committee to order. >> If you want to chime in, chime in. I'll ch >> The committee would like to welcome no audience. >> I told >> uh viewers may watch live board committee meetings online at tcaps.netboard. Recorded meetings may be viewed on
demand at the same address. I see there's no public comment. Kelly >> comment. >> Um all right. We are at the draft minutes draft meeting minutes portion of the agenda. Are there any changes to the draft meeting minutes?
>> No. I move to approve the committee meeting minutes from January 6, 2026. >> Yes, you're going to second it. >> I second the motion. Okay. Motion passes. All right. Nominations are in order for committee
chair. Are there any nominations? So, I nominate Josie Ballinger to serve as committee chair. >> I second the nomination. Are there any other nominations? >> I declare by majority or unanimous vote
as uh Josie Ballinger as committee chair. >> Yeah. Okay. Thank you for the opportunity. I would I would say um not by unanimous because there's only >> because there's only two Scott >> by majority. Yeah. >> Okay. I declare by majority vote that as
Josie Ballinger for committee chair. >> Perfect. >> Uh the newly elected chairperson will now presside. We are at the committee meeting schedule of the portion. Are there any changes to the committee meeting schedule? >> No. No. I move to approve the committee
meeting schedule for 2026 as presented. >> I second the motion. Committee meeting schedule will remain as presented and I'm going to defer to Jesse for the district course catalog updates. Awesome. Um so you'll see some new
courses here. Um some for this semester, some of those are NMC courses. Again, those would be students who are involved in our early college or dual enrollment. Um, all of those fall underneath approval through what the rules are from MDE. There's one course there that you see the MVHS,
that's a Michigan virtual course. So, our students who won off a course at the the two traditional high schools do that through the platform Michigan virtual. They provide us with an accredited teacher for that. And this is a student who wanted to take a class that is not t
taught in our TCAPS catalog. Um, but the counselors felt like it aligned with that student's educational plan. Um, and then the last item on there is a little bit uh unique. This is an opportunity that came to Dr. Van Wagner and I. We met with the uh ROC uh director and
program and they are very very interested and have some funding to open programs at both of our high schools. So Jason Allen is uh helping to get the funding for us and to secure TCAPS a spot. There's a limited amount of spots in the state of Michigan and there are
two spots open this year. Um, and so what we're planning to do is to put this course uh in the course guide. Uh, lead principles both know about it and the counselors will know about this and put this on as an elective for students.
Students in grades uh 9th through 12th grade could take this course. Um, you can take it one year or you can take it all four years as an elective and it really it's through the army. Um, and the instructor would be a retired Army personnel that we would partner with
them to hire. Um, what we're thinking right now, depending on student interest, is that we would run one class at West Senior High first hour and then run one class at Central High School sixth hour. It doesn't conflict with career tech center for those students.
Um, thus allowing lots of students to get in. Um it's just a really great program that sort of incorporates both um there's some physical fitness. So we're looking at and exploring could this satisfy half a credit of PE for some of these students. Um it also
incorporates a lot of citizenship. Um there's a lot of community service um and those types of things involved too. So we're looking at some schools count it for the students civics credit as well. So some exploration there. Um but the army provides they help us find the
trainer and or the teacher and the instructor for the course. They provide all the uniforms that the students would wear. Um there are competitions and things like that of nature and they provide all the transportation. They help us set up everything. Um and then there's a ton of scholarships and other
future opportunities for students if they want to go on and do programs through ROC after high school. So, um, you know, our friends to the south, Kingsley is doing a program similar. It's been a huge hit. Theirs is through the Marines. This is through the Army,
different branch there. Um, but we're just interested. We've heard a lot of chatter in the past about it. And so, we thought, well, let's put it on the books because we have the opportunity and let's see what the student interest is and that'll really drive whether we decide to pick this up or not. Of course.
>> Interesting. And that will be uh for next year, is that right? >> Yeah. get out there, see the interest, and then if there's interest, then >> yeah, we start enrollment with our secondary students next week. Actually, we start with the juniors. I know um as soon as second semester sort of flips
over, our counselors start um going at that. And so, um because we know we have the funding, um we've been guaranteed they do half of the instructor's salary. They provide, as I said, uniforms, materials. We have to provide the classroom and then the other half of the salary for the person. Um but we get to
use them all day. So they also can do other things for us in our two high schools. John and I have also talked a little bit about what would be potentially a TC high opportunity too. Could this person go over there and do some physical fitness or something like that with some of those students? Um
there is some need for that too. Um but we're interested just to see if we can have enough kids at both high schools that to to warrant us saying it's worth it for us to to move ahead. If not, the thought is that we would delay and try it again next year. Um, the Army is
willing to, they're very, very interested in getting into Northern Michigan. There's just aren't any ROC, junior ROC programs in Northern Michigan. Um, so our thought is that maybe we would delay a year, build more momentum and communication with kids and parents, um, and go make another go
around it a year from now, too. But this timing works just because we're starting enroll with kids. So, >> cool. Very cool. >> Jesse, are are we offering this because it's available or because we think there's demand?
>> I would say both. Um because right now there's a slot open in Michigan and that opportunity kind of meets and we've seen the program at Kingsley um be quite large and very engaging. We've had some of our community parents and students reach out and say, "Why don't you guys have a program?" We've had some talks
with Pat Lamb and the Career Tech Center about a program there. They aren't interested at this point. just don't have capacity or room in their program. Um, but we've had parents and students reach out to both Dr. Van Wagner, Ben Berger, Brian Gwenny, and myself about like could we look for this opportunity?
