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>> I call this meeting of the board curriculum committee to order. The committee would like to welcome the audience and viewers may watch live board committee meetings online at tcaps.net/board. Recorded meetings may be viewed on demand at the same address. We are at
the public comment period number one of the agenda and the committee is set aside this time. Melanie, do we have any public comment? >> We do not. >> Okay. Moving on then to procedural items. Number one, we have our draft committee meeting minutes from May 26th.
Um are there any proposed changes by my fellow trustees? Okay. I move to approve the committee meeting minutes then from May 26, 2026. I second the motion. Uh, all in favor? >> I.
>> Okay. Motion passes. Next up is the 2026 to 2027 TCAPS district course catalog. I will defer to Miss Dr. H. Hotton. >> Yeah. So, you'll see a few courses there, a few of those NMC courses. Those are courses that some of our early college uh students are taking. I know
there's some been some questions from our teach our teacher union and others about the art classes. Uh we do with uh remember there's different rules for early college and dual enrollment. Dual enrollment um students are looking to go on and take courses that we do not offer
at our current high school. But with early college, they are able to take courses within that pathway. So ceramics 2 is a good example. It is a course that would be offered at our high school. So students wouldn't take it through um dual enrollment, but they are eligible if it's part of their pathway for early
college. The first two are actually the same um using the same curriculum that gone boarding curriculum. It's uh one of our high schools has they want to call it uh rec recreational design. They are incorporating that with the PE um and business side and the uh central high
school is going to call it gone boarding and they're incorporating it with physics and business. Um so that's what that's going to look like on those both of those. Any other questions? Oh, and [clears throat] and I apologize if I missed it, but the educating exceptional
children, what does the exceptional refer to? >> Generally, um students with special needs. >> Okay. >> Um in courses uh with that name for exceptional children often is what that's referring.
>> So, is this like a it's a teacher career track? Correct. Okay, great. >> Again, that's part of the early college uh Yep. cohort of students. Okay. Okay, great. Um, any other questions or comments?
All right. Um, then I think we're looking at moving this on to the full board for approval. Do I have a motion? >> I move that the 2026 2027 TCAPS district course catalog is presented with no changes be placed on the consent calendar at the July 13, 2026 regular
board meeting. >> I second. Okay. All in favor? I >> I in favor? >> Yes. >> Okay. Motion passes. >> All right. Moving on to our 2026 to 2027
elementary and secondary student parent handbooks. I will defer to Mr. Tyworth and Dr. Hoden. >> Yes. So, there wasn't a lot of content changes in either of our handbooks this year. The big lift that we did was [clears throat] to make these ADA
compliant, meeting the new federal standards for that. Our process that we have is we share our our student and parent handbooks with all of our building leaders, with our different department leaders. Um they vet it. They make any changes and updates. Again, there there wasn't a lot of content
things that was really making them ADA compliant. um our athletics, our LEAP, all of those look through things, make sure all of uh the language and and procedures and practices and those align with what our current practices are and align with any MDE or Michigan High School Athletic Association or those
types of organizations. Um I know there have been some discussions about possibly going back [snorts] in as we look at our AI policy and what that looks like and tweaking and improving those sections and we are able to do that at any point in time and we would bring it back through board curriculum if those changes were made.
Okay. Okay. >> And we are taking a look at that. I we're we're just kind of there's some new guidance that the department just put out um a week ago. And so we're going to take our time with that a little bit rather than try and rush something that just doesn't read right or whatever. But it is on our mind from,
you know, some experiences we've had over the past year. >> I thought they read a lot better. I thought whoever put it together did a really good job. >> Yeah. Yeah. We've Yes. Well, the ADA compliance, but yes, we have uh a new employee, Jessica Lumpkey, who's been
helping us a lot with the flow of things, as well as Melanie and Emily, too, re reviewing that and making sure. But yeah, >> because it's an enormous amount of material. >> It is a long document. It's very comprehensive. >> And do all the the parents, they receive
it online or they receive hard copy as well. >> They can receive a hard copy. They request that. We have those available at all the sites. We do not give those out. we just have seen they get thrown out and it's a sort of a waste of the printing. Um they is always available
online. We push it out um through our weekly newsletters when school's back in session. We make sure we highlight that for parents and students. Our [clears throat] students go through a process every year to review critical information and cons like consent as far as that they are acknowledging of the handbook and it's been presented to
them. Um and parents can always request a hard copy. They're available at all the schools. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> All right. [snorts] With that, >> Yeah. Go ahead. >> I move that the 2026 2027 elementary and
secondary student parent handbooks as presented be placed on the consent calendar at the July 13th, 2026 regular board meeting. >> I second. >> Okay. All those in favor say I. >> I. >> I. Motion passes.
>> All right. Moving on to ourformational item section of the agenda today. First up is elementary presentation on the strategic plan update. Deferring to doc Mr. Tysworth. >> Not yet. >> Mister [laughter] >> Mr.
>> Thank you. Um just started out here with uh kind of our slide one to ground us into some basic numbers that we have within our district. Uh K5, this includes JK about 3,600 students. Uh, of course we're spread over our 11 elementary schools, uh, 150 plus
teachers and economically disadvantaged right around 35%. So the economically disadvantaged number is about 1,280 students. So it's kind of nice to when we go through the data and we talk about, you know, our strategic plan grows and a lot of them revolving around
percent change to put an actual number on that. Like 1% is 37 kids that we've moved. Obviously cohorts change uh but even economically dis disadvantaged you know if we're talking about 1,280 kids that's about 13 kids for every percentage. So you do the maths and we
talk about moving kids in percentages you know there are kids that are behind that data. Also as we go through the data this was kind of year one with a lot of our data that our fantastic data team and I just wanted to have a shout out to Sophie kind of building the strategic plan within powers school. So
what she did is she took the strategic plan, looked at all the data that we needed and started to build out reports in P school. So as we move forward, it's nice to have a one-stop consistent spot um that we know that that data is coming out of there and we're not taking it from different spots because the more
spots you take that data from, I think the less consistent it is and and harder to track. So thanks to her for for pulling a lot of this together and then getting it for our wonderful CNI team. So goal one uh starting with academic achievement math. This was the same goal
we had for ELA. For all students is 65% proficiency for NWA and our high high average and 55% for our economically disadvantaged. So high high average uh is 60th percentile and above as far as achievement goes. Um
so if we look for uh 25 26 we did see an uptick for all students were almost 60% uh economically dis disadvantage for math we also saw just a little under uh 2% growth non-economically disadvantaged
we did see also kind of mirror uh our our all with with about a 5% growth there so a lot of talk about norms I know that came across we've talked about that at previous board meetings and how norms impact. I think there was an impact. I think a lot of the stuff we've done as far as curriculum and our
classroom teachers and the the hard work they've put in has also moved this data. It's hard to say the norms are how much they influenced it. The reading I've done on norms with NWA um points to different grade levels uh economically disadvantaged not and how
it may impact or may not impact. Uh regardless, you know, they had to redo the bell curve, right? It's what we're doing with norming and and our data looked better when they did that. >> Yeah. So, do you have any idea like what p number of percentage points it might
have shifted things with the reorming this year? >> I do not. >> Okay. >> Because I think it varies so much on the grade level. Like, so my thought was going through this presentation like first I'm thinking of we're going to do all board in October, right? So, how much in-depth you want me to get with
every single slide we have? We could probably do two hours on that, right? I could do two hours on goal one as far as all the academic achievement data we have. >> So going through as far as going to actual percentages of how norms impact, that's hard to say because I could pull
up every grade level and you'll see and I'll give a couple examples here, but we see some significant jumps in some grade levels that I think were a little normed to influence combined with what we're doing. Uh while others we didn't. We saw a pretty flatline. So again, is that norm impact? is that transition to CKA
and try to fill in gaps. Uh is that fluency with math >> and you can't really generalize and say 50% this the reorming 50% instructional practices. Yeah. >> Yeah. Could the previous board meeting we talked about would this be our baseline based on those norms and I think it was agreed upon it's not you
know our baseline would remain last spring's data. >> Yeah. And and I just want to note I know NWA reorms every three to five years. >> Every five. Yep. >> Yeah. So it's it's just like you deal with this regularly. Yeah.
>> Okay. >> And so this is um before you did the you started doing all the PD, >> you know, on getting everybody to do everything the same. >> So this is the this is spring data. This is
>> this is before. >> No, this is spring data after. >> This is the spring. >> This is our this month. All month data is spring. So when we pull data or the data you're going to see for NWA today is all spring data that was just taken in May. So all the PD has been done before this.
>> Okay. Cuz I thought that when they were talking about math expressions >> that the [clears throat] professional development was going to happen. >> It will. So that professional development as far as switching over to a different publisher will happen. But the PD isn't really that kind that is more logistical professional
development. That's more learning the program, how the program works. That's not the actual what we want to do with math through our PLC's is really get into the nitty-gritty of teaching and learning. The professional development they're getting there is how do you work the online platform? Um what differences
are in publisher, right? And they only have again with our professional development, we're super limited coming back from school because we have a teacher workday. We have one full district day of PD. half of it's so it's three hours of math, three hours of ELA and then they move into a building PD.
Um I know next year we built in a whole extra day of PD in February to to help uh provide more professional development for teachers. Um but as far as the actual like when you talk about professional development getting into like teaching and learning part that'll
definitely [clears throat] happen more during our our PLC's uh on a regular basis throughout the year. My understanding was that people teachers were using a fair amount of their own material to augment um the math expressions that they were
teaching and that the plan was that you were going to bring everybody to doing everything the same way. There was going to be a mirror image across all the math teachers across the system. >> That's for the next year school year. >> So that's next year that is not
reflected. >> Correct. Right. >> And that's implementation, right? And it's and it mirrors what we did with C CLA. The idea that with the implementation plan, there's a deimplementation part of that program where we go in and say these are these are the things we can do. These are the
things that we are not doing anymore. Getting back to fidelity within the curriculum, >> right? So if we see a change, we can attribute it >> well >> in part. I mean, >> causation is a big accusation, no matter whether it's good or bad.
>> Association. I'm going to call it association. >> Fair enough. I'll take that one. I'll take that word a little easier. >> But yes, exactly. I understand that. >> Now, I will add though, last year, our in the 2425 school year, um, our math team, uh, curated a professional
learning sequence on alignment and calibration with math fluency. Um and so this year you're going to see more of the um reverberations or the impact from the application of that learning from this year from last year to this year. So that could be a contributing factor
um to the increase we saw from 2425 school year to 2526 um as our district math team worked really hard to determine how do we take some of these uh key components of best practice with math fluency and where do they fall um and align to some of the
lessons and units with math expressions. So that professional learning has occurred between last year and this year and then we'll do that huge kind of reset and relaunch coming back this fall. >> Okay. [snorts] Yeah. So, I guess just to tie this up, um, since the data doesn't tell us, you
know, what what inputs are affecting the changes this year, can you qualitatively, do you have a sense, I guess, qualitatively, in your own opinion, collectively, what um what's working well, what's working
partially well, what might not be [clears throat] working well. >> Yeah. So if we break it down a little bit more uh so 25 achievement and again with with our strategic plan what we're trying to look for is incremental growth over the five years. So we are going to see uh we may see a dip here and there
with some of our data overall but we want we have a spot we want to get to in five years uh and it's not going to be necessarily a straight line upward. So we always keep that in mind when we're talking about cohorts and you know we're talking about two to five you know as far as second graders and fifth graders
it's 500 kids moving in and out and we can see how cohort can can influence data also. Um so just real quick when we talk about so these are the bands that our teachers and administrative administration works with green and blue right that's our proficiency as far as
we've worked with over the years. Um but we also keep track when when we look at this at for instance our red band right we're talk about the low and we see we've seen progress there also so there's celebration also that we are moving kids out of that lowest band it you know 3% is a pretty big number um as
because that helps helps us as we look forward into like next year and the year after like are we moving these kids not only to proficiency but are we moving them out of our lowest band >> and you're also catching kids up I think which is real important.
