agenda uh the next item is uh for Traverse Heights Elementary classroom and cafeteria Edition so um actually pretty exciting news for travelers Heights uh expanding their building with by adding uh three
classrooms expanding the cafeteria renovating the music room um and adding a new bathroom to the existing to an existing classroom um this this uh item was moved to this evening's discussion agenda just to uh it's for amount not to exceed $3,254 680 so just with the scope and the dollar amount we just wanted anyone else that would like to have an opportunity for comment to have that so it's under this evening's discussion uh
agenda um the next item is West Senior highs uh circulation uh and driveway expansion um so this is uh expanding the West Senior High uh drive all the way around the building it's actually going to happen in a couple of phases is um new ashall new parking lot new sidewalks new snow melts um and then a little bit of for expansion at Long Lake Elementary uh again just the scope and the dollar
amount we mov this item to this evening's discussion agenda uh this was for an amount not to exceed $ 4,458 366 um the last item under capital projects was uh West Senior High restroom renovation um and so this is to move two uh group restrooms um into individual single uh us stalls um so not changing the number of restrooms just
changing you know from kind of group to individuals so this amount was for an uh this project was for an amount not to exceed 575,000 agenda uh we then had our Capital project update which we actually had uh really the only couple of items that we've got going on right now are the uh manufacturing uh centers so um trusty Ballinger already asked the question
about when those would be available we just went over the projects and um pictures and where they're at right now so um again waiting on uh some long lead items um and um State uh inspections uh as Dr Van Wagner so our next agenda item was uh under F was for a finance update Dr Van Wagner mentioned this in his uh update that uh the governor put out her State uh budget um and so
obviously continuing to monitor those developments and we'll provide updates as they come out um the next item under uh just general discussion was for related to filter first requirements um so this is a Statewide um mandated drinking water management plan that's required for all Michigan Schools and Child Care Centers um districtwide drinking water Outlets uh were completed
audits were completed last summer um this really has to do with just clean drinking water adding filters to uh source and then signage for what is drinkable water versus non-drinkable water I guess um we then had a brief conversation just about uh school day on January 20th 2025 uh that day we did actually not meet the state requirement for the 75% um attendance so uh we either have to use um one of our
inclement weather days or potentially um have a reduction in state funding for that day so there's like a I think it's like an odd calculation so we actually don't know what the what the dollar amount potentially could until the end of the year yeah that until August so and then we had our standing item uh just up review of upcoming District purchases which uh since the bond passed um there are a lot of so um
we went through some of those items so no other items were discussed we adjourned at 9:26 and the next uh Board of finance and operations committee meeting is February 27th 2015 all right thank you any questions on finance I will do the executive committee report out skipping some of the procedural items we did talk about all policy updates which were placed on consent
calendar minus the one that was moved to discussion um and we also did go over agenda items for February 10th and February 24th but hold on to that as we get to the discussion item because there's changes uh potentially plenty with uh some of the scheduling to discuss um then as far as information items uh H Miss Taylor shared that tcaps is actually well staffed and it's uh typical for this time of year we're
starting to see some openings low and it it was picking up we are currently have an opening for a plumber numerous uh spring coaching opportunities and obviously drivers extended day staff um and special education teachers as well some of the on that are obviously on every every report that we're still working on uh as far as Communications uh the student support network uh update uh we were able to offer assistance to 507 students throughout teaps in outs
and other organizations as well and uh we have already shared with the fight the freeze event taking place on February 14th at West Senior High during the West Central basketball game and for enrollment uh we do have a power SC pre-registration that's open that is now open and we are taking uh as with kindergartens and registers as well so
that is now on there and the dates and information will be posted on the district website for enrollment and uh keep so keep an eye on that as well uh the next uh oh I did also on that uh in advance there was a request from a couple of board members to add the ad hoc committee which is now on as a discussion item um so we can have that uh later today and then the next board
executive committee meeting is Thursday February 27th 4M in this room any questions on exec I Board office hours I believe that January 23rd but there's no my report out is that there was no report okay so we had a um we were to have the meeting by Google there was a technical snafu in which we didn't really know what was happening because there was a lot going on that night and
um Tammy absolutely was trying her best to to get um me into the room so that I could um answer but it turns out that nobody showed up so I kind of sat there anyway we both sat on the on the phone for an hour and uh so no harm no foul but um I think we're looking forward to making sure that works for the future yep well thank you for being me testing that out and getting The Kinks out of the way so much better you than me you're still you're still going old
school you're going in person uh next up is February 27th truste pack is in attendance we have now moved the location to the library on wood um and that again is at 6:00 6:00 to 7: in person at the library February 27th truste pack in attendance and we are again alternating between virtual and on premise to try and get as much engagement as we can because we do want to hear feedback um moving on to
consent um do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar as amended I move that the Board of Education approve the consent calendar as amended and without discussion second all those in favor say I that oppose say nay motion carries uh onto discussion item uh we did add um a discussion item which is a meeting schedule so after after we had
the executive committee there was there was a number of other changes um but one of them I would like to defer to Andrew uh still all right um I have a letter that I would like to I guess just read um so dear school board members and Dr Van Wagner uh please accept this letter as resignation of my position on the tcaps board of education effective February
11th 2025 um I have recently had a change in my professional career which has already required significantly more of my time uh while it's exciting for me personally it is Bittersweet as I have come to the necessary conclusion of resigning my seat on the tcaps board this decision was made after careful consideration as I want to be fair to my fellow board members Administration and staff and the students and families of this District I know that I will no longer be able to
dedicate the time and attention that I feel is required of me to this role I have thoroughly enjoyed my four plus years serving on the board and have appreciated the opportunity to support this school district I'm very proud of how this board has handled the business of the district over my tenure we have navigated an unprecedented Global pandemic enhanced student services set a strategic Direction with the compass plan and helped pass a crucial Capital Levy that will help build and maintain the infrastructure needed for the Student Success in the future I want to
thank my fellow board members both current and past for their dedication and professionalism tcaps Administration and staff members for their assistance and attentiveness and the tcaps family and community community members who supported me with their votes last but definitely not least I want to thank my wife and family for their support and understanding as I performed this role as it took me away from them on numerous occasions I do hate resigning in the middle of a commitment that I've have made but again I want to be fair to the district and to my family I know that
this decision will create additional unexpected work for the board and I truly hope there are no hard feelings for that um I obviously do still have kids in the district and I have every intention of still being very involved in their education um just in a less committed role I know that exciting times are head and I wish you all the best of luck as you guide the district through those thank you so first of all before we go into any discussion I you thank you it's a lot of work which obviously
does not come with pay so uh a little jealous but I do do greatly appreciate everything you've done and being such no one's forcing me to be here um but then onto uh what that does affect is is just everyone's aware of the process is uh we have a 30day uh window where we do have to appoint a new board member um and quite
frankly we haven't had a vacancy for the first four years that I was on the board since Andre was appointed um and so we do have to have a discussion of how we want that to work we do have a couple of dates in play February 24th we currently have as a study session however um I know that at least one board member cannot attend and and Andrew will not be with us too so it may maybe it sounds like the advisable thing
would be for us to delay that until afterwards or later in the year wherever um that may fall and that was kind of the direction of Tim Tim Gwen when we met with him as well that he thinks it would be beneficial to wait until after we have a new board member appointed and everyone can be there so and we also did have a March 3D datee that we cancelled uh but we could reuse that dat so we do have to have thanks one one meeting uh I would suggest and this is
