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I call this meeting of the Board of Education to order the board would like to welcome the audience and thank you for attending viewers may watch Board of Education meetings and board committee meetings live at tcaps.net backboard meetings may be viewed on demand of the same address please rise
and join Miss Parker second grade class at chero Elementary in the Pledge of Allegiance United unit States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God
indivisible with liberty and justice for all thank you all right we are moving to the review approval portion of the agenda um I do know that there was at least a technical change as well
um I believe there was two policies that were both on consent and discussion uh 5202 5206 um so I would like to strike both of those with consent no other change needed because
they are already on discussion is there any other changes to the agenda i' like to remove 545 546 and 5707
okay um can you repeat though 545 546 5707 so 545 will become discussion item 10c
17 5406 10 c19 and 57071 C20 it should be 5 46 should be number 18 yeah Sor 5 so
5468 5779 than you any other changes if not can I get a motion to approve as amended I this amended second second uh it was
tight but we'll give it to Josie here although because there a change can we do a um trusty pack yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty bird yes trusty Moon Moore yes truste Raymond or I'm sorry truste
Schmidt and truste Newman Bale yes motion cares um okay moving on to recognition Define to Dr yes so I'm going to go ahead and uh introduce uh um our high school principal at West High School
wper who's going to talk about our National Merit Finance all right good afternoon I'm going to give you a little background on what we're recognizing today and then I'll call our two seniors up uh so this afternoon we get the opportunity to celebrate a pretty extraordinary
accomplishment um we're recognizing both mine buildo and Jackson Hawk stutler both seniors of Trevor City West for achieving the very prestigious status as a National Merit finalist um so just a little background on that I'm sure everyone knows this but in case you
don't uh each year there's about 1.6 million high school students uh that enter the National Merit Scholarship program either on purpose or on accident because they take the National Merit uh scholarship PSAT usually at their high schools at West and Central we do that
in October of junior year um so out of that um the mer competition pulls a pretty talented pool of individuals that they need commended students and then those students have to go on uh and confirm their performance in the SAT but
also um submit information about their academic record it has to be impeccable uh and among the best in the country they have to get an endorsement from their school and they have to submit a pretty comprehensive application showcasing their achievements so of that initial 1.6 million students uh
typically less than 15,000 uh are named semi-finalists that advance to the finalist standing so we're very fortunate to have two in teaps this year mine buildo and Jackson Hawk I'm going to ask them both to come up at this time so they can stand um and
have eyes on them which both of them do not like we read a few things about them individual come right over here okay so first we'll highlight mine BW uh mine has consistently demonstrated Excellence throughout her journey and tcaps uh her foundational years were at
Central grade and Willow Hill up through the tag program and then to West Middle School uh and then at tror City West inor high meline has truly shined and been able to dive into some of her interests and passion so academically speaking since this is a mayor
competition we talk about some of their academic record uh she's she's tackled 12 honors courses and 10 college board advanced placement courses including AP Kul and Lane Senior High uh believe you're also in the college Kel and
differential equations class this year um and has definitely um pequ her intellectual curiosity and problem solving abilities throughout her years at West beyond the classroom meline is quite a leader around West Senior High
she was Captain of our volleyball team um definitely inspired and motivated her teammates and she is the president of Our National Honor Society which is the biggest student group at West Senior High so one of the things we like to do uh when we have this unique opportunity
at Central or west and the student is named a National Merit finalist we get a few uh remarks from their teachers so a few of mine's teachers um wanted to share these things uh julen Jenkins wall said mine's thinking of problem solving is consistently ahead of everyone else
including the teacher he's extremely thoughtful of the content and has exceptional executive functioning skills Bridget Sharon and language arts observed meline is the type of student that comes around once only every few years she has intrinsic motivation that
sets her apart from her peers uh although she's naturally gifted both academically and athletically she strives to work Beyond her natural gift she's a remarkable she will be a remarkable sailor reference to her future plans Miss bcho Praises her
exceptional linguistic skills in Spanish Mr ready emphasized her maturity perfectionism and incredible kindness and her counselor Miss Lee said meline is a natural leader both confident and dedicated admired and respected by her teachers and peers she has a commitment
to Excellence Keen sensitivity to others and an intense desire to learn at the highest level so we know mine's family is very proud of her parents Audra and Nathan are here as well as her brother Nolan running from tennis practice to get here um definitely their support on the journey uh has been a big part of
this as well and now mine sets her sights on a new challenge after West attending the US Naval Academy um her dedication to service an unwavering pursuit of Excellence would will undoubtedly serve her well in her next chapter as she serves our country
so mine on behalf of travor City West and our entire staff and the community we congratulate you on this remarkable [Applause] achievement now you get to stay up here always say nice things about Jackson opport again uh so next we're
we're happy to recognize Jackson hawler who has also earned the prestigious title of National Merit finalist Jackson was a journey began at the monory Children's House uh and then the West Middle School culminating in a great four years at Trevor City West Senior
High um also an outstanding academic record one thing I will point out though is like with National Merit students there is no formula you know so it's not uh kids that took all the same courses or kids that have all the same interests I would say both Jackson and meline well
both outstanding have taken very different paths at West and kind of throughout High School um in Jackson's case had nine honors courses seven very rigorous AP courses including AP Kelk and AP chem which is considered one of the more difficult APS that tcaps offers
but uh Jackson's talents go far beyond the classroom he's a vital leader on our TC Titans Ro team team 3767 if you stop by Trevor City Central on Friday or Saturday check it out um the robotics team under Jackson's leadership has has achieved not only
state level recognition but worlds which he now believes is the standard talk to Jackson and Jack and some of the guys from the team they're already talking about like we need to do this to get to States we need to do this get to the worlds they have a great plan for this weekend uh at TC Central and they had a
great plan last uh the other weekend at Lake City but that's a testing to Jackson's leadership his Innovative thinking and his ability to inspire those around around him so a few um notes from Jackson's teachers u m CH wall says Jackson has usually solved the
problem before I finish reading it he often finds connections and is an excellent collaborator which is one of those qualities you have to use uh if you're familiar with how robotics works it's a very collaborative Endeavor um I mean to that end Jackson and his crew
last week I think it was Wednesday was the first night they got to practice in the new innovation and manufacturing center um those aren't open to the public yet but our as far enough ahead that the teams are able to practice there so they've invited I think they've had Al Rapids there already green Spire
the Raptors from Trevor City Central are coming over um so there's always that collaborative element with with Jackson uh his counselor miss cam added Jackson is a leader he's highly intelligent he's very personable um was instrumental in growing the robotics program K Myers
highlighted Jackson is driven brilliant creative his work ethic and problem solving skills are far beyond his peers his talent shines especially in robotics and the robotics coaches and Professional Engineers have stated that Jackson's CAD skills and creative
problem solving ability is well beyond theirs and Dan re who is one of our well is our lead Mentor for the robotics program had just a few words to say about Jackson he said Jackson epitomizes the T Cap's core value of success for
all by demonstrating just how much learning as possible through Superior programs and extracurricular activities he's maximized his full potential at tror City West he's taken learning to a higher plane by digging in and actively learning skills both from the formal classroom and his time in robotics his
Knowledge and Skills combined with the ability to apply to a technical problem achieves achieve Superior results through his leadership he's extended this opportunity to the rest of the robotics team he's already performing at a cleic level as a senior in high school
so there's there was actually one other quote that I didn't put in here but I was just talking to one of the 10th grade teachers the other day they had seen the press release they knew this was coming up and U they said not to put it in the presentation so I did but they they um they said you know I was
teaching a class that was probably like the one class he wasn't super interested in and I noticed one time I was walking around and he wasn't actually doing what he was supposed to be doing he was like sketching out something for robotics but I just let him go because it was like I couldn't even comprehend what he was doing it was so Advanced handle it go
with that um definitely have to respect of your teachers um also Jackson certainly couldn't be here without the the support of his family his parents Tara and Brad and his siblings Jonah and Finn Jonah has already graduated from Trevor City West uh Jackson has a number
of college acceptances and I believe is did you make the final Y and he is committing to the University of Michigan [Applause] woohoo his tanist will be well utilized there uh certainly connects with his interest and he's talked about the
technology and the items they have available there that he thinks he can really engage in during his college Years so we know he will continue to excel so Jackson your dedication intelligence and leadership are an inspiration to all of us we're incredibly proud to have you represent Trevor City West your high
[Applause] and get a photo get it at the do you want to stand I don't know so [Music] [Music]
we're not part of something one more round of applause [Applause] [Music] okay congratulations again
um moving on to a public comment uh I assume there is public comment so I'm just going to go ahead and say the board is set aside this time and individuals addressing the board shall have one opportunity to speak it shall be limited to three minutes individuals should not make personal attacks unrelated to actions affecting the school system and
we strongly encourage common courtesy and constructive feedback detailed rules and procedures including a complaint process Sr outlined in board policy 2504 Tammy Scott Richards Scot Richard Green Lake Township I'd like to first of all them
two students that spoke last school board just want you to know I'm praying for them I'd like you guys to look up the story of Jordan Mar Michigan sad story I wonder if these books are in the library great white royal blue gender
clear all boys AR Blue I wonder if any of those books had anything to do story other thing is the Schoolboard candidates that put in applications I would like them to be put out on the public so the public can read them over
before he guys V on and I would like all eight candidates to be able to speak their mind the school board instead being cut down four people 3 minutes is much good list thank you Luc see
web evening good to see you all uh I'm Reverend Lucy wter web and I'm a local spiritual leader here as well as the small business owner in travor city and a parent as well I've known J Forester for about 4 years now and I've worked
alongside her um in our work with the salt Coalition and it was in fact at a tcaps meeting where we met um about four years ago uh we were here together at the other building speaking about the importance of creating a school community that honors the diversity the equity the inclusion and the belonging
of all children all parents all people within the school community and since then I've witnessed Jessica serve as a powerful leader in our um in our community not not only through our shared work with the salt Coalition but also in our own faith community uh and when she served on the
Human Rights Commission and as a volunteer I think one of her greatest strengths is that she listens and then leads she listens and then leads and she listens and then leads over and over and over again I've watched her take the time to really slow down and do the
important work of gathering information listening to the community and Discerning a path collectively before taking action and she doesn't get stuck there sometimes we get stuck in the listening mode she listens and then she has the capacity to not only move forward and act from that listening
place but take powerful uh action and lead to bring others alongside her in that action on behalf of the community she has the ability to see the big picture and build a relationship when it really matters she doesn't shy away from connecting to those who will
help move the work forward and I trust that she will continue to listen and to lead in her service um on the TCAP school board to listen to parents to listen to children to listen to teachers and to our community as a whole her legal background gives her key
skills to be able to navigate the many UH responsibilities uh that you must tend while on the board for managing properties the budgets any possible litigation that may arise and lastly she is a parent within the teap school system and it feels so important to me to continue to prioritize the leadership
of those who are most directly impacted Ed by the decisions of this body uh to be a part of that decision making process I trust you will continue to make decisions that are in the interest of not only her own children but all the families in this district and put uh
community and Education First in her leadership I encourage you today to appoint Jessica Forester to the vacant position on the tax board thank you Anna matley good evening thank you for giving me the opportunity to read my comments and to
kind of talk in suppor of Jessica Forester I too have had the honor of being able to serve next to her in various Community engagements from a volunteers perspective I value the commitment that each of you have as our school district for meeting the needs of all students part of your success as a
board is your ability to listen to evaluate to make decisions and forward as a team I'm a parent of two adult children who graduated from West High School in 20 and 2022 I've been a volunteer since the fall of 2014 as part of a weekly School mentoring program at Traverse Height
Elementary and the past two years I've also been a volunteer Young Life leader at Traver City High School each Monday yes Jessica comes with a solid professional resume and a demonstrated passion for seeing that everyone in our community has an opportunity to thrive
she Champions the principle that when the least in our community Thrive then we all do better her community activism is firsthand as she brings her time her talent and her treasure she has a realistic understanding of the needs of
families in the school district along with the form of education for the future success of all students Jessica has compassion and is an authentic Communicator where people feel heard with sincerity and respect she builds consensus and problem solving by a
knowledging all stakeholders and their competing priorities Jessica uses this engagement to help facilitate the best solution possible I've been able to serve by her side during times when challenging the status quo was not only the right thing to do but was also not
extremely popular her unwavering Integrity her Grace Under Pressure and her leadership was courage for many part of her Integrity is pursuing successful long-term Solutions and not quick fixes for complex problems
I have no doubts that Jessica will be an excellent addition to your board and her positive impact impact will have a lasting reach as I like to say Jessica's a deal thank you Ann Odell hello my name is an Odell I
retired from teaching from the Franken mouth school district and I presently live in Lela County I'm here before you to share a bit about Jesse Forester who is a finalist for the open seat on the teaps board of education I presently serve on the salt
core team with Jesse salt being an acronym for Spiritual activist leading together I would first like to share a little bit about the principal who hired me in Frankenmuth she eventually became our superintendent and then she continued on
to become the mayor of Franken Mo during her time as as principal and superintendent her motto was a place for all kids the reason that I share that is because Jesse displays so many of those
traits that this woman exhibited I have the utmost respect for everything that Jesse puts her heart and soul into Jesse is someone with very strong moral principles her listening skills are
readily apparent the moment you meet her and she listens to all sides of an issue we've worked on many different areas in salt and some of those issues could sometimes get messy and
complicated but that's where Jesse's patience and perseverance to reach a consensus with everyone's input shines through I always get a sense from working with Jesse but at the end of the
day the conclusion felt like it was just the right thing to do and she will always have the students best interest in mind in addition to all those qualities that I mentioned that Jesse exemplifies I've also observed her as a
very dedicated mother of three children if elected to serve on the teaps board of education I know that she will always strive to create an environment that encompasses a place for all
kids I would like to thank all of you for your hard work and your dedication that you display by serving on board thank you Jenifer butin hello members my name is Jennifer botin
I'm a um travor City resident and a local business owner a community volunteer and my most important job is Mom to six-year-old twins they just turned six who started kindergarten in the teap system this year at Willow Hill