>> So Jodyie, just to speak to what we see working, I think a lot of the work that they've done um with fluency in fourth and fifth grade's been impactful. I think obviously we have a norm influence here. Uh but also I mean it's significant enough beyond the norm where
that's a huge jump for our fifth grade. We saw this across not only in our proficiency for fifth grade which went up significantly but also in our low band that went down. Um, and this is now year three that the math team, Aaron Sorenson, has been working uh to build
those fluency kits and get those out in the buildings. And I I think we're seeing the benefits of those. >> Good for [snorts] math. >> Yes. Thank you. >> ELA, same goal. High high average 65% for all students and 55 for economically disadvantaged. [clears throat]
Again, uh it does look like a decent change as far as four to 5% um and just over almost 2% for our economically disadvantaged. >> I'll also add here before um we shift uh
we as our curriculum and instruction department also look at other data sets to confirm our our narrative. we generally call it triangulation of data. And so one piece I want to also add here that I think it's important to note is our oral reading fluency data for our second to fifth grade students. Um
knowing that strong correlation between students who are at the 50th percentile and above. We say that that's necessary for students um to comprehend what they're reading or be able to make that cognitive switch. And so last year we um our oral reading fluency scores were 46.5% of students were reading above the
50th percentile. And this year we're at 62.4% above the 50th percentile in oral reading fluency. So you won't see that data set um specifically um on visually on the slide as we wanted to keep it really contained to NWA, but also wanted
to um bring that additional data set in here as a celebration um to and to confirm the narrative that we're making, you know, that progress moving forward. And then again uh two five achievement bands uh we see that about a 3% decrease
also in the low here um as we saw our jump also in our proficiency [clears throat] just as another highlight u when we look at 25 specifically economically disadvantaged. So, these are our achievement bands for economically disadvantaged kids. And
again, looking at that low band uh in our five years, we've had we're about a five-year low right now with for only 40% of our kids in those achievement bands. Obviously, this is work in progress. Uh you know, the 40% we're at right now with achievement on the high
bands. You know, our goal is 55. So, it's a 15% jump um which is fairly significant for that population. But I think this shows that we're moving kids in that direction. >> Do we have a summer reading program at
all for kids too to kind of bridge over into the fall? >> Not necessarily a summer reading program. We do offer summer school for our students that's currently being housed at Traverse Heights. But in terms of a largecale district summer reading program, most of the time we rely on our
community partners through the library. Um I know that they do their bookmobile that that is kind of the extent at this point of that summer reading program for our students. Um we have students who go through and visit the library our first I believe they target our first grade
students and then they kind of start to sell and um not sell they start to promote their summer reading program um within their partnerships within the school systems. Are there still some elementary schools that offer workbooks over the summer for
both math and ELA? >> Yes, absolutely. >> That's optional optin >> basis. So, okay. Like the parents have to buy the workbook or >> not nec Well, yes and no. So most teachers will curate their own reading
and math packets that will be a review moving into the summer that and sometimes they'll incentivize the packet to bring back but it is fully optional in terms of their part their participation in that >> I and I think you'll have to re remind
or refresh us all but the district's reviewed whether to make that a requirement versus an opt-in optional situation right to reduce summer slide. Mhm. >> Yeah. And the outcome was
>> it's tough to I think that stuff didn't not make that optional >> in the summer. Again, if we talk about achievement gap >> and who's able to do work during the summer and who's not similar to homework, right? The same argument with homework with the achievement gap is the more homework you have, the more it has
a negative impact and economically disadvantage kids. So, if you're going to if you're going to make something mandatory during the summer or when they're not in school, then you then have to build an entire structure around it to make sure they have access. >> Okay. Well, I'll just ask one more question about ELA, similar to what I
asked about math. Um, it is there a plan to assess all the different interventions that the district has invested in over the last few years just to try to figure out, you know, which input is having more of an
impact on on our our kids proficiency levels versus others so that we know going forward how to reallocate those investments potentially. everything from coaching, you know, behavioral coaching, academic coaching,
>> PLC's, etc. >> So, last year we really worked on systematizing our data collection process from an intervention standpoint because there are specifically an intervention multiple data points that we're utilizing a to not only align students to appropriate interventions,
but b to also monitor their progress within said intervention as well. Um and so then building on that system moving into this next year, the next two pieces will be to specifically look at the rate of improvement within interventions and then also collect data in terms of from
a non-evaluative standpoint. Um also uh look at how in each intervention is being implemented and if it's being implemented um intentionally um and with integrity. Um so utilizing those two pieces of that implementation data as
well as the um student results will be the focus of our work moving into next school year. >> And in terms of collecting data that is that a survey among teachers or what? >> Um from a student survey or from a student results standpoint. Yeah,
>> we use Ames web plus. So, ASW Web Plus is our universal screening tool which allows us to benchmark students on key measures within that grade level and then you can set um specific individualized goals um that are normed based on each individual baseline of students. Um so we generally set those
goals depending on the intensity of the intervention into the ambitious range. Um and then we monitor over time. Um and we progress monitor on a bi-weekly basis. >> And there's structure to to tier 2 currently. everyone's doing depending on what the need is, they're doing a
specific intervention for that need. Uh and then also Britney has it structured where she's she meets with tier 2 interventions on a regular basis um to give them professional development on those interventions. Right now it's not school by school. All 11 schools are doing the same interventions tier two
>> with different amounts of kids >> based on need. >> Okay. and kids grow mature connect at different levels. So, it's kind of hard to really pinpoint sometimes. >> I think that's part of this that makes
this really hard. Like, we'd love to all say that this was the biggest driver, but the reality is there's just so many different factors that that go into educating a kid, right? And you're right, Beth, they grow. You'll see a kid that you're like, man, we've done this intervention and they're with the best
reading specialist and, you know, a really solid classroom teacher. We just don't. and then the next year they just take off, you know. So, it is a >> it's a matter of putting all those systems in place so that we give every student the best chance possible to hit that growth, >> which is why it's a five-year plan,
>> right? So, we try to encompass and we see if we see an upward trend, we know we're moving in the right direction. >> And then last is just on ELA is we just wanted to highlight uh our first graders. This is the next cohort coming up. I know we're not necessarily in strategic plan wise, but we've seen
significant growth in our in our younger grades. Um, and we really think it's impacted CLA and and how that program structured. >> And I'll just add like Dan had mentioned, it's outside of the second through fifth grade, but we also know from research that first grade is really
deemed the critical learning to read year. um mostly because there's a lot of research that has been um communicated out about the fact that about 90% of students who fall behind in first grade or are deemed a poor reader generally
remain a poor reader in fourth grade. Um and so knowing that first grade is um such a critical year and looking at our data to see that about 8% um increase in NWA from last year to this year is exciting. And then just to report out as
well as their oral reading fluency data. Last year they were at 40% above the 50th percentile on their fluency measure. Um and they increased this year to 57.3%. So about a 17% um gain. So normal impact
that um a little bit um but with such a large gain you could also attribute it to other kind of um systematic uh decisions as well from last year to this year. Okay, goal two. So, goal two for elementary, uh, we talked about chronic
absenteeism, uh, participation in co-curricular activities falling under student well-being, and 100% of students, um, report that they have a trusted adult to go to. So, starting out with chronic absenteeism, in general, chronic absenteeism is 10% or more of
the days that the students are enrolled in school. So, if it's 180, right, quick math, is 18 days. things that count as far as when you're absent. Pretty much everything outside of inschool suspension or athletic activities. So, family vacation, even if the absence is
excused, it still counts towards chronic absenteeism. >> And sometimes there those academic related things too, right? Yeah. Yeah. Like a STEM >> activity in high school. >> Yes. So for elementary, we saw an uptick
this year in chronic absenteeism and for all three of our groups. Uh for economically disadvantaged, all of our students and not looks like it went up about four to 5% as far as the number of students that experience chronic absenteeism. >> Yeah.
>> To pinpoint a reason for that, it's tough. I mean, a lot of theories, but I think this is another slide again as as far as drilling down for you could do another two-hour presentation because you could break this up into school and grade level. Uh, you know, Missy would come in, we could talk to social work,
talk to our NMCA people and see specifically and even even if you drill down as far as EL population, we start to look at what month we saw our absenteeism in. Was it more illness this year? But again, with a fiveyear trend is what we're
>> Yeah. And and I just want to, you know, give a shout out that I know you all have invested some some time and energy into reducing chronic absenteeism this last year. So I don't want anybody to feel discouraged. Um because I I think
you know the promotion to parents through building level newsletters and such has been it can only have a positive effect. Um, so this is despite your efforts, you know, and I just want to encourage you to keep it up because
this is so much in the national and the state level conversation. >> Um, and I did want to ask like do you happen to know if this is consistent with what the state of Michigan is seeing this year? >> I have not. I did in a previous slide I I took the average off because the
average was last year. So the average was last year's I think fell into about 28 and 35 >> as far as all students and economically disadvantaged. Um I'm not sure where it was and this year if it also bumped up. >> I do remember from our prior study sessions that we are well below the
state average. >> So just to keep that perspective in mind um >> and and I didn't have this slide up here but overall absenteeism >> that we are well below I believe our our average is around Let me see 90%.
>> Yep. >> Yeah, it's pretty close to 90%. >> But that that excellent deep dive you did on like what is that impact on GPA? The more they're absent, I mean, it was just so telling. So, I always keep that
in mind for these kids. >> And it was a colder winter, which complicates transportation, getting kids in. There's a lot of there's a lot of factors there with some of our e population, some social issues and things that are going on as well.
>> Um, so there's lot to unpack there, but as an ISD, we're really working at trying to, you know, get to the deeper part of this and communication with parents. So, we'll continue to work at this point. >> Yeah, thank you. >> And again, K5 data. This is all just reiterate
co-curricular activity. So, this is really the first year. This is why I only had one one bar in here as far as where we created a system with Sophie and our data team to specifically start to mark this in power school instead of just bringing LEAP numbers over. So for
elementary I think um you know the goal is 75% all students 65% economically disadvantaged and this does not include again things outside of school. So if we're talking about playing tag softball or we're talking about participating in YMCA, none of that stuff is up there.