So, I would say both. The timing just sort of was >> once we John was sort of like, yeah, let's let's look and then Jason Allen approached us. John and I met with the Coast Guard as well about an ROC through them. Um, but we just they they didn't quite materialize as as as
a viable program yet for our kids. >> Okay. >> Very cool. Um, so with that, I'll move uh that the 202526 TCAPS district course catalog with the updates as presented be placed on the consent calendar uh for
the February 2nd board study session. >> I'll second that. Motion passes. Okay, we are now at the learning series and I will defer to Jesse Hton for the TCAP strategic goal number two, building belonging in our school communities.
>> Sure. Dan and I thought that today we would just take a little time to talk about a lot of programs that we have going on K12 to really that really go after goal number two, which is how do we how do we create community within our schools? what kind of really cool things
are happening every day. There's lots going on. Um but we know that that's really important for our students success. Um I thought I'd start by I I found I saw this quote in an article that I read. Um this is the organization of economic cooperation and development
which is the um it's a global uh company that or nonprofit that does a lot on public policy but specifically around education. They they are the organization that puts out the PISA test which is the international test. But I thought this really hits at what goal two from our strategic plan is and how
important it is for our kids to feel like they're part of their community at school. They belong. They're seen. They're valued. And that really will lead to that academic performance that in the end we really we we want for all of our kids. Um so uh we are going to
start with elementary um and about some programs that they're doing down there. So I will hand it over to Dan Piper. Yeah, we have some wonderful guests with us today from Corte. Uh our principal, Andy Phillips and two teachers, uh Tracy Partman and Ben Boyce are going to talk
about a program that they've started after school for the last uh few years uh that's related to STEM and to get kids connected to school. >> Andy, well, thanks. Um why don't you start by hitting the hitting play on the video? So, this was uh this was the first night
of this year's program, and we'll get more into what we're looking at here, but you're seeing a uh Lego spike kit in action, which we have tons of, which is great. There are several reasons why the program works, and one of them is because we have a bunch of kits. we were
talking about, you know, um talking to you guys today about this and uh if we had any less than one per two or three kids, I don't think it would be as engaging and hands-on. So, that's one reason that it works really well. Um some other reasons it works really well, I think. First is because we have good
teachers that are willing to um put in the time to do it. Um teachers are paid. So, uh, the teachers that apply and sign up to do it get 16 hours of prep time and then there's 24 hours of student contact time, which if you know anything about, uh, elementary programming is
kind of unique. Often times, um, elementary teachers don't get paid for the prep that they do to do things. So, uh, that's really a cool thing and that's another reason the program works so well. It's in its third year and Ben and Tracy have been teaching it the whole time. They'll tell you too that
uh, it's kind of evolved over the years. It started from just scratch programming like um Ben and Tracy and I we we'll get into this but we just we we built it from the ground up with a blank slate and so it's evolved this year into being a lot more structured with lesson plans
from the Lego Spike curriculum. Um it's really popular Corteade. So we have you can go to the next slide. Um so we opened this and it's on a timestamp system. Last year we had a wait list. uh it filled up probably within an hour of
turning the form on. This year we're able to um we're able to get everyone that wanted to get into it into it. Uh but the by the time we started at 6:00 and by the time it was like 7:00 we had about 80% of our participants and I will
tell you the form was had an error. So like Google forms do sometimes. So I had like five texts from people at 601 saying it's not working, it's not on. So it's it's really really popular. We're a small school. So, for us to get 30 to 40 kids to do this each year is a pretty big um it it just shows that there's
big-time interest in doing this. Uh it's it fits a wide range of students. So, we have typical kids who do a lot of after school activities like soccer and basketball and all that other stuff. We also have a lot of kids when you're talking about belonging as a theme of today. There's a lot of kids that this
is probably the only thing that they do as far as after school goes. Um something else I'm really proud of is that it's always been free. Uh so the only thing that you know a parent has to worry about is picking their kid up on time which doesn't always happen but that's that's the uh that's the thing
that they have to um have to provide for. So we have snacks, we have physical activity and all that good stuff. The way it is structured is that kids meet after school. So they dismiss and then they we now have it so they go out to the playground. We do a quick physical activity with them because it is a super
long day for elementary school kids. It's open uh kids as young as second grade all the way up to fifth grade kids. Um so we do quick physical activity which usually involves some sort of either running or some various tag game that Ben knows from all of his
uh history with playing tag. Tons and tons of tag games are involved there. Um and then we have a snack and then the rest of it is programming and we're out at uh at 5:30. So it's an hour and a half after school um each day. So, and again, this is the third year we've been
doing it, and I'd say this is the most polished iteration we've had um had going so far. >> Um so, thanks for having us. Uh this is my fourth year with TCAPS. I originally taught in Chicago public schools for 15
years. Um, and kind of my why and you know with the connection to students belonging I ran after school programming for my elementary school in Chicago and it was very much like they had the funding so we can do some book clubs. We can just just do little intimate
settings where kids are just again feeling like they belong. Um it's not as you know sports related or focused. It's you know homework help time. we did stuff like that and through the years I just saw the growth in the students and how much they love coming to school
because that little after school part is just so much more meaningful. So that's kind of why when Andy brought it up I was on board right away. Um we didn't really know what we were going to do. We went to REM they were fantastic. They had curated bins and bins about for for