Elementary my kids are not in the same class as Jesse Forester kids um and we didn't meet on campus we met outside of campus at a random workout class but when she found out that I had kids
entering the school system at teaps she offered her insights and offered to become a friend and I think that that's just one quality that exemplifies embodying what you hope for in an elected official and somebody who
represents you someone who's open open and willing to meet people where they are where I was as a mom just entering the school system in a type of environment that's totally different from when I was in kindergarten with safety regulations that um that have
been implemented because the world has been changing with the way parents and teachers communicate and parents are allowed to communicate with each other all of it feels almost like a different language learning a totally different way of being and I've been able to count
on Jesse this whole year as an ally and as somebody who's able to really thoughtfully help me navigate the beginning of my kids education in the system and it's not always easy when you have kindergarteners who have fights on
the playground or miscommunications with their teachers and every time something has come up she's really listened deeply she's offered creative and thoughtful insights that account for many different pers perspectives and I know that her
advice is advice that I've been able to count on and I think that um I know that you probably have other candidates who are really qualified for this job and um I'm grateful to all of you for your leadership in the district I just think
it speaks volumes when you're able to have somebody sit on the school board who is experiencing every day with her own children what we're going through as parents of young children um going through the teap system so for those and for all the other more eloquently expressed reasons that other people in
the room have already shared um i' urge you to please consider voting for Jesse for vac school thank you very much Julie delen hi my name is Reverend Julie deline I'm the senior pastor of the Presbyterian Church of Travers City I am
also a mom to a TCAP student at Eastern Elementary um I am grateful it looks like you have four very strong candidates um for the open position I'm here today to support Jesse Forester uh Jesse was one of the first people that I met when I moved to Traverse City about
a year ago uh our church is part of the salt Coalition uh where Jesse is the lead organizer and I when I met her I was just blown away by her intelligence and by her energy by her Pursuit of
justice and equity and inclusion in this community um as as mentioned before she's a great listener and she took the time to really listen to me and uh as we imagine what could be together I think she would bring a fresh perspective to
the board um she has an excellent ability to analyze challenges and move people to Solutions um she has an ability as has been said to listen well to others including those who might disagree with her um all while holding to her own
integrity and values so thank you so much Beth Strauss hello I too am here to support Jesse forester's um domination so my name is Beth stra and I live in travor city with my husband and my two children
um and we currently attend Willow Hill I have two children at Willow Hill so I do appreciate the opportunity to share my insights and express my strong support for Jessica my family and I relocated to Travers City about three years ago and I met Jesse while we were volunteering in my son's kindergarten class from the
very start she welcomed me with open arms offering ideas on how to integrate into the community as well as navigating my children set up in at Willow Hill over time I witnessed Jesse firsthand unwavering her unwavering in acceptance of all whether she was speaking at the
church accompanying a woman who recently overcame homelessness at a doctor's appointment to advocate for her care or simply just being president School handing out lollipops with me and um participating in classroom activities she definitely represents empathy
integrity and a thoughtful approach in all that she does this year I fa a very small personal challenge where I learned my son was struggling with reading fluency and stamina which led to his situational anxiety mornings became difficult for us where
he would say mom my tummy hurts mom my head hurts please don't send me to school I don't want to go to school and all of this was just a result of him needing a slight tweak to his learning needs when I when I received this information I was immediately overwhelmed and panicked of course as a
mother um what interventions do I take how do I engage with teach effectively am I asking too much of Willow Hill am I asking too little I don't know where do I go for support so the first call that I made was to Jesse in a moment of panic she said let's go get some coffee let's
talk we sat down and she listened I feel like I'm a good mom but I'm certainly not a good teacher which I've learned um but I was able to strategize with her and understand how I can help break down some things for my son to get him the support that he needs Jesse just sat
there and listened she understood and through this conversation she helped me understand what teacher face every day our educators are nothing short of superheroes in my opinion they balance the needs of diverse students of 25 to 30 sometimes in a classroom um and on
top of the needs of the students they're also balancing the needs of all the parents um Jesse helped me understand that walked me through that and she she kind of taught me how to push back where it was needed but also allow some Grace where that was needed as well just due
to the overload um of the teachers so to this say my son is back on track with reading as 2 second okay the moment I re so that moment reaffirmed already what I know that many of this the children in teaps need more intervention they need
more one-on-one help and they need someone to advocate for them we need to work together um and I believe that Jesse will be the advocate Champion for both children and teachers to inspire and motivate and uplift our school with that I sincerely urge the board to thank
you your time is up new voice okay than you Erica Master Monica hi thank you so much I have had the privilege over the past few months to co-lead with Jesse on a community project I've been able to witness
firsthand how she leads here are a few things I've seen first Jesse does not shy away from a complex decision or issue she leans in with curiosity asking questions to further her knowledge and understanding she does this graciously in one-on-one interaction interactions
and seamlessly in a group setting she looks at things from all sides and encourages other perspectives in order to make the best decision secondly she is passionate about seeking a solution where everyone THS this includes fellow fellow board members teachers
administrative staff and students as a mom of three young children who are in the TCAP school system she has a vested interest in the well-being of this District she will bring a fresh and current perspective to the table there's so many other qualities that Jesse would bring to this board but I'd like to
touch on how I feel as a leader working alongside Jessie as we've been planning brainstorming hashing things out and discussing strategy I have never felt more empowered as a leader what we are trying to accomplish is something far bigger than I have ever done I'm confident bringing my ideas
knowing that heard and considered I feel empowered in my skills and abilities I believe that she can bring that to this board and to each board member as well Betty Dickinson hello my name is Reverend buy Dickenson I'm a spiritual leader in our
community and a nonpr leader as well as a business owner and and I'm also a teaps parent with two children at Hill Elementary School I'm here tonight to wholeheartedly support Jessica Forester for the open position for the school board as a parent deeply invested in the
well-being and future of our schools I believe Jesse is exactly the kind of leader that we need her extensive leadership experience from serving on Church leadership teams to Leading with salt has equipped her with the unique ability to gather people across diverse
perspectives she's also served as the chair of the travor City Human Rights Commission and led in various innerfaith spaces demonstrating her commitment to peacemaking and Community Building as a community organizer she's had one-on-one conversations with over a
hundred individuals in the last couple years just think about that several of these people have mentioned that as well and when she does as many of um her Advocates here have recognized she listens deeply she listens well she seeks to understand needs and build
Bridges this has given her pulse on the heartbeat of our community enabling her to Advocate effectively for the underserved she's a thoughtful listener and empathetic Problem Solver she's able to navigate complex issues with both Clarity and confidence her heart for
inclusion and her commitment to making Traver City schools safe welcoming for every child to thrive is undeniable the three children at tcaps Jesse's actively involved volunteering as a lunch buddy at Willow Hill Elementary and and engaging in community
um with many Faith leaders as well she identifies real needs within our schools and works towards thoughtful Community centered Solutions her background in law strengthens her ability to approach challenges with discernment and articulate complex
issues Jessica's strengths lie in her ability to empathize with diverse perspectives and Foster spaces where all voices are heard she balances competing concerns and strategic PL with wisdom and Grace her proven track
record as a community organizer Peacemaker and bridge builder makes her an invaluable asset to our district I'm confident Jesse's leadership will enrich our school board and shape two caps into a thriving Community for all students so I urge you to consider her for this
important role thank you Rachel vilia good evening my name is Rachel vent miglia a te's parent two kidos at Eastern and a resident and I'm here to express my support for my good friend Jessie Foresters candidate um candidacy
for the open school board position as an attorney a dedicated Interfaith Community leader organizer and most importantly a parent of three teep students Jesse brings a deep commitment to Integrity collaboration and Student Success Jesse has spent years working to
bring people together whether through her legal legal expertise her role in the salt Coalition or her service on the TC Human Rights Commission she understands that leadership isn't about competition it's about working together for the good of our students teachers
and families like my own that's exactly the mindset we need on this board she knows firsthand the Deep strengths and challenges of our district she has volunteered in our schools and engaged with families of all walks of life she recognizes the incredible dedication of our teachers and staff while
acknowledging the critical issues we must address her ability to listen problem solve and lead with compassion will make her such an asset for this board she is one of the most caring open-minded and compassionate individuals I have the pleasure of knowing most importantly Jesse is
committed to making sure every child in teaps has the opportunity to thrive she's not running for personal gain or politics she's running because she's a Community member and a parent who cares and has the qualifications to succeed and that is the exactly the type of leadership our schools need I strongly
encourage you to appoint Jessica Forester to the teaps Board of Education thanks so much for listening Bill ler B we Travers City and U um you can find most of our my stuff
at down at the bottom here TC family.org check it out if you haven't uh this Proclamation from morality that I've handed out tonight is definitely on there and I'd like anyone to read this and dispute these statistics on here um
all people are created in God's image and should be treated with love and respect but all behaviors aren't equal and the behaviors on here it's actually promoting immorality and high-risk Behavior check it out this is not
something to be promoted one word on the human right commission that came out of Germany and um they had a human rights something I don't know the exact name but came
right out of uh Germany and they were trying to explain why homosexuals were born that way that sort of thing and that's a way to advance that cause that's specifically there's you can read it on my website look up um
Germany Dr Scott Lively that sort of stuff I'll mention again uh from tattle Michelle Howard she mentioned again uh she's complaining about book Banning but she has 800 books moing
homosexuality and four on the other side compassionate view why are these books being hidden from young people in the schools they're only seeing one s complaining about book bang same thing with TC West TC Central 500 400 books no
books on the other side uh at least tattle has 1 half of 1% showing the truth this is book Banning book burning that happened in Germany that's when they burnt the data on as one guy quoted a
historian he said not 10% of the people leading Hitler's Germany were sexually normal that's what they were burning because they didn't want that information out and again those who are so-called allly
of this movement this is Hitler's Germany Dr Lively's book I hope some of you downloaded it seen with a young man promoting this to Children there you're not allies your enemies of these children when you promote it and the
last one running out of time an Oxford study this is on your agenda finds transgender surgery increasing depression suicide ideation rates uh I look up that article uh before this guy took his life he wrote he would never
have done it if it hadn't been tricked into this movement thank you Mr wear your time's up thank you Darcy Pian hi it's good to be back I haven't been here for a while I've been on a number of boards in the area I teach a life skill in called salt so I was was
surprised to see another salt um ours is seven areas of life training and we do that every Monday morning so I was in the jail today um I did send a letter to the board and I hope that you read it and I just want to give a different
perspective here tonight um Mr Andrew Raymond will be missed um I appreciate the opportunity to offer an opinion regarding his successor for the remaining time of his term here on the board
according to a to a majority of current school board members three attributes were considered especially important experience in finance I haven't heard that yet uh connection to elementary schools and someone who communicates well with others also
someone who brings a unique perspective to me a unique perspective is subjective but that's okay um I'm an advocacy not an act activist um and I really believe that more importantly here the candidate
should have the ability to fill Mr Raymond's remaining two years without taking time to undergo a process of instruction and training Andor training during the interviewing process the tcaps board members gave Mr Scott Hardy
five votes I believe he possesses the attributes the board is seeking at this time I um and I believe he would step into the role immediately due to his background experience and knowledge of the role of what his responsibilities
are as a tcaps board member I realize he may Garner some criticism due to his involvement in other local committees however being one that's been on a lot of committees one can I please everyone all
the time he is a good choice the teaps board members gave Mr Peter Mooney four votes he is also a viable good cand candidate I believe Mr Mooney would step into Mr Raymond's shoes rather quickly and with his experience bring valuable
schools to the teaps board I do not know him personally but uh his background experience and knowledge of the school district is helpful for solving problems and finding Solutions he seems to be in a position to take on the task and be an
asset to this board now and into the future I trust you will think about not only the here and now but the future of the the tcaps board an election will take place in 2024 board members I am a proud parent
of two kids that attended this school West Junior High and West Senior High I have 14 grandchildren that I'm very proud of and I care very deeply about children and I thank the school board for their service Mary van valon
already emailed you about my support for Jessica but since the last meeting I have been thinking a lot of those students who spoke
and I want you to know that my expectation of school board and everybody who interacts with students is that every student will be so respected every student will feel
connected and every student will feel safe thank you oh I don't have a pen so I didn't write anything so it's just an EMP Marcel Marcelo betti uh good evening my name is Marcelo betti and I'm here
tonight to speak in support of Jessica forsters candidacy for the open board seat I am an attorney uh with a local nonprofit organization that provides uh lowcost or free immigration legal services to low income individuals and the reason I mentioned
this is because it was through a work rated matter that I first met Jessica several years ago during the time when she was a member of the Trevor City Human Rights Commission at that time one of my clients was experiencing unfair treatment by a local government agency
and I reached out to the commission uh for help and the commission and Jessica in particular stepped up and helped mediate a negotiation with the agency and thus to help protect my client's rights I was very impressed by her problem solving skills and more
importantly her commitment to improving our community and protecting some of its most vulnerable members that was the first but not the only time that I have seen Jessica working to advance Justice and the public good uh in addition to other matters that she's handled in her role
as a human rights commissioner Jessica has dedicated extensive time to serving as a volunteer as a teacher and and as a leader within our community this is a person who is deeply committed to the public interest and who is willing and able to use her qualifications to
advance the common good all while displaying utmost integrity and compassion um as a father of school AED children I would be very very happy to see Jessica become a part of this board because I am confident that she has the skills and the demeanor to Be an
Effective board member thank you conclud sir all right thank you that completes public comment um so moving on to the first discussion item which is the election of uh an interim board so the board uh this this vacancy just some
technical details this vacancy will uh or this appointment will expire on December 31st 2026 um just highlighting some of the things said in previous meetings this the candidate pool was very strong and we really appreciate everyone for
applying it does make our jobs a little bit harder but I think that's something we do appreciate um after we did a little bit of the process where we had an executive committee we we called a meeting to narrow the candidates down uh to no more
than five we ended up with four because of the ti vote process um and we also set out a list of kind of rules of how we're going to do today to try and make it uh so we knew what we're getting into before we got to the table we then