This is purely things that are connected some way to school. Uh that's a co-curricular activity. So for for 25 in particular, I think a lot of kids participate outside the school day in many different activities. It's just hard to capture that. total offered two
is two, right? >> One thing that was interesting is we took uh these are all of our title schools uh and took the participation for economically disadvantaged kids in all of our title schools. And um one interesting thing is that usually we see
you know Blair height central grade together uh as far as any kind of data goes. They have our our highest percentage and most economically disadvantaged kids. But with uh Traverse Heights right now as far as our title school still has the most participation.
Uh and I think that's obviously connected to the fact that their PTO had a donor that pays for all the fees. So economically disadvantaged kids get a reduc or free fee. There's still a fee there uh of10 to $15. They don't pay anything in Traverse Heights. So we
we've seen a year and now this is year two where we've seen an impact on that program. >> Yeah. How about Central grade? How's that? >> So Central grade has our most has not the highest number but our largest number of economically disadvantaged
kids. I think something else to be aware like at some of those schools they're still neighborhood schools. >> Not [clears throat] a lot of our economically disadvantaged students at central grade are living within >> that school district. So transportation is a large
>> and that may be in other schools as well. But >> as far as just walking >> Yeah. >> or even it's a long drive from >> Yeah. some of those spots >> is how's the central grade PTO doing these days? Does anybody know?
>> I think that they, you know, continue to, you know, have some struggles as many of our our PTOs do. So, and even Traverse Hates with those if it wasn't for the donor. I think, you know, that again our our more economically disadvantaged schools have um you know
harder times with generating funds with their PTOs, not by a lack of effort, but >> um so I think that you know this is something I've talked to the board a little bit about. I think it's something that, you know, when we see the budget come out here, um, I want to in August
revisit some conversation on this slide in particular, um, and talk about, you know, what our thoughts are on trying to, um, reach these goals because, um, you know, we we've done a great job, I think, of collecting the data that we
can that we have. Um but I think without some kind of um you know real intervention financially I think we're going to continue to struggle especially with our economically disadvantaged students and participating um and I think it's more than that even I think it's partnership with maybe u beta you
know to look at I think there's an overall plan um but you know and there are challenges so for instance you know we have ginger this is one other thing a part of our our foundation that we are specifically trying to to raise money towards um and you know we've we've
faced challenges. We wanted to do some more signs at Throwby that we were denied. Um, you know, and and so that's, you know, um there's some possible, you know, uh appeal that we could do with that, but I don't know the flavor of the board for some of that. And and uh so,
like I said, there's just more conversation I think next month um to have particular with with this with this goal. >> And you still have that PTO's collectively meeting occasionally during the year, right? to see if we can help each other. >> We have and you know that's a struggle.
I think that they're just um you know honestly they are just you know barely keeping up with their own you know at this point with enough parent volunteers and stuff. So um I don't know that that's really a feasible um you know
possibility a solution. So I think I think it's going to have to be an overall district and district staffled work that's going to have to go towards trying to achieve this point. I don't think we can rely on any of our PTOs outside of the scope of what they're
just trying to do in their own schools to to make it happen. We're meeting and I think it's great collaboration. I think they get great ideas and things off each other, but just again I don't know that they have enough um uh people power to be able to do anything outside
the scope of their own buildings. >> Okay. Will you be able to get also the nondisadvantaged uh schools somehow fit on this graph so that we could see kind of comparison at Eastern
and Willow Hill. >> We'll do that and we'll share that with the board >> because I think that could be useful. >> Yeah. >> And then third part of goal two was uh 100% of kids have a trusted adult they can go to. So this was all of our student surveys were broken down uh K2
and 35. Uh K2 made a little simpler as far as answering questions. This was a yes or no. Our three five surveys were on a sliding scale of one to fives. Uh I put fours and fives together as far as the green strongly agree. Put ones and twos together unless three and three as
far as neutral in the middle questions over. No, I mean it it is I'll just say it's noteworthy. You know, immediately 70% of the older kids knew who to whom to turn, but I'm sure that's something you're
working on at the building model. >> Yep. All three positive behaviors. Two elementary touch points here. Um students report respectful behaviors in your school and students suspensions occur one time with the student. Um, so respectful behaviors. I took three
questions off the survey for lower elementary as far as things that I thought encompassed uh what respectful behaviors look like. Kids are kind to me at school. Kids are kind to teachers at school and teachers are kind to kids at school. Um, so again, those were yes no questions. Uh, we did have an unsure
category there. Um, that's how our lower L. That's our K3 or K2. >> If I were to do this again, I would take the unsure off. force them to have an answer. >> Can't go back now. So, what we're going for five years
in the upper elementary, same thing with our our one through five. Um, students generally treat me with respect. Students generally treat teachers with respect and then teachers treat uh students with respect. >> Yeah, I do I did note that you added the
word generally. >> Yeah, we talked about that last year. >> Exactly. But only for the older students. I I was just thinking about that. The lower students, it might it be a little too nuanced a concept. >> We received some feedback that this the survey in general is challenging for
kindergarten. So moving forward, we might take that out of there because I don't know how reliable >> data is. I guess time of year helps too and just how they work with a computer. And >> a lot of them went to paper and then we had to double enter. But >> the last time you had your feelings hurt. [clears throat]
>> Yeah. And JK didn't do it. >> Okay. >> We would have spent a week on >> it. [laughter] >> So yeah. When were was this done? At the end of the year. >> This is middle. >> Okay. >> So we get this coming back from Christmas break. So >> Okay.
>> Once a year and then with the obviously next year then we'll have a second data point to reference. And then you worked with each building, all 11 elementary schools to review these results. And >> I did see I have my one-on-one meetings with principles uh monthly. There's a a
staff survey also. So we cover those when we look at overall building climate. >> All right. >> Student suspension goal. So on strategic plan, um our goal is that when once a student is suspended, uh they are only suspended
once and it's an 85. We'd like to see of our suspensions, 85 of them only be one. So if you look at these two bars, they all of them had up to 100%. Our goal is that the blue bar is at 85%. So we have 85% is suspended once. Um and then right
now we're not close to that. It's an interesting metric to look at. I mean that's what we want to happen, but we find that generally and this is this happens to be 5050. The year before was even a little more. So I guess technically we have made progress in the fact that a student is suspended one
time and compared to last year they weren't suspended more than that. The drawback is that I also added in like how many student suspensions we had and we did have in elementary significant uptick of students that were suspended from school and OSS
suspensions do count. there is some correlation maybe also to our chronic absenteeism because an OSS does count ISS does not. If we look at so there's three things on this graph right we have our orange is out of school suspensions our blue is in
school suspensions and then um unique students that were suspended we had about 135. So going back to some percentages, uh we cut that in half. So say about 67 and a half students were suspended more
than one time. Um so throw that into of how many% of kids that we actually have in our with of the 3,600 kids or over our 11 elementaryaries. Um so it's about three to four kids per building that were suspended more than one time. >> Yeah.
>> And so to me, this is a tier tier three issue, right? this some people want to look might want to look at this and automatically like knee-jerk what do you have for curriculum you know 3,600 plus kids I don't think this is a tier onecl issue this is behavior that we've
seen we met a couple times this year with um our [clears throat] ISD superintendent this year K2 especially she's seen more suspensions K2 this year than any other year so that behavior coming in and for whatever reason um I don't know if there's any research with
the year they were born if it was 2020 and co and all that thing as far as them coming through. >> Um but this is something that we're hoping to address. One thing we did we have those behavior positions uh in place to address some more the tier two and the tier three uh while our social
workers will continue to work on tier one. But I think a lot of those schools that were doubled up that we see uh as far as social work working on that tier one I think the tier one is okay. uh we would see a a huge uptick. If our tier one was totally off, I think this might
be through the roof. So, >> and I know Misty and her team has done a lot of work in terms of everyday speech at that tier 2 level. So, I think that, you know, that's going to hopefully be implemented and continue to be implemented in the years to come and hopefully that will reduce >> and this goes just to your point of
like, you know, looking at interventions. So, as we put these behavior interventions in the building these next year, adding some of those spots, it'll be interesting to see now the data to see if we start to see with those in, you know, working at that higher intensity level with those kids
that, you know, have behavior things, can we make a difference with this >> and a focus on these kids? Like that's that's what that particular individual in each building is going to have. Right now when we get to this level of behavior with a kid being m suspended multiple times this falls on admin
special ed teacher in the building usually I mean I again going through you can do a study session on any slide right if we were to break this up uh I took a quick look you know 75% or more of these kids that have the 457 suspensions have IEPs >> right so the direct correlation to
disability when we look at behavior >> what kinds of behavior are you talking >> so generally speaking with suspension we're talking >> is verbal? >> No, no, >> no. This is going to be it could be verbal if it's if it's a threat for the building as far as harm goes. Uh we'll
send a kid home and have a meeting if if they make a threatening statement. Uh but generally this is physical. This is either destruction of property through a classroom or this is actual physical with a teacher or another student.
I'll mention too, you know, I do the round table every month with all the union leadership and every single month when I get to the TCA group when we talk about are there concerns, it's always student behavior. So, our teachers are just experiencing that elevated level. So, I'm sure they're going to appreciate the additional interventions because
it's just a theme that comes up over and over and over again. >> Yeah, I'm I'm just surprised it hasn't been more flat level year to year to year that you're seeing the rise. That's what's surprising me cuz we're a ways out from co now and >> right that's I agree that's the hope
>> that's >> that's what kind of surprises me are we being more uh strict in our expectations is that part of the reason there's a rise >> because we haven't seen as far as turnover of our 11 principles elementary
there hasn't been any in the last two years so these are the exact same administrators year after year and some of our buildings that we've seen that um just there's a a few buildings in particular I've seen that had some challenges with some particular students
with multiple uh with multiple suspensions and eventually what that gets it it actually leads to change of placement right there there is a correlation too as far as when we talk about change of placement I mean Creekide emotionally impaired school for students with behavior needs um you know
part of the data point is how many times have they been suspended So there is that as far as or they come into us brand new or they're in kindergarten in particular for elementary kids there is no IE right there literally for some kindergarten kids there is no preschool or GSRP or
ECSC or any of that stuff. They're just coming in day one first time ever in a structured school environment. Um and some of them struggle greatly. >> Oh yeah. Yeah. >> And so once we then then we have to go through the process of identifying maybe
they do need an IEP. So that's going to be a lot of data collection. Uh and then once they do then there might be additional suspensions. >> And what's hard for me um is in that continuum there's not much middle intervention
uh structure within either our ISD or our school. So what I mean by that is you have a student that is maybe identified with an emotional impairment. um you know, it it's kind of they're in the the general ed least restrictive environment or they advance to a
self-contained center-based program that the ISD runs of those kids together, you know, by themselves outside of the regular school environment. And there's not a middle. There's not a a smaller, more intensive environment for that
student to be in that maybe they're able to be in their specials like art, music, PE, but they're in that self-contained environment to have a teacher work on those behaviors and more intently with fewer kids there in that element. And that's something that we've struggled to
find the res resources to do. It's one of the things you might have read um like I interviewed by Bridge magazine yesterday. I'm waiting on the budget. We'd really like to try and hire a special ed teacher to try that program. We have a [clears throat] name for it called the hub. Something we really want to do, but I do not have the financial
resources as I sit here at the moment to be able to do it. And if I have it, my problem is is now we've waited months to be able to find a special ed teacher, >> right? And so now I'm sitting here today, you know, and and the day before this is all supposed to be done and still have no idea what our budget is
and every day goes by is the less chance I find a quality person for that spot. >> And so when you're reading me talk about some of these things, here I am sitting, this is the perfect example of something we desperately need to try and do and be innovative and find a different way, but
I don't have the financial, you know, resources to do it. Unfortunately, I think that would be really impactful. >> Agreed. >> Because we have other programs that are like that, right? Our students with mild cognitive impairments [snorts] where they're
>> in a self-contained classroom a portion of the day and then they go out for their specialist for the rest of the day. So, >> yeah. and and you know we would like to find a way is there are we able to get a kid to to you know normalize behavior and get on that right track without
sending them to a different place in a different school and a different thing from the kids in their neighborhood in that element but they're there in lies our problem. So that's something we're working towards trying to figure out something like we try to see does it work if it works at a school can we
replicate it but again the resources and the human resources of finding to be able to do that that's a struggle where we're at right now we've got ideas on how what some things I think can make some impact with that I don't have the ability at the moment as I say here right now
>> would you put two grades together >> probably we've talked about you know K2 you know like maybe environment and that element Um, you know, it's a little bit of R&D and trying to figure out what that rate is because to be honest with you, I've never seen it um in a school district.