us of things we can go back and try. So, the first year was just we had all of these different stem bins, marble mazes, um spike, we had like a few spike kits, not nearly what we have now. Um and then 3D printers, micro bits, and then now we
are in year three where we have enough Lego kits for a kit for every two students. Um we're able to really utilize those lessons and like he said, just make it more polished. Um the kids absolutely love it. Um they ask when the school year starts like when is explorer
starting Miss Hartman when when we I said okay couple months. Um so yeah we're really we're really happy to make this work for our students. >> In that video you saw at the beginning the learning objective there was to create a code to navigate a vehicle
around a course. And at first I had kids I asked them to make their vehicle go around a chair on the floor because it makes me really nervous with these vehicles like on the edge of the desk. But, uh, Levi, the student that was doing that one, he's he's like really talented in this area. And so, this is a
spot for him to shine. And you could see his audience there. He was loving it. So, he got his vehicle to go around his Chromebook without going off the desk. And I was filming, but I had like one hand. The gear that we're using is durable. They've fallen off of desks before. And the only risk is it's just lost time
because the kid has to pick everything up. Um, but it is it's it's good equipment. I attended a training um hosted by Ramsey in the Lego spike um back in November I think and that was fantastic. It was all day. We were out in C calcas at the calcium and um we got
to work with the Lego teachers professionals and they showed us how the curriculum works and it's really like once you see it in action it's plugandplay. It's really easy for us to do. Um, all the people who attended that training got a kit to take home, which
has been good because I can practice a program at home before I introduce it to the kids. So, I know where the challenges are. Um, and the, like we said, it looks polished because everything is more uniform now because we're not having to scrap it together, >> which was challenging the first year. I
would say this year is a lot easier to run. >> Scrappy scrappy. And you know, there was a lot of different things that the kids um and we kind of talked about in future years incorporating some of those other things we had with these Lego kits now, but this has just really been a Lego
focus year. It's cool seeing how the program evolves and changes. Um, and how much the kids grow, you know, from the fifth graders that have been in it now >> for a few years that was Levi. I mean, that's what they're doing right off the bat is just what they're going to go to middle school with is going to be really
cool. Since you're the curriculum committee, you know that uh uh elementary teachers don't have a lot of time in the school day for um like free exploration. It's really tied down. We have so much time set aside for CKLA and
so much time set aside for math and then we get science and social studies in according to our calendar whenever we can. So when Ben went to that training, something I felt really good about was he came back and said, you know, it was really cool because everybody got this kit. People signed up because it was a
cool training opportunity, but I bet we're one of the only places that actually had a plan for implementation of the kit. I can almost guarantee you that there's a bunch sitting in a closet right now somewhere with a teacher who really wants to do it, but doesn't know when they're going to do it. >> So that's another thing that I think uh opens the door for something like this
is after school programming. Um, so kids do this there's 16 sessions minus the ones that get cancelceled because of snow days and we do not make them up. So usually 14 to 16 sessions or so, but it always ends with a symposium. So whenever we do an after school club,
um, it's it's kind of just been my thinking all the way through from starting this is there should be something to show for it at the end. And it's way more fun for kids to show off what they've made, not just to the people that are in the program itself, but to parents. And then this year we're
going to run it so that we'll have our symposium the second to last day of the program. It'll be a a Wednesday and then we'll keep it set up and so our students will be able to walk through and see what kids have done. And it's not just about the thing that the kid makes on the video. It's about the process. So
they're going to have something set up where they'll talk about the planning and preparation that went into it. Um and things like that. So that's that's great. And then we also run um if we have the staffing because that's a tricky part of it. It's sometimes not the easiest cell for uh our teachers to
want to stay after school for 16 days and run programs like this. But for the past two years, we've also run a creative writing program after school. It's another thing we just don't have tons of time for during the school day. write. We write a ton, but we don't write just for the love of writing a
whole lot or the love of creating or we have people that just like to come and do pictures or at the end of that one there's usually a lot of cardboard creations that are that are out there for our symposium, but we'll run that pending staffing and it's nice to be have the flexibility to do that stuff.
>> You guys want to share some of the comments? We did a a quick survey of students and uh and parents with the idea of belonging and uh so there's a couple that are worth noting. >> So what the parent you want to do parents? >> Go for it. >> Okay. So the par I'll do parents and you
want to do the students. So this is a few things that the parents said. The creative explorers program gives our children a wonderful opportunity to go beyond what they learn in a standard classroom. It provides a muchneeded creative outlet while keeping them genuinely curious and challenged. We love being able to introduce STEM at such a young age in a way that feels
like fun, not work. It is amazing to see them growing into lifelong learners by embracing technology. >> Tracy does have a child in the program that was not her comment. >> No, it's not. >> But I bet I know whose this was because if you listen to one of the student comments, it pretty much
>> kind of summarizes that. >> Kind of summarizes that. Another parent said, "Getting hands-on learning experiences with coding and other steam projects that they wouldn't otherwise be exposed to at this age." And someone said, "It's a great way for kids to have fun, be creative, and explore different STEM type activities. It's also a great way to meet new friends."
