Heat. Heat. ulum 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. The committee has set aside this time for
public comment, but seeing how we do not have anybody in person at this time, I will move on to procedural items. First up are the draft committee meeting minutes from February 24th. Um, are there any changes to the draft
meeting minutes? Okay. I move to approve the committee meeting minutes from February 24th, 2026. >> I second the motion. >> I >> Okay, motion passes. Um, deferring to Dr. Jesse H. Hotton uh to discuss
updates to our 2025 to 2026 and 2026 to 2027 TCAPS district course catalog. Yeah, just so the board's aware, any new courses that we add at this point will roll right into next year's course catalog. So that's why you see both of those dates up there. Um, in the memo
today, we've got two courses. They are both virtual courses that SUB stands for subject, which is a virtual platform that we are piloting over at Trevor City High School. One of those is a credit recovery course. The other one is a fulllength course. some of our students
who have taken the course and achieved at a certain level are um and have demonstrated competencies in certain areas just take the credit recovery. So that's sort of the difference between the whole spelling of English and just seeing the ELA in case the board was curious as to why that was done differently. So those are the two
courses that we're adding at this point. >> Okay. May May I ask credit recovery? >> Yeah. Is that for any particular subject that would be required by the the state? >> Yeah, we do credit recovery for any course that a student has has failed.
So, they've previously done some seat time in it that is on the Michigan merit curriculum. Correct. Yep. >> And the idea of that is is that you don't necessarily have to start from zero >> that you know I mean you just think about if you had a 59 you you know
theoretically mastered 59%. And so it it it takes back and it does some preassessment of what a student is able to identify that they know and then goes back and does the rest again to get mastery. >> We had something like that before, did
we not? At one point at Central >> at both the high schools we do. Yeah. Um sometimes we've got kids who, as Dr. Van Wagner just said, are really really close, 55%, 58%. Um, and so actually our counselors at the high school or our special ed teachers sometimes if the
student has an IEP will work with the student through a credit recovery course to just pick up those last essential pieces so they're able to earn credit and those are all courses that are required for graduation. So yeah, >> thank you. >> And then um I apologize if I miss this,
but are we still offering Excelis ELA next year? >> Um unsure about next year at this exact moment. So, we are piloting subject. We've been piloting that since January 1st for a few different reasons, right? We're always curious about what other
platforms are out there. Um, we've had some hiccups with Aselis. Um, and this was one that both Dr. Van Wagner and I um saw and were impressed with. Um, the ability number one, they have all their courses dubbed in multiple languages. So, we actually have some ESL students
who are fully Spanish speakers. We have two in particular at Trevor City High School who just enrolled um who are older students and also like it's been great to get them on boarded as we have the courses in their native language. Um it's also uh they're all aligned to Michigan merit curriculum. They have a
wider course selection and allow us to purchase a highly qualified teacher if the district doesn't have one. For example, Celis had some courses that were super cool and they were more in the CTE offerings and we had kids interested in them, but we had no one on our staff, no one in any of our
buildings, which is sort of strange, but also some of these niche courses who was highly qualified in that area. And so, we had no teacher of records. So, we couldn't allow the student to enroll in that course because has no teachers of records, right? All of the teachers of records for Aselis courses are our own
teachers. So that does limit what we're able to offer to some of those kids. Um, with subject, you can use your own teachers, which we do every time we have the opportunity to. Or if we have a course, it could be a world language course. It could be a niche CTE course.
This course in particular was like a plumbing course or something that the student wanted to take, which sounds strange. You would take it online, Beth. I know you're thinking that. Um, but it was. And um, >> Oh, no. I can see how it worked. >> I think a lot of the video introduction.
Yeah. >> So, subject has that. Um, besides the the ability to have the language, um, it it also it seems very robust. We So, we're just kind of seeing where we land here. We're going to gather some more data. Um, gather some feedback from students, gather some feedback from the
teachers at Trevor City High School, and then make a decision as to moving forward. >> We probably will not stay with both vendors because that just is tricky. Why would you sort of do that um for the next school year, >> right? And we did talk, just to acknowledge, we did talk about that last month. So, what's the time frame for
that evaluation and decision? >> Uh, Jen and I met with actually Jen and I met last month, Jen Choic, the principal at Trevor City High School and kind of went through some stuff. We've got um monthly check-ins with subject um and we're going to meet as a team probably end of May, beginning of we'll
have to make the decision by July one as those contracts pretty much match our fiscal year um for those. and then we'll come back through curriculum just to give us the report out >> to give you guys an update. >> Yep. Absolutely. >> All right. Any other questions? Okay. Do
I have a motion? I move that the 2025, 26, and 26,27 TCAPS district course cataloges with updates as presented be placed on the consent calendar of the April 13, 2026 regular board meeting.
>> I second that. >> Okay, motion passes. All right. Uh, moving on to field trip requests. Again, Dr. Josie Hoden. >> Yeah. And I think we talked a little bit about both of these and I was mistaken.
The QuizBowl one is May. Those are the correct dates. I think at the last meeting I misspoke and said April. Um but these are officially the two requests um to send. One is a Central High School Quizbowl team to Atlanta, Georgia. This one is really nice because
um this is mainly covered. Most of the trip is covered. Oh, no. It's the World Quest one. I'm sorry. Uh most of the trip here is covered. We're covering a little bit from our central office budget, from the superintendent's budget, and then the students and the families are doing some fundraisers. So that's uh Mr. Failer who's taking those
kids down there. And then the West Senior High one is the academic world quest. That one's to Washington DC in April. That is the one that is most of the expenses are covered by the international affairs forum at NMC. So great partnership with them. They host
the competition. Um they they do a ton of uh work as far as speakers and exposure for our students, but like they pick up almost the whole dime here. The kids are just expected to bring some uh meal money and those types of things. So great experience for uh those students and they're going over there with uh Dan
Rosenberg. So >> second year in the row. >> Yeah, that's that's great. >> I think third. >> Well, maybe Central two years ago, >> but it's been Trevor as many teams. Yeah. Yeah. And I and also
although they they won the regional competition in Northern Michigan to go national and you notice there's no intermediate step of well where's the state championship? Uh last year's team I mean they actually were the only team from the state of Michigan and I I'm guessing
this year's team is too. >> Very cool. >> One out of 65 in the nation. >> They're both really cool. I've enjoyed this year um on PBS uh CMU PBS. You can watch the quiz bowl and I've watched the Central Kids three times now and they're really really good.
>> They're really good. What they know is like, >> you know, and uh and so it's been fun to watch them and uh so yeah, both groups really awesome. >> So I'd like to make a motion. I'm the field trips presented be placed on the
consent calendar at the April 13, 2026 regular board meeting. >> I second that. >> Okay, motion passes. Moving on toformational items. First up is the learning series. And again, Dr. Hoden, take it away. >> Sure. Um Dan and I really wanted to
start by framing today's uh information through two of our TCAP strategic goals for the board to really think about how the work in our arts departments um connects to those. The first one being goal two and under goal two there were sort of some subcategories to that goal.
There was the idea of students being connected to to school um the idea of safety and then that idea of mental health supports. And so Dan and I were sort of brainstorming around. Both of these programs that we're going to talk about today and we're going to turn over to the experts in the area to talk about
the programs where we offer to students I I think play a huge part in keeping our kids connected to school, keeping our kids motivated to show up, to see the value, to see adults believe in them and um have confidence in their skills, which I do think spills over to some of
those to the academic areas as well. Um and then goal three too is that positive student behavior interactions, right? how are we um educating our students to be good citizens and good people in our community? And all of these guys will talk about not only the great instruction they provide to our
students, but there's a lot of the tier one instruction about who they are as a kid, how am I aware of my surroundings, how am I reinforcing positive um development of behaviors. All of our arts, especially I would say our visual arts are open to all types of students.