Um, you know, and and most of the small districts in the north have no don't have enough resources. You know, there are some ISDs don't even have the the center-based ISD program at all. When I was in LP state, we didn't even have that. So, you know, the the great is we do have the resources with the ASD to
have if a kid really falls upon that continuum and builds up that they have to have that completely different, more restrictive environment. My question is is can we find a point in the middle where we can get a kid back to some, you
know, strategies and some interventions to get them back to that least restrictive environment and be successful academically, emotionally, and all those things. But sitting here waiting right now today is still wanting to do it. >> Yeah.
>> I think we also have to look society, right? We're seeing an uptick in things happening on airplanes and you know you go to restaurants you there's definitely a change right >> in causation co not I don't know
>> but it is but it is >> you know so >> well I think it it is a variety of things. I don't think it's just co >> don't either, but we've got to come up with a variety of strategies is kind of my point and the resources to do those. And so that's what I'm most disappointed right now with our state budget and two years in a row
>> is anything by time we go to be able to maybe try and do it and find staff >> if we have the resources it's too late. >> Right. Well, just to note, there is a uh Michigan Association of School Boards movement for school boards to adopt
resolutions putting pressure on the state legislature to pass the budget by >> tomorrow. >> Today, [laughter] it's going to happen this year. >> June 30th, right? But that is something we could look at as a board putting on our agenda in July. >> That's fair.
>> Yeah. >> Okay. And then part of that is a reflection of what you're seeing in the schools because people just can't quite get it together to work together all the time >> even in an [clears throat] election year. I will add. Okay, moving right along. Goal four.
>> Yeah, go four. Uh just a touch point here for we do have students in elementary that uh take my access and uh Tiffany brought some data together. My access is the alternative to MSTEP. There's some qualifications for special ed students to take my access and our goal for the that was included in
strategic planet that's under 1% of our kids. So, >> and I think what's really important to note here is uh the majority of our students are on common core standards, but then we do have what we call essential elements in the state of Michigan. And so teams have to really talk about is a student making growth on
their IEP goals and objectives and if they're not then what are we changing? And in some cases we have to move students on to those essential elements and then usually what comes along with that is a change in what assessment they're taking. So the majority of our
kids take MSTEP uh and SAT but for some of our kids if they're on those essential elements we they will take the my access uh which is very much aligned to the state standards but just different. For example, um students on common core standards, they might have
to come up with a theme, uh the main character, yada yada yada. Uh for our students with the essential elements, they may only be looking at who is the main character and where did the story take place. >> So again, same standard, just different
level of intensity. uh and there are three levels uh on those essential elements and most of our students are on the high [clears throat] which means we're really focusing on what's the maximum extent they can get to those standards. Um and so obviously
the federal government has really pushed with ESSA um that every student should take the state standards. Um and the goal is that it's always less than 1% of our student population should be taking
an alternative assessment. And so we talk about teams, IEP teams have to talk about really the category is less than a 62 full scale IQ, extensive needs related to um adaptive uh their
instruction is differently and um they have a lot of accommodations within their IEP. And so that's really what the teams look at. And so I'm happy to say we have done a lot of training on this. We've talked to our administrators about it. We've talked to our special ed teams
about it. And I can honestly say uh that we are under the 1% as a district. So really proud of our teams. Um our goal is always for our students to stay on the state standards. Um but if they need to, we move them to those essential
elements based on their individual needs. >> You know, just add correct me if I'm wrong. Historically, as an ISD and as a district, we've been above the 1% mark. >> Yes. So that's why this was an important goal. >> When did the So on the previous side,
the federal ESSA limit requires that no more than 1% of students take an alternative assessment. When did that go into effect? >> You know, I don't know exactly when that would have been. Um, but it's been for a few years. Um, and the state of Michigan, I want to say, is like 1.58%
uh of the state. And so they've asked for waiverss for the federal government over many years. uh in the last two years it has been denied that the state is not getting the waiver anymore. They federal government's like nope you need to be under 1% as a state.
>> Yeah. So the state was cited and therefore ISDs and districts were cited and we were cited as one as one I want to say four years ago or five years ago. >> Um so we've worked hard at this and it's important to keep an eye on it that we don't creep the other way.
>> So that's why this was a really good goal for us. Is there a penalty at the from the federal level like with appropriations passed >> can be title dollars? >> Title. >> Okay. >> And this is K12 data. Correct. >> Correct. >> All right. Thank you.
>> And then goal five, high quality staffing. >> So Dan had asked me to come just to give you guys kind of a high level of where we are at this point and make it specific to elementary. and I tried my best, but we don't really break out our data specifically for elementary. So, some of it is going to cross across all
um K12 and not only teachers, but also outside of our teaching capacity with our support groups, non-affffiliated administrators, administrators, etc. So, really our focus has been on the three main themes and that is, you know, our recruitment, our retention and development of staff. So as we move on
here, one of the things that we did this year was to initiate a benchmark survey with our hiring managers in terms of their overall um satisfaction not only with our process but the candidate pool that we were bringing in. So just to give you some of that data from here um
keeping in mind again this isn't just our principles and this is also what includes those individuals who hire for our maintenance custodial transportation early childhood all of those pieces. So, we had 21 of our hiring managers elect to complete the um the survey. And as
you can see, our goal is always going to have mostly fives. Um but fours or fives, we're rating them from um in this case, I'm looking I'm sorry, I go back. Um like for the first graph you see there for the quality of candidates from, you know, very poor to
exceptional. And then the second slide there is their overall satisfaction with the hiring process. Um anywhere from the two to the four to five range. And so, um, five being very satisfied with the process. And then we got some just general narrative feedback. And that
feedback was basically pushing up the hiring timeline, posting and interviewing super um, s sooner. Um, implementing and use more of the one-way video because where we're located, it's very difficult for us to have staff come all the way up here for that preliminary interview. And that's a screener
interview for us. So, that's a huge commitment. So, we're really doing those screening interviews for that one way. um putting out questions designed for those individual positions that they complete in return and then all of those are going out to our hiring managers and then faster interview scheduling and
communication with the applicants was something that we heard back from and that's really something that we have been trying to do specific to elementary. I'll note that one of the things that we brought we bring in teachers and our um into the interview process and they were noting as part of our performance interview we were asking
teachers to create a lesson plan. Um thanks to AI what we were finding is a lot of the lesson plans people were coming in were AI generated and our teachers can spot those just you know right out of the blue. So we changed the process. We create an AI generated lesson plan and then we ask the
candidates to spe specifically change it, tweak it to meet our curriculum, our district standards to make it very TCAPS focused. So trying to get ahead of people utilizing AI to circumvent the the work that it takes in the interview process. So, from our recruitment this
school year, um, elementary, middle, and high school content specific, we posted all of those positions on December 19th of last year. Why that date is important is every year we we've been rolling out that early notification incentive for individuals who know that they will be
retiring or leaving our district at the end of the school year. The first notification period, which comes with the highest level of incentive, is right before that date. So, this year it was December 19th. We knew at that point in time for folks who had already made the determination that they were retiring
had given us notification. So then we know what positions were going to need to fill specific content areas. Elementary sometimes we have to ballpark it because we don't necessarily know enrollment but we can get those out there earlier. That generated a much higher than normal applicant pool. So we
had 544 teacher certified applicants that has been received to date. Um, of those we sent out, every individual received a SP spark hire, which is our one-on-one video screener interview, and those were sent in real time to our
principles. So, they as they came in, the hiring managers were looking at those, and we were identifying individuals, and we were reaching out to those individuals to schedule interviews. Those in-person interviews, as of today, we've done 294. You can add four more because we're
going to be interviewing four elementary candidates this afternoon. um because we do still have four elementary vacancies open. So again, we're starting to see we get to this point in the school year, applicants have already accepted positions in other districts, but we are
starting to see a few graduates, individuals deciding later to move to the area. And that is a big challenge for us. Every time we see an applicant coming from out of state, we know that it's going to be a risk if we identify that as our selected candidate because we lose about half of them. We and so
you'll see there we had 36 certified staff hired as of today. 15 of those were elementary teachers but we made 46 offers which means of those we had 10 individuals who maybe either turned us down or who accepted and then subsequently rescended their acceptance.
What we're hearing from the folks that are turning us down to be honest it comes down to to money. Traverse City is a very expensive place to live and so if they don't have family or an existing residence here, they're finding that they need additional dollars. And while our salary schedule is competitive,
please note that we're surrounded by a lot of out of formula districts. So we're there as the as we get more competitive for teachers, they're amping up their salary schedules to degrees that we're not able to do just based on our base foundation districts that we have. And Dr. Van Wagner pointed it out.