And here's some student comments from third graders. What I like about Creative Explorers is that I can stay longer at school and I love school, coding, engineering, and spending time with Jane, another student. Another reason why I love Creative Explorers is because it is being creative with Legos.
That's from Rowan. Jason says, "I love Creative Explorers because you get to build moving Legos. You also get to make it with motors and cameras. George says, "Why is Creative Explorer so fun?" I love it because of the engineering since I love technology. I like being a lone
engineer since I don't like to do partner work. >> So, a little bit of something for everyone. You know, they they all kind of make it their own and it could be easily replicated. Truly, it's, you know, it's plug and play at
this point. >> So, >> we did have another school visit, so I'm hoping that we'll have some other schools uh jump on board as well. And I'll close by saying one of the comments from one of the kids, >> he was in it last year, too. And his dad during the symposium said, "It's so cool that you guys offer this." He's an
engineer now, and I said, "Would you have done something like this when you were a kid?" He said, "I heck yeah." And I would have known I would have wanted to do engineering a lot sooner than when I first, you know, encountered it later in life. So, I really do believe that if you, you know, expose kids to this, they're going to kind of build
themselves up to think, well, I'm going to take STEM classes in middle school. I'm gonna I'm gonna I'm gonna be an engineer when I grow up. And um talking about what what that can lead to is pretty cool. So, >> awesome. Thanks again >> for for just putting the work in and and the idea of replicating. So, Blair was a
school that visited. So, I've talked to Kirk and they're going to start Kirk Rainey the principal. They'll start in the spring with the same program. Um, use to make this still a no cost for for families. We use at risk funds to fund that. And then the STEM kits, just a
shout out, Newton's Road, Bill Meyer, and uh, Mike Rolo and his family uh, donated money for the STEM kit. So, it's nice to have as like Andy mentioned, that 2:1 ratio is key as far as using the STEM kits. And that's a a pretty large cost that we were able to bring
those kits in the TECAPS. And we also use those kits for our summer programming. We did two weeks of STEM cap last year and we'll be able to expand that to five or six weeks. So, thanks again for coordinating putting it work in because obviously having the opportunity for all kids that don't
necessarily participate or have uh a parent that uh makes it a competitive environment, but rather just STEM for the for the sake of education. >> That's fantastic. >> Yeah. Thank you so much and for taking the time, you know, to stay after school
and and just it's so cool. Um and and that it falls under this belonging in our schools. It's just such a highlight, you know, because >> you're so right that connection and you heard it in the kids comment of I like to hang out with Jane and you know, right? Like I mean that's cool. So um
thank you for all all you do and for bringing it here to the board and >> very cool. My son is a um senior this year, but his first introduction kind of into STEM in my opinion was in middle school um with D or Mr. Brush and uh he that's what he wants to do is be an
engineer just from those classes and just that introduction. So even starting younger is such a cool thing. I don't know if it was him a few years ago, but we had the middle school STEM teacher come and visit our program just to kind of see and he was very excited about how
excited the kids would be and how much background knowledge they would have when they got to him then. >> Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So great. So, thank you so much. >> All right. Next, uh I'm going to have Dustin Worm. Customworm is our full-time instructional coach at West Middle
School and he's going to talk to you guys a little bit about work that's been done at both of our middle schools and I know he works a lot with Nate Tarno who's the instructional coach at East Middle School about moments of genuine connection. Um you see a book there in the corner Dave Stewart the author of
that actually came and did some professional development with both of the middle school staffs but I will let Dustin talk about the details of that work too. >> Yeah. So, this is an incredibly important topic just because middle school is such a hard time going from the small elementary trying to find
connection and belonging, uh, getting to know other kids. And so, uh, you know, after conferences when you come back, you get excited, rejuvenated. And so, I remember last year when Kristen went to the I think it was Edcon
>> up at the resort. She didn't tell me about any other session. It was this session from Cedar Springs and the impact that it had for her. And so Cedar Springs came and they talked about how they had this series of tragic events that happened where they had two
students commit suicide. Um they were quiet kids, kids that do the right thing. Um and for whatever reason, they decided to do what they did. And um so the the staff at Cedar Springs said, "We have to do something to prevent this from
happening." and in the future. And so they came up with this idea of genuine moments of connection. Sorry, I'm not used to talking front of all these important people. Great. >> Talking in front of kids, it's a lot easier.
Um, and so they they talked about how like you have to have urgency and do something before this event happens. And so, um, they talked and and Stu came back like, "We have to do something. We we have to get this into our school."
And it's important to note that we're already doing all of these things, right? Like, if you're a middle school teacher, you're a little bit crazy because like it's a hard time. There's a lot of things with curriculum, building connections with kids, and so like we're already doing these things. But what it
did is it gave us urgency. Uh, it gave us a name, moments, genuine connection. It gave us uh to set some intentionality for setting time aside that curriculum is important but the human is more important. Uh gave us some key terms and
then they also give us and there's some sample starters up there but questions both academically because that's important but also on the human side. So the idea is that these are brief conversations with students not necessarily as a whole class but one-on-one with students. Um, so there's
the academic questions and then the human connections and then just getting to know your kids and making sure that they feel that they have someone at the school who is on their side that supports them and cares for them. And we've done surveys in the past and our
survey this year was a little bit different with the wording, so it's hard to compare apples to apples. Um, but we saw a huge increase both at East and West Middle School of students who feel connected to an adult. So we know that
uh the MGC's are making an impact. Um and then what we were able to do is because it's on a Google form identify the students that said they didn't and then come up with a plan to connect with those students in some way. And so we had teachers that had that student at a table and they were able to talk about
how they're going to try and make a connection with that kid to hopefully make those numbers even higher. Um so we are seeing a shift. Um and students just looking at my notes here real quick.