Um, and so they do deal with how do we develop community and respect and responsibility? How do we take care of our instruments and our tools and all of those things? Um, and then that response to when things don't go the right way. Um, whether it is I played something wrong and the whole group got messed up
or this I was off key here or my drawing or my picture or somebody took something or these guys might talk about that. How do we respond to that and how do we coach our kids through that? um you know, it's more than just the content they teach, but I think that these two goal areas align really, really well to
what the board um wants in our schools for our kids. >> Dan, do you want to >> Yeah, I just I totally agree. The connectedness part I just see so much. I saw it a lot when I was at middle school as far as AP or or at East Middle that we have kids that walk through our door
just to go to to art or music. And that art connection I've seen in particular in middle school um with kids that are most challenged learners that come in with no connection to school whatsoever. I find that that is a connection that they made and we have quite a few art
offerings uh in middle school and that's what I go back to as far as how heavy that connectedness piece is when we go through and we think about every student. I know we've talked about Jesse used to at Central go through a process where they would take every student and every adult would find how they were
connected and a lot of these students made that connection through our our our music and our art. So, it's super important as far as some kids walk through our door just to go to these classes every day. >> And I'd say too, the board needs to know that this is an investment that we make
out of our general funds to have these programs for our students. Um, and although they might have not have that direct academic return on investment as far as math achievement scores or reading scores, they are an integral part to what we provide for our students. And so, we just really want to
make sure that these folks have a chance to talk about what do we provide to our students K12 and and how does that support the work we all want to do for our kids. So, um, so we're going to start with visual arts and we've got three of our teacher leaders here. So, we've got Miss Tara Gang. She's our
elementary art leader. Um, and then we have Sarah Dette. She's our middle school um, art leader. Sarah's currently at West Middle School full-time over there. And then we have Lisa Peoples sitting right next to me. She's our high school art leader. High uh, Lisa is currently teaching at Central High
School. She's sort of been all around at the secondaries, too. So, she's got good experiences at both high schools and the middle school level as well. So, we'll start with elementary. >> Okay. >> So, I'm Tara Gang, and I'm so thrilled to be here with you. Um, visual arts is
something that really speaks for itself. If you were to walk into one of my two buildings, and I've taught in quite a few. I've actually taught middle school and high school as well. If you were to walk into one of my elementary buildings, I would say I'm going to start with junior kindergarten. What do you see?
What do you smell? What do you hear? Um, art rooms have a smell. Uh, I would say in mine, you might smell some paint. You might smell some oil pastel. You're going to see a lot of visuals for the students to refer to. All the arts and um elements and principles are taught
from junior kindergarten all the way through 12th grade. We pride ourselves on being the foundation for students. We also would be using visuals um with our projector um putting up art history,
current artists. Um let's see what up I talked about the five senses. What would you hear? OTRs, opportunities to respond. Uh, really high in engagement. You kind of have to be that way. When you teach, uh, fivey olds to
8-year-olds, you only have them once a week for 30 minutes. So, I might have 30 kids in 30 minutes. And we are going to use every one of those minutes to the best of our ability. Um, we talk about the world, we talk about cultures, um, seasonal things. So, we might be hitting
something with um, art history. we might be hitting something with women's history. Um, for example, if you were able to come into one of my Willow Hill rooms, um, you would see my junior kindergarteners are working with SEAL and we are authors. So, throughout the
whole year, we are doing an A to Z, uh, book that focuses on a different emotion every day. Um, if you were to stop in at Central Grade, you might see them focusing on the art element of line. um bringing in Stanley Bermudas working with birthgrace artists. Let's see if
you were to stop in maybe at Cortaid or Blair, you might see them um also working on the elements of art and they were creating their own school mascots there or recreating them. Um Eastern Elementary in February talked about the
Lunar New Year and you could even go stop in over at Mr. Van Hton's group and he was talking about local Detroit artist Charles McGee and they created their own paper sculptures for Black History Month. So, as I said, there's a lot to see and hear and smell and we are
very excited to successfully send our students to middle school. My fifth graders right now, we um are concluding some weavingings that we've been working on all year long. And our last last project makes them a little bit scared. all the places you'll go. As I said,
you're about to go into the wilderness, also known as middle school. Lots of new sights and smells there. So, um, we are very excited to be the foundation. >> Thank you. >> Okay. And now we'll move on to middle school. So, I'll turn it over to Sarah.
>> I like that. Into the wilderness. That's a a great way to describe middle school. >> Yes. Um, I'm going to talk a little bit more about just what's beyond what we teach in the classroom. I want to talk about how uh the middle school gets to connect with our community, not just local, but also at the state level. Um,
there are some photos that were in the slideshow to kind of just showcase a few things. Um, but as a member of the Michigan Art Education Association, I'm able to submit student artwork and five of our West Middle School students made it into the Michigan Art Education
Association state show, which is a big deal. If you talk about sports, you talk about regionals and states, that's what this competition is. So, um, five students made it um, top 100 pieces of art in the entire state of Michigan for
middle school level. And one of those students showcase was the top 18 entire state of Michigan works of art. So it's pretty big accomplishment. And one of those students um you talk about connecting with students, students who moved to our school who didn't really
have a core friend group kind of felt a little bit lost. One of those students on the end really made some connections in the art room and her artwork is being featured at the Michigan Department of Ed building for the entire year. So really big accomplishment for her. Um
local level we just it's still up the uh Crooked Tree Art Show K12 exhibit. If you have never had a chance to visit that um floor to ceiling artwork for our region and not only recognized at the local level, but um the U of M School of
Art and Design Stamps comes in, they jury it. Um students get awards for it. It really draws them into okay, what can art look like for me after middle school? um local community service learning projects. Uh Cherryland Humane Society came into the art room and connected
with us and sixth graders chose one of the adoptable dogs or cats that were at Cherryland to make a digital drawing and those digital drawings like you see on the screen were given to families who adopt those pets. So a nice way for students to see how their art can make a
difference in the community. And then finally up there there is an installation from the Michigan Legacy Art Park. This is I can't even count the number of years that I've had my students participate in this, but um they have the community participate
making some level of art. In that photo, it was a raindrops theme. It was Michigan raindrops and they had students create artwork on these small wooden discs. They created an installation. It was on display at the Michigan Legacy Art Park for the summer. Um this year
the theme is quilts and how quilting and community um can come together. So students will be making small wooden squares with a quilt design and those will be on display for the community as well. So I just wanted you to know that it goes beyond the classroom.
>> Mrs. Mr. That picture looks like it's in the woods at Lake Her Park, but I I was there last summer and there was also something at the entrance where >> and the student display. Do you remember that? >> Yes. And each year they do it a little bit different. Um like one year it was
uh like an archway that you walked through. Um this year I believe that they're suspending them on um like a mesh background and they'll be hung as a school quilt or community quilt um throughout the Legacy Art Park, too.