A lot of these things, some of the title dollars that might help us to increase our hiring capacity, any increase on the foundation allowance and then overall enrollment, we're basing on projections and so much of that is not known back in January, February, and March when we were trying to do our interview process
this year. So, we are hiring our base minimum. What do we know that we need to operate our classrooms, keeping a close eye on enrollment? So you'll notice one of those um elementary positions that we're interviewing today is because we had an elementary whose first grades level numbers are up to 29 close to 30
and we don't run first grade at that that high of a number. So we are adding those positions as is determined to be critical. Are there other areas that would be a too nice to do? Absolutely. And we would love to do that but in the absence of any financial certainty we're sort of limited on what we can do. Then
the longer it goes the fewer applicants that we're getting for those positions. um from a retention st. So I'm sorry any any questions on recruitment? [laughter] >> No, you did a great very thorough overview there. Thank you. >> And just so you know too, next year we are actually moving up our hiring
process even earlier. Part of our difficulty in doing the hiring process is scheduling our principles, getting them out of their buildings, getting teacher representatives out of their buildings to participate in those interviews and what those dates are. So, we're locking in those dates right now so that moving forward people don't
schedule around them and we know what those are going to be. So, again, with our early retirement incentives, hopefully we'll know what those positions are for next school year early like we did this year and we'll get those even even earlier. From a retention standpoint, we introduced the
school year stay interviews which we've not done with our district previously. So, members of our HR team, myself included, were made meeting face to face. We did a random poll from the various groups just and we're asking them questions about do you feel like you are supported in your role? Do you
have the resources that you need to do your job? And one particular question that we're asking is, you know, have you in the last 5 years considered leaving our district? And then are you currently looking to leave our district? and of the um admin secondary admin or
elementary administrators and the elementary teachers that I interviewed, no individual indicated that they were looking to leave the organization. Now, keeping in mind this is a you know a sample poll from that group, but it was very reassuring and we're going to continue though to use that information as we build um some of our retention
strategies going forward. Our retention of our TCA group still remains extremely high. We're 92.9%. This is outside of retirements. So this year we had 25 TCEA retirements, 14 um TCEA resignations. We do collect and do
um as people are leaving get interviews from individuals and I will tell you that of those who are leaving all but two were for family relocation reasons for spouses andor family daycare reasons. So, these are individuals who may have been out on a leave of absence
post giving birth or taking care of a child who then have determined not to return um to the district. But I will tell you that not not all of the information is is happy. Those two individuals that we lost this year, we lost midyear based on student behaviors and those were new teachers. um the
pressures of the classrooms and I can tell you that I know the principles that are working in those buildings are doing their very best to support but the individuals just said that the student behaviors were not what they anticipated when they went into this profession and both brand new teachers. So, so that was difficult and just so you know the
overall number of folks that we have we have 520 teachers during the 2526 school year. So for that you know 39 um folks 14% of them leaving that gets us to our 92.9% retention rate. But we're going to try to get it higher. So hopefully some of these behavior interventions that we
have, we're never going to be able to control family circumstances. We have Coast Guard families, military families here that that move, job relocations, but for the most part, our staff, at least the state interview information is telling us are overall satisfied with their employment with TCAPS. But we can
always do better. We'll get that 92.9% higher. I will note those that our cultural surveys that we do of staff that is really more encompassing, we really only do every two years. So, this was not a survey year. We'll be doing that again next year. We just want to make sure that we're not doing
[clears throat] survey fatigue with our staff because we'll have a smaller portion of folks participating if we do that. And then growing our our individuals. One of the things we wanted to do was increase our participation at regional staff development day, RSD day.
Um, in 2425 we had 74% participation. A lot of folks using personal time calling in sick. This year that was at 85.6%. And I have to give all those kudos to the folks sitting in this room for making that training much more relevant for the staff um getting their input on
what they wanted to see um at that RSDD day and that across from our special education team, general education uh and that was the feedback that we received. But this year again getting that number up even higher. Our department has also been working on some career pathways. So
at your leisure if you want to we can click on that at some other point when you have more time. But that is for say for example we develop career pathways for an individual who may be a um an aid within our district and what does it look like if they want to go back to college and become a teacher. And so we
walk them through what that pathway would look like. We've offered and initiated in all of our collective bargaining agreements for instructional groups both support and professional. We've developed um tuition reimbursement programs to you know kind of take away that financial strain at least some of
it for folks wanting to return. We've identified in our um TC CAPSA group a lot of them wanting to move particularly at the elementary level into teaching positions allowing them to have leaves of absence where they have right to return to their support groups to
complete student um uh student teaching opportunities programs that they they've implemented in our district for full participation. So they can do that they can maintain their TC CAPSA benefits during that year and that they have an opportunity if there isn't a teaching
opportunity available to them when they complete their program that they can always return back to the TC CAPSA unit. So we've worked um with our unions on doing that. We continue to attend our Travis Connect talent committee, advisory summits, partnerships with the
talent together program, uh GBSU CMU, um fair state collaboration, and that's for our teacher, um student teachers. They are our best pipeline. And for a long for a bit there, we were seeing a significant decline in the number of student teachers coming here because some of those universities implemented
um mile radiuses. And so because they're not located so close to us, we weren't that they weren't even given the opportunity to come to TCAPS. So through some outreach, they've expanded that. So we're able to get student teachers back from those universities. And so I just
want to ask, does it go so GVSU, CMU, and F State? Uh does that geographic range go as far as Eastern Michigan University? >> I don't know. And I think they were not one of them that had implemented a radius. And so that in MSU, we're still
getting folks from those. These were the universities that had the radius restrictions that we're trying to work with to to alleviate those. >> And then you guys will remember we had a time where we couldn't find school social workers. And so we've been partnering with MSU and their um
internship agreements bringing more. And this year we had several um social work vacancies and we had significant numbers of qualified applicants. And I didn't mention this before, but I'm looking forward to doing the survey with our hiring managers on the quality of
applicants because you'll notice that first slide I showed you this year at least the verbal feedback that we have received from our hiring managers particularly in the student they're in the teaching ranks has been that the candidate pool has been much richer than it has been in previous years. And that
could be the result of starting earlier. Um but we've been really really satisfied with the number of people. effect. There are times when it's come down that it's been a really difficult decision for us um on who to select because the candidate pool was so rich. And I just wanted to let you know too
that we have 44 staff currently taking advantage of our district tuition reimbursement program. And that doesn't include those individuals who are in our 100% tuition reimbursement programs. So individuals in special education, EL and social work, they qualify for 100%
tuition reimbursement, whereas it's 50% for um all the non identified areas there. So we have a significant number of staff members who are pursuing additional um certifications or andor their masters, masters plus 15, masters
plus 30 to continue to be at the top of their craft. And then the last thing I'll mention is that we're starting to work with NMC on some partnership programs and fact we have a meeting tomorrow for them to specifically work with us to tailor um leadership programs. One of the ones that we're
looking at right now are for our individuals in our um our maintenance custodial the ask me groups who may have a desire to move into supervisory capacities. So a lot of those folks are really really good at what they do but they don't have any supervisory or leadership training. So to specifically
design a training um for those individuals who may have aspirations to move into leadership roles in the future and again that helps us to grow our own and move them up through our organization. And then also um exploring some skilled trade programs. So as you
know those skilled trades are very difficult to to fill not only here but across the the region. And so and I go back to that first slide when we had the the individuals who are not happy with the hiring process andor the quality of applicants. I can tell you that the
supervisors identify themselves as coming from that ask me group because our applicant pools tend to be so shallow. Um so hopefully by introducing some opportunities for our individuals within us our custodial maintenance who may want to become mechanics, HVAC, um
electricians, any of those skilled trades for us to be able to offer that at low or no tuition to them um may help us to grow our own and um have that candidate pool sitting there whenever we have a vacancy. >> That's great. Do you have uh teachers coming from Ann
Arbor, from Wayne State, as well as MSU? >> Uh we don't. Well, I shouldn't say that, Beth. We get them from a a cross-section. Our largest pool tend to come from, but they're they're teacher teacher programs are larger, though, too. So, they produce a larger number of
applicants. Um but keeping in mind, too, that we're competing with all of the lower, you know, lower districts. So I I can just only use my example of when I was at Kent, you could have a teacher who could live in Grand Rapids, yet they would have 20 districts easily within
driving distance for them that they could go to and shop around and and interview with that would not require a relocation of a family. Many times when we're bringing people, it does re require a relocation of family. And so that's a spouse's job, that's moving
their their children. Um, so it's, you know, usually it's one, we we really love it when we see a candidate who's already local, which, you know, is great for us. >> Yeah. >> I have a just a question about the the very top statistic there about the
regional staff development day. Was that the key re um review piece that our ISD did to determine that we had sufficient professional development days this year so that we didn't have to extend our calendar based on all the weather days?
>> No, >> no, it wasn't. Okay. >> No, what you know what we have next year is we we did that with the Dan mentioned the additional February day this next year. that that from that that that >> I was just wondering if we could use that as an incentive to get and we have
you know staff [clears throat] participation >> what we have the ability to say is that you know for it to count that it has to exactly you know in the future that's what I mean yeah so >> yeah the higher the percentage of participation >> so yes there there is a possibility if that situation arose that that date
could be used for that but only if we have a higher so what you're saying is correct >> yeah I mean I'm I obviously quality matters matters the most. We want to have meaningful PD for all of our >> technically all of our PD days fall under that, but that one in particular because it wouldn't, you know, is is a
big one. >> We have to have the same staff percentage in order for the day to count that we would need to have student percentage for a day to count. >> So, yeah, they're they are aware of that. Nice thing is this year because of the forgiveness days, we didn't actually need to [clears throat] convert any of our um professional development days to
instructional because of the additional days that came down from the state. But in order in the future for us to be able to do that, we have to have a minimum participation. >> Okay, great. Thank you. >> Thanks, Connie. So, I think with that, we are going to
move on to the next part of ourformational items portion of the agenda and that is the sex education advisory board evaluation report out and bylaws. And I will defer to Britney Kay and Dan McGee. And I'm just going to
yield the chair seat for a minute while I step out momentarily. So Beth, take over if you need to. All right. Thanks. I'll be right back. >> I'm going to directly pass it to Dan McGear, current sex education coordinator, and then um Miss Aaron Johnson, who will be stepping into the
sex education coordinator role as Dan moves into uh his retirement. So, congrat congratulations to Dan and the work he's done in overseeing um this board and they will be presenting out on our proposed bylaws and the results of our 24 through 26 evaluation.
>> All right. So, I just go to the next do we have to >> who's got who's got control to actually go to the >> just click on the document >> on the document. this one who's got
>> on the 2026 proposed bylaws. >> So, in our in our uh sex advisory board, there's a number of things and bylaws have to be reviewed and evaluation has to take place. So, those just happen to be one's two years,
one's three years. They just both happen to be the same. Uh to start with, every year we we we have people that leave because they have three-year terms and we have new people.