posted all of the packets for the finalists online and encouraged the public to to provide any feedback that they wished and plenty of feedback was received so we do appreciate the engagement um in this and and every
candidate received support and uh it again goes to the quality of the candidate Port when we uh went through the rule process if you didn't watch the meeting we chose there will be five minutes for each candidate to speak there will be that you do not have to
use the five minutes it will not be seen negatively few or less um but we did have five minutes for the candidates to speak the board will we uh asked to only ask clarifying questions um and the responses will be limited to one minute
there will be as soon as we're done with that there will be we'll move straight to voting uh you will we will be voting for the top up to the top three candidates the F the first uh Place vote will get three points from that uh
trustee second place two third place one you cannot vote for a person more than once however you do not have to vote for more than one candidate so you can vote for one two or three candidates um if there is a two-way tie we will just vote for the candidate we
support um if there is a three-way tie we will vote again with just the three board members rather than the four if there is a fourway TI we haven't discuss that we will deal with it then um the uh
the appointed candidate will be invited to sit um at the table uh there will not be a voting member because they do have to take a oath of office that will not be performed until after the meeting um so that I believe is the clarification of everything discussed up until this
point um if there's no clarifying questions on the process then we can just move to the first statement which is [Music] Jessica good evening thank you very much
for the honor of being a finalist for the Board of Education um I'm honored by this sport tonight I try to not uh tear up hearing all that and to be one of the among of these four finalists it is really wonderful to see how much care um
we have for our school Community we all want as best for our students and it makes me very proud to be a teaps parent and that pride and desire for working towards what is best for each child to reach their individual level of achievement is a core reason why I would
be honored to serve on the board of education as has been stated I am the parent of three young kids all of whom are within the TCAP system and we are at the very beginning stages of their education we will be within the TCAP system for the next 11 to 13 years and
for this reason I am deeply invested in what happens now within the school system as it will directly impact my family for the next decade or more and I'm not only invested in the success of teaps but I am an asset to the board of
education's ability to fulfill its responsibility to support Dr Van Wagner and the tcaps community I recognize that public education is immensely complicated and that the decisions Weighing on the district are heavy and layered I recognize that the district
feels the impact of budget constraints all while trying to build an equitable mission-based budget that balances the need of our very economically diverse student body but as you see from my experience and from the kind words that were spoken today I do not shy away from
the hard things I do not shy away from weighing into the tension through compassion with the goal to work towards the best uh result the best situation given the current circumstances I bring a fresh perspective to this board but one that
is rooted in experience as an attorney I am experienced in finding Solutions in complex and layered situations I am experienced in reviewing regulatory policy to apply to help my clients come into um into compliance with state and
federal laws I actually enjoy policy sign me up for that stuff because of this experience when I see a complex problem my thought process goes to the larger strategic question I don't get stuck in the weeds because yes we have
to solve the problems that come across our desks but we must be focused on the larger Strategic Mission in addition my experience on the city of Trevor City's Human Rights Commission particularly while I served as the chair on that commission as is valuable to the board
because I am experienced in running a public board cooperating with staff and recognizing the responsibilities and the limits of serving on a board within the public sector I am experienced in bringing Divergent views together to build a cohesive Strategic Mission my
role as a lead Community organizer for the interfaith organization salt which has been mentioned multiple times today has allowed me to build deep CommunityWide relationships that have helped us further our mission to make this community a place where everybody can Thrive the relationships are
valuable to me serving on the board of education as we continue to consider what's best for our teaps community including teachers and staff and including our students and programs like the student support network I thrive in a place we building
relationships listening and advocating for what is best for our neighbors is the focus I lead through intentional relationship equity and the results are clear as salt has made massive strides to building a more Equitable community
and empowering leaders as we go as a tcaps board of education trustee this is what you can expect from me you can expect me to lead through relationship you can expect me to lean into the difficult conversations and not shying away from the tension all with the goal
of supporting our superintendent and setting policy that helps our students Thrive I will work hard I will act with humility and compassion I will listen with a goal to understand and I will keep my focus and working with all of you collaboratively so that we can
fulfill T's mission to support every student on their academic journey I thank you very much for your service to our community and I hope for the honor to serve alongside you thank you thank you um I believe we do if
there's any clarifying questions we do if I can today before we move on it's probably the easiest way um so is there any clarifying questions from board member and just to be clear when we laid this out to board members um there was an expectation of not needing to ask questions so if you do not get any questions please do not see that as a
negative um it was just purely the way we're trying to make sure that if there's anything that's key clarifying that we could ask that so is there any yep hi Jessica thank you for um speaking and applying um just a just a
couple quick questions have you um ever had a chance to review our budget I have yes okay and uh one of the things that we're faced with as board members is the possibility of having um a much lower budget you know in given years and not
being able to provide um in that kind of situation um what what kind of viewpoint or strategy would you see using um for that yeah thank you trusty bird yes the um theque context of this
District um with the geographical scope and as I said with the economically diverse student body that we have um the constraints of State funding I hear I also I also reviewed the um study session from October to really understand what you all are facing um
and my goal and what I would think is that as we set into strategic planning that we want to continue to allocate the resources that we have available to us to meet our strategic plan and then also my role as an advocate and my experience as an advocate would help to advocate
for more funding like CommunityWide funding support this uh the student support network like I mentioned before um advocating even at the state level um so I believe that there's an opportunity for us to support both from a strategic standpoint and setting policy to really focus on those strategic um goals that
this this board's going to set within the next few months um and also advocating as much as possible for more funding um so that our students can thrive thank you I did for uh forget to say that we were limiting responses to one minute but you nailed it
anyways thank you for that um any other clarifying questions I just wanted to ask about the time commitment we had a question about that um to all candidates and I I did see your response uh and I wondered if
it if it exceeds um 15 to 20 hours per month how would you handle that I believe and also my answer I said that um I recognize that there's times where it will exceed that so I would absolutely be able to handle that um if I am appointed to this board this is
going to be a main my main priority um I can balance the work that I do with so along with the responsibilities of this board um and I would put um my full heart into it um and and balance that and um get a lot of support for child
care so thank you for the question I appreciate it any other clarifying questions thank you thank you um the next candidate is uh Scott Heidi um I put together some remarks I
don't think it would take five minutes to do this but let me before I get into the remarks let me state that my name is Scott Hardy long resident of Travis City um I went through the entire kecap system as did my wife I have four grandkids at Westwood's Elementary I
have daughter who's a teacher at Westwoods Elementary and we talk elementary school a lot because of the frustrations and also the exemplary performance of my grandkids so I'd like to talk them here at the meeting first and foremost let me thank
the teaps board and administration for all you do the students and parents in this area uh public education is really at the heart of any successful Community we have a school system here we could be proud of as to this appointment this is a
2-year replacement term which is completely unlike endorsing a prospective new board member for a full four-year term we're about to embark on what may become a very volatile time for public education and that new board member is going to need to be up to speed
immediately this could all happen quickly and will require a collaborative informed response from all of our TS board members federal government is about to is going to force the state and intern tabs to possibly deal with the reduction
in the general fund revenues that you all have I was on the board previously when a very hard financial choices were presented to the board and we had to make some difficult decisions for example closing and selling Old Mission School was presented
to the entire board board is one of several difficult choices while I was on the finance committee chair of the finance committee do we continue to spend well over $1 million a year to support around 160 students on Old
Mission Peninsula or to re to redirect that $1 million plus into curriculum and instruction for the other 9,000 students we were teaching at the time um additionally we can actualize
another 1.2 million from the sale of that property that we could reinvest in those same classrooms the entire board based partly on recommendations from our financial team chose to sell it was a very tough choice and a choice that this board may
also face in a different fashion in the very near future I strongly believe that most of the Improvement we need to see in student performance will start with classroom teachers and their administrators whether it's test score behavioral issues student apathy or even
cell phones we need to involve those who are being asked to implement those policies what and what they think will work as board members it's not our role to involve ourselves in that process but we can ask our loan direct report the
superintendent to encourage Dan and Jesse to make sure we have regularly asked classroom teachers for their opinion lastly let me say thank you to the other candidates whove volunteered to serve out this two-year term your
willingness to serve is greatly appreciated as Is your amazing sense of community commitment whomever you chosen I believe they're doing this for the right reason now I'm happy to Feld any questions that you may have at this
point Thank you are there any clarifying questions I just have one question Scott um and I you have served for six years prior and then um didn't choose to run again and why
now I have a really strong commitment to public education and you're about to embark on a very critical two-year period that's going to need all hands on deck and I was asked by a couple of people if I would throw my hat in the
ring on this and I agreed to do that because again of my belief in public education and also because I have a vested stake in this I have four grandchildren and a daughter and a cousin who are all involved in the tecap system and it makes our community better
if you prosper so it's public commitment it's public service it's what I've done all my life and it's what I want to continue to do thank you any other CLS um yeah actually I have a similar
question um a related question in that that would be would you be willing to run and campaign in 2026 if you were elected for a another ter I've done it twice before I won't State unequivocally
that I would run again for a fouryear term but it's certainly in my blood to do so and I guess it depends on how successful I am in helping the tabs board coales around some of the problems you've got and what's outstanding going forward so yes with the qualifier also I
need to ask my wife always the most important thing okay any other questions thank [Music] you um the next candidate is Becky
lint good evening everyone um I have no volume sorry uh my name is Becky lent I am honored to be here was very excited when I found the posting on the website and I'm just excited about the
opportunity to be a bigger part of teaps and travor city um couple of things my family moved here not quite three years ago from Arizona so I am new to Traverse City in that regard um we were in
Arizona for 45 years not quite a native though um but in my time in Arizona I was a teacher so I was a school teacher for 26 years there um retired from teaching in Arizona taught second grade
fifth grade sixth grade seventh grade eighth grade math English Science High School English High School Cambridge program English high school algebra and then summer school for a couple of different different things um as well as a gifted education program
that was multi-grade third fourth fifth and sixth grade students all in the same claster so when you ask about expertise or knowledge in the areas of curriculum planning budgeting working as a team um
being an advocate for students for children for parents for families I've been doing that for a really long time and I absolutely love it um when our family came here I was able
to then like I said retire from teaching my husband was also a school teacher and he got a position at TC West Senior High teaching American Sign Language the West Senior High School
family just completely embraced our family and I cannot thank them enough his time there was shortened unfortunately by a diagnosis of pancreatic cancer and that is where that West
Family really came into play for us I have never seen the response and the outpouring of support so that speaks directly to you as a board of education the things you provide for your administrative teams at the different
schools as well as the support you give for the teaching staff the support staff on campus um they really stepped up for us as a result of that I went back into the school and took on a position at
West Senior doing um they called it school safety liaison it's a very politically correct and fancy way to say cus security so as a retired teacher um I was in a position to then build relationships with students with an
entirely different goal in mind to support their mental health their emotional health and their mental health and emotional safety um outside of that role in teaps I have had leadership roles when I
was in education um member facilitator sponsor founder of academic committees curriculum committees um I founded a grant writing committee at two different schools so when you talk about budgeting and finance not only am I amazing with
mathematics but I also have a strong sense of organization and um the capacity to really come up with creative ways to find avenues for funding that may or may not have been previously considered um I've had different
business Partnerships in my time um with the Society of Automotive Engineers they've now gone International The National Society of black Engineers the um Arizona Coyotes and the Arizona Diamondbacks as far as Sports programs
and academics back in Arizona um Community groups I've been involved in Special Olympics in Arizona I was also um a parent advocate for students and well for young adults and adults
with disabilities um I volunteered at a program called One Step Beyond which is for adults with disabilities and how they fit into and what has their role become as a community so again that access to
diversity I have been living my entire life and my entire career um I also am a parent of two adult boys one of them stayed in Arizona when we moved he does not like the cold or the snow or the rain we have a lot of that here I have
found but our younger son is here with me he is an adult with disabilities and so we have already in Michigan and here in Travers City gotten involved Miss time is up okay thanks oh wa oh wait we do have
could be I would say we do have there could be clarifying questions somebody asked me about my Michigan stuff I'm just kidding sorry you good um any clarifying questions I'm just going to ask about the the time commitment again um if it
exceeds your expectation of 12 to 20 hours per month how would you handle that so I actually just recently um left my position at West senior high school so I am now a stay-at-home mom so I have
time to invest in teaps and the community for as much as you need I'm still going to the robotics event this weekend and the Sunday to the musical at West so yeah I'm very invested in the community so those hours
would not be an issue I would say I just have a quick um question and um thank you for putting your name in um so I know you just moved here three years ago and just trying to understand a little bit I think a strength of a board member is the
connection you know to our community and so um outside of that West Senior High uh connection what are some other areas that you are connected to the to our community you are wonderful that's where I was going when we were in that time um
we have already so um my husband and I and then my son and I now we have become active with the um northern Lakes Community Mental Health programs and services here um we've been I've been a
parent advocate for other families that we've met I already am a volunteer with um Special Olympics of Michigan area 2 um I've also I am currently an advocate for a wonderful lady um with
the northern Michigan disability Network she's deaf um also fluent conversationally in Spanish and in American Sign Language so I've done some things there with the disability network with her in the courts in the last six
months um and I also brought in a couple of teachers from Arizona to move here to Michigan and helped them and supported them to complete the process through the Department of Education and then the last one mdhhs Michigan Department of Health and
Human Services I have to remember all those um working with them and again working as an advocate to support their programs and things they have available thank you all right any other clarifying