where we get to the discussion portion is how we want to do the appointment I would I can't imagine that there's any other way that we want to publicly post this appointment and have people apply and have a process for uh deter that and we would have to do so no late no later than our March 10th board meeting so with that the question comes is a the selection process and then B the meeting date whether it be February
24th or March thir so I don't know if anyone wants to kick off with uh really again the process my my suggestion would be we we have this posting that goes out fairly promptly there's a period of time it could come with a list of questions that could be if we you want input you could send them to me and I put them together we can have some discussion at the table of what those would be um do
need some guidance for the application for the application as well as the interview so I would suggest that we on the when you turn in the application you have some standardized questions why why you want to be on the school things priorities yeah things that kind of like the questions that you would be asked during kind of election cycle um that would come in writing to the board so we have that to be based on then the question becomes is do you uh do we use February 24th or March 3rd to do
interviews um or do we use that board meeting to uh Whittle down the candidates and do interviews on March 10th so two different ways to go I Erica is the person I think being through I was part Andrew could tell you you might have the best um so I filled vacancy and it was actually like over the holidays so uh we had I think there were like 18 or 19 applicants and they
met and narrowed it down to I want to say four three or four people that interviewed um it was also virtual at that point in time uh but yeah so they they used two separate meetings they had a meeting me where they narrowed it they just took they got uh you know answers to the questions that they put out when they put out the public notice that there was a vacancy and then they used a meeting to narrow down to the three people from those questions so it was just written written
answers to those questions and then they had you know verbal interviews at a second meeting like you submitted your resume as well people would yeah or in in a cover letter probably but yeah go ahead and so that was and that was my biggest stumbling factor is like if you have four people who apply I feel like you would do it that you would just probably want to just do interviews and call it good in that one meeting whereas if you have a large number of people who reply
then you'll probably want to use that meeting to narrow it down so obviously we can have you can give some general guidance to how we do this as well but I would like to know again like is there any at least any alternative opinion to the fact we're just going to post this we're going to have people fly with standardized questions at least um and if anyone has any of those questions that they want considered they can send them to you could use your executive
committee I'm just going to say we did a committee um last time that did of the board to narrow down and then did the interviews at that point so that's an option as well yeah so if you make the deadline your executive committee date if you only had four applicants then you would know that the mark 3rd 10th day would be all you need to do okay so we could do that where the March 3rd will be used as needed I think that that's smart because that really the 24th doesn't really give enough time
I yeah we again won't have all board members so I I think that's the if anything we would use the March 3D to narrow it down if it's not needed then we would just do it on March 10th EAS way we can say the final the final interviews will be March 10th right in selection in selection yeah yeah yeah and if we don't need to have that additional meeting we don't have to have the additional meeting so could you remind us what's the next
executive committee meeting and who will be February 27 but that would just be if you I mean you could just decide like if you only had four you know if you had a smaller number you would know by that meeting to say yes you needed to have a March 3rd meeting or no you would just do it at March 10 right and kind of just B numbers but what I got feeling of numbers would be but then at least then we're saying the final interview is going to be on March 10th regardless of
our process internally everyone knows that that's when we're going to be either interview them all or narrow down in that committee y so February 27th and that would be president vice president and and one rotating number yeah but I think we would just be talking about whether we put it whether we need to have that addition unless you have a lot of if we have a lot of meeting then we'll be adding that meeting I see the March 3rd okay so I think we would hold the March 3rd date sense in us not we'll bring
everybody that applied on March 10th if if there's a small amount it's but let the applicants know whether or not there's exactly they're ruin down too yeah yeah exactly and that just gives the time to be transparent and allow everyone to know the processes but also have a definitive date of this is the time we need you to interview can we have a a date certain of when people need to apply it we can backtrack it will be as late as possible can give people yeah
it's at 4 P.M well yeah I guess for paperwork everything be nice for maybe if it's tomorrow maybe the 27 I'm just thinking give us a day to get that Friday the 28th everything out to the board members okay well you want you would want to know by executive committee though which is what day 27th 2 oh the 27th okay so then I would say we get everything out the 21st is two weeks enough I think two weeks is fine thoughts so applications so so we
would yeah we would get everything probably you know um well no we would have to if we got it out get the application meeting together if we got it out in two days time Wednesday that would give everyone 28 which would be the 26th yeah yeah we'd have to get the application out the 12th and if the deadline was like you know 4:00 on the 26 yeah I wonder if Wednesday February 12th is realistic that's day after
tomorrow and you're asking for input of all of us in terms of what would those key questions be I feel like Friday might be more realistic for you I can I can also send you what was available when we we have an we have all the questions so we can look at it and then make suggestions I mean they meant to be pretty basic questions they don't meant to be like hi yeah and you want input for the questions for the interviews too well I just wanted to I no I think that would be we can do that
later if you yeah I think we can get through we'll share out tomorrow what was done and then if you have anything additional you really are passionate of wanting to think about on that application get it to Scott and then I'll confirm with Scott what that is and we'll send it out as soon as we have it together from him yeah basically we get it out as soon as we can and we close it at February 26th at 4M to allow us time for the meeting on February 27th the the thing I also suggest we consider is some people particularly in certain areas of Finance may need a
little bit of time to go through their company to make sure that it's acceptable to the company um and sometimes the larger the company the more time it takes to go through so we don't want to give it too short a period of time I know that it is unfortunate that we do have a very specific 30-day date to make a an appointment and so backtracking it with
but it'll it'll take certain people out yeah accordingly and those could be people that would be valuable I'm I think you know if you don't make Wednesday the 12th and it's even Friday you know it's it's a good 10 days 12 days it I think that's a really and we'll make sure to get it out on all our social media for somebody to apply I'll ask the record Eagles and and obviously everyone is on notice if you if if someone is interested in applying they
don't have to they probably going to have to ask anyway before the official application comes out so they can start working on that today today if they're enthusiastic and ready to go so um yeah so I think that's we can do so um any other discussion on how that lines up any other input again this is a new process for scho SC I just want to make sure it was clear so that the um posting can be done before you guys are
done looking at the questions because once they start submitting their resumés or their applications that's when the questions go that's how we did it in the past when they emailed their information then the questions would go out to them so we can get it out po or sorry tamy can get it like posted before you're done looking at questions that makes sense we can get it posted tomorrow and then say you know application will be open towards the end of the week gives
people the chance to talk with their employer in that element then once it's live we'll make sure to put out there a message that it's live and ready you know to to complete so is that a Google form where they're just putting in their name their email address as an expression of Interest no I just think we'll post it at there so people will know and then we'll say you know but you know towards the end of the week you know maybe we'll even give a date Thursday or Friday we expect application to be posted and must be completed by
the date the on you at 4:00 it at least gives lets everybody know the bankes out there to have those conversations then after they have that employer conversation they can begin fill the application out because they may even want to know what kind of are we talking about in in terms of time you know for some of these folks yeah busy okay so I think that takes care of uh then we would obviously left to be
determined later is is rescheduling Tim Quinn um and we've got a few other I don't think we have to deal with it today but we do have a few other study sessions with the two we have three three right now but we mayly need two so and you know just on that topic so we do have a kind of confirmation of space at the is at the ISD at Northwest Ed uh we do have confirmation from uh Dr Nick zeric that his team's ready and we'll