Um we have an amazing board. I can't, you know, kudos to the people that put all the time and energy to do this. Uh beginning meetings at the beginning of the year, we we start talking about, okay, here's here's what we have on our
agenda this year. these these two items were there and then we're always looking at curriculum. So, uh as far as the advisory uh this this particular document
we were we um I we put we we went into subcommittee work so we can divide that. We had an elementary curriculum, a secondary curriculum. They looked at the
curriculum, make sure we're we're proposed changes. We didn't quite get to any proposed changes. We had a lot of discussions and a lot of work and then you as you know the uh state of Michigan
has adopted health education standards and TCAPS hasn't decided which of those standards we're going to adopt for particularly for sex education because there's some flexibility in that. So that's taking place this summer from the
board and that will help direct the committee in the future. Um the pro the process of getting on the board. I can talk about that because we have an application in there. Um there's an application we we publish it. Uh used
to be in the it was great. We were in the teens and it was great to have that many people and then we were in the 20s and 30s and last year I had well over 50 applicants. >> That was by the cuto off date. They came
in the next week and it was like, well, there was a date and it was published. So, um, we have a great amount of people, new people. You got to bring them up to speed. Here's the laws, here's the
processes we we look at and everything. And there's a lot of uh discussion. A lot of discussion went on to membership. And you'll see during the membership part of this, we have a we had a lot of proposed changes. Um how members are are
selected. They're not selected. It's a lottery because our numbers are great. Um I have colleagues in other districts that they recruit people because they don't have enough to fill their board. We don't have that. um the
roles of people. Um we have to have medical people, we have to have uh at least half parents and then there's an employee issue with that. But to meet all those criteria and then we have
educators and other professionals and stuff that could that could meet those. uh parents being a big big huge one and the state of Michigan puts that in there and we make sure we follow all we meet all those uh requirements.
a lot of discussion over I think there was a board member or two that were drawn this year that applied in the past and they weren't and and like there's people that don't get I do get kickback when I send because I send an email to
all applicants and basically tell them you know uh sorry you weren't selected in the lottery you know please apply again in the future and that um and there's some feedback I get sometimes about, well, I'm more qualified than
other people. So, we had a lot of conversations about qual qualifications and we got into the medical part of it. We got into and I'm like, well, a parent is just as qualified to be on this as anyone. Um, the medical part of it is
important because we have to make sure our curriculums are medically accurate, which they are. So, we had some proposed changes. Uh, we tweaked the if I don't know if I can
change it from here, but yeah, we tweaked the application just just basically we have four [snorts] groups on here. You're a parent having children in TCAPS, you're an educator, you're a local
clergy or a community health professional. So, a lot of discussion about that. There used to be a citizens at large. It's not suggested by the state that you have that. And to tell you the truth, every citizen at large
that that that is there is a parent or a medical or something else. It's just a secondary box they choose. And we just we just thought we're g we're going to streamline that and eliminate that. We
uh edited the application for student application because we want we we've had years where we couldn't find students. This year we were very fortunate. We've we found three students and that was outstanding. Um and we did not put a
limit. So if a student is on there as a junior, they can still do multiple years. Uh we typically have have the student application we've looked for high school kids. Usually they're all seniors. Uh but
occasionally, you know, we're hoping we get some sophomore, junior, seniors and get their input uh as well. Um so all the changes we've we've in our bylaws we've suggested are in red. So,
we never have had a minimum or maximum on the board. And when you get 50 applicants, you go, "Oh, it'd be great to have a You can't operate a board with 50." You know, we've it's it's expanded from the time I took over to where we
are. And we have a manageable board. Uh our attendance this year was better uh regularly. That was outstand. We had a few conflicts with people's work schedule that kind of kind of caused them not to be able to make it, [snorts]
but just a couple of those. So, we broke that down and we finally decided, okay, a minimum and a maximum. That doesn't mean you [clears throat] have to meet the max, but we had that uh the minimum was
it it isn't an issue right now. we have a good problem with all the applicants positions for uh optimal minimum two to three high school students. So we decided we want to keep two or three of those spaces for high
school students at least one clergy member um and three medical professionals. So there was a lot of discussion about medical uh professionals and whatnot.
um and and who's who's more qualified than others and you're splitting hairs and then we got into who's going to make those decisions and all that. So we had a lot of indepth conversations and we came up with a pretty respectful
solution. If there are more volunteers in opening a lottery system happens uh there may be a lottery to fill the above positions. So during the lottery um for instance this year we needed a we
needed a clergy. Our clergy that we had in the past her she termed out um they're allowed to reapply any any member when they're termed out after three can reapply and then they're
they're put in the lottery pool. So, um, I'm going through I actually videotaped it and I'm pulling the names and we get to a place and I also know how many I keep track of how many parents to make
sure we meet that. We did not have these specific things in the past. Um, but we did not have a clergy and I knew we needed a clergy. So, when with one seat remaining, I believe we had five clergy apply. they were in the regular
lottery and just never got picked. Some of the clergy are are dual people. They also are a parent and a clergy. Same with uh most of our medical people are also are also uh um or educators are
also parents. But since we didn't I had to grab those five and do a lottery for that one seat. Now it could have been that we had three on there. it wasn't. But we want to make sure we always have
at least one uh clergy member. So that's how we broke that down. Uh and there so there could be a sublottery to make sure you have enough parents and and any of those positions. Uh
>> Mr. Regi, I just want to ask you about the students. So um is it is it a you said it's an optional minimum right of two to three high school students? >> We would we what we're doing here is we are of those
max 25 seats we want to save at least two or three of those for students >> because the student input we've had has been amazing. >> Great. And historically, have we had >> it's it's we've had two or three and there's years we'll have none.
>> Um so I don't we just >> And how do students find out about this opportunity? Is there an email to all students? >> It's not been emailed just generally to the entire student body. I don't think I think it's been they in the past they've
used the same application and it's been there and then I've reached out to uh national honor society uh people on both sides of town and the one of the re big reasons for that is those students have an obligation of ours and they are more
likely to actively attend meetings and participate and that that's that's been our recruiting that's part of the discussion question we've had also this year is okay if we don't have applicants where else can we reach it but it is a
they they've had a published application just like everyone else and we just haven't got a response usually some years we did without even having to go to anyone else um so it's not limited
to national honor society it's just hey we don't have any applicants we've published this boom Um, and we've talked about possibly is there a better way to to encourage more students than that? >> Maybe the building level newsletters
>> and in the in the student thing, it's great, but it is an obligation. I mean, we meet at 4:00 uh after school and >> high school kids have a lot of things going on. >> So, uh we've been it's been wonderful to have the input of the students. Do we
have um the next part we we got? No, that you can stay back there. >> Okay. >> Thank you. Uh this the sex ed advisory board will recommend a co-chair from their meeting in the last meeting uh to
serve two years. We got in a real funky thing because our bylaws, we thought in our last bylaw change, we changed it to the end of the year, but we we had it recommended to the board for their organizational meeting, which
happens to fall in January when you guys have your So then it got kind of tweaked again that oh, we're our bylaws said organizational meeting even though we thought it was we we're going to do it in our June meeting or or our our May
meeting. So, this time we're specifically put it to the end of the year so the co-chairs could be there ready to serve at the beginning of the year. The last time we did our bylaws, we went instead of electing co-chairs for two-year terms, we kept them on
two-year terms, but we alternated them. So, there's going to be consistency. um was was was part of the thought that the uh board had. Um
then with a co-chair returning for their second year. Yeah. An experienced co-chair is uh return. Oh wait, what is it? So an experienced co-chairs return. Yeah. Co-chairs were formally appointed by the TCAPS board of
education. July board of education meeting. We probably should eliminate July. It's when it can fit on your your your calendar. So, that would be that. And co-chairs can be
re uh renominated after their two-year term to continue in that role. So, that allows, you know, a co-chair to be continue as co-chair. that's happened in the past, but this time we decided h we
better put that language in there. Um, at least one co-chair has to be a parent. That's always been a thing. Um, then we had the sex ed advisory board can vote to extend the term of a co-chair for a single additional three
years to the sex education advisory board. that particularly came from a very multi-meating lengthy discussion about consistency and and that I think there was a lot of
worry about me leaving and what's going to happen consistency we have consistency was on the board it's going to be good but the leadership consistency and and a lot of people want to be on the board a lot of people don't want to take the leadership roles
And so that was something that uh the bo the board was super heavily in fa favor of. Um uh the advisory members roles can remain uh for yeah they you
stay on the board for three years and then there was an ex there was an exception for TCAPS. That's what we're getting to here. And those people we decided we would name uh the sex ed education supervisor which was I guess
currently me through today. Uh our school nurse we've had a social worker in the past and we've had health ed teachers. So those people educ those people represent TCAPS in the past and they've been on
there this this time. we just wanted to specifically put those teachers uh or those positions on there. Um so I filled if you know if we if we had this in the past I actually filled two of those because I was a health ed
teacher as well. [snorts] So and then one thing we had in the past if a member went to appeared at one meeting attended one meeting of their in a year they remained on the
board and with our attendance sometimes falling off at the end of the year and you remember last year we ended up having an additional meeting to make sure we had full support for curriculum changes and we got more people there but
um We decided that if someone is wants to be on this board, they have to be at half the meetings or else their seat is vacated. And that was the big thing. It was, you know, could you imagine being on a school board and only [snorts] going to one meeting a year, you know,
so it was just to help the effectiveness. >> We can't make that requirement. Only the voters can speak. >> Oh, I know that. But [laughter] this isn't We don't vote for this anyways. All right. Um and then there was just a statement about conducting themselves professionally and respect towards all
members. Topics discussed never been a problem just it was input from the from from members and they wanted that statement in there and that's we do want that. So nothing oppositional there. And
then uh we typically we wanted to make sure that people understood um that we two public meetings have to happen happen a year or two meetings but we typically have five to eight meetings a year and then just so we understand
the bylaws get looked at every three years. We actually put the last state this year and then there just just so it's it's documented and people understand the the rotation. So, any questions about bylaws, bylaw
changes? >> No, thank you for that thorough review. >> I have one question and that is would you consider including grandparents >> because grandparents may have less work schedule challenges
um but still be connected to a kid in the school? Um, I think we I would say we're with parents because that's what the state guideline was, >> but you still came
>> um the grandparent one. That's a good question. >> I just thought I'd throw it out. >> Yeah. So, so Beth, I think I've talked to you in the past like when because you have great questions and things like we can input. I would email Aaron or
Britney to make sure that can be included next year >> and then that could be something they could look at because a B I mean typically these are for three years. It doesn't mean they can't be tweaked in another year I guess. Um but I
understand because you're looking at a grandparent not of a kid in a school yet but in about three years maybe four four years. And then the other thing I wasn't clear on, it seemed like there was a suggestion that there were term limits, but I didn't see term limits in here.
>> Oh, it was part it was something that wasn't changed. Okay. >> Yeah. When you're when you get when you're when you get uh in our lottery [snorts] system, you're on the board, you have a three-year term, >> right? And if the part we got to is if
you don't meet the requirement of attendance, like I had someone not attend a single meeting this year. Well, even in the current bylaws prior to these, that person's >> that's a vacancy for next year. >> So, it happened to be someone in their
third year and then somebody there were two people like that and somebody else that had a had a work change um that was in their second year. So, All right. >> So, Mr. Riggy, just one just as a followup, if somebody doesn't fall into
one of those four buckets of clergy, medical, um, health professional, or a parent >> or student >> or a student. >> Yeah, there's the Yeah. >> Yeah. Are they ineligible to apply? >> Uh, currently that currently we did have
that concerned citizen >> in the application. Um, so that would be one, but the the the re the minimums we put in here that was that was specific to those not about concerned citizens.