questions thank you thank you thank you and then the final candidate is uh Peter money hi uh first of all thank you for the consideration and uh picking me to be one of the top four obviously these other candidates and other people were
pretty fantastic too and you all have mention that um so you know we submitted all the information uh you guys have read a lot about that uh you know and understand what I do for a living one of the things that you I wanted to just share with you is part of the reasons as
to why um so operations manager for McDonald's and one of the things that I absolutely love about my role my position is the opportunity that I'm able to give people that don't know or see or understand that they have it within the McDonald's system uh the way
it's set up is that you don't need education degree and those type of things to be successful within McDonald's um very diverse owner operator through from the bottom to top and most people that are owner operators today are
don't have the education excuse me Beyond High School um and so the opportunity that we're able to give and pull out of people to their fullest is just amazing and it's one of the things why I love what I'm able to do I also uh coach youth wrestling I'm a
volunteer coach for youth wrestling program on in Trevor City here and another thing that I try to do through that is uh get the kids to understand their fullest opportunity that they have and wrestling
is what they say is 90% mental 10% physical so in the youth and the younger kids it's really about emotional IQ we really trying to get them to understand their body physically mentally uh and it is such a reward as you go through the
season and you see these kids and what they're learning and they're able to do and push themselves harder and it really it transpires to other different aspects life um so something that I'm very passionate about
um my position is also allowed me to really be in the public eye and see all different types of walks of life of life and dealing with owner operators um to you know improve people to a customer clientele base uh and just having an
understanding an approach of empathy and being able to understand people's harder and what where they're spending it and why and things like that so it's been a learning curve especially as I was younger um coming out of college but it's taught me a lot of things through
the process so it's been enjoyable and I like being there so um then uh approach one of the approaches with McDonald's what they talk about is that you begin with the end in mind uh and it's part of how we
train our managers so people that want to step up and do some type of management role and continue continue so beginning with the end in mind trying to set up uh this here to be speaking in front of you guys um I guess my Approach was a little different and so I decided
to ask my seven-year-old son uh you know humbly why do you think I should be on the board what I should tell them something about me um and uh his name is Finnigan but uh story that I always told him is started wrestling when I was a
kid and when I was 6 year old I didn't win a match I didn't not only win a match I got pinned in the first period every single time for the whole entire season smile on my face uh my dad always says you want to do it again next year heck yeah um so last year was my oldest
son's First full year of wrestling and he we tell that story because he had a lot of success last year um he likes to remind me of that sometimes that you know dad remember your first year this year was a little different uh he had a different experience he's a bigger kid
uh and he's wrestling older kids most often and so we talk about is work ethic and what he said to me is I think you should also tell them that just like when you were a kid you were very good you weren't very good as a wrestler and you stuck with it and your first year
you didn't win a match you got pinned and then you never gave up for the rest of your school years and you got better same with being a wrestling coach that you were a kid just like when you were a kid you keep coaching and now you're a really good wrestling coach want I emphasize about this is work ethic uh I
would say you know in general obviously I don't have the resume that others do people are here that you guys selected into the top four uh but I would approach it the same way as I do in life is with my work ethic and I will give it everything that I have and that I can
um and that's just how I am so I appreciate uh thank you for again the opportunity to be here uh even if I'm not selected I've learned a lot through the process um if I want to do this later in the years then I understand what what things I have to do more to
set myself apart so I appreciate it thank you thank you any clarifying questions you said you had experience um up another way see that um the one of the things you do is you
project for each of the McDonald's that what is it 16 different franchises you project what their budgets are going to be and then you analyze them uh in the next month so you
actually can see how you're meeting targets that kind of thing really interests me because I think sometimes we plan things but we have a little bit more difficult ulty assessing how that
money what the bang for the buck was and so um that would be a whole different concept I think for us to consider in
finance I don't know if that business model can translate to an educational model with public monies um but that would be something I I'm wondering if that was something you would think of as
well I mean again it's about setting targets and how do we get there so again like I mentioned to begin with the end of mind right so like the end of mind so how can we pick some of these numbers um and sometimes you know it's projection but it's obviously a lot of history
education research understanding um so I think the philosophy could be applied uh you could keep trying you know you're going to fail try again um so maybe you start small small budget something and try to implement it and then if you see success then you can continue on with
the philosophy to bigger uh budgets I guess thank you any other clarifying questions I would just ask um if you were selected would you be
willing to run a campaign and run for reelection run for election in 2026 yeah that would be the ultimate goal um I know as some people mentioned that I know there's a lot of decisions a lot of important things happening over
the next two years um but I'm invested I have a first grader and a pre kindergartener um I'm here uh my wife and I someday thought we would retire up here um we had the opportunity to move up here and actually raise our family so
uh we have a very exciting story during Co not everyone does but uh so yeah I'm invested here uh we're here forever and uh yeah I would I would definitely do it um as long as I feel like I can do what
I need to do um again with my work ethic I feel like I can but uh I also can recognize and acknowledge if it's not something I'm able to do Beyond then I wouldn't do it so most likely yes
what are you what kind of hours do you put in as a operating manager at MD like per week you want like BK yeah like are you doing to you know 60 hours a week yeah I it's I have a
flexible work schedule I have a really strong team um so you over see 16 restaurants although I have five supervisors and then there's general managers uh so a lot of times it's I do do work busy work behind my computer so
I'll be at a work office in my house um obviously I go out and have meetings in a lot of restaurants too but I it's not I put on a lot more time earlier in my career so that I could get to a point where I have more time to do things like this that I'm passionate about that I
want to do uh so I'm in a position where I think I have time to commit to which is why I'm doing this now is that I didn't give you a definite number answer kind no I don't do 60 uh probably more
like 40 45 okay thank you any other questions I just wanted to clarify that since I asked two candidates the same question and the other two candidates a different question but the same to each other um it was only because we were limited to one question each and I based it on what
was in the paperwork just wanted to clarify that yep um Perfect all right and then so I think without any other questions then that um ends the process of uh interviews um we do thank youor thank we
uh we do have um a five minute recess um mainly this was added there was a discussion of whether people who were uh nominate or are up for the appointment would want to be here um so we did offer a five minute recess um if they wanted
to leave if they wanted to get closer to home that's fine too I also do need to clarify one legal um reporting of of how I do something so I so we will have a 5 minute recess we will
return in 5 minutes which is uh 7:29 e e e e e e e e
e e without objection we will end recess um so I have provided everyone with uh sheets um all you have to do is actually just fill in your line um allocating
again you do not have to vote for you cannot vote for more than one person once you do not have to vote for uh three people it's one two or three um please allocate three three points for your first choice two points for your second one point for your third we will
then uh I will gather the sheets I'm going to do mine first I'm going to hand it to T so there's no um change and then um part of why we're doing it this way just for clarity is I I think we it was a strong belief that it's it's un less
bias if everyone votes independently rather than wait for one person who could set a tone so we're doing a vote after we do that a officially we will have a motion and a roll call vote to elect that member so that's the process I'm going to turn mine into tamming um I
will tab eight I'll turn everything in Tammy after that quick question you on our name line is that we we fill it out on our name line is that correct yep fill it out on your name line okay thank you and do we hand them to you Scott or
hand them to me and then no I'll Tate and then Tammy will double check that way we'll go to twostep process to speed this up I probably should have gone sat next to Tammy that one the P ni
waiting for me no Virg vir okay so the numbers did match the the tally sheets of of public information but we again we did this to avoid any bias and the votes were as follows
Jessica eight votes Scott 11 votes Becky one vote Peter six votes so with that the person who receive the most votes was Scott Hardy um and again for the formal process it it is required that we do have a motion to do it so if I can
get a motion I move that the Board of Education approve Scott Hardy as our interim board member yep second second um Tammy please conduct a roll call vote
um truste Moore yes trusty bird yes truste Ballinger yes truste Pac yes trustee Schmidt yes and trustee Newman B yes motion carries um I do appreciate again I know this process was hard
um and I really do encourage everyone to stay engaged in act you we do have elections coming up there may be more vacancies um and I really do encourage uh active participation because I believe that every situation will be different for who will get elected so I
do appreciate it um we would invite uh Scott Hardy to join join us at the table he is not a voting member again he has not taken the oath of office yet and we'll do so at a later time um if you wish to choose so
you do not have to uh uh you can choose either side but it's your first test thank you so much again to all everyone that applied please or thank you thank you yeah stay involved we'd love to see
you down the road thank you by the way I'm honored yeah thank you always one of the probably most awkward parts of this uh especially when you get great candidates like that so great cand um so
moving on uh to superintendent report deferring to Dr Van Wagner okay so I'd love to make this short but it's not going to happen so um let me give you uh um a
couple things that I need to get the board some feedback on um that I can kind of make maybe simple so the first is is we're obligated we received an offer for a piece of property just very recently um and we have a little bit of
time um so it was an non-solicited offer uh just came in um for the piece of property um that is uh um I believe at this point it is so it's section and12
of Southeast Court 80 acres uh section five Grant Travers County I believe this is the the Potter Road the property yes um and so it's an unsolicited offer for $167,000 just dropped in the mail we've
tried to respond with no response back um you know I I uh I when we had have an unsolicited I have the ability to just not do that but I still feel an obligation a little bit to notify the board that I have that you know all the discussions we've had so far is that we
weren't entertaining that you know that that property for sale but I I just want to make sure that everybody at this point is good with the the response was by Friday April 18th should remain open um but my intention was you know hey we
can't even respond can't get people to answer so either I'll be able to and deny or it'll expire on April 18th but if you're okay I I just didn't was planning on not putting it on the board agenda um and moving forward unless there's any issue with
it okay the second one's a little bit more complicated uh the board you may remember we entered into a uh lawsuit on insulin and the board was a little apprehensive but did it well we've run
into some real issues with the data that the the legal team has required us to provide and we're not getting a lot of information from our insurance company directly rela there's an issue where there's a disagreement whether it's a
self it's a self paid option or if it's a directly only the insurance carriers um uh job and so we we've had to kind of been told to guess at some stuff and numbers and we've had staff I think at
this point that are not feeling comfortable putting their name on some affidavits that signed that this is factual information for sure and and there's a lot of we don't have this information paragraphs were we putting in putting in and putting in I am now
finally at the point where um I think it's best to stop it's just it's it's absorbing a lot of Staff time and again I have people saying I I really don't feel comfortable putting my name on it I don't either from that standpoint I'm depending on staff so at this point I
know that if we do not provide more information trun has uh told me that um there will be judgment um of dismissal on our um suit specifically with it but with cons considering how much work this is in the other ones where we've not
really gotten a lot of money the part of the factual data I'm I'm I want to let you know my plan is to stop and not provide any more information and I just want to gauge the boards if there's any issue that you have with us doing that at this point how how many funds have we
expended on you know no money that we've expended but time a lot of our time you know I've had to go back and forth with trun multiple times you know they've given us a little paragraph to put in that you know we do not have this information at this time we've had to put it in multiple spots and it still
isn't satisfying the the ultimate fron Law Group um and I just have staffed at this point that are a little bit like John I don't know what to do so um I just I don't feel good about it and I just uh just would like you know to have the affirmation of the board that if I
stop at this point and let true know that we're not moving further um I I don't know if you know and and kind I might just asked your just thought so do we need an action of the board to end that you know do I just let it go did
the board approve for us to go into the then I would suggest you have a motion to withdraw so that's not withdraw withdraw but to failure to yeah right and that was kind of my point he's indicated they're they're asking for questions about a self-funded plan our
plan is saying we're not self-funded therefore we're not going to provide you this information because we're not selfed funed and I tend to agree with our plan we're not self-funded so it there's a question of applicability to us anyway so instead we're just filling out this whole sheet that says we don't have this information we don't have this
information because technically you're supposed to get it from your self-funded carrier so it at this juncture I would just suggest that there be a motion that the district not provide any additional information and if that results in a dismissal I think I I would maybe
recommend withdrawing rather than getting a dismissal because you can do withdraw without prejudice and so if you ever wanted to bring the suit later we could okay so so my thought is we could either do one or two things we could add it to the discussion I to do that take a super majority we could add it onto the
study session if it's just too long and we don't want to do that tonight from that standpoint I just wanted a little bit of direction I didn't put it on there because we just got notified of this yesterday and I just and I just wanted to you know the board said nope keep going but it just kept going and
didn't really you know if if if the board's willing and and it sounds like we are no one has any issues with this we might as well just deal with it tonight and um after your superintendent report we can just make that as a as an item to the agenda which
would take a super majority okay I appreciate that thank you with those and so now on to better and really better um so uh from a legislative standpoint um some interesting things have transpired uh we obviously the governor's budget
from that standpoint um we're getting some conversations with uh legislators uh in Lancing had the chance to have a call uh with Tim Kelly who's the chair of the house uh um education Appropriations um and the one one
conversation we were able to have that he showed some verbal support for was the transportation categorical so the governor put it in and now house Republican is telling me he has some real thoughts that he like that and some support so I think of all of our kind of
bulleted things that's another one that kind of I think is a good thing that we have from that standpoint um now what in in interestingly happened is that kind of very quietly the House Republicans passed a bill um that essentially funds
school aid at $10,250 per student um but that's all they funded they didn't fund any categoricals anything from that standpoint and it's a little bit bit we think of a political move to be able to show that they don't want to shut
government down and maybe just maybe it kind of sends that the speaker acknowledges that we should get a school budget done by July 4th that could be the good news that comes out of it otherwise it's created a it's supposed to be a safety net they can't come to an agreement they could pass that bill and
at least get basic services I don't think it'll come down to that in any way I think it was more of a political message but $5 more than the governor on the foundation I was like good message you know and then second that recognizing that it'd be good to have a
budget by July 4 for schools would be a good thing other than that it really didn't mean anything so just if you hear that and I know some board members have I just wanted to give Clarity I did have the chance to talk to John Roth this morning um pretty much acknowledge just that and so uh so that's where we're at