begin setting up some dates for focus groups um we have a first draft of questions that I just got Friday haven't had a chance to look at them yet um of uh for the surveys so we're going to as a team sit down tomorrow start take a look at that I'll share those with the board so you can get a flavor of what those are from the professional survey company that we're working with and uh right now we're on for a timeline it looks like we can get together to be able to have that first date that we have set up in April to be able to have our first
session all right and the groups that you're thinking of surveying are families teachers separately staff community members okay and students okay good last time we did parents and community members on the same survey the survey company thought it'd be a good idea to separate those they wanted one separate for parents and they thought it'd be best to have one separate for
community members outside so there is that did they consider it all having a survey go to the people that were recent graduants uh we don't have a lot of addresses and stuff for that is the hard hard part you know so they would be able to as community members though interesting okay before we move on trusty Raymond I just want to genuinely say thank you for your four plus years of service um I've always really
appreciated working with you on the finance committee and on the board at large and um I think you know during those first couple of tumultuous years of our our first ter together uh you really stood out on the masking dilemmas we had to face every month back then um as a hospital administrator your voice was really important to us on the medical side of
things and then I also really appreciated how strongly you felt about the cell phone policy that we revised in the summer of 2023 and making sure that um our kids are focused on learning and engagement because that's where it's all about so thank you again and to your lovely wife and family for the sacrifice of your time I want to say thank you too I've um I've only known you a you know a short while relatively but um I've always been
struck by your your care for the children you always put them first and um really appreciate your financial mind which I'm going to miss and um really want to um that you with yourself like a true gentleman every time I've seen you so I really appreciate that thank you and good luck thanks all right um live long and [Music] prosper so moving on if there's no other
comments about the schedule and obviously clearly things to work out still as we move through the year uh but we will move on to uh discussion Item B school safety update okay um so the tcaps Emergency Operations teams team recently met for the second time this year um the this team is committed to ensuring a proactive approach to the emergency preparedness uh system that we have and this team consistently evaluates and refin safety measures to
protect student staff in our school Community across the district the team is compromised of diverse a diverse group of professionals including principles both Elementary and secondary I'm an Elementary staff representative a district nurse a facil operations manager member of the Glen Li administrative team and it's led by Patrick mcmanis um they are meeting at least once a quarter and the team is engaging in comprehensive discussions about a range of critical topics these include reviewing and updating Emergency Operations plans for each School
assessing the effectiveness of Security Management Technologies refining reunification procedures staying informed about legal developments related to school safety and identifying the most effective professional development opportunities for our District staff Beyond these regular evaluations the Emergency Operations team is dedicated to researching emergency emerging best practices collaborating with local law enforcement and seeking innovative solutions to enhance school security by staying ahead of potential threats and ensuring all Protocols are up to date the team is
working to foster a culture of preparedness and resilience within the district through these efforts tcaps is reaffirming its commitment to maintaining a secure and supportive learning environment for our students and staff so I just wanted to give you that update just continuing to work and uh try and learn everything we can and again always wanting to be prepared but hopefully hoping we don't need to thank you uh moving on to item C uh
which is the amendment to the 20242 25 general fund budgets and school service funds um to and I'll pass it to Christine um so this is slide that we shared with uh finance and I updated it so it didn't create confusion at the top um our original adopted budget back in June was a deficit of 4.4 million with our anticipated positive variance of 1.5 we did plan to draw just shy of $3
million from fund balance which was planned we've had some changes um from June till now there's still will be changes from now until this June um but these are some of the highlights they're not all inclusive in they're not meant to add uh to get the total at the bottom because we do have about 15 to 20,000 account codes however these are some of the highlights um we did sell worth of Boss excuse me um that net uh Revenue uh was a little bit over
$516,000 um we had uh some changes obviously in our Revenue per pupil um because we had a decrease in students other than what we projected um the bottom line really is we're projecting a better outcome at the end of this school year where we would only be drawing about $2 million from fund balance not three and that still has um a possibility of getting better than that by the time we adopt our final budget in June any questions right
way all right any other questions thank you um we do have to um approve the amend budg have a motion to do I'll move that the Board of Education approve the amendment of The 2425 general fund budgets and school service funds Food Service program student school activities fund and Community Services
second uh Tammy please C out to V truste Schmidt uh yes trusty Raymond yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty bird yes trusty pack yes and yes motion carries um moving on to the next discussion item which is now item D board policy uh def to and I will go ahead and pass it up to all right in addition to the revised
policies that you approved during consent agenda as is normal anytime we need new policies we do bring those to the board of education for your review and discussion the first couple on there 3201a financial management for federal funds that's a brand new policy through trun um and it's an optional policy we did ask our business office to review and because we do um receive federal Awards it was at their advisement that the board go ahead and adopt that policy it is basically just the process and rules
and regulations in which we would abide by inter including internal cash management um and so on and so forth related to any federal Awards I don't think there's anything that stands out above that that most of us Layman are going to understand unless something that Christine Thomas Hill wants to point out to you all right the next policy on there is also a new policy to trune 3229 use of um generative artificial intelligence um this one basically is just when we
adopt our um our acceptable use policies for our technology in the district as you can understand that those policies have been around a long time there was no reference to artificial intelligence AI in that policy so TR just went ahead and adopted one or created one um for us and it essentially is the acceptable use policy for AI and basically if you read through it it just talks about how we're supposed to use it appropriately and for educational purposes AI should be used to supplement and not you know not use
for um exclusively for instruction the teacher should use it as a tool um and use so in a way that in compliance with remainder of the board policy and the general acceptable use policy so pretty generic but just wants to point out that we had not previously referenced to Ai and our acceptable use policies I appreciate how this policy um references that employees must thoroughly review AI generated material can't just rely on it
so um I think that'll make a lot of people feel better about using AI yeah I agree with that um the only thing I noticed was that under section c for training it says employees May receive training on the legal and ethical use of generative Ai and its integration into the curriculum not every employees going to choose to use generative AI but it does seem to me that if they do so choose we should expect them to receive
that kind of training so I wondered if in our administrative guidelines because I understand this is a legal requirement in the main policy if we could put something in our um a administrative guidelines that where expect the teachers to get some training on the ethical legal use you think that you have some contract issues with that you would have to compensate for that time and recognize that um so I think there's some things we'd have to look in budget in that element before we could go and do that um we're obviously offering it
you know right now um but I do think that you know that's a consideration we'd have to look at with bargain um with the with our our Union group yeah and that's I mean I think that's um are appropriate a good point um I just I mean out of the 500 teachers we have there are about 40 who attended that training last week voluntarily that's 1110th and all for the cause agree you y again it's just when you know when
we we require you know that's a contractual issue that we'd have to work with but definitely something we can take back and have a conversation now okay thank you you could also have discussions in staff meetings you know can formal right which we don't get a ton of time of you know especially at the elementary level so you know there's always a lot of things from that standpoint that's there but I think that team's going to explore every way shape and form to do it and then we'll look you know and have
conversations on you know the requiring part versus the opportunity that deal but see what we can do and if there even Grant dollars and things to help support coming forward in the future possibly that we can consider that all right I'm going to lump the next several together the 42 or 4402 4403 445 4509 and 4503 all of these policies are the result of changes that have been made to the Michigan revi school code sections