Um so when Dave came like I said it I think it just made a connection to teachers that we do have to have urgency of this. When I was in Utah we had a very um similar event with that within a month we had two suicides and that's a hard time for teachers. So,
if we can do something about it now, that way we don't have to deal with it later on, like that's preferable. Um, and so I'm excited to see where this keeps going just because of the improvement we've already seen, the way that we've seen some of the shifts in the numbers of students that feel more
connected to teachers. Uh, but we have fabulous staff at both schools that were already doing this stuff. Like I said, it was just putting a name to it, intentionality, and urgency to it. And some of the teachers too are are tracking um this too, right? So, one of
the things that Dave talked about is you you tend to interact a lot as a teacher with either the kids that demand your attention or like just want your attention. And so, part of his old whole intentionality was how do you find the kids who are that other group who just
they do school really well, but they don't necessarily draw attention to themselves. Those are sometimes the kids that we forget to have these 30 to second conversations and connections to say I see you and I value you and I'm here to support you. Um and so you guys
do you guys have like a tracking sheet. >> Yeah. So one of the things that we wanted to do is reduce the barriers to make sure that teachers had everything that they needed. So they had a clipboard which seems like a small thing but it has every student on it and then it has two columns one for academic
questions, one for uh the human questions. So you can check it off when you have a conversation. If you want to take notes there, you can take notes. Um and so removing those barriers and then like I said with that intentionality, you have that conversation with the kid, you just go and check it off that you
had the conversation. Um, and so that has made a huge impact to just making sure that we are reaching every kid because you think you do, but like Jesse said, some kids are really good at just being on the side because they're content with that,
>> but we can't be content with that. So, >> and they've done some nice jobs with their staff meetings coming back to this and like having some reflection and time for their adults to say both Miss Studen and Mr. Ranger have said this is important and they've placed time in in your guys' staff meetings to reflect on
what's working and what's not and what kids maybe are you worried about because they're not, you know, connecting in that type of way. >> We're also trying to connect with every kid, not just on that level, but we're writing postcards during that time. So, you can use some of the stuff that you talk to the kid about. Write a postcard
home. We're increasing our Titan talk or our Titan stars. I know they have something similar at West or at East. Um, so we're trying to make more effort to get kids recognized as part of this as well. So it's not just those small
moments, but it's coming back to those moments that we're trying to be really intentional about as well. I saw yesterday, I think it was, that somebody, one of the state legislators has got a bill they're trying to get passed on bullying and the ability to
take students out of one school and automatically place them in another school or not quite sure of all the logistics on it. How prevalent is not bullying per se at West Middle School, but how often is
that used as a reason why students have a hard time participating or being part of the community? >> Yeah, I don't have I can Well, so it's interesting at middle school, right, when they come in and you can reflect a little as sixth graders, they they aren't quite as self
I mean, they're self-aware sort of, but they're like they still love school. It's cool. And then somewhere along the arc there between sixth and eighth grade, it becomes maybe not as cool to be the kid who like wants to answer questions or be engaged or the teachers
have commented, you see some somewhat of a shift there, right? It's more that idea of what my peers think of me, will they make fun of me or will they tease me for this? Um, and so I think part of this is trying to combat some of that that happens that like no, you have a voice and it's a great voice and it needs to
be in our classroom and oh, is there something going on that you feel like you can't insert your voice for a reason, right? Is there something that I can address as the teacher? Um, you know, how prevalent is bullying? It it's a hard thing, Scott. Kids, especially in
these adolescent years, are can be very, very cruel to each other. A lot of it comes from insecurity, right? I don't know who I am, so it's easier for me to point out things about you, right? Um, and that's unfortunately human nature, which is why we need all these good
people and all these proactive systems that we have. Um, we do have students that will come to both Miss Studman and Mr. Ranger and request to change schools due to bullying every year, right? And we have a process that we work through on, you know, are we aware of it? Have we tried to help resolve the situation?