>> It's a special place. So, I'm glad to see the district taking advantage of the proximity to that. >> And they provide those things for us. Like they provided the wooden discs this year. They sent me a direct package from Amazon of the wooden um squares. So, it's really great collaboration with
them. >> Thank you. >> And last would be our high school Lisa. >> Hi. Um I I want to start by just saying how much I think the scaffolding between the
elementary to middle school and then feeding up to the high school. How amazing that is and how we can just continue continue to build with each other. Um, in college I had this amazing professor who said he who was very specific in saying
when people ask you what you teach, make sure you answer that you teach students and I get to teach students through the vehicle of art. Um when when I think about the numbers that we have in high school and the connectivity to the kids that connect them to the school um with
the art teachers between West and Central just specifically um we have almost 1500 touch points with kids um with 10 classes uh 10 class electives um and seven of those offering advanced
programs. uh you get to see these students from their freshman year through high school and I'm lucky enough anyways to still talk to those kids that have continued to go on in college just receiving uh messages last night from a
student who's at Holy Oak and sharing what she's doing. So, um that connectivity really really uh lasts throughout those uh throughout those years of high school and even beyond. um the relevance I think of what we teach. uh we talk about the artistic process
and I I I we have these community connections that aren't necessarily seen, but the the way that the kids process through those classes um really does touch I touch into math or reading
or your test scores when you I and I hesitate to talk about it a little bit because I always want to make sure we teach art for art's sake, but studies show Those kids that have four years of robust arts education, including music,
will generally score about 92 points higher on their test scores. And that's it's not necessarily because of art, but it is because of those pattern recognition and all of those other things that you learn. Um, we talk about
the 10 lessons that the arts teach. Um, that, you know, problems can have more than one solution. And you should approach things from multiple perspectives. You can't exhaust what you know. Um one small thing will make a huge difference.
All of these patterns of learning and um creating breach ways reach out to communities in ways that you can't possibly even understand. So, um, and I had a a a
counselor actually ask me recently, uh, well, what's the work of an artist? Like, what do you have beyond these high school classes if you're not a painter or a teacher? And I was like, I I would challenge you to think about anything
that you've done today that doesn't have art involved in it. what we're wearing the the car that you drove in the interiors like art is everywhere and to have kids have this robust learning opportunity within TCAPS is invaluable.
I know when I went to I went to Western um and I had I was approached by other students that said you know so much more than I know like you had such a great opportunity in high school that I can't even imagine what uh what that would
have been like and and I am happy to report back that I'm still getting those compliments from my students that said I feel like I have such an advantage over my classmates and that's coming from people at U of M stamps that said I got
to learn so much more than my fellow classmates and thank you for that opportunity. So um and then building on that the success that our kids have seen um I was collecting information from some of the west teachers and some of
the central teachers things that our our TCAP students have done um just a year or two ago. uh one of our photography students won the top 25 bird photographs in the whole world which is kind of a
huge recognition. Um we've our students have won congressional art competitions. So building off of Sarah students who have made it to the states and then our high school kids have gone to win congressional competitions winning the
scholastic art and gold key awards. Um, there was another student that won a n national geographic prize for his, excuse me, for his photographs. And then there's the other local awards through Oliver Art Center, Dennos Museum,
Crooked Tree, uh, winning thousands and thousands of dollars worth of scholarships. And it's it's not as unless you seek it out, it's not something that the community necessarily sees, but gosh, I hope the community would seek out and see the visual products that our kids are capable of
because it astounds me literally every day. Um, can you talk a little bit? So, we have three full-time art teachers at Central, three full-time art teachers at West Senior High. What's the course offerings like if you're a high school student in TCAPS? what what courses in
the art department can you take? >> So, your foundational class that we hope the kids start with, but doesn't necessarily go this way. You'll have drawing, you'll have painting, you have ceramics, metals and jewelry, sculpture,
photography, all of which offer, and I feel like I might be miss those definitely offer advanced levels. Um, and then you'll have AP 2D, AP drawing, and then AP photography, which also falls under the
AP um umbrella. >> What was the first one? AP 2D. >> AP 2D. Yes. >> So that it's it's a slightly different uh uh requirement than drawing. It's going
to be more of your design. Some of your it all of your photography work will fall into 2D. Drawing has these very it looks for specific mark making and form rendering. Whereas 2D is probably the easiest way to describe it would be like
computer art that you might see advertising more flat dealing with shape and shape and repetition and like those elements of art instead of the more form render. >> Interesting. >> So two dimensional and then the threedimensional goes the next level in
AP. >> Yes. Yep. anything sculptural, but there's interesting ways to blend all of that. Um, and you'll have those students like it's interesting. We'll have some of those students that take each level of AP. And the one thing
I love about AP, you'll have your non-traditional students that are successful in AP. Like we'll have some kids that are um you wouldn't you wouldn't necessarily see on the AP track their their their
test scores their their their GPA might not reflect that of a AP student traditionally but they will soar in that room and um which is a gift. Like we get to work with our CI program that we
always have our hours with them. Yeah. All in all of those classes I listed, we have a cap on the class of 33 students. And each one of those classes is full. And I've had with my some of my um my
504 kids like, hey, I get to go to the art room when I'm having a panic attack or when I just I can't I can't stay at school. The only way I'm going to stay at school is if I can go sit in that room for a moment to just gather myself. So
it's a gift. >> The art of presentation is an awful lot of our living. >> Mhm. >> You know, so you tell that person marketeteers have to know how to art do art. >> And I know that my next question
reflects just both the visual and the performing. Um, so this isn't directed to anyone individual, but I'm curious if you all know approximately how many students we have in our arts academic communities at both high schools.
>> Oh, those those specific arts AC designation. >> I don't know. I mean, I think the roster will it it varies greatly from year to year. Um, but I think there's somewhere between 30 to 75 students at each high school in the arts community.
I'm looking at you guys. You're not even I think it sounds I think it I haven't looked at the roster in a while, but that's about where they land. >> I would say it's probably pretty close. I know at West it would be on the higher end of that. >> It might be closer to 100 than that one. Yeah.
>> Okay. Thank you. Um I just wanted to acknowledge too like going back to your the first slide of the presentation where you're focused on goals two and three. You know, a couple of you have mentioned the connection to academic achievement, our goal one in our strategic plan and
also Lisa, you just touched on post secondary education, our goal four, right? Um, career and college readiness. So, I'm I appreciate that, you know, you guys have touched on that. I I think
you're underestimating the impact. Um, I know that when Fenoy Humphre was on this board, she really spoke strongly about the connection between music and math. And so, you know, I I would just say going forward, if this is like an annual
presentation, give yourselves credit for what you do with goal goals one and four. Goal five, teacher recruitment, development, and retention. I think probably, you know, Traverse Cities uh
shows pretty well in this state in terms of um you know, the arts community. So, you might want to think about that. And then lastly, I would just say going forward if there are additional ways that we can really build those literacy skills like at the elementary level like
intentionally try to use art and music to build literacy and numeracy skills. I would be very interested in hearing about that in support of our strategic plan. Yeah, and I'll just close with these visual art teachers um are very humble and they are all true artists. These
guys I work closely with and and Tara I know too as well. They are remarkable human beings. They're also they're artists, right? So they're a little quieter. They don't necessarily love to yell from the mountaintop, right? I mean Chad's a little more of a performer artist.
Um, but it what these guys do in visual arts, I mean, they are they're being very modest about how many students they serve. Um, Lisa's not wrong. I mean, we have six full-time art teachers at the high school and if you look at their classes, it is 33 33 33 with weight list
behind it. Um, it is a it is an avenue in which a lot of our kids feel like they can be successful and feel like they're seen. um they've got kids from the moment they arrive and open their doors who just hang out and want to be in that space and that's their safe space. So um but with that, the TCAPS
Art Show, I don't have a slide on this, but I definitely want to get this out here. The TCaps Art Show, um which is a K12 art show that displays our student artwork, is going to kick off on April 23rd at 6:00. Is that right? Okay. 6 o'clock.