1248 and 1249 there was a huge revamp of those last year that went into effect on July 1 um including the changing of a definition I shouldn't say change but more defining the definition finding the definition of teacher as it's utilized in the school code right now it makes specific throughout that when we talk about teacher we're talking about the K12 teacher of record we also have teachers who are non 10e eligible in which several provisions of these wouldn't apply to so it differentiates
those there's been a change in our evaluation system previously we had four rating categories we've gone down to three rating categories so that is reflected throughout all of these different policies and addition we also have some um appeal rights for evaluation that didn't previously exist so I think TR thought rather than going making significant revisions to the policy you'll notice when we did the revised policies those were all crossed out entirely and they just replaced them
with new policies to reflect all areas of placement performance evaluation reduction and recall non-renewal and again performance evaluation of Administrators so unless there's specific questions it's very similar to what we had previously it only reflects the statutory changes made in sections 1248 and 1249 of the school code okay any questions as those as a group you made it real easy for us by highlighting those so thank you you
Kendall that was her for doing credit work credit is too um and then we did add um to this discussion item 348 firearms and weapons um yeah just a quick comment I mean I'm going to support this um I'm not supportive of more guns in our schools uh I get the amendment is just making this in aligned with state law which we have no control over law reviewing the policy under permitted uses to be uh uh is CAU my eye that a person can get
permission from the superintendent to carry on uh District property and I asked the superintendent I was because I was curious like in what circumstance or an example would our superintendent give permission uh to someone to carry in the example he shared did not involve more guns in our schools which I I'd like to hope that if that ever was the case that we would know about it um so so with that um I'll make a motion uh that the Board of Education approved policy 3201a financial management for federal funds
4229 use of generative AI 4402 placement 4403 performance evaluation 4405 reduction of force recall 4409 non renewal 4503 performance evaluation and um policy number 3408 firearms and weapons as presented a second thank you for the perfect motion as well and uh that is uh is there any
other discussion on the items um then uhy please conduct the loal um trusty Schmidt yes trusty bager yes trusty bird yes trusty pack yes trusty Raymond yes and president Newman B yes motion carries uh moving on to the next discussion room which is bids uh Services it is amended um to remove the one project to
consent but other than that I will defer to Dr um yes so um I will go ahead and pass that to Christine so um this item is is a very large project it's the West Senior High circulation project it does also include a small addition of the driveway to Long Lake Elementary School um it's an extension of the right turn um exit out of the building to kind of make that a little bit longer so people aren't stuck
waiting for left-hand Journeys um but the um extent uh to which we're doing construction at West Senor High it is planned over two summers um the first summer uh will take place a major renovation at the light at herner Road um we had been asked and been working with the road commission to eliminate the second light we have for our current exit so everything would be at herkner road so we will have an entrance and an exit on herkner road included that with that will be a crosswalk and a sidewalk
all the way to the school from there and then another crosswalk on our property when it does cross over traffic um the first summer will be the front entrance with the everything aligning to the light a Bus Loop and then to the of that right in front of the new innovation and manufacturing center will be a parking lot and parent drop off we're moving all the parking up to the building so people aren't Crossing in front of vehicles and then the next summer will be the other side which will be staff and student parking um and then uh some
modifications uh to the rest of um the parking lot where the athletic entrance is we'll have a small a drop off area for athletic buses and then the um existing parking lot by track um and Tennis um will actually get um a top coat so uh that's a two summer project uh pretty lengthy um this includes sidewalks curbs um some extension of snow melt um we have some 88 parking right by the main entrance
um I think that's it good um it's still going to remain two it's still going to remain one way but it's going the correct way now that we have a dedicated bus loep we don't have to go the way we're going right now to let students off the bu us good signage yes signage is included in the package and the cost is for both cases yes okay the West former West High School parent this makes me so happy I thank you because I know our you
know our parents have been asking for this for a long time so thank you for getting done they starting it imagine growing up in England and then coming here and try to remember out I don't know what's every time I got am I right am I wrong but the sidewalk issue is like aside from the the crazy you know roundabout but it's the sidewalk that's black their up we've had wor emails about the sidewalks over the years and eliminating that second light
will cause a lot of um less congestion on North Long Lake Road too so confusion yeah that's always been a weird yeah still well that is um lots of good stuff I know it doesn't look like one thing when you the headline but it is a lot of good things um any other discussion or motion sorry was make motion I'm letting him make all the Motions I just had a quick question so did you say the existing parking lot uh
footprint would remain the same where it's the staff side The Long Lake Side parking lot would that remain the same no all of the parking is being moved up and instead of having the road in between the building in the parking the road will come outside and so all of the parking will be up next to the road okay so like that vacant land now you know when you first enter on Long Lake Road we're not using much of that okay it it's the same footprint but just a little bit excess on the outside for a
new outside Road okay this will be green space can you have a picture of it that we had sent earlier with the sidewalk that we had sent about a week or so go tie as so okay I'll I'll move that the Board of Education approved the contract for the West Senior High circulation and Long Lake driveway expansion by M Davis Construction manager for this project for a total not to exceed $4,450 366 that does include a 10% contingency
and is funded from Capital Bond CS second second all right uh Tammy please hear from um trusty Raymond yes trusty bird yes trusty Ballinger yes trustee pack yes trustee Schmidt yes and president Newan Bale yes motion carries um moving I think there's another y it the next one is Travers Heights Elementary um so this one is a three classro Edition um on their North End um
that is for uh lower L um so all of those classrooms will have a restroom inside them um we're also adding a restroom um in between two existing classrooms so those two classrooms will now have access to a shared restroom and then an expansion of the existing cafeteria um which currently isn't big enough to house the number of students that we already have so expanding that so that it is um matching the size of other elementary schools um and then a renovation of the music area the music
classroom uh the only thing not included in in this is the furniture fixtures and equipment and we will bring that next month all right any other questions on that item do I have a motion iard of Education the contract for travor sites Elementary classroom in cafeteria addition to Hallmark construction for a total not to exceed
3,254 680 uh that also includes 10% contingency and is funded from Capital bond funds second uh Tammy please conduct a um trusty Raymond yes trusty pack yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty bird yes trusty Schmidt yes and president remember yes motion carries um I have a quick question for Dr Van Wagner or Christine Thomas Hill um about Traverse
Heights it it wouldn't have affected my vote so I didn't ask this before but the growth at Traverse Heights can one of you speak to the numbers there in terms of enrolled students because we you know we've been talking in recent years about overall some declines you know in student enrollment but this is an elementary school where we actually had some growth and I just wondered if you could briefly touch on that I'll give a little bit you know and then maybe she maybe has better numbers on it but you know when I I can tell you when I first came to the district I was very worried
about having to close Travis Heights we were around 180 students 179 students 179 students when I first came and so to see that turn around that we're now over 300 uh students I think there's a lot of I think um that you know the the the staff the principal um you know have done an awesome job of of bringing a ton of energy to that building um that I think there I think uh that it is still one of I you know the most affordable I
still don't know I can call it affordable areas of housing that is within the city um that we've seen you know uh families be able to move into um it's so I think that you know you take all of those things combined I think that there's a lot of people maybe even that were in the neighborhood that weren't sending their kids there that the excitement and all of that that they've seen um you know Brian K has done a wonderful job of taking the staff and the culture I'm a part of you all
know the house program and a part of his PBIS system that he's done and um you know it's just it's a wonderful every year I get the chance to um interview the part the the student of the Year fifth grader the the groups and and every one of the kids when you meet with them we'll talk about the PB system there and the leadership component and so um I think all those things combined have just made it a really really strong school that people want to send their kids to so over 50% increase in student