from a legislative standpoint I'm continuing to try and set up meetings I have the chance to Friday a part of the government Relations Committee with Trevor connect talk to Jen flood the governor's uh budget director I did bring up our 31a issue with the forms um
and we have solid data showing of our like Partners In the state having the same issue um so I did that I also have the chance to meet with Senator caleri's Chief of Staff who is the Senate education Appropriations chair so um making some ground on that talking talk
to MD as legislative Le is on today as well so really trying to hit that that as you know right now we're projecting a million dollar loss because of those forms we are trying to get a hold harmless Clause put in and so working hard on that gonna have to set another meeting up with Tim Kelly on the house
side to try and have that conversation but I'm trying to all of the entities involved raise the red flag I don't know that many have but I think they recognize now that it's a problem uh I don't know have an idea how to fix it but you know that the the very kids that you're you know that the need at the
most of the free and free breakfast and lunch that's been done are now going to be penalized because more kids have gotten it which is a great thing but that money to be penalized for those kids that really need those services so going to work hard to try and keep advocating for that of those items that
we've identified and and try and make that happen and I have a question on that has Masa or masb done anything on that front not really they I don't think that I think I'm one of the first to kind of bring it to the Forefront because we've identified had the letter and that and I think they're all sitting going oh yeah we' thought that could
possibly be well we have some data that show it shows it is for kind of the first time so I think that um they'll rally you know continue um but we're definitely going to have to continue to lead that charge because there are some districts because of their status of as a c building that they only have to
certify every five years so it doesn't impact them as much where because we only have two and not our entire District then we have to Advocate and we have to CER every year so it's not everybody in the states being affected by this but there's a core group of us
that definitely are yeah and that $1 million reduction you're projecting for next year 25 26 correct yeah okay corre so we were held harmless this year this year but MDA has sent us a letter saying they are no longer going to do that and
so that's what we're trying to see if there's a way even if it was 95% of our previous year's allocation and work even triple our efforts on forms you know if we can just get some kind of stop Gap measure to not seriously hurt our you
know atrisk funding for kids you know those supports the most um advocating hard for that okay nothing I was trying to think of how much money we lose is the most budget for free lunches out of our budget than is well yeah I mean it's
it's hard you know from that standpoint so um and you had also talked about the administration with board input was is going to try to come up with some new creative ways to get parents to fill up those forms where's that you know we've talked a lot and try and talk to counterparts um you know I I'll be
honest with you I think that we've just got to try and find every way to have our staff in front of parents um I had the chance uh Dan and I to meet with all of our PTO presidents last week um and great meeting and talking about what role our PTO can have you know you have
to be very careful because federal laws you can't put incentives you can't do a pizza party you can't you know do anything you could do something though just naturally you know who who got the most forms you know turned in and and you know to try and do that just for a contest of with no you know we we're
going to we're looking all those ideas that we can do in staff and every you know uh parent teacher conference and back to school and how can we make sure we have Chromebooks there with a fillable form those kind of things those are the those are the things we're thinking about of really just trying to
get our staff in front of it you know it also actually affects our federal funding as well of title one because it goes off that so we're looking at a $275,000 reduction I believe right down 275 you know in Title One funds yeah you know from that standpoint so it's of
utmost importance I met with chander today you know talking about it from the EA about just even their help and and all that so we're going to put an allout effort next year you know with that um but there are law limits from the federal government you know like that un
honestly there's some Shady things a little bit that are being done out there of I know you know one said well we just put a range on the form of salaries and can't do that you know and so we want to make sure we stay within the legal bounds but we are going to put every bit forth in that as well um but also seeing
if we can get something to keep us from getting hit so hard this year okay so that's it on the legislative front um District highlights uh uh lots of great things going on um I'll start it off with uh this week uh
we have a robotics tournament uh at Central High School um both the Titans and the the Trojans uh um are will be there from from uh the robotics teams and um they they're practicing I just
got a picture a minute ago of both teams together at the TC high Innovation manufacturing center with the field all out and I was able to share a picture of the field out this morning uh with the board and so excited uh FR Saturday and uh um you know we'll we'll have the the
robotics tournament Regional at Central High School we alternate it each year between Central and West so excited for uh the Titans and the Raptors actually of TC Central um to be able to go at that so uh I would encourage you did Josie and I talked a little earlier we
we we'll see invite the board and maybe a walk around to be able to see the teams and just kind of a little bit of tour of the pits and all that so I'll get something out midweek here of uh you no time and stuff like that if you have an interest um and just really really excited to be able to to have that here
right in our own backyard and and uh have our kids be able to to participate in that random question will they be able to expand into the manufacturing centers not yet not not this year yes they will they'll be able to use it actually so one of the nice thing is when there are
a few schools that have something similar is when something breaks something like that they may be able to 3D print apart or or you know uh use you know a saw whatever that is normally what you do is you have somebody that's there a volunteer adult that works with the kids and has that and so you can
have that complete facility open as a repair shop and Manufacturing shop and those things for those kids that need it for maybe when their robot broke down to be able to do that so while we're not able to do it this year with it we'll definitely be able to do it West next year so so some things uh with Athletics uh
our Central High School girls elpine ski are the division on state champs uh excited for them and and uh the great great success that they had our Central High School girls basketball team are big Conference champions and District Champions and still going hey West got
second in Alpine Ski I'm not there yet I'm not there yet hold on hold on mom hold on mom I've got you I'm just doing those many hours I SP okay got girls basketball one tonight too yeah EG girls basketball one tonight Central High
School okay so there we go go bres off good team all right um and then Central High School State qualifiers um Carter Bon for bowling um Michael rer wrestling and Grady Rous wrestling and then West High School girls and boys downhill ski
teams both finished as state Runners up in division one um but the Vasa Ski Club boys won the state championship and uh I believe that's both as kids from both schools correct the Vasa um I think there's a West and a central oh together
okay yep that's I thought and uh so they won the state championship including second place finish for West High School student Liam we uh Matthew Quigley finished third in the state in the mhsa wrestling state finals at Ford Field so lots of great things going on with uh
finishing up the winter sports and spring Sports started today and so uh so that was fun to see the kids out on the fields and being utilized already and and uh and just again excited to have have all that going on um also some
other things our Central grade visioning has started uh Team approximately 25 individuals which includes uh Beth and Josie um have been a part of that group the team includes principals teachers um at Central grade rtca president the administrative assistant at Central
grade Dan is also a part of the the group several Central Central neighborhood members uh Central great parents the city of Trevor City members of our sustainability committee current high school students who attended Central grade tcaps Administration um as
well a team of Architects and construction management employees have led the group through high level Concepts to determine high level priorities which will be presented to the board at the April 14th 25 meeting so exciting on where that's going and we'll be excited to show you kind of all
the conversations and everything they've had and start to look at what some pictures will be um at Blair Elementary our reading month celebrations are in full swing and staff is incorporating things we've are learning through the science of reading some fun things are being are also going on including
Blair's favorite book we are doing a March Madness style bracket where classrooms and staff are voting daily to determine Blair's favorite book and our second grade class is gathered uh today for Coco and reading time uh with both a read aloud book and Silent reading
time um we have uh reading night March 18th the theme is bedtime stories and an tisdel and mighty Miss May are coming to read to the school and preparation for the event we've identified three vocab words from the story that our students may not know each word has been assigned a week to be the secret word the goal is
for the students to hear the word so often from all of them that they are able to guess the secret word by week Friday of the week by Friday and also Define the use correctly um TC West Senior uh Kira Adams was name an NHS scholarship
National semi-finalist um academic weapons from TC West TC Stewart try store uh Dylan G gigowski did I say that right Jo yeah thank you uh Ryan goodd and Tucker Binger uh from West High are your 2025
Regional academic world quest Champs uh they'll be heading to Washington DC to represent Michigan it's a great experience my own daughter had the chance to do that and just an awesome experience for those kids to be able to go do uh West Middle School PE teacher Eric Quin in the tcaps academic
Excellence endowment helped make p even more fun at West Middle School with the purchase of the the nine square uh in the air grant so they were able to get a grant and have an awesome uh nine square so you might remember Four Square well now they've made it nine square and so appreciate uh the grant that they
received tabs monor is celebrated Black History Month students at teaps monu celebrated Black History Month by hanging an interactive version of respect ARA Franklin the Queen of Soul by Carol Boston Weatherford along the fence on the school playground and for the public along the Buffalo Trail come
by and share a story with your children many thanks to Mrs Tiner librarian for sparking the idea and to our student leadership for getting the work done Cate Elementary successful will attend a title one event on February 27th was a bedtime story night theme where books
received a uh students received a voucher to pick out a free book from the brilliant books book fair visited six different story and activity stations and enjoyed Refreshments the stations included a shadow puppet show a green screen Imagination Station glow stories
uh reading with Cor therap dog grease uh a mascot reading with Monty from the pit spitters uh Troi from Central High and corage very own cougar vendors included the uh tattle Farm to school and Dolly paron imagine
Library so a lot of great things that are not all of them but a great section across the District of great things that are going on with kids um and uh just uh excited um the musical is going on at West High School I've heard phenomenal
things um I know a few have had the chance to go I'm headed there this weekend I had the chance to see minda uh today called everybody you know Joseph and amazing Technic Y and uh just yeah I've heard as always it's phenomenal but so good like I've heard even extra this
year um so just excited uh those kids do an amazing job our staff like I said minda came in today and she didn't know exactly what day it was she but uh they do a phenomenal job and just appreciate that and uh if you get the chance and
you would just want to see our kids just in an awesome light um in our our arts program um please take the opportunity to go see it so that's what I have for you tonight so good yeah right good Stu thank Youk
you um before we move on to the next or next item which is Bard committee reports um can we I guess first we have to have a a motion to add to the agenda which would become
item 10h the discussion that we had with to withdraw our complaint for the insulin pricing litigation y so we would need to amend the agenda um to add that
discussion item um which would again require a super majority so I don't know if anyone can I make a motion to add to the discussion um in insulin pricing litigation case um
we can discuss further Last Action on as we move forward second second all right um we do require roll call vote on that one so please Atty please conduct a roll call vote trusty bird yes trusty Moon
more yes trustee Ballinger yes trustee pack yes truste yes and trusty nman B yes with unanimous Pro one a super majority that is added to the agenda and we'll get to that at 108 um so moving on with the uh agenda
next up or committee reports first up curriculum committee I'm pooting up my trusty Baler okay well we met uh February 25th myself trust trustees bird and pack and um we had one public
commoner which was an unusual and very welcome um element um by Diane Arnold about the uh school calendar that was proposed at that time we moved on to approved meeting minutes as well as a district course catalog um additions
which are in consent tonight we also got a very thorough presentation on the CK materials purchase which is uh was also given at the finance committee and it's also in discussion tonight so um for further details I highly recommend
looking at watching the curriculum committee recording that's available on our website and then we moved into looking at um the standardized data for winter test scores nwea for grades K through five both Ela
and math as well as uh middle schools grades 6 through eight Ela and math and also the PSAT for n9th and 10th graders um we briefly touched on uh the input for Meaningful student achievement outcomes we had a good preliminary
discussion to try to tee up our study session in a few weeks um and you know didn't make any particular recommendation but we did talk about the meaningfulness of trying to set growth targets for all students and then also
continue to look at the disparities between um socioeconomically disadvantage students and others um so looking at at over all growth as well as closing the achievement Gap and then we
also um looked at our school calendar which is on the discussion agenda tonight and last but not least many celebrations and successes as always and our next meeting will be excuse me uh Tuesday April 1st and I
love to say that's no fooling at 815 a.m. maybe not now yeah um okay next uh up is board finance and operations committee reporting up by truste yes so uh our board Finance uh
met Thursday February 27th meeting was called to order at 8:15 there was no public comment we moved into procedural items um the um draft or the meeting minutes from January 30th no changes uh were recommended so they remain as
posted uh we moved into an acceptance Grant um um which is on the discussion portion of the agenda but just wanted to say thank you again to the Grand Travers Band of adawan Chip chipa Indians for the two% grant um we're honored to receive the $225,000 um and again it's
on discussion uh we moved into bids and services uh so the first item is uh uh from curriculum is the ELA uh Elementary adaption the CK again um this is on the discussion um on discussion for tonight
so I'll kind of move through that uh next item was Safety and Security um the district uh is looking to purchase some safety Shades uh this purchase will add safety Shades to all k through eight buildings in Travers City High School as recommended by secure environment
Consultants uh monory and Long Lake already have those security Shades uh so the board Finance is recommending to proceed with the purchase and installation of safety Shades from Busters blind and Window Film through the uh interlocal purchasing system uh
for a total amount not to exceed $5 57,8 se4 which includes a 10% contingency uh this is funded from Capital bonds um uh and this is on the consent agenda tonight um next item is
technology um these are art cameras or cameras for our art Department visual performing and applied Arts uh this is uh for the purchase of digital cameras andess accessories for art at West Middle School Central High School and West Senior High School um there were uh
33 cameras purchased uh or were asking to be purchased through uh Amazon and 43 cameras through um B&H Photo uh the board finance committee recommends to purchase the cameras and accessories for a total amount not to exceed $444,999 per contingency again funded
from Capital bond funds uh and this will be placed uh on is this on our consent yes this is on our consent agenda sorry technology yeah uh next item our student Chromebooks uh this um project is the annual purchase
of Chromebook books and accessories for the incoming sixth through nth grade students and additional Chromebooks for The Compass Learning Center uh the board finance committee recommends uh to purchase Chromebooks the cases and headphones from people driven technology for a total amount not to exceed
$886,000 which includes a 10% contingency again funded from Capital bond funds uh this is also on the consent uh for tonight uh next item network wireless upgrade uh this is for Eastern Elementary and East
Middle School um this project will bring both schools up to our current District district district standards these updates will ensure that teaching and learning experience remains seamless and productive this project is eligible for reimbursement through the E rate um
which is a 60% Grant back uh for reimbursement the board finance committee recommended to uh purchase the network and Wireless upgrades from peop driven technology for a total amount not to exceed $272,100 which includes a 10%
contingency funded from Capital bond funds um this is also on the consent uh calendar uh then we moved into informational items um we had a capital projects update um which uh yeah uh we went through in depth um the