And this year we partnered with the comments. So, it will be the art show will be at the Commons. Um it's down in the Old State Hospital grounds there. Really cool. These guys are going to work to get all the kids artwork set up. We'll do a reception and an opening night. Um obviously, welcome to parents
and the public and anyone who wants to go out there. The art will be hung at the commons through May 6th. So, it'll be up for display. Um you know, hopefully putting the teacaps art out there in more of a public venue. We've been the commons have been great to work
with. Misspika reached out to them and they were super excited to host that and and have that opportunity to partner with us and display the artwork. So, we're excited to try that venue this year. So, >> question. Does TC High also have uh a
good level of art available to them? >> They did. Um unfortunately, we just didn't have the numbers to run it. So, now what we're doing is we're bringing in the art on the Fridays. So on the Fridays where the students don't have their traditional classes, um Jen Choek
is working with the kids as to what they're interested in and then bringing in some local artists to do some seminars and those types of things on those Fridays. It it's a little tougher to fit in the school day because some of those kids are credit deficient in the
required areas. Tends to not be art. Um it tends to be math and English and those things. And so we've really doubled down on Monday through Thursday providing more of that academic support and then ensuring on those Fridays like what are the other experiences we want those kids to get and how do we give it to them in a way that's meaningful to
them. But I know she's had in two different local artists to do some things with the kids on those Fridays >> because I I just see art connecting in so many different areas. uh looking at proportionality, looking
at uh presentation, you know, and the satisfaction that comes when it comes together. Um and I think that they're all so important to those guys. >> Absolutely. >> And music, I think, is
lifelong. >> It's a good >> What a wonderful segue. >> And here comes performance. Thank you setting me up like a Yeah. >> Uh Chad, do you want to introduce yourself and let everyone know your position with the district, too? >> Sure. My name is Chad Neans. I'm the K12
music coordinator for TCAPS. I also teach band at West Senior High. And um I broke my presentation down as well into the three parts, elementary, middle school, high school. So I'm going to start off before I get into this um kind of piggybacking on some things that were
said prior. Um, someone said that, you know, art is all around us. And I think that that's really true. One example of where art is such an important part of our lives, I I go back to COVID. I go back to what were the things that we did to get us through that and people were reading and they were watching streaming
services and all things that aren't possible without Ark, right? Um, I've always said that the humanities keep us human and um, you do see it everywhere, whether it's, you know, listening to music or visual art, but um, like you said, whether it's fashion,
whether it's, you know, car design, whether it's, you know, um, something you see on TV, a program, all that is possible because of the arts. Um, speaking about elementary music, oh, I did things. Sorry. Uh goal five you said
about retaining and recruiting staff. >> Um having sat in now on a few interview committees for different music staff positions. I will tell you that TCAPS is a desirable place for music staff to work. Um it's really easy to recruit people to come here because they know it's well supported. They know the
quality of the work that we do and the people who come here stay here. And I I do think that that ties directly into that goal. Um speaking about elementary music. So, as a whole on uh as a whole department, we have about 25 uh full-time and part-time music staff. Um
about 10 of them focus on general music, specifically at the elementary level. Right now, elementary students attend music twice per week for 30 minutes. And you will see there that they have a curriculum that aligns with national content standards. Uh those all coming from the National Association for Music
Education. Um we have a very robust K12 music curriculum. It's not a situation where kids just go down to the music room and it's just something fun to do for 30 minutes. There is there are lessons, there are things that we are teaching them and things that apply across the board uh to everything that they do during the day. So, um the
picture right there on the right I took at a concert. I've been making a point because I'm a secondary person of going into the elementary schools and watching teachers and watching concerts. That program right there um is at Central Grade School at Lars Hawkstead with Mr. Goodrich and fifth graders from Central
Grade School. And I will tell you that all the things listed here on this curriculum are all things that we saw on display during that performance. Um students are singing, they're playing instruments, they're actually moving around. There's a physical education component to what we're doing as well. They're creating um terms of music
literacy, conversational soulfet, I'll come to that in a moment. and then relating music to other disciplines. The whole theme of the concert centered around uh 250 years um of the United States of America with a lot of American folk music, things like that um on display. Terms of music literacy, and
this is something that I know I've talked to Dan about before, I think there's a lot that music can do to help uh support literacy at the elementary level. uh we teach music literacy using a uh technique referred to as conversational soulfetg but it's the idea that we teach music literacy like
how you would learn the English language you hear it um and then you speak it and then you write it so it's using the same like pathway that you would uh learning any other language um in terms of literacy and I know with like the CKLA
blocks at the elementary school um there's been a big push I know to promote literacy at that level. Uh some things that music does to help uh helps with funological awareness, auditory recognition, reading fluency, memory and vocabulary growth. Um all that happens
in that classroom to support that. And then in terms of social emotional learning um about self-awareness and management which go right into uh goal three and that first tier that was mentioned on that previous slide as well as collaboration going back to that goal
to connectedness. Um and so students are doing that like I said twice a week for 30 minutes from junior kindergarten all the way through uh fifth grade at the elementary levels. In terms of middle school, um we continue that compulsory music education
to sixth grade. So right now, uh the performance opportunities that students have in sixth grade at both East and West Middle School. And by the way, there's also music offerings at Monasuri as well. Um most of the conversation I'm having here is centered around what we're doing at East and West Middle
School. But sixth grade uh music is compulsory. You'll see the performance options. They have beginning band, choir, and strings. With the beginning bands, we actually start students um in instrument specific classes. So, if they play the violin, they're in a class with all violins. If they're in a flute
class, they're in a class with all flutes. Um same thing with strings. Uh choir students are beginning to use their voice in different ways in that sixth grade. Um and then there are also non-performing options. There's a class called music explorations, which is an
extension of that general music curriculum from K5. Um we usually run about one section of that at each middle school. The majority of the students that take music are taking performing classes though and um each of those programs typically have two to three um
public performances throughout the course of the year as sixth graders. Uh when they go into seventh and eighth grade, it's an elective. They can choose to take it. Uh there are multiple grade and audition based ensembles per area. So you're going to see seventh grade band, eighth grade band, seventh grade strings, eighth grade strings. um tener
bass choir, magical, things like that. Um we have 601 seventh and eighth grade students involved in a music elective which comes out to 48% of our total seventh and eighth grade student body at East Middle School and West Middle School, which is a huge uh portion of our student body. Um the other thing
about middle school, you see the two pictures there. I know Dr. H. Hotton and Dr. Van Wagner were able to attend some of these performances back in January. Um, but our ensembles and students are continuously recognized with superior ratings and representation at the annual
Michigan Music Conference. Um, so you'll see the eighth grade symphony band from West Middle School on the top right and then the tenor bass choir from West Middle School there underneath that. Um, we also have uh our choir regularly makes the All State MSVMA All State uh
event. our thespians. When we get to the high school, I'll talk more about theater, but our thespians um are very successful who go out and and win awards and scholarship money and things like that. >> Um speaking about the Michigan Music Conference, we're also the only district
in Michigan that's been recognized twice where the entire district uh music programs were highlighted at that conference. Um in 2000, I believe it was five and 17. Um so there is a reputation across the state of the high quality of
the education that our students are getting uh here in TCAPS and I would say that that goes directly to um once again goal three and under that positive uh behavior development talking about that intrinsic motivation and pride in the work that the students are doing.