enrollment in four years is what I heard no not quite 180 to 300 not quite 40 40% increase strong though strong um so this would be how many classrooms exactly new three okay yeah that's great well growth along the frer we've had a lot of housing growth and more going you know um expansion of King score to multiple apartment units and we have two Head Start classrooms in that building so you know plus a head plus a
um nmca agrp classroom so it just goes to show what a difference a grade administrator can make and staff the teachers Embrace that and do a great job every day and and you go in that building and it is just full of energy there a lot of energy but they do a great job with that and and so it's a bit fun to see really all right
um so okay then we are moving on to discussion item now F ad hoc committee um I did send out a note um with kind of some of the the thought process and I guess Ty kick it off first well thanks Scott and and thanks Holly for the assist um and I'll start by saying uh of all the wonderful positive things we're doing for kids for this from opportunity
in this District including the student support network um and that needs to be celebrated however um when this 2024 annual education report uh came out made public in early January became obvious um that there is a lot of work to do um for our kids who are economically disadvantaged and this problem is not unique uh to
teaps um a lot of the things aren't in our control as a board um but some are and um so this is something for us to do something about it as a body if we wish I I shared some ideas of what it could include you know as far as scope for the for the committee but ultimately that would be up to the ad hoc to determine this will be a short-term temporary two or three month uh subcommittee of the
board um that will bring back recommendations to this body um uh to set some attainable reasonable able time sensitive goals to move the needle on some of these outcomes um for these for these economically disadvantaged kids I also shared um a a record Eagle story from 2015 10 years ago from from CED and that
was the last time one of our buildings was nationally recognized as closing the student achievement gap which is enough to celebrate but the reason why I shared it was not only did they then close the gap between the low Achievers and the high Achievers but everybody's scores increased a rising tide lift all boats so I want to be clear that what I'm what I'm proposing is not taking away from
high Achievers that this if if we're strategic and use best practice um and and you know allocate some of our resources based on student need that we can we can move the needle on this this this problem um so that is my proposal um ideally it it comes back I would like it to come back to to to us by our May meeting if possible um it's not meant to be a study session it's meant to like bring action um to the board so that was
my idea and and and I shared this with t but since then I add a few updates as well one of the things that I have is I think this great interest um in fact I don't think you necessarily have a problem with the concept it's more about execution because I and to be quite Frank I think virtually every member has indicated that they would like some in on on it to some extent which
creates a problem because if we're talking about everyone wanting to be on it then we it's a a board issue not a ad hoc issue um which I know why you don't want to do a stud why you didn't want to do a study session but you've also only seen I think one that all study sessions aren't created equal and I think uh you one of the study sessions we did several years ago was a streate planning which does include action so I don't know again my biggest thing is even if we're going to have something that all the
board members care greatly about we probably need to find a way to do it as a board rather than as an ad hoc um I don't want to use study sessions just a generic term but I do think that maybe we need to get one of those on first and then break out after that I don't know loan I'm I'm actually generally supportive of the concept loan and how you guys want to do it it's yeah I I would just um also I think back to the what we did in the summer of
2023 with the cell phone policy where it took us three months from start to finish I think from the first public comments of parents saying we want to see a different policy to then we asked the administration on the spot hey bring us some sample policies and then we studied them and then another meeting or so before we finalized it and Connie Taylor worked with us to get our input and consulted lawyers and all that but it took three
months that was and that was not a study session that was just regular board we we did use our regular board but anyway I could just see a lot of different commit to could be shaped um whether it's a study session or a subcommittee or full board regular um I think I think maybe the functions of breaking down what we would need to answer the very good objectives that you put together in your proposal Tai makes
a lot of sense like first we we need a lot of data I think to be gathered for the board to study before the board can then discuss and make recommendations to Administration for what we would like to see so maybe that is if we could kind of break that down into two or three chunks then we could figure out collectively well how do we want to facilitate that information gathering well in two three months is the idea so two or three meetings um you know and I'm not an
educator I I I don't know this but I know this room has some of those those and who understands the best practice I think the data is the outcomes the data is that 133 page Beast um so so I think the data is clear uh and I guess it's up to us how urgent we want to take this well I think on that point I do think it's urgent but one thing that I think we've all uh painfully leared is um you're in
a government a publicly elected position things move slower than we want them to be even when we have control over the speed and that's partly to do with the fact that we can't like you each out I couldn't have any real discuss I talked to you but we couldn't talk as a group until today um which for most people in private world is like we could have probably had this done by now um so I want to um well and and I and I just and I'm happy to have a discussion and I
didn't know where it was going to go either but I wanted to take a swing and I I do care deeply about it I I think we can do better with political will and public support um will it be hard absolutely will it take a lot of work absolutely I don't even need to be on it so I'm curious if who's here is actually wants would serve on it I would so and and here's my other I do want to discuss this a little bit more because one of the things that I think is important about the language here and what my understanding of this is it's not just
looking at all of the things that you know make an inequitable situation for students or a disadvantaged students we we kind of know what that is already I think the biggest thing and we've all talked about this for months is the funding um we have social support network that does all kinds of work but it's it's never enough right and not really funded and not really funded and to me when we're talking about um assessing ways to increase funding to to close that Gap
that's what we're talking about it's it's actually more narrow than what we're I think what we're discussing and I think that's a great idea because I mean some of us have been doing work outside of this just trying to get funds together or trying to work with grantors or whatever I know I am you know I've been doing that so I think it's a it's this is probably a good way for us to consolidate some of our efforts and say this is what we need these are needs that that need to be meant
financially and let's make these recommendations who's going to go do what does that make S yeah I mean and and how we budget our values and how we allocate our resources probably based on student need which is part of our Board of practice um and you know and I would like to move the needle on say third grade reading so 40% of our economically disadvantaged third grade readers are not proficient in Reading nearly eight out of 10 of our economically disadvantaged eighth graders are not
proficient in Reading uh excuse me in math so as we talk about all of our people working on certain things like I I'd like to take a stand and put ourselves on the hook and say we in one year two year three years would like to see this metric improved by X right yes we're going to provide warm clothes and food and and personal hygiene items but we're also going to budget our values um and we're going to allocate resources based on need so but again
that's just me one person and I think this this ad hoc um you know and just because the ad hoc recommends something to the full board doesn't mean necessarily mean the full board will accept it or approve it um or can implement it well sure I mean it it all has to be workable right and and that's why we have a wonderful superintendent to execute on vision and goals and strategic hierar laughing at the wonderful part
[Music] AR I'm saying I would be delighted to contribute to this project with a bottle of Tums for the superintendent you know I think that much like when we had our last study session I think it would be good for the board you know and this is going to take time to really see exactly what we are doing right now you know to have an idea of our schools that are more economically disadvantaged of how Staffing is being allocated how title
funds being allocated 31 a RIS dollars are being allocated to kind of see that spectrum and say oh either we didn't know that or I don't know that looks right or you know you know to know our SSN how much money do we get what are we doing with that you know how much are we raising how much maybe should we try and raise and what's a different way we redirect staff to maybe do that so I think there's lots of things of you know I would also not discount thinking about this in your strategic Plan update