The thing is concerned citizens, every applicant the last couple years, >> right, >> has been a P is fit into one of the other categories. And it just seemed like, okay, I did hear that. And it and we looked at we also in our bylaws we
looked at other districts we looked at the state guidelines and we don't find that anywhere. >> What I think you're asking I think what they are proposing is that is limited of those. >> Yeah. That we are proposing to eliminate because it was not a we have so many
people that meet these others. Um so yeah >> so two other questions and one is so there are term limits or >> there >> it's a you have a three-year term and reapply
>> so if you you can't get in you could go and go and go and go. So technically to the term limit point no there is a term three years and then you can reapply and then if you're pulling the lottery and you can be again but yes to the point of term limit correct
>> correct otherwise you can have a very rigid >> board that >> no no >> can go on until hell freezes over >> but they'd have to win the lottery every time. >> Okay. So really basically what we're having is
the need for term is at least at this point dancing is not there. >> Okay. >> But in the future if you had a lack of applicants and people kept on and kept on you may want to consider that. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. >> We've had we've had we've had applicants that have reapplied and and been drawn
and we've had applicants that have not reapplied or some that reapplied that weren't drawn. >> Sure. >> Then my my last question at this time is uh at the end of the the
application there's a question about you know could you briefly state to the fact why you want to be on the board who who reads that and is that just a point >> I read it but it doesn't have any impact because we have thing it was something
that was in the applicant application we didn't take it off but it's been in the application since before my time >> because yeah it I was just curious if that had any utility or if that was just like >> probably a good informationational piece
if somebody is selected that the rest of the board knows why >> they you know submitted but from a from a selection standpoint Dan saying has no no impact board don't even know >> yeah it doesn't impact selection it's just I I I I guess my perspective would
be this person is actually doing an internal thought of why they want to be on this board and actually put some time and thought into that. Okay. >> So, just for their own their own processes, but it doesn't impact the
board or the selection. So, we're we're we're a lucky we're a lucky community because we have so many people that want to be on. >> All right. So, that's our bylaws. No questions. All right. Uh do we want to look? We looked at the
applications. So, we're okay there. I don't know if I can go up. Yeah, >> I can't click on the boxes, though. >> Oh. >> Um, I can move it up, I think. But there you go. Whoops. Oops. >> Okay. Um, if you can click on the evaluation.
>> All right. So, the evaluation report was put together by a subcommittee. It was submitted to the uh or presented to the sex education advisory board which all gave input into changes and uh
different things. So the evaluation committee we had those four questions the last time we evaluate every two years. Um in the past we've looked at and and Beth you'll remember this. We've we've looked at what's our
teen pregnancy rates, what's our STI rates and things like that and they're are they truly reflective of our teaching and we've always determined no but at least gives us trends >> countywide. They're not all our students
not all our students take this cl uh take this class or or this unit in the class. Um, so we we still look at that and that's but we understand that's just not the end
all. Um, the last time we did an evaluation, we we proposed a we called it the daily takeaway, although the the the point wasn't to do it daily. It was to do it once during the unit to get
feedback from the kids something they learn something they you know they have the option of they had basically three questions are you seventh grade eighth grade or ninth grade so we did it middle school and high school or seventh eighth and high school because not all my high
schoolers are nth grade and then they had a question what's something you learned today so the teachers getting that and that that document or that Google form I made individual the ones for each teacher teaching to have their
students do and I was co-owner with the teacher as a supervisor. So I got all that data and all this stuff. Um we when we first developed this we were talking about oh yeah we should do this daily and then we were talking about it'd be
more data than we'd be able to actually even look at. So, um, we did get that that that feedback back from, uh, those forms and that helped us. We looked at that form and said that's really not given us
enough. So, we've kind of tweaked it. Uh, another feedback we got after changes we made is we developed a sex education quiz at the high school level and we do a pre-est post- test now. So
[snorts] we had we had information there so we can say is learning taking place by by that. So that's included in here as well. Um the last time we came forward we had the we had a wonderful
document which had five questions you know are we meeting the students needs are we meeting the community and those things. So those are all included in here as well. I think I can do. Let me see if I can do this part. M. No, I
can't. Do I have to hit something different or is this part of because it's a document? All right. >> All right. So, there was some results that they came up with and it uh you know, we there's things we believe we're
doing well. We always feel there's things we can do better. Um, we had the we had [sighs] with the with the teen pregnancies and the STI, we had that data, but we also decided that the committee as a whole
felt that we needed a uh a curriculum based evaluation process and we developed um some more documents that uh survey type things for this even in the elementary And it's a little more
elementaryish survey. So, um, so we can go down still. Yeah. So, recommendations. There's been a push every time we go to
look at curriculum, and this has happened for forever and ever. Our current curriculum is parts of curriculums or or things we've developed and there's been a big push to get a full curriculum. We've had
this conversation year after year after year as a committee. This year's committee um still thinks we need a a curriculum and adopt a curriculum.
you put a lot of time into the the uh the the process and looking at things and updating things. So last year we made a couple uh HIV recommendations at the middle school elementary that was
actually proposed by an elementary teacher which was great and it was from Michigan model. Michigan model does not have an entire sex ed curriculum um to meet our our expectations.
Um if you remember a couple years ago, was it three years ago now, we we adopted a health ed curriculum. We didn't adopt the sex education part of that. Uh we didn't pilot that. And then I could talk about piloting. We t
typically pilot curriculum. Well, in the sex education thing, it's kind of a unique situation. How do we pilot something that hasn't been board approved because we can only teach what's board approved. So, it's a it's a unique situation. So, what we've done is
we've tweaked things and we've had number of resources, free resources that allow us to use things to that have helped us improve our curriculums. um a number of years prior to me taking
this position and it just left me. Our elementary is based on I just had it. It left wonder years. Thank you. Yeah, the Wonder Years. The Wonder Years was updated. So, we want to continue to look
at what updates they made and then uh and then what what would be the process of PD and what would be the cost of that. There's other curriculums that the subcommittees for elementary and middle
schools and high schools, secondary I should say, started looking at and they they started looking at and there were s suggestions. Sometimes we can we can they there are curriculums out there that allow us to use their materials and we did that with
some of the high school stuff the last couple years and they don't they're there. It's it's out there for us to use. Uh so we've we're kind of split on that. Um you you adopt a curriculum
there uh like the health ed if we would extend it into that one first of all what part of that one do we like or don't like and then do we li how are we able to limit access or not and
what that whole process was. So, and then the cost part of it, as you know, every time a curriculum comes forward, we've been able to do curriculums very very costefficient for the district. So, all right,
>> Mr. McKe, just quickly, what could you give us a brief summary of what the seab's views have been on the the Michigan model sexed curriculum just so we can >> There's not much. The HIV is what they have. There's there's very little else
to it. >> An abstinence, I think a few things like that. Abortion is not a birth control. >> There's a few things in there, but it's not a comprehensive or >> Okay. And there's not like an approved
list of sexed curricula that the state of Michigan >> No. >> endorses or recommends like >> No. And right now we just went through a new change in Michigan with the with the health education standards. So, we'll see what what comes from that. Um, but
the sex ed the sexed portion of that is up to each board to make their decision. They didn't they didn't jam something up and down every school district's throat. The district said your community gets to I mean the the state is allowing
districts to make their decisions just like they they do with sexed curriculum. But to dad's point, there's not any materials have been developed. There's not any, you know, recommended curriculum. So there's some time here that's going to take to kind of figure
out are there publishers that are even doing this work, you know, based on that. So it's going to be a few years and and figuring out. So I think what Dan's saying is the the committee at least mo uh uh how should I say this? A majority of the committee think it's a
good idea to have more of a solid Yeah. >> curricular resource. However, there's not any been developed based on any of the the recommendations or, you know, then you have the issue of what is a district omit, you know, from that. So, there's quite a bit of work. Jesse and I and and Britney have talked about what
that process may look like in the future. Right now, I think Dan, you know, saying that group just came and said we would like one. Um, not sure what that even is and how that process would be, but that's something that administration to take from the the committee to consider. >> Yeah. You have to keep in mind too like
each state has different they're not required standards they're all guidance standards for us to decide and then there's national standards right and so there are national curricular programs but the problem is those standards are very wide and if we choose to not have
everything included there's not really a way to buy a curricular resource and block certain parts of it from kids and teachers right we can't like buy a curriculum and be like but not this page but this page but not this page like so
that's where we really have Dan and his they've created a lot of resources in house which is what you guys have seen the presentations so that it's tailored to what our board had said yes and the committee this is what we should be addressing in these >> it's probably going to take one of the
Michigan university partners to actually create something that has units where pieces and parts can be put together and added and there is some conversation at the state level about trying MD trying to get some university partners like for instance when we just talked to our science with Michigan Tech like
something like that see but we just we know we're a ways away from that. So um I think it's really good for us to know that the committee thinks it's a good idea to have a curricular resource. We've just got some work and it's going to take some time to figure out and see if there's some partners that begin to develop to even do something like that.
>> And we got the guidance that came out this this winter, right? the new 2026 guidance, but it hadn't been touched in over 10 years. I think it was I think it was 2012 or 2008 that the last time the state has revamped the guy. So, I mean
there's a lot for us to kind of go through and figure out. Um and that's the next work of of where the committee >> the good thing about the state and what they've done is so sexed has always been up to the the power has been with the the local board
>> community >> and it even though we have new health ed standards they still allowed the sex ed to be the power of the local board >> of what's what's being taught >> and you don't have any evidence specifically that the curriculum in bits
and pieces that you're using currently is ineffective. >> Well, that's why we're trying to re-evaluate the evaluation report because we've just been using >> countywide data. We don't really have a good evaluation of our curriculum. So that's why we >> Yeah, that's why we developed we got we
got the quiz and we got we got the uh the daily takeaway and now we're suggesting uh there's some survey links in here to >> if we go back to the bottom of the >> evaluation. There's some bullet right
there. >> Here we go. We have an evaluation form for high school. >> Yeah, >> middle school and elementary. >> High school, middle school are pretty pretty in line with each other. And the elementary one is just in a different format where we feel the elementary kids
would have an easier time >> and it's pretty open-ended. And the big thing that came back when you asked if they had any other questions, they said no. >> That was >> typically the kids will say no. which which
>> my interpretation of that as a high school sex ed teacher is the kids felt it was pretty comprehensive >> or or they feel like at this point I don't have anything to articulate further >> yeah
towards the very end of the unit and they're >> but my next question is has the the sex head advisory board discussed whether or that TECAP should participate in the youth risk behavior survey
or the safe what is it safe and drug-free school survey. Those two surveys and they're mentioned in some of the valuation materials that the valuation report alludes to but at this
point we don't participate in TCAPS does not. >> Correct. And so my question is basically has that been something under discussion in the committee because it seems like it it might be something
that has utility. >> So John in the there was a there I'm trying to remember if it was one of those two. There was one we used in the past that when the when it came when they >> presented we had a conversation I believe and it was like well they're not
going to offer it to all the high school kids and it was and it was still countywide which isn't still particular to our students because we have multiple schools in the county.