And then in terms of high school um all those things are still true from middle school in terms of the high performing level. Um, in terms of courses that we offer at the high school, both Central and West Senior High have five band classes. There are three concert band classes and two jazz classes. As you
know, the concert bands combined to make the marching band in the fall and you see them perform at football games and in the community. Um, there are five curricular choirs at each building as well as extracurricular choirs. Um, two to three orchestras at each building. And then, uh, theater classes. I know we
just started offering theater again. Central High School and West Senior High. Mindy Quest has a full uh class load as well there with theater uh stage craft things like that. Um but we all very uh we have very high performing band choir orchestra theater programs.
They're state nationally recognized. You can see the number there. 678 high school students are enrolled in a performing arts class. Um high school ensembles performing at many concerts and events that connect our students to our community. I know um our our teachers talked about this as well, but
we do go out in the community. We're very visible um part of our school district and we're also um people come into our buildings to be able to see our concerts and things like that. So, it's not just going out in the community, but bringing people in to our
buildings. Um you'll see us performing at things like sporting events. On the far right there, you can see the Central High School pep band performing at one of their basketball games. um parades, whether it's the light parade, cherry festival parade. You see music groups in those jazz festivals. Uh we did a
Central and West just did a jazz performance back in January up at the Bay Theater in Sons Bay. So going out and doing collaborative things and getting into the community there. Um fundraisers, district ceremonies, you know, we'll have music represented at the retirement ceremony at the end of the year and things like that. And so um
ultimately I just think the performing arts programs are some of the most visible in our district. um they create a place of belonging. We keep going back to that and that sense of community. Students involved in music, the number that I saw was even higher than the one the art uh department put out there, but
I saw um an average of 107 points and that was from college board of people involved in music scoring higher on SAT um that they're involved in arts programs. And so um >> that's their overall score out of 1600. >> That's my understanding. Yeah, the total
score I think if you broke it down uh into English and math, one of them was like in the high 50s, one was in the low 40s, but it came out to 107 total points. Um we talked a little bit about what students are doing after they graduate. Um,
you know, we see a lot of people who go into music as careers, uh, whether as college professors. We just this summer welcomed back Miles Booth, who is now the saxophone professor at the University of Oklahoma, went to Traverse City West. We have, um, people who are going out and becoming music educators
and teaching um, out of state, instate, at all different levels. Um, and we also have people who are going out and earning jobs in uh, opera companies in professional orchestras. Um, but one thing that we're even more proud of is
that you're seeing a lot of music students when they're graduating, like Beth said, continuing to perform um, in community groups and things like that, in churches and things like that because of the experience that they had here in TCAPS. If you go and watch any of the
NMC bands or NMC choirs, a huge percentage of those organizations are made up of TCAPS graduates who are still making music as adults. You know, some of them are dentists, some of them are lawyers, and they still find time to be able to make music um in a community.
>> So, it's balance. Can you talk a little bit just because you lead a huge group of students, the marching band at West in particular, about like teaching kids to be good human beings and get along in a community and sort of that's a piece of
your curriculum although not directly in the music piece. It's definitely a piece that and leadership as well, >> right? I will tell you like with band in terms of leadership, I think it's a that organization lends itself really well to building leaders. Um we have a pretty natural structure in terms of student
leadership with drum majors, section leaders, you know, just talking about the marching band in the summer. Um all the different sections meet up in the summer and it's student run and are being taught by students. So they're learning that music before they show up to our camp and then they get to camp and it's the students who are teaching
other students how to march, you know, the different um techniques and things like that. And so every organization, choir, orch have councils and like student um opportunities for student leadership to help uh determine kind of
the direction that the program goes or you know various things that they can take on that are in addition to what they're doing in the classroom. Um in terms of good humans, um you know, sometimes I'll get uh those emails from one staff member in the building who
will say, "Hey, how is this student for everybody else? you know, we might be running into a little bit of an issue with them. And almost every time that uh I get one of those emails, my response is, you know, they're great for me, you know, I mean, and and part of it is because they um I think it's the
structure of the class. It's it's the hands-on nature of it. It's the uh expressive nature of it. Um we talk about how if you um fail a math test, it affects you. If you, you know, can't play your part, it affects everybody.
And so it's very ingrained from an early uh point, sixth grade and even probably earlier a little bit about the importance of like everyone has to play their part in it. Um it's not just about you and we're part of something that's bigger. It's
better. It's bigger than the sum of its parts, you know. Um, so I yeah, I I I think that this, you know, I think sports does the same thing in a lot of ways of of building that level of accountability and uh
working together as a team to achieve something. >> Yeah. And it it actually combines with so many different areas that what makes it hard is when you say to a kid as you
go up through through school, you have to choose only so many electives. So you lose a language or you lose art or you lose music. And that's really
hard. I'd like to see more efforts where we begin to combine things better because it actually makes it richer. It makes it work better. Um, but that's innovative. And we do so much innovation off of the electronic world. You know, I
I'd really like to see more innovation back and forth across all the secretaries. Math. Absolutely. I have a friend who was a fabulous commercial artist that said, "I absolutely can't do math. I can't the heck with that. You do
it all the time." You know, you just don't call it the same thing. Um, and I I try to preach to a choir that's not necessarily sing. Yeah. No pun intended. >> Oh, I wouldn't do a thing like that,
John. But, you know, I keep saying you need some cooking classes, some homemax, some things like that. And it melds with this whole idea of math and presentation.
And it appeals to the senses >> and it has to be part of being a human being. And I wish somehow too we could get somebody over into TC High. So
>> I had a couple of questions too. Um just going back to the sixth grade when the students are required to take um some kind of arts class. So for that music exploration is the objective for the student to pick a specific instrument to
you know specialize in and take on take on from there is that the >> Oh so music exploration is I think just in the title of it you know it's just an exploration of different kinds of music and different you know it's a non-performance-based class. So I don't think the goal of music
exploration is that we're going to try to track somebody into you know a band or an orchestra or choir. I think it's just an extension of what they're doing in elementary school and being exposed to a lot of different aspects of music. So, it's still enriching um but it doesn't have that performance element um
which some students would prefer to to not participate in. Got it. So, >> okay. Um I thought it was really impressive. You talked about the retention of music students in seventh and eighth grade. I mean to have nearly half of our middle school student bodies
at seventh and eighth grade electing music. Um those two years I think speaks well of the program. That's just music specifically. Um as you move into high school the number was 678 are in the performing arts. So music is a subset.