that's going to happen soon as well um but I do think having an idea what's there and then the board can give some input into oh maybe we don't do anymore and we do this like Ty is saying from a you know what you allocate your resources to but you know in the short term I don't know you all see you know all those line items of and the federal dollars of all that from that standpoint Andrew's got a great point I just just so the students know I know
it's eight and but after this discussion item then you can come up we can finish this one up and then we do it so yeah yeah that's fine maybe it might not be it and again this is my last meeting so take this for what it's worth but you know one of our uh strategic plan goals was um provide additional resources and supports for diverse Learners so that all students can be successful so maybe I know the plan right now is to have um
study sessions in April to to renew and update the Strategic plan but maybe you do between now and April you have this ad hoc committee that three of the board members are more Versed and what has gone into that so that when you go to revisit the Strategic plan you at least have three of the board members that are more well vered and what it would take and what what's currently happening and what's available to happen yeah I mean current state is a good point to John's Point like what is the current state and then you know it's on us what is the
desired State yeah and that that's what you put in your updated strategic plan is you know when you're focused on whatever those goals are I would support that that's a friendly amendment I support that Andrew and that's so I guess you there's there's a lot of different ways to do this though I um do need the you the board to kind of come up with that's one idea um I'm okay with whatever again I I do believe that the number of people everyone at least had a a desire
or at least a a verbal desire to think about one to H certain aggree we've addressed it uh in a couple of study sessions I think that what makes this proposal perhaps a bit different is we kind of suggested that we would like a study section session that then the staff decided what we needed to know and they filled it in but the questions that we asked a lot of
times were kind of secondary to the information that we got if that makes sense and I think that with ties we're back to how do you say these are the sorts of questions that we think need to be answered and we're directing it with with the caveat that we do not run the
schools that the superintendent runs the schools all we can do is gather the information um so the practicality of some of this becomes important the other thing is I think that sometimes we have some resources that we don't always think of that we don't use so one of the things I really like at Travis Heights is that you see
the cooperation of the older students with the younger students and that can reinforce in two ways on some of the learning you know so whether you have students that tutor a bit more or do some Innovative things it reinforces what they are doing but at the same time it doesn't necessarily mean that you need a whole lot more money and a lot more staff so
there may be some Innovative things that we could do um that would be practical and actually build community um so those are things I think we do have to get good data because I've seen an awful lot of projects where you see what the problem is but you don't know how the problem configures and so you never figure out what the moving parts are so you throw money at it and a lot
of times you really don't accomplish a whole lot I think that's particularly true in publicly funded programs um so I think we have to be careful with that um would the board oppose if we just sign the students papers now so probably best really to actually Robert's Rule here okay relax is we really should take
um just a uh five minute break five minute break recess a recess and do this and then it's the really way we should do it yeah I to do them in the middle do that and then back to order and that element so there something new that somebody put across me the night yeah no I know technically yeah so um okay so we'll take a we will take a 5 minute recess if you would like to come up and you need a form signed uh come up and we can sign them for you right now and then
uh
e e
board is ready to restart we can suddenly restart a little earli um so we we were discussing item and we will return to the discussion item which was obviously uh the ad hoc
committee or how to handle this I think the general gist is that I think with there a United uh desire to do something here and then the question again just comes to how so we do have to have a decision I I feel like there's so much information that we do need to know first that we all should get that information and then figure out how to deal with it that does slow down your timeline but uh at the same time is I do think that we're really looking this is going to be a long-term thing it
should be part of the Strategic plan as well which we're going through that can be part of the discussion process as well so again I'm okay to do whatever every Bard member but my preference would be to start with the study session to get a lot of that data on the paper and then out of that study session have a commitment to would the study sessions be any different than the three we had last year on student achievement yeah the student achievement was pure there is a lot of data I think we can you can
we can give guidance to tailor that study session to get the data that we need this wasn't presented then I think I L lot of the funding I think we looked at sh dat I'm not really I'm not talking about funding I guess I'm talking about outcomes is what I'm talking about and you and whether it's uh Financial solution and or you know and you know like if you look at the courte talking about datadriven instructional practices but I just want to be clear I'm not talking about
fundraising I'm talking about outcomes I agree with you on that one I'm really um and and some of it will take money um but again uh I'm I'm fine with what if we want to wait and but I also don't want to study it to death because and and I feel like um I I've watched the three achievement ones from last year um and they were interesting for sure but they were not but again that's I think where you're getting off is like
we uh we can set when we set a study session we do give of what the objective outcome was so that objective of that outcome was to to get that data that's what we asked for that's what we got given so like we've also again had study sessions with strategic planning we've had plenty of other study sessions in the past that have that do lead to different things so I don't want that's and that's kind of why I said I don't want the idea of a study session being somewhere that something goes to study it to death or something goes today or
just or just hearing for one is not really I mean to be honest we're only been getting back into study sessions recently because of that and because of uh during Co that we kind of went away from and everything was a just what what's going to happen today um but I'm okay with again any alternative proposal I do want to make sure we leave staff enough time to prepare for anything one of the things I'd mention is appreciate you know what Tai is thinking you know the to least know the
resources that are there now if if if it ever you know we go through Mission based budget with every building principal there's any of those meetings that board members would want to sit in to be able to hear that and see how that is is and what those resources are that's something that we can make sure to let you know when they are and welcome to sit in on when we have that conversation of what we're thinking their federal dollars are to you can see building by building what that looks like open invitation on any of those from that standpoint to see that so if there are any specific data points
um Mission based budget yeah they're already scheduled yeah end of end of March right after spring break you know and I like for example i' curious of Travers height so we're adding three lower L classrooms for next year right so one one of the strategies could be like so it's one of our Title One schools um you know you know could we have uh less splits say in lower yeah uh lower L because of these new classroom
for example like how do we treat splits in Title One schools how do we treat classroom size in Title One schools yes so it's and you know I guess I I'm fine sitting in our meetings um because I also watch the mission based budgeting study session right and and and I get it but again you know we are in charge of the budget and how we allocate resources um and budget season will be up here really quickly that's why I proposed the may I think the May meeting
I think we're already well in budget session the and I just never out of it yeah and that's that's the other part though too is like that we are never out of it and there's always changes to like I don't think there's ever nearly a good time to start anyway I think we should start as practically when we as soon as we can um but that's kind of why I gave that like I worry about setting a timeline because it these things do take a lot longer than they should and you know I think
it'd be good for you to see the because I'd argue that our title buildings like especially Blair and you know they get right off the top of ft and general fund dollars above and beyond all the other buildings plus they're at risk plus their tit I will ask is that enough I guess and it's a good point you know but just to give you an idea of what that is you know and and are you is your priority to take away from one to give to more that's a board decision from that standpoint you know we kind of we put that out there from you know every kid has to have a classroom and a teacher you kind of have to start from there and then you go okay what's those
fringes that you have and a lot of times again the buildings have their title $1 or they at risk that's directed to that building based on their student population and that is what we use to direct a lot of that and again if the board wanted to change some of those perspectives that's but I think it would be important for the board to understand what those are sure you know to be able to make that decision from that standpoint no we do it based on what we think our professional judgment is to try and do that as equitably as possible you know with that in mind but if the