Manu manufacturing and Innovation centers um the West uh senior high fences are down the furniture is in place and we just got an update since our board Finance meeting that kids are in the space uh at West Senior High um also Tech um technology installed TVs um
and robots are being used there um next item was the draft calendar uh which is on the discussion for tonight uh no I'm sorry no we had a discussion on the draft calendar um uh moved on to finance the bond sale update which is on
discussion so I'm not going to go into much detail um and again we had 11 competitive bids lowest bid was Fifth Third uh again thank you to our finance team for keeping um uh with that stable Outlook so uh with a percentage of
3.23% um next item um we went Christine Thomas Hill did a really great review of our budget timeline so I would encourage all Board of AD members to to look at that and watch that um and then we moved into upcoming District purchases lots of
purchases um in because our agenda is so long I'm not going to go into details um but lots of purchases coming up uh for the district um and then just another item that Dr Van Wagner through out is is just to start to think about our district owned buildings and properties
um with recommend that the Board of Education consider our long-term plans during our strategic planning process one of those specifically was um the Oak Park uh property which um Northwest Ed is leasing which their lease ends in 2030 so just want to sort of look to the
Future as to what we're going to do with some of um those properties from a from a longterm Vision um and then we adjourn the meeting at 1011 um our next Board of Finance board Finance meeting is Thursday April 3rd and Scott will be a part of that on our
finance committee TBD TBD Tech TBD technically but prepar herself uh and that's it question I just wanted to clarify one thing at the manufacturing Innovation Center the robotics team is practicing on that
field but the classrooms haven't been moved over there right correct yeah so the plan right now is is we we have temporary occupancy okay so the pitch C you will see few things in the background that are being done so um what the plan is right now is that we
will allow them to be able to practice everything in there they've moved a little bit of their their toolboxes and stuff like that but the plan is is to have the um over spring break that the final floor ceiling will be done and completed at that point got it um and uh
and hopefully um garage door um right therea both schools okay um and then the week after spring break the the equ will be moved in working with the teachers being there they wanted the teachers there um so the week after the new equipment and the equipment that are in
the existing rooms well all right now Elmer's is scheduled to come in and make those moves of all that equipment and set up and so hopefully we'll have that all set up ready to go by the very end of March got it thanks for that clarification I misread the um
photo um and I feel I do feel slided a little bit in the finance committee there with uh you guys questioning whether I was watch G to watch the finance committee just had to acknowledge that I did because it was like if I think like if if president y watches or something I was like geez I'm
watching so I uh I did I did I do watch and then uh I like it was a test to see if I had to say so so a board uh executive committee report out um from
the February 26 7th meeting um obviously procedural items no public comment um we did have a lot of new policies that we talked about that we're still catching up from when we didn't do any policies
while we're updating all of our policies and then we had the joy of uh that we had just modified I believe modified a bunch of policies that then got rescinded so we had to remodify them back to the way they were originally um which is probably going to be the joy of
uh government for the next uh period of time so um so that there is an awful lot of policies on there there's also a lot of policies on there that are very minor um using changing one word just a changeing legal definition so um but
that did that was a significant uh time going through all of those um we talked obviously about the uh upcoming meetings and laying out um with the the additional meeting that we scheduled and appreciate everyone we attending
uh as far as HR updates we are currently at a highing low because of the timing of the year but we are getting projections on staffing needs and obviously uh core uh subject teachers but critical content areas including special education English language World
Language um and aligning with the is is some of the focus areas that we're uh slightly concerned about um we also obviously are always hiring uh bus drivers Food Service workers and a number of other critical uh places but
we did hire a plumber and I take it his on boarded and good to go good to go all right so um moving on to Communications uh uh we have ribbon uh cutting uh on
April 10th 2025 for the uh TC West and uh TC Central High School Innovation and Manufacturing centers uh West High School is at 400 p.m. Central High School at 5:30 uh the sunshine bus uh we it is a
discussion item as well with the reception of a grant so I'll leave that to that discussion item and then the Strategic plan survey update so all of those strategic plan surveys are I believe now out and um we're communicating in a number of different
Avenues to try and get the participation up as much as possible but we do any have a few weeks um can I mention one thing with that been a couple things that I met with Chandon today that some staff were a little worried about with n size that could be identifiable so we we made a
few adjustments that she and I got with the data company today um that just really it it changed from uh the staff from the building they're in to just grade range um so just to protect identities we didn't want anything like that so she and I meant those changes
were made later this afternoon okay um so obviously encouraging everyone in the public this is a critical process for us we do it every three years your participation is listened to um please fill out the surveys and encourage others to do so as well um we did
discuss the draft 2025 2026 school calendar um and obviously we've pretty much covered uh most of that with uh having more early release days less half days so we uh the next committee meeting
is April 3rd at 4 pm and we adjourned at 520 so any questions right sustainability committee reporting out by trusty Bud all right I'm gonna give over the very first part of it to Joseph because
I was 20 minutes late she's gonna report on what she remembered yeah and and just really briefly um the first item on the agenda was looking at Michigan Green Schools certification um so in the state of Michigan I guess they have various
levels of certification and uh West Senior High has had certification it might have lapsed somebody said and TC Central High School definitely has it still so uh just basically the committee talked about we might want all of our
school buildings to apply and get certified um but the deadline for this year is this month and so since that was so near term we basically had a consensus that we would aim for next year and that gives us a lot of lead time to work towards that
goal okay thank you sure and um thanks for alternating on there for me messaging and supports for school was one of the things we talked about um again Green Schools um how do we do that um we also talked about this being
student L um in many ways so we talked about some goals for the the those projects um doing that by starting in elementary schools we talked about a mentor program between old students and younger to encourage and promote green policies and
sustainability um Tom discussed Tom being one of our our staff in the dining Food Service Food Service Food Service discussed a districtwide wellness program at house and schools picked it up and um how that worked so we talked a lot about like Cutlery it
was kind of an interesting conversation and some of the different materials that are used in the cafeterias and how can we move back to some of the things that we used to use that you know you washed it's kind of it's it's pretty simple but
there was a a good discussion about that um we uh talked about just the districtwide sustainability strategy um looked at working on housing near the schools we talked about Blair the housing project um we talked about re-evaluating um once Central grade is
completed um something to re-evaluate on once it's completed as many things change in five years we talked about student engagement um by possible Partnerships with outside organizations um such as for Earth Day and beautification day um Eagle
classroom and and different ways that kids can come to school and take pride in their their school grounds um we talked about waste reduction and composting um Ste student leadership groups needing to like kind of help spearhead this stuff with the composting and the waste reduction we talked about
some different options for that different organizations in town that will come and pick up the compost for free and uh distribute it to the community which is really cool um we talked about uh piloting a program at the tcaps monu for the 25 26 school year
for composting um let's see building operations and efficiency we Al we talked about how lights are in the process of becoming LED faucets are transitioning to low flow and um that solar panels are on hold because of
numbers and funding but we did also discuss having a presentation um by a local organization schools on solar program that can actually get those for us for free so those are some really nice possibilities out in the community
um we talked about the grounds and Landscaping um you know native species versus others and what is worked and what hasn't the trash that sometimes is near them um and some of those dilemmas that we have in in the upkeep and
maintenance of those things so um they talked about partnering with local groups who might like to help with that whether it's the Children's Garden or the Botanical Garden or Master Gardeners clubs um on um let's see we talked about having plots at the Children's Garden
for each school and then we um maybe started trying that out at my Sor first and then we have our our next meeting where we're hoping to talk a little bit more about Gardens and schools the solar project and having a possible
presentation from uh Tim pum from Keem Innovations and that'll be Thursday March 13th at 3M only update I want to give I did talk to Tracy today and um monor applied for Michigan Emerald School in Green School which means that
they've completed 15 to 19 activities um be a part of that so had some good conversations with her some ideas they've got some things going but some that I think you know definitely that as we talked about here that she wants to get started so ground level is that the like the first level no that's the second level they're atol yeah Green
School is first and then then the emeralds next okay with Ever Green the top okay wonderful she said that they were in the process of getting seeds together that I don't think they've actually got the greenhouse fully planted
imped no um not quite yet I think they're still evolving but also um that is in process we and talked about facilities that there was a grant uh for West a Central High School for a new Greenhouse as well so and I was at TC high and they jumped me and they're like
we want one well there's is it Willow hille is where um there was a greenhouse tror Heights well has a hoop well not really house but Trevor that's a green house Hill is it
Hill that's something we're going to continue to work out there's some Grant funds um Dan built a monstrosity one when he was at uh at Westwoods you has a hoop house and solar panels you know in
the hoop house we could live in get all the credit hopefully we so we are trying to standardize size and some of those kind of things forward after that I I went out there you know when I went back and you know it's like a army
tent have to stoop over all the time right so working at it but definitely uh a great thing and and some things we're looking to again maybe standardize and figure out how do we do it at our buildings um any other questions um next up superintendent
Board of Education student VI committee reporting out by trusty Bud yeah that was a as always the student advisory councils are delightful um we had a full house I think probably one of the biggest ones yeah we had a good real good attendance so Jesse was there um I
was there were there and our our truste facilitator and um we talked about graduation and and like gathering information for that graduation process and what works and what doesn't for students um
we they did some reflection on academic integrity and Ai and did some group discussion on that and it you know some of their feedback was really in in alignment with some of the stuff we were talking about here um they talked about how AI isn't going away and and it's
important to to know and use it so you know having guidance on that setting standards for teachers grading um teachers grading with feedback um rather than just AI um um the uh College expectations versus
high school expectations with that and some of those different elements they talked about doing training programs um or well rather he explained the training programs that we have in place right now for for staff and I think um students were glad to see that because they were
kind of like we should have this like what been happening um and the students expressed that a lack of understanding can create fear but working on this because AI is so fast and furious um the fear more so is I think that they feel that teachers might
mistrust them and so that you know they were kind of addressing that situation we talked about postsecondary opportunities and preparedness as part of that graduation thing um Jesse did a really nice presentation on what's available to students um during their
career in college ready phases um things like Z and resume counseling CT career day visits etc etc um there was a long list of things um also listed some optional things like career internships
um dual enrollment job Shadows International trips there was another big list of things and then the students broke out into discussions on what they felt was effective and what wasn't and um the one the one thing that came up a lot was they just didn't like
zel very much they didn't think it was great um they liked more one-on-one with counselors which you know connection is is always key um they felt like the counselors are more welcoming in that
regard rather than like a computer screen um they would like to see like one main area for all things post high school so instead of having it sort of distributed everywhere around the school like like we you know at West we have it we know where the counseling office is and we
know there's a ton of that stuff in there so they enjoy that that the fact that they know where they can go um communities um they said are not equal in requirements and consistencies um the academic
communities stem Global in arts yeah so some discussion to be had there um they like resume help they like mock interviews um they like that they think the CTC visits need more guidance especially in e8th grade um gone through
that myself I agree I thought CTC is such a wonderful program and like my son didn't hear about it until like the second year so I was sort of like oh this is great let's go um the um more
output for student internships and work programs more opportunity with college visits more econ and Financial Training P personal finance you know there was some smart kiddos in that this group right they
were smart um those are survival skills right right but it it really spoke to to me that they knew smart more um Early College push and dual enrollment um honors options and Junior and senior and not just AP so they kind of felt like they needed a
middle ground for some of those options um they like the college fair and career days that happen and they like uh personalized programs um and uh so we did a that whole discussion of positive and negative so
they could see both sides and we encourage them to reach out if they have any ideas on what would make their senior year more beneficial yeah good so and I'm not sure what the next one is uh coming
up Senate out March for the sustainability no student advisory student advisory that's not for a little bit April usually two after yeah we have one more left after we get back like the 16th okay
yep thank you did how did they discuss or consider having kids that almost spent a year at various schools come back and talk to them need to drink like you know having
fresh yeah they did they talked about a possible sort of like a experience Fair yeah and that's what like shadowing is when they talk about doing the you know you can do job shadowing you can do school shadowing um I know our schools do that already right with kids that are
coming from like one school to another or maybe another grade going up to high school so those things are available but um I'm not sure if they have programs right now for college students to Shadow or to Mentor but I'm certain that it's
something that could be kind of a neat opportunity for college kids like usually over the holidays they get you know a month off and to bring them back into the high schools to kind of say this is something I wish I knew or I wish I would have prepared for or this
is what I did to get where I'm at this is these are you know just I feel like I've seen panels like this yeah a lot of our teachers do that they'll bring back to talk to underclass Ms very common at both high schools all three high schools great that's cool CU some kids can't see you might want three schools but you
can't go to all schools you know then as far as CTC don't we have a program now where everyone is twice they go and visit e8th grade and 10th grade and 10th okay
that's um okay any other questions okay moving on to nutrition nutrition and fitness uh reporting out by trusty P this one's easy they rescheduled it for April 3rd at 10:00 in the morning snow day shortest report out
ever we will uh we will will uh hear the report in a couple of months um next up border office hours reporting out by February February 27th report out by trusty P um I had one visitor it was
Bill Weisner we talked for an hour and a half um and it looks like they're going to use thorough be conference room on the second floor and it's not marked you know so you have to come in and ask where is this going to be I thought it
was going be the communication room right off yeah and it could be a couple of different ones depending on availability I know that I think we got most of them though in the throbby room but I we'll we'll try and get a hold of Michel if there's a way we can have a sign or something not using
your R yeah um so we can yeah we can try and get a sign or and I'll when I say because I usually just say t or Travis you know I would just say the thway room as well if that's why it's going to Scott we made a change just in the beginning of the year because we were having low attendance we weren't sure if
it was a parking issue or a um you know just hard to access and so um we thought we if we moved it to the local public library that parking and easier to access and then we're also doing some Zoom calls so Holly did the first Zoom call