Then we have theater, we have choir. Do we know the breakdowns of music versus theater versus choir numbers to know how many are continuing? >> I I could I could tell you what the course requests were for next year for at least the music courses. Um there are
about 160 165 coral music requests at West Senior High. Um there were a little over a hundred uh orchestra requests and about 125 130 band requests. Um the band numbers I know for a fact are up. Uh
orchestra numbers at West Senior High this year um were much higher than they had been to the point that they required us to go from two orchestra classes to three that we actually added an orchestra class because of those numbers going up. And so if you were to add that up, you know, I'm not, you know, I'm a
musician, I can count to four, but if you do like um >> that's funny, you know, get it. >> I understand that one. >> Thank you. Um but but I mean that comes out to probably about is that about 400 or so, right? Or
>> 300 just that was just at West Singior High. >> Yeah, that was just at >> and then theater. Did you mention that number? >> Um I don't have those. All I can tell you is the same thing that Jesse said about the art classes that Minda has five classes that she teaches and they're all premaxed out. So if you were
five and 30, you know, 150 area >> and that's when you're up against with that that elective thing. >> I I will tell you that from a master scheduling standpoint though, I think that our high schools do a very good job of making sure that the students who want to take the classes are able to
take the classes. Um to the point where I have a handful of students who take more than one band class. Um typically that's not something that they can do until later when they've gotten their requirements out of the way and things like that. But I do think that the counselors do a good job of sitting down with the students and the master
schedule schedulers do a good job of trying to eliminate as many of those um conflicts as they can. But ultimately um there there are a lot of offerings. You have CTC once they get to junior and senior year. You have early college classes. Um there are a lot of things for kids to choose from. And I think
that that's a good thing for our district, but also you are correct. It means that sometimes students do have to choose which one they're going to be able to do and which one they can't. So, yeah. >> Great. Okay. Um, I was also curious, are
there cuts for band or orchestra in high school? >> No. >> Okay. >> The the high school classes are audition based. So, instead of having a sixth grade, seventh grade, eighth grade band, you wouldn't have freshman, sophomore, junior, senior band. Um, students typically go through an audition
process. We just finished that for band uh right before spring break and then they're placed in the ensembles depending on how those auditions go. So, you know, I kind of use as equivalent of um you know, if you're looking at like geometry versus algebra versus pre-calc, right? That you place a student where
they're at and then they begin to progress through that process. Uh but we don't tell kids they can't be in the organization. I've had kids who didn't play instruments who come to me sophomore, junior year, senior year, want to join band and we take them and we find out where they're at and that's
where they start and >> Okay. >> Um, we don't turn kids away though. >> And I assume the same for choir. >> Yes. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Great. Yeah. Any other questions or comments? I'll just mention one thing that um it wasn't brought up, but we'll have an
opportunity at our uh board meeting. As you're coming into the board meeting, we will have the Monasuri uh um orchestra uh here to perform. Uh we've not done this before and logistically it's going to be a little
crazy, but we're going to have them out uh in the entrance way uh down by where Conniey's office has been as everybody's coming in and then we're going to recognize them. So we also do have that program for our middle schoolers at >> Yes. >> at Monasuri. >> Um Monasuri has fifth and sixth grade
just like how they are grouped by you know adolescence and things like that. They have a fifth and sixth grade band and fifth sixth grade orchestra and then they have a seventh and eighth grade band and orchestra as well. And I know that the orchestra that will be featured has been growing in terms of numbers and uh Andy Evans who's our new teacher there has been making a point to get
them out into the community so people can see them and see the work they're doing at Monasuri. Is there any evidence of students coming from other districts for our art programs? And you guys might not have that answer, but I was thinking back to Lisa what you were saying about how many
kids were or your college experience of how many people were saying, "Boy, I wish I had that program." Uh, I just wondered, you know, are we attracting students from other places? >> We knew we have. It's anecdotally, I don't have numbers. I We've had a couple. >> I can probably tell you stories.
I I know that we have. In fact, we've had some just because of the way that our school of choice rules work from out of the ISD even. Okay. >> That that we've had to say no because of some certain things that we've had some people. So, anecdotally, I know we've had that. So, I know if we've had that,
we've definitely had some within the ISD that are eligible. >> Okay. >> You guys probably can think of kids that >> Yeah. I don't have any empirical evidence either in terms of numbers, but 100% every year there's at least one or two kids that transfer in from another school and we hear that all the time
from people that they want to come to TECAPS because >> of the opportunity. >> There's so many opportunities. Absolutely. >> Right. kind of wondered over the years if there are any families who who've had students attend a certain local private academy and then decide, "Oh, we're just
gonna we're going to migrate to this private this public school district." >> Absolutely. >> We see that our class sizes at the high schools do pick up. Our ninth grade classes are larger than our eighth grade classes because we pick up kids who want those opportunities that we have. I
mean, and I mean, like I'm going to speak a little bit about Chad here in a second, but like I mean, our these guys are they are phenomenal at their craft and like you can't find better human beings, but also experts in what they do. And so like that's it's been nice when we have goal five, retaining good
staff and growing good staff that can then pour into our kids. Um although Lisa talks about teaching humans, she's a phenomenal artist. And so like watching her teach a perspective on a drawing, see I used a good word there, is like it is impressive and it is a
skill that you know um you can tell she's grown and she's adapted. Same with watching Chad direct a group of kids. It's it's unbelievable. These people are really really good at their jobs, too. So >> great. So for next year, you're going to have an additional slide on goal five
and the years of retaining staff. I've been here long enough now. I've seen Wendy Wolfler, Peter Denine, um, of course, Fenoy Humphre, and, um, now Eric Orman retire after 30 plus years, >> right?
>> Give or take. So, that that speaks well to the retention. >> Yeah. >> Absolutely. >> Yeah. Yeah. And just kudos to Chad. He stepped up this year. Um, I mean, he's a phenomenal band director, but just watching him grow into this leadership role for music and thinking about the different projects. We have a big hiring
with the choir director at West. He's had his hands in that and been a great voice and guidance for that. We've got the uh project construction projects at West Middle School that's going to be kicking off. Chad has been phenomenal through that process, helping us make sure that our directors are getting what they need, and we're also staying
fiscally responsible, as Christine would like us to, you know, on both sides of that. Um, it's been great working with him. And so um huge asset to our district. So thank you. >> Thank you. >> One more question. Film. >> Do we have anything in film >> at the middle school level? Yes. Um
digital media and communications at both East and West Middle School. And it's um film production and broadcasting. Um there's East is called Trojan TV and West is called um the West Press and it's
student broadcasting. Um, Jodie Mackey has won tons of awards for her students and broadcasting and journalism at um, East Middle School. Um, I would like to see it at the high school. >> I would say West is just as good. Thank you.
>> Yes. >> With West Press. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> And our career tech center as well has. >> Yes. At the high school level, there's not a film. There's we created a digital media class for to kind of fill the void
that for the kids that can't actually go to CTC, but we haven't progressed into the film portion yet. >> It's a perhaps a bit more expensive, but >> and I know the one the programming at CTC for those kids that want to join
film that is a bit more selective than your other classes. like it's not just a you don't just get to sign up for that. >> When we uh when we were at CTC, we met with a group of students and we had a student that was in the film program >> and had the chance to talk to us. So
that was really and just very passionate about it. >> Very cool. >> I took film making in college. Professor Beaver and our little film won best in the student. Um
there's like a big celebration kind of thing. >> You got student film festival. >> Yeah. Yeah. So we won that for best document >> documentary documentary. There we go. >> I just want to give also one shout out to Minda Nyquist and her colleague at
Central High School for the theater program. You know, I try to go to those musicals every year. They're all and and the plays and they're really so impressive. um for I think a public high school and I know that there are students who do
pursue theater in college. Um just walk I was just walking with a friend yesterday whose son got a full ride to Sienna Heights for theater a few years ago. Uh I know there's some seniors right now waiting to hear from colleges if they got in um to their theater
departments. I mean kids really take that theater seriously too. So I again I just think I know it's difficult to track kids post-secary but maybe we can capture some data on our seniors when they're graduating like where are you
going not just U of M or what BEu but is that an art school or a theater music school going forward? >> Sure. And I will say that the music boosters have started a uh signing day um just like how you'll see a lot of uh
athletes have a signing day ceremony. we've been doing that at the end of the year and so we I think are in a position where we can start to track that more. Um that every year we know who is signing and where they're going. Um I think you're right. I think that that would be a good thing to do.