board thinks differently I think it's important for the board to look at that and understand that and know what that is so I I have a couple of thoughts um one is the title one funding issue that's just really bothering me at the federal level I feel personally very nervous about the the future and so I am right there with you Ty in terms of trying to think how we can close the achievement Gap but if the intention is
that we as a board would make a recommendation to Administration to allocate dollars and then you know we find out next week that the current Administration is not going to support t one anymore you know everything is upended so I I just wanted to that's not to shoot anything down I just wanted to share that that that is a very real concern I have um and it just messes with the timing of this but the other thing is just best practices
nationally um you you know I always think that is great for teaps if we look you know to other districts and nationally through our association and and all the professional networks that our administrators and teachers have um just in this District alone we we talk about all these things that we employ to boost academic achievement we have professional development for our staff we have um collaborative routines we have instructional rounds we have
tutoring we have mentoring we have Interventional um behavioral coaches like we have all of these techniques that are all intended to boost student achievement but if we can't afford them all we should have a better idea of which ones are the most cost effective which ones really are making the biggest impact and I think that's the data that we don't have as a board do we currently have outcomes as a goal we have any specific outcomes excellent question because I've asked that in curriculum
when we buy a new curriculum what is our expectation uh to achieve with that curriculum and I don't think we all those things are wonderful but to what end I guess right and um and again I'm not here to blame teachers or Administration but I I I do want us to to again look at some of those numbers that I shared and then ask yourself if you're okay with those numbers because I'm
not yeah I think no one is and that's why I think everyone is excited about it but that's also again why I think it comes back down to the board needing to do it I also wonder if we need to look at it um Elementary sort of first because I think that kids are so different between High School in elementary and I think how you address the problem is going to be different um so I'm wondering if if that would be
at all useful as well because I think Elementary is what you I don't know much but I do know earlier the better yes right and yeah that's your foundation so if that would make sense to narrow the scope like if it seems like too much of a beast then we want to focus on earlier the better and third grade reading like I'd love that and third grade math and third grade math run them both so I'm I'm wondering though if like the ask of administration is give us some data that
we can't get from Mi School data right the that where from which you know you you cited these numbers um so that we can make some informed decisions and recommendations about what we think our priority should be as a district where our funding should go well I mean so so I mean 58% of all of our third graders are proficient in Reading 40% of our economically
disadvantaged third graders are proficient in reading so we can set the goal at I don't know 45% 50% in 3 years what do we need to get there I'm not sure I'm not an educator I'm not a professional we have a wonderful team that we will consult and ask what do we need to do to get to 45% which Again part of the problem I'm trying to figure out how to tie the two together but like this that exactly like that exact thing is what we talk about in strategic planning to well and I
guess I then then I'm confused why there's no outcome in our strategic plan there's nothing that talk about the first thing I'll give you was the first one that had been done a long time you know from that aspect and so I think there was a lot of getting systems in place and those kind of things of of you know curriculums that we didn't have documented those kind of things so I think you know the board's always saw that 2.0 was the next step and if this conversation leads to that I'm fine you know this is the first time we've had this so I don't expect all of a sudden we're going to change also remember the timing of that strategic planning was
coming out of covid with a lot of unknowns where the numbers were hard to measure and these numbers right now it should have a big asterisk by them because they're all coming out of Co I know that everybody knows that but it was harder to it's harder to talk about specific outcomes when you don't even know how much learning you know you're still trying to figure out how many kids are back because of learning loss and sure like that's really but there's some studies you know I can't talk a lot about this that um I got called from the Detroit news last week that there's a study that's coming out this next week
that shows us very high in the state both in math and reading increases back to the levels preo and we're one of the few District that that's the case again not the market I think we want you know that was exactly my quote in there I said great we have some things you know Blair right now is having some great achievement you know you know change but again is it enough is it what what do we aspire to be even if we don't make the goal what do we aspire to be you know I think that's what TI's getting a little bit and then the figure the resources from
that standpoint but I do think simultaneously understand helping give us some direction to try and meet that goal you know there's things that you're going to have to maybe say we don't do anymore you know that some people might be upset about you know because there's you know I always say this is like spinning plates that you try and give a little bit here a little bit there and we try to give more to those buildings that have more kids in poverty but I tell you all the time that one of the hardest parts about this is stretching every dollar but again are there things that
are the best best mentioned that don't cost anything you know think those are some insights that would love to hear from the board you know if you have a goal in mind you want to try and reach then we got to try and talk about then at that point at least what are resources to do that so in the at least in the in that time period at some point it's going to be important for the board to give very specific data you want so that in some time for us to be able to share that with you if we be able to see what we're doing now and then at some point to talk about what we wouldn't do
to try and put more resources towards something if you think that's your your just remember we've done this before it's been 10 years and I think we can do it again as a district and not not building by building but as a district yeah so again like to move forward low on it because I don't disagree with any of it but like we've got to figure out how to move forward on this particular item do you want me to make a motion or who does someone want to make a motion uh you're welcome to make a motion I don't know if consensus yet of but um
I'm open to again someone has a FR an idea at this point I mean I I would just go back to what I said earlier I mean I think and I I totally understand that there's a lot of data and a lot of work that's happen happening on this specific uh metric of the compass plan but as you're going in I think it's I think it's if this is what you really want to focus on going into the revision and the updating of the compass plan for this next uh cycle for three years like you know it's probably not a terrible idea
to have if you can get two or three uh ad hoc committee meetings in before you start getting into the survey data and the actual study sessions for the updated strategic plan that would give you some background information on what's an appropriate what's an appropriate Target not not like what's an easy target to get to but what's a stretch Target for us to get to um it's just you know otherwise we're going to be sitting here talking for another hour but I mean I think that that's a reasonable thing is you know like let's
have a have a couple of committee meetings and then at least three of you go into that strategic planning session knowing like this is the background information and these are reasonable goals the only ke I'll give to that is like the for the Strategic plan for the surveys we got about a week to get that done on the timeline you have now you know just giving you that caveat if you're going to have something change yeah I think I would leave that as total separate thing I really would but I think we should really focus on on
Elementary and even if we look at K or prek to to second or third grade and really look at what's going on um to your your thought about moving resources around I think we're way ways from there yeah and you know that's the hard work I mean we're almost there right now but again I don't think it would hurt and again the invitation is
open to you know to learn what those are so you know what we are doing now that you may go oh that's enough or no that's not enough or okay if we give more oh I just heard that they get this and maybe is that the best place for it you know just the invitation is out there if you want to hear that cuz I mean I fully was in support of what was coming out of Easter you know I didn't want to see split classrooms I wouldn't want to teach one I understand so moving again like I
think how about this to merge the proposals and again I would take a a no this isn't achieving what what the objective is but um I do think it's important to do it through strategic planning it's the ideal position to do it in and we it's literally coming up in April so this is where we should deal with the specifics but to Andrew's point we don't even know what the specifics should be and what the goals are so it's kind of a cross between a an an ad hoc and a regular board meeting