Also, the reality is the grass isn't always greener on the other side. There are mean kids and mean actions everywhere, right? And so, what are the tools that you have to advocate for yourself or to seek an adult so that the the behavior can be corrected? You know,
the other thing that I know from working with adolescence is the majority of the time the other adolescent is trying to be funny or, you know, draw attention in a good way and and and not realize how cutting their actions are to the other student. It's really not typically the
majority of the time it's not meant to be that insulting and and then kids will laugh along. They'll think, "Oh, he must have liked it because he laughed too." Right? There's very much lack of social awareness that way. So, >> I don't know if that answers fully your question. It does. I mean, a lot of the
student suicides at the middle school level seem to be attributed to bullying in one form or another, and I just wasn't >> sure how that factors into the connections that you're trying to make. So I think our problem practice around academic conversations getting kids
talking to each other more during class as well is part of it like our focus with the moments genuine connection is teacher to student or student toteer but we're also focusing on that student to student as well and there's a really good article um from Cedar Springs
School District where they are also having students now doing these genuine moments of connection with each other which might be something that we can look into to building on. But I think with our problem of practice around academic conversations, getting kids to
respectfully, you know, respond like that's all part of this, too. >> Do we have I assume we have counselors at the middle school. >> Yep, we have counselors. We have three counselors at the middle school. And then I would say the majority of their day is not spent with academic
counseling. It is spent with relationship building and all of that. Yep. So each one of our grade levels has a full-time counselor in it. And additionally, at West Middle School, we have a full-time um social worker, too. They have >> more students than East Middle School does. So, it makes sense for us to
provide a little additional >> um kids know that that's an outlet they can pursue. >> Yep. And then and they're awesome. All of our counselors are great. They also have a trails group which gets kids connected uh with each other if they they don't feel like they have a place
yet at the school. And so, like there are programs there to help support students in a lot of ways. >> Yeah. Yeah, but I think you bring up a good point, Scott. Like the biggest message I would say for parents is if your student or your child is coming home and saying this, please let us know because we have adults here who are
great with conflict mediation, who are great with restorative conversations. Like, don't let it fester with your kid. Like any issue that you see, reach out, right? Send us an email. Um, so each of the students at the middle schools, they have a little hub that has their admin assistant, their wing principal, and
their counselor right there, right? It's right where their academics are. They're very accessible um and they're available to support students with, you know, all aspects of their days. But middle school's is a really tough three years >> um for a lot of students.
>> Thank you. >> Thank you for being here. >> Yeah, no problem. >> All right, so on to our high school. So, as I was thinking about connections and thinking about a place in our high schools that I just really want to bring to the board's attention and the public to highlight it, it's our libraries and
and a lot of times when we say, you know, high school libraries, people just think automatically about the academics and the reading and the writing and the communication. And both of our librarians are teacher certified librarians and are phenomenal teachers, but their spaces that they create and
they foster do so much more than that to hundreds of our students each day. So, I invited our teacher librarians, Miss Genevie Miner, who's at West Senior High, and Miss Lissa Vandery, who's at Central High School, to talk today a little bit about what does it look like in those spaces, what types of things
are going on with students that help get add belonging and community. Um, not as they do a ton again with the reading and writing and academics and our English department, but um there's a lot more that goes on there as well. So, you can talk about that if you want to too, Larry.
>> Am I up? >> Yep. >> All right. So, um, the library is a place for everyone. And so, when you have 1500 students and when I think about kind of piggybacking on what you were saying, like what did the high school years mean to kids, I kind of
like to think of like there's two different categories of kids. You have your freshman and your sophomores that are trying to figure out what it means to be independent and finding their place. And so whatever happened, whatever experience they had in the middle school, it's a little bit
different in the high school. You get a lot more freedom of like um maybe even just the courses you choose, but then you're trying to figure out am I a drama kid? Am I a band kid? Am I you know, whatever. And so that sense of belonging is like learning like what does that
mean? And like where where's my spot in in the whole thing? And then it's and it's doing that while they're trying to figure out academics, why they're trying to figure out how to buy lunch and and just kind of do school. So, there's a lot of like moving pieces in those first couple years. And then the 11th and 12th
graders, um, you know, some of them are 18 years old and they have jobs and or they're dual enrolled, they're in college, they're not even on our campus any hour of the day or limited hours of the day. So, you have these very independent kids and maybe some kids
that are not so independent. Um, is kind of the two two groups that I like to think about. And so, I like to think about the library is like the catchall where what can I do that supports that entire spectrum of of belonging. So, the
pictures that you see up on um the screen are homecoming. Um, and so what I offer during homecoming is actually I just replicate what I offer during lunch. And it's equally as busy if you ever walk into the West High Library.
Um, it's just packed with kids and it's games, it's belonging. Um, they were allowed to have their cell phones here because it's a dance. It's after school and very few of them are on their cell phones because they're they're interacting with each other. They're having this like fun time. Um, you'll
see the picture. um they did a Rio theme for um homecoming and you'll see I decided to make this like photo booth thing and the kids I had craft time. You wouldn't think that high school kids love craft time, let me tell you. Craft time in the
library, people is like busy. So, we made um Rio birds for the whole week leading up to homecoming. And then the Rio birds got put on the photo booth that they took pictures of. And then we also did um bird like croisses. So we
took toilet paper tubes and they decorated them and then you can put a pipe cleaner and like you know twisted on there and then you could be on the dance floor you know with your birds and you would not think but man those birds are still hanging up at my library people. Um it
it's just it's so fun. Like there's like an element of fun. I feel like high school can get really really serious. what are you doing and what's your GPA and it counts people. It counts now. Um none of this middle school stuff. And so I just feel like we need to maybe
lighten that up for a couple minutes out of the day. I think there's a I think there's a place for fun in learning and um maybe Mrs. Miner is a little out there and a little silly and a little loud and so like I draw the attention to
me so maybe the attention isn't on them. And if you know me, this is just me. Um, and so I think about the social emotional learning um, part of it and the building relationships because if I can do this, if a kid will sit down and play a game with me like connect for
during lunch or they'll um, build some wacky bird and dance on the dance floor with me, then when they struggle maybe academically in a class, they're more likely to to say, "Mrs. Miner, I can't figure this out. Can you help me?" Um, and then we can get serious and then we
can, you know, so I help them with their NMC classes when they don't have like an in-person teacher in the building. So, like I'll sit down and read the syllabus with them or like help them with the work sited page or um help them with some research and stuff like that.