>> I think data with these these fields in particular is hard, right? There's not like this this just finite metric that we can track. But I will tell you the biggest the biggest factor is like look at their enrollment. when we talk about their classes like you know having 33 kids and a waiting list like kids want
to be in there and the quality of what we're providing for kids is of high caliber right like I I can't point to a data or point or growth score but I can tell you it matters a lot um and it's of value to our kids and our parents so >> absolutely well thank you to all of you
and your peers collectively >> we appreciate the presentation and moreover your dayto-day hard work connecting with kids. Okay, moving on. Um we have the Northwestern Michigan College and Traverse City Area Public
Schools Early College Memorandum of Understanding. Yes. So, this is ourou um that Dr. Van Wagner and I worked closely with NMC to get drafted. Um it actually had kind of lapsed and so we look to draft a new one and ensure we've got an outline about our early college program.
And then in addition, um the new pupil accounting manual from MDE just came out and it requires us, this is not necessarily a board approval thing, but it needs to be a public thing that we have given both to the board and to the public that we have anou that is signed
and valid and that um NMC is the college in which we have an early college partnership with. So again, that early college um is something that our students would enter into their first classes second semester sophomore year. um they take a kind of a study skills
course with NMC and then that really starts junior year they're enrolling um the majority of their day their junior year is at the high school with a few NMC classes. Senior year it's a little bit more 6040 with more at NMC and then that fifth year they're almost primarily
at NMC. Um we are able we kind of they walk with their cohort they would normally graduate with but they don't receive their diploma from TCAPS until that fifth year. um so that we're able to collect that FTE to pay their tuition to NMC. Um and then during that fifth
year, they complete both their associates degree through NMC and um their last requirement for their high school diploma. Um so it's been a program that we've had in the works for quite a few years. Um and so this is just sort of a renewing of that. Um and
what that looks like. >> You said this does not require board of education approval. >> No. Um, but I'm wondering if there is some way you want to make theou publicly available. Like I was thinking of putting it on a
cons or consent calendar, but I don't want to for our full board meeting on Monday, but I don't want >> What I'll do is I'll put I'll just add it to my superintendent report and we'll have a link in there too >> and we can have Yeah. it in our board pack. Add it to our board packet. Okay. That would be helpful. >> I'm looking at you going is it ADA compliant? But
>> it probably is. >> If anything, we'll give details on what's in it. Okay. >> Um the other thing I would mention is um sometimes I get questions from board members especially as we're getting into state budget season. Um this is one that it's a great program but I will tell you
financially it is a struggle for us. Um we do it because it's what's right for kids. Um but from a financial standpoint dual enrollment um is getting harder and harder with the increased cost of college. it, you know, when the the the
understanding is is that by time we pay the tuition bill, books, everything that's required um of the of the foundation amount, you know, we we have very little left. And the reality is is that we have to pay still for heat in a building even though maybe that kid's
not in it, buses, all those different administrative costs, all those different things. And so in the state budget there is um a an aotment of a categorical for dual enrollment early college payments. Now the the the the
win and loss in it is that the money is allocated out of the school aid fund which I generally don't advocate for because it just is you know Robin Peter to pay Paul and that we get that but the reality is is there's winners and losers in that. We would be a winner as TCAPS
of that money. um you know that because we do so much of it and maybe some other districts that don't have a community college for instance or whatever do not um they wouldn't benefit as much as we do in that pull from the school aid fund but for TCAPS and a self-s serving
interest it would absolutely be a plus for us to get any kind of an incentive payment for dual enrollment and early college kids. Um so as you maybe talk with legislators um in travels and conversations uh any meetings you might be where there are um
that is one that would be a positive financially for us to help maintain and sustain this program moving forward. >> Do you red shirt some of these kids? >> Essentially it's kind of what it is is is you know you're you're keeping the kids around. You're you're really kind
of like fifth year shirting them. It'll take a fifth year red shirt and what and that's way we collect that money that senior that that additional senior year and then pay the full tuition bill and it helps us a little bit because normally we don't have them in that fifth year. Um but even all of that
included if you took a kid that normally starts early college their first class is in their 10th grade year is the college the college exploration their 10th. So you take their dual enrollment from 11 and 12 and then the 13th year and if you add up all that foundation everything we pay it's about a wash and
so you know so that's the kids early college dual enrollment the kids we don't get the fifth year for it's really a loss in the end for us compared to if they were just to stay traditionally in the high school classrooms because again when they're gone we still have to pay
all of those you know we you know we still have a teacher even though there's three less kids in still need the teacher in there. There's a bus that goes around. Even though maybe that kid's not picked up on the bus, it still goes down that road, you know. So those that cost of operation on
top of the tuition and books cost is a negative for us in the end. So like I said, a payment there is something that I am advocating for. for the Michigan Community College Association um which Nick Nestle is a part of. It represents
NMC, um is advocating for um a categorical specifically for dual enrollment payment. Um so I would suggest that if you have those opportunities, we would want to advocate for that. >> On that note, I did see an email recently about Michigan Association of
School Boards having an an advocacy day for schoolboard members in Lancing that's coming up sometime in April, May. I don't remember the cost, but if we have any budget left this year, you know, some one of us could go and represent. >> I don't even think there's a cost to it
if I remember right. I It would just be travel. >> Yeah. So, I mean, that might be somebody's interested. >> We'll take We would have the budget for that if >> Okay, great. Well, thank you for that. Um I think with that, we'll move on to our celebrations and successes.
>> Yeah. And kicking things off, uh this is Miss Trill's JK room and we do have some art involved here also. Uh they are doing CK and JK also they do the preschool units and then they slowly throughout the year start to integrate some of the the kindergarten units. But this is an example where and I think uh
Chad chimed in on this also is where our specialist teachers are also trying to make those connections with CKLA. I know with our social studies and our science this year, we've been really deliberate with those curriculum leaders to go through the CKLA units to make those connections, but also our specialist
teachers have also reached out about maybe some opportunity also to to make the connections with with CKLA. So, this is just one where we've kind of brought the reading and and science and art together in one project when they're learning about plants. >> Love it.
>> Uh this next one uh was at West Middle School. So they hosted their career day. So Miss Studman and her team there worked hard to bring in professionals in all different areas and those professionals presented to the students. They were able to sort of pick and
select different options based on what their interests were and see a little bit about like how does what I'm interested in translate to uh a career or a profession. So super fun day. The kids really like it. It's always fun to get community members in. there are any
community members who are ever interested in presenting at career days or mock interviews. We have a lot of those coming up. You know, please reach out to us. Um we're always we're always looking for different ways to connect our kids and showcase that.
>> And some parent engagement opportunities around writing that we had at two of our elementaryaries. Uh Long Lake had a poetry slam which was very entertaining uh to watch. And then Eastern also had their winter writing celebration where parents had come in uh both schools and
had the opportunity to uh interact with their students and their writing skills. >> I love the idea of the poetry slam. My kids went to Long Lake and they didn't have that at that time, but when I saw this, I thought, "Oh my gosh, talk about a public speaking opportunity like what you were talking about, Beth.
>> Um I would have been shaking in my boots as an elementary school student to do that. So, so awesome to give them that early light exposure. >> I'm gonna put Chad on the spot to talk about this next slide. >> Sure. >> Okay. Thanks.