because I know everyone says that they want to be there but scheduling is going to be difficult so I would suggest we choose a date in March which I realize is spring break at the end and we've got a March 10th board meeting so we could literally pick a date around the 17th we won't do that because it's St Patrick's Day but we could do the doesn't have to be a Monday we could just choose a day that works and is convenient schedule it study session get the data out use that spring
what's that 21st 20th that's the day before spring break isn't it so yeah so you'd have to that's just again I guess we can if that's an acceptable then we can figure out a date but I would suggest that we have a meeting study session in there any board member who wants to attend can come I understand if you don't want to but that way we don't have to have an ad you don't technically I don't even know if you need a you need a Basics you need a quorum if it's a board meeting however if the board gave
me some direction that if there wasn't enough we didn't think to make it a committee meeting and AD hog but otherwise if we have four members that show up plan it initially as a board meeting but if some reason numbers change we could go with that lower we would just you know we just have to cancel it from that standpoint yeah we'll cancel it and put committee um good pick a day yeah no I'm trying I'm trying to Jive because I
would like I think it's important to get a meeting in before sh planning I I I agree and then if you to do that I think it will be after your new boin yes it will which also would be that was one of I was going to wait to do this but this is one of the reasons that I did it tonight was because I knew that the strategic planning so you're already giving them more work when you're leaving no well theoretically to have someone here that was here the whole time I do not have I do not have the uh the the
district calendar to know what dates you guys can even do what works for you outside of Mondays and when you say you guys who well do you want I think that that would be depend on the data I think we can get those questions you did give a nice like some of the questions so that would be a good start um do you want a purely Focus academic do you want business you know resources do you want you know I think we could start with academics yeah I and Dan Jesse would be
secondary so it' be Dan and probably um or just Dan and um Britney and Britney Y and yeah so there we go so we got that we set as we set it as a board meeting study session board meeting um optional yeah optional and if we don't and we will ask to say if you're coming in on and if we don't have enough then we have set as a committee meeting and permission that we could ask so Dan is
on vacation that day right now I just which day the 20th can we look earli in the week like the 18th or 19th 18th they think could work and Dan are you on 18 I'm here Dan what days would work for you in Britney do you know that 18th or [Music]
19th yeah 18 if I were to choose one it' be the 18th the T I'm meeting with um all principles that week before spring break uh the eight non City Schools you know in open enrollment I was meeting on the just as far if we're talking timeline uh Sandy Jesse and I are meeting on March 7th to talk about Mission based
budget for elementary schools so I don't know what what's the we're talking about finances versus outcomes and I think we're really talking outcomes and E mic only at this point in this conversation that day Dan yeah so really just you and Britney is all I think the board's looking at want you know tra needing there at that point for initial conversation you know dig in 6 o' yeah that's good six o' or 5
o' matter I I'm just what if you have a need or anyone has a need that's fine I do not I would do whatever 5:30 you need it later is that what you're saying oh no I was I was just saying oh we doing it at 6 we have a meeting I have a student advisory till 4:45 and then you and I are supposed to be meeting on the 18th till 5:15 oh maybe that's the student advisory it's February 18 that's
February we're March oh Tuesday March 18th that's helpful Tuesday March 18th right so on that uh Dan Dan have a preference on time any have a preference on time I don't Tuesday just to make sure and not be so late 5:00 would that work I think so and we can get like sandwiches or something if that helps that's great you know for members and we'll just I'll have Tammy work with you guys for an
RSVP to kind of know who and we'll work on something from that standpoint okay so the 18th of March 5:00 p.m. will be a study session of the board uh on this topic and but the board would allow uh if if we do not have enough attendance we can which we know ahead of time we will change it to a committee correct meeting and the board would be okay with that as well otherwise it's essentially a committee of the whole I was trying to figure out if we
needed just confus us need do I how would I have how would we have a a meeting a commit unless we create an ad hoc if need um at that point it would just be whatever members would able to attend make a motion and do it then yeah I mean I can make I guess the motion should be technically that we call the we we we call the board meeting why don't we do this why don't we call it a meeting for
now and then we we'll get a better gauge as we get closer on who's going to be there and then if some point we don't think there's a quorum I'll work with you at that point to post for a committee meeting we have I feel can I just make a motion about it I'd like to make a motion that we have a study session on March 18th at 5:00 pm to discuss outcomes student outcomes and achievement um at the elementary level if for some reason we don't have a a quorum that that become an ad hoc
committee meeting on the same subject I think that will cover and you're giving me the discretion if we feel there won't be enough board members to do so correct second okay so we have a a motion we have a second I think we've discussed it plenty um but if anyone has anything uh other than that please uh please conduct a roll vote trusty bird yes trusty Schmidt yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty
pack yes trusty Raymond yes and president Newman Bale yes motion carries um um I superintendent van Wagner I I just want to add one more thing um if there is a district that you know about or any of your peers know about um where they've really addressed um you know at risk students and academic achievement close the achievement Gap however you want to phrase it or if there's a
conference that you're going to um I mean any kind of opportunity for us as a board I think that would really be beneficial doesn't have to be obviously in the next three months it could be any you can't control the timing of a conference for example but you took us to a subset of us to Kettle Marine School District years go to see and learn about Project based learning that was so incredibly helpful for us to understand what we were doing in standing up academic
communities and so I think that would I would like welcome the opportunity to you know visit a district and especially somebody like us with resources and you know because you know just do recognize there are districts that get you know with poverty $25,000 a student with federal funds stay that way I don't know but you know so like finding a a light district you know in that element is something that you know we'll work at trying to identify that if there is in
the state or even somewhere out of the state but you know they took a a group of kids poverty in har M and they put them in the charter school the Harlem children's zone no well been there and those kids are amazing but Jeffrey K raised about $50,000 I think per student to be able to do that I had the chance to have dinner with Jeffrey candid would much like to know how that broke out I'd also a ton of resources they raised to be able to do that but did great work
phenomenal now just to bring this back down just I i' go to make a decision here so either we're going to close out uh or I have to uh chair so I'm okay with either one that's fine no we can Mo on I do have one quick thing but I know that we we've got a public comment here we have to call Quick too yep um but um I do want to go a a correction of something I had said publicly um I had the chance to meet with Alissa slack and and and uh last Saturday and I'm not sure if I was misquoted or I said it
wrong but to put on the record straight we have about you know we've had roughly close to 500 students in our mckin vento program that we run um that are homeless those are not all teaps kits right okay it's about you know we're about 270 you know right around our teaps kids in that element we do have over 500 in our student support network in that element but I want to make sure that we do run that program and do all the support and all that Katie is kind of
her and team and Ginger's team's a oneperson show you know with one group show that does that work but you know again that's kind of our our their are other students from other schools that are a part of the mckin ventil program with that so I just want to make sure I'm good to to clearly identify but again we have lots of kids in needs and we are well over half of the kids in that number that do fall under homeless components that are tab KS but and still shockingly high yeah yeah Y and I would
personally like to encourage anybody with Deep Pockets to donate student support network as soon as you can and a lot all right um so anything else any I think we closed out on that topic um moving on to public comment is there additional public comment there's not okay um so closing remarks again I I feel like there's nothing else to add other than thanks again to Andrew uh
this would be uh last meeting and definitely bit of sweet but thank you for serving and pleasure serving with you so um there will be a posting on the website within the next few days but the uh candidates will be asked to interview on March 10th at the regular board meeting with more more information to come shortly um with that do I have a motion to adjourn the meeting I'll move to meeting second second all right all those in favor say I all those say n the
next Board of Education meeting will be Monday February 24th at 6 p.m. and oh No 1 I think it's March it will now be what now March 10th probably March 10th 2025 at 6 p.m. um um appreciate it and your meeting is J