Because of that, I'm able to get to those kids because of because of this. Um, I also, um, I picked up Key Club this year and one of the, um, reasons why I picked up Key Club is because I identified students in there that still didn't have
a sense of belonging. Um, so I can funnel them through a Key Club program and volunteerism. And so maybe their sense of belonging isn't even within our building. Maybe their sense of belonging is with the State Theater, the Children's Museum, or Quantis or or whatever. Um, I had kids that
volunteered for the Salvation Army and rang bells like all over the break and stuff like that. And they have a group of adults outside of the community that are taking care of our kiddos. Um, and so I funnel them through that. Um, I'm still going to keep talking. Um,
and then I have Model UN. I coach Model UN. And so I can take some of those academic kids and build um um diplomacy skills and um conflict resolution skills with global issues and things that are happening in our world. Um I see kids
reading. I have book displays. is I have this really cool thing that I'm going to launch um to promote literacy skills that I don't have time to talk about today, but um I can talk about books and kids can talk to me and it helps foster those literacy skills that we um have as
um a district. February 18th we're going to have the mental health summit. So I can I notice that that's when we have like a dip in kind of our mental health. I think all of us February is rough. Um, so I bring in 20 community members and we have like a mental health summit during the school day. Um, and so I just
try to like tap into just different ways of like I've got this these group of kids. What what can I do? And then I just try to build programming around those kids and that some of those things stick around from year to year and some of those kids like the needs not around.
So I kind of drop that and kind of think of think of something else. But I do want to kind of piggyback on something that you said, Andy, about funding. Um, everything that you see there gets funded because I collect cans. I do not
get any funding. Um, every once in a while I get a grant, but I have boxes in classrooms where kids will put their empty cans and then if you see me pretty regularly, probably once a week, I'm walking out with bags of cans that I take back to Meyer or whatever. And then that's like my little slush fund to be
able to buy feathers and construction paper and and and things like that. So it is um it's all self-funded as well. I just kind of want to point that out. >> And I think that's your question. >> Question. Um I think you're doing a
phenomenal job and I love what's there. How often do you see this group of students population changing? In other words, how often are there new faces in the library? PE kids that have never ever been part of anything like this
suddenly hearing about it and showing up. >> Yeah, I love that question. Um, so um the dances are the big thing. So, so snowcoming is coming up and so I get a whole the dances draws a different crowd
than my lunch crowd. And to answer your question with that, when adversity, when kids start skipping classes and where do they go? Because we're closed campus. West Senior High is a little bit hard to like hide and there's like nowhere really to walk or go. Um, and so
they start skipping and so they do one of two places. They skip and they hide in the bathrooms or they skip and they hide in the library. And that's where the library staff comes in because we're like, "hm, you're not one of our regulars." And then that's where I could be like, "Where are you supposed to be?" You know, and be, you know, kind of
hard. Or I could sit down and be like, "Hey, how's it going? Hey, do you like that three-day snow day weekend?" And I sit there and have a conversation with them. And then I'm like, "Hey, what's your name? Where are you supposed to be?" And sometimes we like, depending on the time, if it's like 10, if we didn't
catch them and it's like 10 minutes before class is over with, I know I don't really have enough time to get them off to class. And so I'm going to take that 10 minutes and have a conversation and try to make a connection with the kid. So then when they show up again, I notify like a counselor, I notify an admin, but then
when they show up to again again I could be like, "Hey, remember how are you supposed to be in art? What's going on in art class?" You know, you wanted to be there for two months and now all of a sudden so some adversity has happened whether it's a curriculum adversity or social adversity. And so sometimes kids
will eb and flow. The semester will change over like with their, you know, with their classes and stuff like that. But what what I love about my job is yes, I get those kids, but I love my job as far as I get the kids
that are are really struggling. A lot of my population and the postcards that I write, I had to ask I don't know why I felt like I had to ask permission. I should have. It's a weird thing, but I was like, "Hey, my kiddo is over at TC High now. Can I write them a postcard?"