>> Uh, one of the things that, um, all of our ensembles do at the high school and middle school level, um, is they have some sort of like evalative either festival or clinic that they do. Um, we're very proud this year that all 10 of the bands from East Middle School, West Middle School, Central High School,
and West Senior High went to MSBOA, uh, which is the Michigan School Band Orchestra Association District Band Orchestra Festival, and receive superior ratings. Um, they're also called ones. If you've done that before, you know what that is. Um,
basically the bands are evaluated by a panel of adjudicators uh, in the areas of tone, intonation, rhythm, technique, and interpretation. They perform three selections on stage. They receive a score in those categories. Um just like golf, the low score, one wins. Um and
there's not necessarily winners or losers, but you want to try to get a first division rating. Um and all the bands received um exclusively first division superior ratings from those adjudicators including in site reading which if you've ever gone another component of this literacy is that all
the bands after they perform three pieces on stage have to then go into a separate room get a piece of music they've never seen before. They get five minutes to look at it. They can't play anything. They just have to like silently look at it. They can sing through it. They can talk through it but they can't play. And then after those five minutes of prep, they just have to
perform it. um and also get evaluated by an adjudicator uh doing that. So every band from TCAPS scored very well at that event. >> Since we do have three tiers of bands and three tiers of orchestra, do they
all get evaluated at the same level or is MSBOa also tiered like that? >> MSBA is a rubric that's used across the board, but there's a um a qualifier in each of those categories that is based on classification. So there's an
understanding that, you know, if it's like an eighth grade band versus a seventh grade band, you're going to hear more refined sounds in an eighth grade group than a seventh grade group typically. And um each of those tiered groups that go from the high school are entered at a different classification. So our wind ensemble would go in class A
because it's a we're a large high school. And then like the symphony band concert bands would go at lower classifications where the literature they're performing might not be as intricate. Um, and also that understanding that, you know, what the adjudicators are probably going to hear,
like I said, might not be as refined, might not be as advanced as as some of the other groups. But >> thank you. >> Yep. >> Glad you answered that one. >> That was >> I knew some of that, but yeah, way better.
>> And then some scenes uh from around the district March is reading month. We had some athletes reading uh two groups and we also had some special celebrities. Dr. Van Wagner and then also Erica Moore was included in our in our readers for the month >> and Josie
>> and Josie and Josie. >> Yeah, that that crouching old lady in the camouflage >> that was and that was at >> Blair >> that their family name. >> Yeah, I'm sure the this the athletes were the most popular celebrities in reading.
>> You had a magician. pretty popular now. >> Not trying to hurt anyone's >> feel that doctor. He's amazing. >> Uh all right, great. Okay, so uh we are now at public comment period number two, but again seeing how
we do not have anybody in the live audience at this time, uh we will move on to other items. I just wanted to recognize that a couple of trustees have emailed over like right before and during spring break requesting certain
information relating to goals one, two, and three of our strategic plan, wanting more information in advance of our um May 9th uh study session on the budget
um with the intent being they would like some additional data before you know we pass our preliminary budget in May. So, I know everybody's just come back from spring break, but um I wanted to acknowledge that if we can get that
additional data into our curriculum committee uh next meeting, which is in late April, or executive committee or perhaps even the next board meeting Monday. And you could break that up however you want. Like I defered to
administration, but um I think our I think next Monday's meeting agenda is pretty light having through it. So I just wonder if that could be parsed out at all between >> we talked about it. We've said we're going to try and do it in curriculum. >> Okay. >> For to May to have before the May board meeting. So the late April curriculum
committee. >> So all of the go the goals one, two, and three. >> Yeah. It the request that Beth made is probably more data to be honest with you with that. So it should be short. We're going to get you some of that and then we had the chance to talk uh yesterday with Tai and so we're going to go ahead and cover that at the curriculum
committee meeting next. >> So Tai's request goals one and three. >> Missy specifically is going to be part of uh curriculum. Okay in late April for the goal three. >> Okay. Goal three. And then do we have anything for goal one academic
achievement at all? that's there was not a specific request with that but that is you know how it's tied in from that will be in the May study session >> yeah mine is actually tied pretty >> tier one the tier two
>> because it's looking for after school remedial work >> and it's a lot of data so Dan's already working I know on that we but we we met yesterday on it so >> yeah and Ty's original request was goal one my point was well we don't have you know NW W the M MTEP we don't have the test
scores but maybe just talking about what are all the academic interventions >> and that's all going to happen at the study session. So >> with it >> yeah I think we're going to dive quite a bit. My thought is that obviously we had the goals but then we also had another section strategic plan about our strategies and what we're trying to do
to to move the needle um and how the and then how budget relates to that. I mean in my mind that's what the study session is for is that we we have certain interventions or we have certain programs uh that our our kids and our schools are are implementing. So what
budget do we need in order to be successful and what things we're going to >> because remember this is not our budget adoption that happens in June. This is a specifically a study session to talk about those new things with our our new and and current resources that we're
looking at doing. That is the purpose of the study session >> and we're going to be looking at like national empirical data as well as what our own district anecdotal experiences with different interventions the interventions all those inputs for
boosting academics. >> Yeah, I think we'll do the best we can. I think there has to be a little bit of realization that sometimes there's not a national like this is what the national um data looks like for that specific intervention or if there is it's coming from the people who make the intervention which is a little bit like
Britney and I have had these conversations it's like looking at the reports from the car that you're about ready to buy from their own people who make it right you know it looks really good because that company says it looks really good right >> so you know but Britney and I have got a lot of research on some national trends
about interventions and what stuff has research behind it that is non um not affiliated with the company that is I want to say nonpartisan but I'm not sure if that's the right word there um but is sort of that third party indicator um there we go um to give us some of that
background so when available we absolutely will the other tricky piece is just sometimes the data isn't the same assessments so it's hard because we say oh a growth of this I don't know what that would translate to our assessment because that was this assessment or this assessment Right. So
um but we will definitely we heard that loud and clear any type of national or research behind stuff the board is interested in seeing. >> Okay. So the learning series that had been planned for late April which was I think personal finance economics and something else that'll be move postponed to >> well still trying to do both.
>> Yeah we're going to I I think the board needs a slide at least about that personal finance and economics course because that is a change that's the only change to the Michigan merit curriculum. It is now going to roll. It's our sophomores right now. So, it is of impacting them. So, I just want the board to be aware of that. I will
shorten it down instead of bringing guests in to talk about it. I'll try to get it down to one slide of summary, but then it's a piece that like is going to impact every single kid who graduates from this district. So, I want the board to have some knowledge on that change of curriculum. But, >> and there's a math portion of that that
won't be too lengthy, right? It's not a total adoption of a new math curriculum. We just want to keep the board informed about how we are switching publishers and what that process looks like for professional development. >> Right. The K35 math curriculum. Yeah. Okay. >> Right. Because our math scores are are
lower than our ELA scores >> in some instances. Yeah. >> Okay. So, do you would you anticipate that to be longer a longer curriculum committee meeting then next time? >> We're going to try and keep it to two hours, but I think it'll be the full two hours. >> Okay. Okay. All right. Heads up
everybody. Uh Brace yourselves. Okay, with that, the next curriculum committee meeting will be on Tuesday, April 28th at 8:15 a.m. here at the TCAPS administration at Glen Lumis building. And with that, uh, we are adjourned.
Thank you everybody.