yeah check do anything yeah so trying a little bit different to see if we can get more I'm no longer responsible for parking so that's a good thing um and then I did want to cuz you were in person correct I was you were in
person yeah I was I'm wondering if it would help to have some topics to say you know people if you would like to discuss this or bring your ideas that we're going to be looking at moving Central grade to Alaska would you
like to come and talk about it you know I don't think think we going to do that b just thought I would throw it out there it'd be interesting if you had anybody um well I mean we are trying different things and I'm glad we did
verify because the next Board office hours this March 13th um trusty Ballinger in attendance virtually right so yeah we are trying different things as well to to see where we can get engagement I will take any
topic so you will be still in town for that yes yeah it's it's this Thursday the 13th yes um I thought you said April I'm sorry right you're talking about you're talking about March I said did I say I thought you said April but I could be WR March 13th yeah we do it a little
earlier in the month the month of spring break because we will not get anybody showing up March 19th no the night before spring break no um so March 13th virtually uh Lin on the website and obviously uh yep
that be see how that one goes so you just go to the main uh is it ts.net board and there's a link there yes okay Board office hours great um okay um we are moving on to consent uh
do I have a motion to approve the consent calendar as amended motion that we approve the consent calendar as amended a second all right any discussion all those in favor say I I
oose say nay motion carries moving on to the discussion items umed Sor speak um uh office position um so first off obviously uh welcome to Scott
that does uh leave there is no automatic position appointed you know to either both officers so we have a vacant officer position and we have a a vacant uh position on the finance committee as
well um two parts to that is first we do have to to approve a Treasurer um and to be completely Frank I'm I'm interested to see what you guys say so
I move to to nominate Scott Hardy for treasurer okay I don't get a v nope so you want to do it that too bad kind like the Army here so are there any other
nominations okay so uh we it does require a majority vote so um Tammy please the Lo uh trusty bird yes trusty yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty P yes trusty Schmidt yes and
trusty n yes um so I declare by m by unanimous vote Scott Heidi is Treasure of the Board of Education until the next organization meeting in January um okay and then the committee
assignment uh obviously I I know that there there was a few people who talked about wanting to switch committees I don't know if that's actually true anymore so is there any other move or do we want uh is Scott is that where
everyone would propose Scot Finance yes I would love to do that okay good because we're full up on curriculum I don't I'm trying to remember in the organizational meeting if actually requires a vote but we can
it does not I do not believe it does no the I mean you know the it says that the board president has the ability to do but you've done it by conversation but you know committee assignments are not required by vote of the board it's at the you know like I said you've done it
by consensus conversation but really it's the board's president's role to assign okay and then the committee picks their chair corre the committee will pick their chair at the next so prepare yourself oh for another one of these unsolicited
at least get a vote the next you be able to defend they didn't put all this in the brochure wasn't in my empor packet y you should see what other assignment you getting coming up um there is uh okay so that uh moves
through that discussion item um moving on to school safety up update to find Dr wag okay here we go okay um and bear with me we've had something that I was texting with that but we're
all good down with that with the police that they St police helped us out greatly with um so uh the Michigan State Police office of school safety is currently hosting behavioral threat assessment and management also known as bam training around the state and TCAP
staff will be in attendance PA 272 of 24 recently signed by the governor requires all K12 schools to have a behavior threat assessment and manag agement team by October 1st 2026 the the BTM model is what the district is already using um
when a threat is received to safely assess evaluate and provide needed support services for everyone involved um and I got to tell you that our folks do it right now a great job we have just tweaked and tweaked and tweaked and Patrick has led that work and just uh
really feel good about where we're at but always can learn more always looking at best practice and so our team will be there to continue to learn more uh tcaps is also currently providing CPR and AED professional development training in each building across the district um
training between six and 10 staff members per site it's a two-year certification taught by current staff members and administration transportation and licensed child care as you can imagine this is a large task that requires additional training of instructors time constraints and oversight of current needed
recertifications we are interested in streamlining the process and our oring ways to ensure that all necessary Personnel are trained efficiently and efficiently uh and effectively this may include redistributing workloads or identifying additional resources to try and support the efforts um on a side
note one of our trainers Kendall um is out of fishing the train now she got her training in the the night before the night before she was doing training and the next day had the baby a month yep so but baby's healthy and good we got to see him today and he
is gorgeous Mr Darby Shay he's adorable so needless to say she's not doing CPR training at the moment so uh but we are going to be looking at more of that it is a requirement now with teaching Sears and things and so um Patrick's doing it but we're going to continue to try and see if there's a way to find some more
people to get trained and to be able to do that um also right now TCAP school buses are currently being inspected by the Michigan State Police as required by law on an annual basis and so our mechanics and and Tyson and the whole team do a great job
of being ready for that and uh last year we were fortunate not to have anything but if we do they've been immediately fixed and that recertified and back on the road and so our team takes a lot of pride in making sure that our buses are safe and appreciate all their work so that's what I have for our safety report
for dinight um just one question which I don't know if we know or not obviously when we used to do training we didn't do the training but we let the various police networks use both of us for training are they using another facility nothing
we but I I can tell you um just because I drove by and see it I do know that I'm the place were using um the um uh Trojan athletic complex and they had cars in there and they were doing searches and different things so I know that there's
and I think and sometimes they do some things in this building walking through in the evening okay so they have had some of that when we're out in the evening generally we don't have a lot of evening activities and so I do know other I've seen um the police be bringing dog and such they're doing some training here in this building I just
the only reason I mention it is because I know that there was twice that I drove by both of us and like I was like what is going on there armed for everyone around and it looks so if there is such a situation where it's dramatic then we should at least yeah make sure that and
without us having a vacant building now I don't you know see that in the near future in an active building like I said this is the only one and we let staff know if there ever is but um yeah I that's I just happen to witness that um out there so that goes through Patrick he approves all that
does all that and so if there ever was you know in a building we do have scheduled again for as soon as um school's out we have scheduled another reunification practice um as we had done so that is being scheduled right now and so we'll make sure the board has details on
that all right any other questions uh moving on to uh board policy um that will defer to [Music] Dr oh there you go um and I will go and pass it off to County T all right
there's a few new policies for our consideration uh Dr bener already mentioned our threat protocol process so this was an optional policy through trun but given that we do have such a remarkable system we decided to um codify that in policy and adopt the threat protocol or threat assessment
response policy which you have before you so unless anyone has any questions it does mirror what we're currently doing in our district in the event that we have a threat and then policy 5715 um as you recall earlier this year
um there was a requirement that all students undergo oral or dental exams um is a condition for enrollment when they come into school um or they also have a timeline to get that or they can also submit information that it runs contrary to any religious beliefs but very
similar to immunization but now also with um oral exams so that policy reflects that statuto requirement and then is also referenced by President Newman bale as you know we've kind of had this little bit of a
whiplash going on with Title 9 regulations um we had some changes that were to go into effect this July which we did Implement and adopt our new title n policies to reflect the new regulations and then earlier this year
federal court in the case of Tennessee versus Cardona reversed the 24 regula regulations and we reverted back to the 2021 regs um and so the policies have now reverted back to the ones that we had prior to adopting the
2024 uh regulation update policies and so that is referenced in multiple policies so you will see those listed but those changes are all statutory and are all required by virtue of the 2021 um reversion what was the biggest change in
those the biggest change well the one I'm going to there's there's a few um they expanded the definition of um gender to include transgender identification um and gender identity and that has been reverted back
um to the previous definition of gender and then also there were some um expansions to protect students that pregnant is being one of the protected classifications but um some of the stuff that we actually really liked about the changes in the regulations for the
streamlining of the process um one things that a lot of people don't understand is that title n investigations take a substantial period of time based on the procedural requirements um for the number of folks who have to touch the person that does the investigation can't be the person
who makes the decision who can't be the person who does the appeal there's significant due process review new timelines so any given Title 9 investigation can take anywhere from 30 to 120 days just by virtue of
the they had shortened that period of time which was allowing us to streamline those investigations but now we're back to the previous Rags now keep in mind too though in Michigan we still do have Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act which does I you know
recognize gender identif identity or um is a protected classification which in Michigan is still good law but the Title Nine Federal RS do not thank you um and then I know there were a few
policies that that were pulled that item 17 the first one that was uh was 405 yeah and I I mean I I support this and it kind of goes back to what's going on in in Washington and uncertainty and uh you know and our study session next week
on um educational Equity closing achievement gaps um and you know and so title one and it got discussed during finance and um so I just given that you know I'm new Scott's new um maybe people
watching don't quite understand title one especially around parent and family engagement so I was hoping somebody can just help us understand um a little bit especially like the you know the the parent you know compact the School parent compact um you know and how we
engage with those families participating in title one yeah if if staff are not able Ready Or there's any specific the other option for the board is to remove them to to
approve the policies without those policies and the agenda for the next meeting to allow staff time I will give give you me personally obviously the board was speak so I can't do it but if you want more time uh then I would propose that I
thought Jesse sent a clarifying email to help exactly what you're asking I thought that that yeah so I'm looking just for a high level because that was a private email I'm just looking for a high level briefing of of you know how we because I think it's pretty great I think what we like the example I saw
with Travis Heights is something I think is pretty phenomenal so if there's an opportunity to to again I share the I mean I I support the Amendments um with that 5405 um but I do think it's important to talk about how we engage with families
um with title who participate in title one I can just give a super General overview of that Paran knite is replicated at Oliver title schools so Travers Heights Blair Long Lake Silver Lake Cate Cherry null all have those family nights that they they bring
families in and obviously there's an empasis on Community Connection and fun but with each of those nights there is an academic emphasis and it's usually around reading so I know that we did a highlight in our board curriculum meeting recently with that Long Lake kind of that rainforce theme night same
idea great turnout um right around 200 families came in obviously the whole Community is invited uh but it's that same emphasis with that connection to having uh specifically those funds used for families to come in with academic
emphasis right right we have the food we have the fun party like atmosphere almost Carnival like but some of those stations or room are definitely dedicated to that that math and uh literacy aspect and I would only add um when our title funds are received we are
we are required for some of those funds and they tell us how much we have to set aside to support those kns and it all comes from our from our Title One funds and the documents you shared I again I think it's um very impressive I thought you know and and especially with the School parent compact where we are
sharing responsibility with improved student academic achievement with with parents and students so um again so with that I I'm I'm supportive of it I hope that we'll continue to talk about Title One um you know policies especially it's very timely um so moving on to the to the
next one which does have to do with title finds and again I support this amendment um but I was looking again just for a high level and I think you just touched on it a little bit like how and why do we use Title One funds to supplement not supplant state and local funds that would in the absence of title
one should the Department of Education the US Department of Education um you know go away be spent on Title One programs yeah and we're going to go into depth definitely more we more next week on this because Dan and are going to give you a breakdown exactly of what schools receive the funds how much they
receive and then those are all dictated by our census poverty rates in those areas um but those are all in addition to the general fund we receive and whatever programming we do is really designed at interventions academically with kids during the school day above
and beyond what were funded through mde um and it it really is for those kids who are farther from opportunities and how do we ensure that they have as many opportunities as possible clarification for the board so Jesse does is right now all of our federal and state programs so all of the our Consolidated application
that has to be done through MD for both state funds and federal funds that we get in excess of our general fund so a lot of the reporting and all that's fallen in her role so when she says that she's the person that gets to type a lot of that working with her team and submitting that so that's uh you know
for K12 she's doing that for the district so and again in the wording is State wording right as far as MD is above and beyond is that idea of the S planning right because we looked into for instance can you just fund teachers at Traverse Heights can I have a third
they 100% beinging reduced can I have a teacher there third grade teacher and fund them with Title One funds no because that's not above and beyond the idea of above and beyond does fall into our Behavior math reading intervention and I and I think that boosts my
understanding hopefully all of our understanding The public's understanding of why Title One is important it's roughly I think around million and a half dollars that really support our economic disadvantaged uh students and the next one I pulled this 5707 which had to do with school wellness and and Dr Van Wagner already touched on that we
are going to work we're going to work hard on lobbying our legislators but we're also going to work hard with the things that we can control to help our this important people that is very important and and so that's I'm not going to dwell on it I think you touched on it during the report uh so with that
I will uh make the move that the Board of Education approve as listed and discussed board policy that is as it was written but probably not the you did exactly what
approve as listed and discussed that the Board of Education approves board policy as listed and discussed probably would be you that's how I agree right that I'll second Jesse can I ask you a question are those Title One funds passed through
funds from the federal government in other words does the state acre those Title One funds or do they simply a pass through from the feds I I don't do that side of it but I believe they so ites does go to the state than the state appropriates through you know so one of
the things that could be good about that is you know if for some reason the Department of Education you know again I I don't have a lot of belief that without Congressional movement that can happen it can be downsized but even in the worst of scenarios um I think block grants would
go to the states and then from the states that that money would pass through based on those Federal Rags okay there might be a delay in yeah right now the the Michigan Department of Education actually does the auditing of all those federal funds already they have a they are paid by the federal government to
have that role so when you do your Consolidated app it's your state federal all wrapped into one and you have a a consultant from MD that Audits and approves all of those expenditures so you know from that standpoint I I would see it as it it as it still passes
through now that that's the way that that would be yeah thank you for that that was well Am I Wrong by that in any way thank you okay and I wanted to make sure I think somebody mentioned five 202 and 5
206 5 202 and 206 no just two that con I don't know if you touched on those there was two they were on the main yeah those were are simply they're