So it it really didn't give us a good reflection and it wasn't going to be broad-based given >> but would it have been at least equal to the broad base of by the county you say this is what our what is 15 to 19
uh number of live births. We didn't think so because it wasn't doing both high schools, you know, or both middle schools, you know, it was it was a bit of a of a mix that way that and when we looked at it and felt the data that, you know, and they also wouldn't guarantee
at that time that how the data would be shared or not shared, >> you know, with some folks. So I know the committee at that point said until we it gets more solid and very clear on what it is and the purpose and intent what data we will get that actually informs us and that you know that that data is
shared only with our staff only and not from a statewide that you know could be foyed. You know that was a big piece if you remember that it also that once it becomes state data then it can be foyed and can and we worried that it actually would not remain anonymous. there was
some real issues that were with that that they couldn't guarantee. The state even sent us a letter saying they couldn't guarantee it, >> you know, and so they're they're in light of big problem with it. >> And and the thing is is when in the evaluation report, they want more specific data
on on skills and and things like that. Um, all of this is going to be self-reported or else it's going to be something that's going to show up in the health department as a number. You know, whether I mean it's great, right?
>> We don't have to sweat apparently syphilis in this county. I think that's marvelous. Um, but nonetheless, unless a number shows up someplace that says you got a problem in health, otherwise everything
is self-reported. Evaluation is very difficult to do in this time. >> Very difficult. >> Yeah. >> And that whole thing, you know, where do you get accurate data that really reflects your program
is difficult. Yeah, >> it is. So we look at we look the statewide means we're looking at trends. We're looking at trends. And yes, it is not specifically reflective of our district. It's our county. It's a it's a it's a
number of things, but at least we can look at trends. Those two surveys because they're they're randomly given and not spec. Yeah. It gives you trends, but it also doesn't give you the full picture of trends. it gives you
a a little pocket of trends which doesn't work >> but but I do think you know the there have been some changes and stuff I think to the MiFi so I do think it's something that the committee you know um you know within you know it takes a look at in
the future here once this you know with the state evolving with all this that does the MiFi have any um relevancy I think it's something for the committee to take a look next year. >> And then my my feeling is my pie is I
think I'm saying it right extends into drug use and alcohol use which is not addressed in your program. >> It's it's part of our health education >> but not sex education in the health
education when I'm teaching it. Health education is just constantly inter interconnected. drug use does have an impact into this. We talk about drug use >> in in our high school sex education. >> Um
>> because again I mean drinks and date rape and all that kind of stuff is co-mingled. >> Yes. >> Yes. >> But it my is something for us to take a look at I think within our health you know overall health curriculum moving forward as we you know continue >> as evaluation.
>> Yep. >> Yep. But other than that, >> yeah, it's definitely worth looking at. >> And we have to post those surveys now under state law, all those pieces as well if we decide to. So, >> the only other concern was I saw the K through 12 again. And and I I just think
we need to be very very very careful about really low grades in something we call sex education. >> Our lowest grade right now is fifth grade. >> Fifth grade. Exactly. >> Yeah. smiley face evaluation program.
>> We've had the conversation about is puberty education at fifth grade early enough because >> because of research that shows >> yes >> we we we have people experiencing puberty uh earlier than fifth grade and
sometimes we're their best source of education. But then I also think when you're talking about puberty, you may want to even extend it a little bit and say that actually your body will continue to change over the course of your lifetime >> and be prepared for that.
>> And I don't know when you go in to self-exam for testicular cancer, breast cancer, >> all that seems to be important as well. >> Breast breast examinations and testicular examinations we teach and
address Those do catch early cancers >> and we uh skin cancer is another one we threw in because it's something that we can uh >> we can self assess. >> So >> So just quickly on that note, is there is the current board then debating like
it into next year whether our curriculum gets extended below fifth grade? We've had discussions, >> but >> there's not a specific recommendation. >> We've had we've had discussions about that. Um any that would be a
recommendation that would come from the board if they if they felt that way. Uh, I did get some teacher feedback a year ago where a number of the elementary teachers that were teaching the puberty education felt
and and the HIV felt, well, for the girls, yes, let's do fourth grade. The boys, they were they were hesitant. >> So, was that a full thing of teacher? know it was a pocket of of uh teachers that were experienced teachers that have
been teaching this in the past. So it was an unofficial survey that we did during a meeting and that was the feedback I got was they they feel the the girls in fourth grade that would be a suggestion from them
that yes and the fifth grade they they or for the boys they were a little hesitant. Now, when you get into teaching it, okay, that's when we got to go to Dan and Britney and we got to work with Dan and say, "Okay, high school principles, how are we going to do this?
And what are we doing with the boys when the girls are getting their puberty at fourth grade and whatnot?" So, that would that was part of the conversation we started with um but hasn't been resolved or no suggestion has come forward yet.
>> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. That's that's helpful. >> Just good context. >> Um the review curriculum recommendations through the lens of student needs community. Those are the five big questions that we we looked at. Um one
of the big points of uh of our advisory board was in evaluation was to make sure we are doing PD for specifically for sex education. in the last we haven't really had much for as far as our our
elementary puberty ed um one of the difficult things as teachers are constantly changing and grades but the last two years we have done it and I've offered it and a number of student uh number of teachers have been
participating we did it on zoom and we've gone through materials and we've talked about different questions and concerns they may have and we've addressed those uh in that PD. Uh HIV PD is something that's that's ongoing
through the ISD. Uh sometimes in person, sometimes online, and they we recommend that happens every uh every five years. And in HIV, they have to have that before they can even teach it the first time. And that's a big big thing with our new teachers.
Have you had this training? And we have a few new ones every year. So yeah, [snorts] um I'm trying to think if there was I think that's the gist of that recommendation. So we didn't have any curriculum changes
coming forward this year. Just these two requirements we met. So >> great. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> So we'll um again >> you're retired. We'll have it at the um
presentation of the full board >> and then uh traditionally um you know we obviously have to have two >> hearings with it. So you know it won't be um decided at this board meeting. It'll be kicked to the August board meeting as we traditionally have.
>> Right. So Mr. McGee given your retirement will this presentation who who will give the presentation our July 13th. Okay. >> If I don't have anything going on night out might set the [clears throat] >> [laughter] >> just to just to support. >> Enjoy your popcorn.
>> So, Erin, contact information or you're a teacher, right? >> I'm a nurse first. >> Yes. For TPS. >> Okay. Yep. >> Okay. >> So, >> and that's there are requirements that the the person that leaves us has to have and um having a a nursing degree is
a qualification. >> See that? >> Got it. parent's been part of the process for the last three years so it'll be seamless. >> Yeah. >> Um so I just want to ask about the puberty fourth grade potential versus
fifth grade. Is there any requirement that puberty has to start at fifth grade by the state? Okay. So has there been any conversation about like a refresher or review in fifth grade if it does get introduced earlier in fourth grade? That
would be part of the that could be part of the the recommendation is that okay in fourth grade we want to maybe we want to do this and then we want to continue it in fifth grade that that hap that could happen. Uh seventh grade is a little more continuum of of uh puberty
ed more anatomy and physiology involved in it at that time too but that also has been talked about that could be in sixth grade. Yeah, >> one more thing to suggest is the Traverse Bay Children's Advocacy Center
because they do so much in our community to prevent and respond to child sexual abuse. >> Um, do you have a representative on this? >> The person who did the evaluation report. She's one of our coaches. Exactly. >> Great.
>> That's terrific because that's such a >> tremendous organization to provide. One of the coolest makeup of the board is everyone brings a different expertise and perspective and that's >> so we have we have we've been fortunate. Yes. >> Yeah.
>> Tracy, I also sit on the board. Oh, great. >> Yeah. >> Of the Trevor's Bay Children's Advocacy Center. >> Yes, I did know that. >> And everybody I I just remember this for my own children and you would be able to speak to this too. In elementary school, students are learning about boundaries
around their body, like no touching swimsuit areas, that sort of thing. Does that fall under sex ed or is what PE or how how does that >> it is under the social work now? >> It's been back it's it's it's
kind of ebed and flowed like I thought it was I was told it was gone and then it was oh wait, you're supposed to No. Okay. And then it is under social. >> So it's a part of our social emotional curriculum. >> Yeah. >> So our school social workers, they call them personal safety lessons. So our school social workers will go into
individual classrooms and provide those um lessons directly to students. >> So to be clear, 100% of our educ our K through four or K through five populations getting that instruction. >> Okay.
>> Terrific. Thank you. >> Well, thank you Mr. McGee for your years of service um with the SEAB among other things and >> I know this will be our last formal presentation from you. >> It's my last moment of work. >> Your swan song. Yes. [laughter] Enjoy
retirement. >> Thanks D. >> We wish you well. >> Thank you. >> So moving on to celebrations and successes. Uh Dr. Hton and Mr. Tisler. >> Yeah. Kicking things off at Traverse Heights with the amazing shake this past spring. uh great opportunity for our
fifth grade students at Traverse Heights to get some real world experience going through a somewhat interview process. Just a great connection with the community. I know Dr. Vang Wagner, I think Beth, you were also part of this uh process. Um it's just a great event
and kids get some real world experience with talking to adults and kind of um answering questions about themselves and and what they want to do. >> It was fun talking to them. >> Yes. Yeah, >> this next slide highlights uh both East Middle School and West Middle School
students led by our two teachers, Emma Harmon and Kristen Garrett on both sides of town there. Uh the students and the teachers partnered with local environmental organizations to research and raise awareness about microlastic pollutions in the Grand Travers Whed
educational experience, students analyzed local water. Um they also analyzed sand samples and they studied the molecular structure of plastics and examined our regional uh beaches and then the project culminated actually with a beach cleanup of it. Um I want to
say over 50 students and then also parents and community members were invited to attend it. So pretty cool. And hats off to both Emma and Kristen, our teacher leaders who really work together to provide this experience for all of our sixth graders and our and obviously our regional people in environmental. Um it's pretty pretty
cool. And then some end of the year highlights. We had a celebration at Willow Hill to kind of kick us into the summer. And then at Silver Lake and Court, they do their annual egg drop as part of their science lesson. Uh some brave soul gets on top of the building
and chucks the eggs off and hopefully they don't break. Uh no broken eggs at either at either school this year. So the students did a great job engineering the parachutes and were able to uh battle the force of gravity. And then although it feels like it was a
long time ago, it was actually less than a month ago that we graduated uh almost 740 students from Traverse City Area Public Schools. Um really the the highlight for me um was we really we restructured the Traverse City High School graduation into two ceremonies
over uh partner with NMC and had that at the Denos. I know many of our board members were there. Um really cool to see the number of online and inerson students that we graduated over there. of course, our two ceremonies out at Interlock and Arts Academy for the larger high schools. A beautiful,
beautiful day. If you guys remember, it was like not this hot, but it was sunny and [laughter] beautiful and uh just congratulations to all those students and families and excited to see where all those students go next. >> Yeah, >> it was just perfect.
>> It was just perfect that day. Wonderful. >> Yeah. >> Great. Um so we are now at the public comment period number two. It looks like we do not have any members in the live audience. Um so we will move on. Uh I do
not have any additional items. So um other than to announce that our next board curriculum committee meeting will be Tuesday, July 28th at 8:15 a.m. here at the TCAPS administration building, formerly known as Sabin. Um Beth Pac
will be chairing that as I will be absent for that particular meeting and so we'll have one alternate from the board as well serving and with that we are adjourned. [music]