affected by the title regulation changes so those changes are all statutorily required thank you um so there is a motion on the table and the motion I believe is that I that the Board of Education approved board policy as listed and discussed um did I have a
second on sorry who was the second sorry that um so with a with a motion in a second Tammy please conduct a ro trusty Schmidt yes trusty P yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty bird yes
trusty Moon yes yes and trusty new B yes sorry I I thought I have my name so I apologize it's not even that long of a meeting yet um so motion carries uh next item on discussion is the bond
ratification resolution to start thek okay so essentially this is uh this is ratifying the bond sale so um this is uh the amount of um just over $90
million um in the sale um important uh part with this so you know that I think is very important to our taxpayers is the true interest cost that after all of the uh bids were done um sat at
3.23 uh and some further down decimal points of percent but you know 3.23 on on uh municipal bonds it's a very good rate and and I a lot of that is because of our team working hard and our boards what we've done financially over the
time so to be able to have a very good double A minus uh stable credit rating um allows that to happen um so Fifth Third Securities was the lowest bid um I know that the the from Finance Christine that the difference in all the bids was
very little they were all with in desmal points of each other there were 11 competitive yeah I believe and so uh so really excited about that um I know that uh we will have that March 10th approval here and then the closing is 13 and
that's when the money money hits the the account and uh as you know we already have a lot of planning and everything going on to start for this summer And So It Begins based on uh that again you will remember that that is the last of the
2018 um Bond and then the first sale um the first series of the 2024 Bond any other questions on there because if you do it's going to be [Music] W March 10th oh no was it February
12th yeah that's not good that's not a much of a spread so I just uh yeah are good and the double A obviously that is shockingly small amount compared to again where some
other districts were and I think in the finance that was one of the things is only 30 districts have that rating now yes I think we're I think we're right around less than 2% of the districts in the state have a rating of that or better so we're a good company and so again fiscal responsibility it's
identified you know by standard in POR in that rating and so um you know let's not screw it up just just a thank you too to our our finance department and team and yeah thank you for all your hard work yeah I can't tell you I had the
chance uh just this weekend in is set with a couple of folks from trun you know going through this and and the first thing they say is that you just I hope you lucky you know how lucky you're at the team because most districts don't have the kind of expertise that we have and and again Wes and and Sandy and and
uh Christine and all that team um it's we should not take it for granted no thank you yeah um okay um any further discussion I move that the Board of Education adopt
the bond ratification resolution detailing the terms and conditions of the Trevor City area public schools competitive 2025 Bond sale a second all right um any other discussion Tammy please conduct a local vote um trusty Moore yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty
bird yes trusty pack yes trusty Schmidt yes and trusty Newman Bale yes motion carries um next discussion item acceptance of a grant deferring for Dr n okay again twice a year we get the opportunity to apply uh to the Grand
trevors B Ottawa and Chip Indians 2% Grant uh this is comes from their gaming uh proceeds and uh very very fortunate to again receive a $225,000 grant for our student support network um and Al Ginger any other
things to add with that that that might be important we have already met with the Father Fred organization so uh we are Full Speed Ahead or working working right now with our transportation team trying to finalize all of the stops and
um so far everything is um going on as scheduled so a part of our SSN work in the sunshine bus we have food and clothes and Ne Necessities throughout the summer um for students to have because you know their needs don't end
when the school year is over and so Ginger and and uh uh working you know with uh all of our SSN team KD all um they do an awesome job of having those dates and partner organizations and uh uh opportunities to be able to to get
paperwork for uh Road en rolling in school um all those things so if you have not had the chance to catch that Sunshine bus it's really cool um and they do a lot of good work with it and uh this helps support our SSN that does a lot of that unbelievable work that is
so needed by so many of our kids great awesome very appreciative yes big thank you um I moved at the Board of Education accept the grand Trevor span of Ottawa and Cha Indians 2% trusty bird yes trusty pack yes
trusty Ballinger yes trusty Moon more yeah trusty Schmidt y trusty newale yes motion carries um moving on to uh bids and services and purchases to to
Dr okay um so the we have our um curriculum uh adoption English language arts um with ckla and so um I believe that uh we've had presentation say anything to add yeah just just real
quick I just took a couple Snippets from the I know everyone received this presentation I think for Scott and Mr hardy has not seen it yet so just real quick uh the idea that we started the pilot um two years ago and this year we had 11 teachers that were early adopters
in all the schools we gathered feedback throughout the year and not that feedback was reported back to principes and also other teachers um just real quick here I just wanted to highlight between these two slides this is something that we're continuing to work on for K2 it's 120
Minutes of implementation and then for um sorry that's K3 is 120 minutes and for 45 is 90 so if when we talking to teachers this is a concern for teachers about finding this block of time so we're trying to be a little proactive with our HR department when we do our
schedules with specials to make sure we find these blocks at times it's not always possible but as far as teacher concerns like I said I wanted to mention that 120 that 120 Minutes especially for K3 is is something that we are working
on what is it daily that's daily yep just real quick I want to also uh emphasize some of the data that we used during our board curriculum and board Finance meeting um specifically highlighting when we look at our econ economically disadvantaged students we
saw more than a Year's growth through this four-year study and then coming lastly to our ccla CL uh cost and contract so it's a five-year contract um that includes all classroom kits all digital access also
one year of boost reading I discussed at board finance and board curriculum that the Boost reading is for one year um going to gather some data on that and then extend it possibly for years two through five materials cost 1,998 which that includes a 10%
contingency um to account for any student fluctuations um this is funded by 35j our literacy Grant and that'll be I know there's some um Talk there about the curriculum Department budget but the vast majority if not all of this is going to come out of 35j uh we're going
to to look into our PD plan um that funding can also come from 35j and Jesse and I have been working on possible funding out of title too question yesal cost include digital licensing as well it does it's comprehensive y that digital
licensing will be JK also will be able to use that digital licensing as they are we have a couple different programs they using right now and they've um we've been working with JK the diff the differentiation of those kids that come in the JK they have some that are already for preschool some that are
pretty close to kindergarten so they have that that flexibility most excited how many acronyms have changed in the last few years okay catch on I'll be talking acronym no time the JK one always gets me too obviously because it's
kind Dan can you just go back a second to the um BL time sorry what did you call it the the block time or yeah the 90 minutes and the 120 Minutes how does that does that mean uh like you know
straight or can they have it can they break that up they can break it up um it's preferred for for K3 if we try to keep that in that block but it's not like we can't deliver the curriculum without doing that quite honestly when we look at our special schedules with our 11 elementary schools shared time
sharing teachers with second that's super hard to achieve in all of our schools then you throw in obviously lunch and in an additional recess but that that's our goal like we're trying to get a scheduling committee together with HR uh that has Elementary principles to do our best to figure out
where everyone wants specials in the afternoon but to see where those blocks could could could open and attention spans I mean at that age but 90 and 120 Minutes that's yeah and 100 yeah it's not 120 Minutes on the carpet [Laughter]
oh no kidding I'm kidding okay any other questions just do again I want to clarify and probably good for the motion is again that it is 1,199 which includes a 10% contingency J
does have I was going to say that good thank you um okay I moved at the Board of Education approve the purchase of the ELA curriculum for 1,199 which includes a 10% contingency from the 35j literacy Grant and if
necessary curriculum Department budget second um is there any other discussion the only thing I'm hearing and I don't know I mean I'm
just not sure exactly the impact of is when you're putting in the 120 hours for this I'm hearing that it's affecting some of the other that they used to teach and one of the big ones is science yeah and science
is basically doesn't have as much time and so that's something I think we need to keep in mind but but I think as they recall there's so much integration
with a lot of those other subjects in this particular program that can be done that you didn't have to supplement it to make those things happen and that was why it was preferable yeah that's true of science and social studies so we're trying to make those connections with the
curriculum you know the number one thing when we talk to especially upper L and we talk to teachers and students's engagement with the curriculum and how much it's gone up since Journeys and a lot of that is because it integrates at science and social studies that teachers are that students and teachers are interested
so yeah we keep an eye exactly it's not to throw a stone it's just understood okay any other discussion we have a motion on the table and Tammy please conduct a ro a
second trusty Ballinger yes trusty moar yes trusty bird yes uh trusty pack yes trusty Schmid yes trusty Newman Bill yes motion carries um moving on to the draft 2025
2026 school year calendar going to talk about M Okay so we've had the chance to talk about this um this is a calendar this does not require a vote um of the board just really an acceptance and I'm providing it um we had the chance to have the the feedback during our
committee meetings um I would like to announce um that the TC EA has ratified the calendar um so I know that they were very happy with that outcome and process again some highlight some feedback that we had from parents I know when we all met is is there any way for us to reduce
down um half days and and uh especially and so this does go from 10: to 8 and it goes 8 actually to 7 early relief days which are very different and only one half day which is the last day of school so we bring consistency to parents of
when we get out so they don't have to guess between the two we've managed to be able to really get our professional development and get agreement on what happens during those early release days to bring PLC work into that time so our teachers don't have to do so much maybe after school um so they're able to
really concentrate not have worked a full day in that aspect so um we think it's a step in the right direction you know we are we are bound by 180 school days 1,98 hours 5 days of professional development required for our teachers
and so um you know not a lot of flexibilities there but I think we're trying to do what we can we'll continue to see what the state might bring and flexibilities in the future but I think overall we improveed the calendar I know that we have some real solid agreement with our our teacher Partners um as well
as TC uh caps had the chance to give feedback in this as well so um just want to uh let you know that we are moving forward with this calendar and at this point um Ginger will have a a release for the calendar uh for sing um coming
here in the morning to our parents and so they have that for spring break to be able to make other their future plans and all those kind of things um so uh we'll uh make sure that that gets done so and you forgot the most important thing for parents which is a two week
winter break with three weekends so that's a good long break there you go um and go ahead t no no I mean I just want I mean it's I think you said eight um half days Rel days but I think it's I think it's 10 we went from 10 to 8 12 to
10 I'm sorry 12 to 10 you're right thank you I did miss be it's all good it it yeah and but nine of them are early released is one's a half day that's right thank you yeah two less and your numbers are correct we did with Good Friday um So Good Friday falls on spring
break oh it does um but also we were able to we kept indigenous people's day as well as Dr Martin Luther King Jr day um an early release day still plan on making sure that we do those teaching and Honors that are built into our state curri
that are there um and yet extending that day and hopefully helps our parents out a little bit with work and and pickups and all those kind of things and so again Stu in the right direction but I thank you for that correction got I knew it was too less I just went too more can I just make one more comment too is we
um we were looking at obviously we're always looking at cost-saving measures so by bringing in all of the PLC time into the the early release days that's a significant savings to the district because we were paying for that time outside of the school day and as well as
doing a different format for our opening kickoff day is also a saving so there's a lot of that that went into play thinking of how can we best utilize our time and resources um for the calendar so all in all very Bri and knowing our budget you know shortfalls that we have
going into this next year that's a part of those things that we put together to make an impact towards that that we get later on the budget process we'll share but we're already again trying to in and put in in action these things that are cost savings to really get the bottom
line to that point that we're going to need to come our 25 26 budget I'll say congratulations this is like threedimensional chess to come up with this and you've pulled it off and our team and you know again thank Jesse Dan be a part of that with Connie U
Christine you know all of the team to sit down with again this is a process of partnership with our our staff and uh I I'll just be really honest I mean you know from going to really a little bit of of serious change to it um I I
couldn't say it couldn't it couldn't have gone smoother I mean our EA Partners our TC capsu partners and our team working together just came and listen to parent feedback to everything to the extent we can um and and I just I truly feel we made a better calendar this
year see following year we'll uh cooperate as well what's that hard to say my role no no no this is this is for next calendar year the following year hopefully will work as well well we'll worry about that when we get
there I'm just trying to get through tonight back the budget forward to the next challeng yeah fair enough and we should uh on that we uh can worry about uh item H which is the withdrawal from the insulin lawsuit
that we added um I think we I don't really if there is any further discussion we can have it I could take a motion as well so um I don't know if anyone has prepared sh yeah I is something over
here that I wrote the problem is number probably a good idea to list the case number in it I'm going to it to the lawyer no's probably got it you can have mine if you want it but I can I had none of that so yours is probably you could probably drop in the case number I
didn't even know well we didn't even have the I move that the Board of Education approved a superintendent or his designated to withdraw or dismiss conditional dismiss conditionally dismiss our participation in complaints
against various defendants who Supply insulin coordinated by th law um and that was actually not through that was through through FR fr's law we our contracts we true well so technically was FR and true okay and case being INR
insulin pricing litigation case number two uh col 23- md-380 VM RLS mdl number 380 in front [Music]
of the United States Court of New [Music] Jersey she got on video second from Beth um obviously we covered it already but if there are any questions
um otherwise uh Tammy please conduct a ro trusty bird trusty P yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty moonar yes trusty Schmidt yes and trusty new yes motion Carri um that is
discussion item U public comment I am seeing none um moving on to the close session portion of the agenda um one area we didn't cover is is the laws
have changed Scott now that you are not allowed to participate in a superintendent evaluation you are allowed to be present but you're not allowed to uh say anything of yes it's it's a difficult uh one but
um the board welcome to say yes or no it's up to the board I can't even invite you the board would me to be okay with that that's fine yes okay um so with that we are now at the Clos session portion of the agenda may I have a motion for the board to go
into close session I move to enter into close session for the purpose of conducting a periodic Personnel evaluation as Allowed by the open meetings act 267 of 1976 section 81 or 881a closed session was requested in
writing by the employee second give it to Josie here was a very tight um any discussion Tammy please conduct a ro trusty Schmidt yes trusty Ballinger yes trusty bird yes trusty moar yes
trusty P yes and trusty yes motion carries we return to this room after closed session um and we are now in closed session for for [Music]
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[Music] everyone back if there was no objection we will return to open session we are now in Open Session um closing remarks thanks I know it was a longer meeting uh a mentally draining one for the U going
through uh this process but obviously welcome again uh to our new trust soon to be new trustee uh Mr hardy and um the next uh Board of Education meeting is Tuesday 18 thinking it was
ail I thinking it was already March 18th I was like it was not quite yeah but um the next Board of Education media is a study session on Tuesday March 18th at 5:00 p.m. um and it is uh in this room um as well so appreciate everyone and
with that do I have a motion to adjin the meeting motion to ad motion wej uh we do have a faster one but do we have a second there Beth second right thank you um all those in favor say I I oppos say nay meeting adjourned
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