You know, because we're supposed to pull from our population. And those are a lot of the kids that I work with in the library is is the kids that are struggling. And that's where like maybe the admin and the classroom teacher doesn't know about it. And I'm the stop
gap. I'm just one of the other in interventions like tier 2 intervention um that helps get kids back on track. So, thank you for that question. >> You ready? >> Yeah. Okay. >> All right. Um so, very similar to Jen's
comments. Um I think the library is the heart of a school. Um I said that from my interview actually with you >> from the beginning. Um, and I I think that for a lot of reasons, mainly those three things um that are up there. And
we have at Central, it's a it's a unique thing in in terms of our um like the actual geography of the school because we're not at all in the center of anything um where our library is. It is a task like it they have to decide that
they're going to come there. Um they walk by it a lot and then they have to decide to come back. um because we're not within the academic wings. Um and so really the three things that I that when I think about what we do um in the space is that of course we have academics um
space where kids study and a lot of that is we have free hours um and the kids need a place to go. Ideally they're not going out to their car um but they do that sometimes now that we don't allow cell phones in the academic space. But
>> we we've tried to encourage less of that um in the being where we are where they can talk to adults, they can get help with things um and then they actually can work with each other too. So we have seen now a little bit of a turn um in that there used to be a lot of when we
first instituted that cell phone policy and and that was our call like we said well it's we don't want them in the library either. um we're not going to say it's a free-for-all because then a lot of bad stuff happens as a result of that. And so we had a little bit of a migration out with the the that
population that had the free hours, usually juniors and seniors um because they just thought, well, I can't do that, so I'm going to leave. Now we're seeing a shift in that where they are kind of coming back and hanging around more and doing their stuff there and talking to other kids and talking to us. Um, we have early college students that
need a place to be uh because they don't have college classes at the same time every single day. Um, so they spend a lot of time there and then they work with each other too. So it's a it's a nice communal space for them to have um an opportunity to do their uh work uh
together in a communal space. We of course have online classes. Um lots of opportunities for kids to take online classes and um all of us then there are three adults that are in the space. So myself and then um two pair pros um Alice Hilner and Lorie Coulter and they
help kids with this and sometimes that say I can't get my computer to work. Um I can't log in to my stuff and they freak out because they're kids and that they don't know how to navigate that. and so we can help them, but we also know exactly where to send them if it's
something that we can't do. Um, we have a mentoring program that we started a couple years ago. I think it's in our second year now. Um, give credit where credit is due. This was actually Jesse's idea. Um, as a way to connect kids to kids to help with low academic
performance. And so the mentoring is not adult to student mentoring. It's students who have free hours or those early college classes, therefore have more time, and then they get paired up with a student who is not doing as well. And then those kids can come in once a
week. Um generally they're cleared to leave one of their elective classes and then they work with an upper level um student uh upper level class upper classman and they have had marked improvement um with their grades as a
result of that because oftentimes those kids that are failing geometry have a difficult time going to their instructor and saying I need more help with this. they'll listen to a senior um and they'll take some >> and it's I will just jump in. It's
hilarious because sometimes the senior is someone who is um you know a little bit more of that typical academic student um and not socially quite as adept and then the freshman is this like super socially savvy kid. And um I
walked in, I was doing a walkthrough and like this student I know was helping uh another student with geometry, but she was showing him the stuff on Tik Tok and Snap and trying to like educate him the other direction. And it was like just a wonderful like >> like relationship that these two
students wouldn't have gotten connected had Lissa and her staff not seen here's a need and oh here's another student who could help fill that need too. So >> and and we have to know the kids or it wouldn't work. So, because we try to match them up with in terms of
personality. Um, and that has >> has been really useful, too. It's like you the edgy kid is probably not going to really want to work with the student who has just been accepted to Michigan and is like straight laced. And so, we have some edgier kids, too. And
oftentimes, like we can put those together and and we've seen some really positive stuff um happen with that, including kids coming and saying, "Hey, I I I want to work with this other student again. Can you make that happen? Um, and so we do. And then research. I just had to put that on there because
that's my thing. So there's a lot of research teaching that happens out of the library. That's all I'll say about that. Um, and so socially, yes, as Jen had said, um, it needs to be a place where people feel welcome, like the
adults in the building, the students in the building, all of that, and they know that they are safe in our space. and we we make sure they are aware of that. There's a lot of visual queuing that happens in a library space. Um so that
they they know that they're okay. Um and same to to Jen's point of oftentimes, yes, kids cut class, yes, they show up in the library, yes, they try to hide and then we have to intervene um in that in that space. Um so part of that
socializing is at lunch. Same thing. There's a lot of games happening. There are UNO tournaments all of the time. Um, we make the same joke of this isn't really a quiet space. Um, and even during like a lot of the the days, I'm
not a quiet person. >> Um, and so >> it's a very respectful space. Um, but the kids do have a good time when they're in there. Um, and then we have had studentled things that happen at lunch. So, we have this chess club
Wednesdays that a student started last year u as a junior and we have I six or seven chess boards. Um and so they come in, they just get them, they sit down and then we'll have three or four tables of these chess games happening. Um, and
then that was like now passed on because he's a graduate, he's a senior, so he'll leave. And >> he passed that on to a current junior who is like setting that up and running that. >> And about every other week, I'm shocked at the kids who are engaged in that.
Students who typically would say, "I hate this place. I don't like being in this school." and somehow they connect with a kid somewhere in the day >> and then Mitchell will say,"Well, hey, you can just come play chess and they're
teaching each other how to play and then they're engaged in this and it's it's it's really >> it's really cool um to see that because that is that is nothing to do with us. We did not start that. We simply provided them with uh some of the materials um and then they just have
kept it kept it going." And so I that's just a really great thing to see. And then staff support. I think kids need adults who set boundaries and who are also there to listen and care and they know that. Um, and so there are three of us in there
that provide that for them. And a lot of that comes by way of Alice and Lori. Again, they're there all day. I'm teaching a lot of different times. But that teaching also causes kids to say, "Oh, I can go talk to Miss Vandery about this because I just dealt with her in my
classroom. I can go get help for her or from her." And then it can turn into, "Okay, I'm really having a crappy day and I I just need to talk to someone." Um, and it's a very different relationship the librarian has with those kids because it can be that 5
minutes or that 10 minutes and not a okay now, all right, but you have to do this and you have to turn this in and I have to get to the 28 other people that are in this room right now. Um, and so that that gets cut short often times. So I feel really fortunate to be able to um
provide that and I know both of um the parapilros there. Same thing. Um, there's a lot of talking that happens and it's a lot of constructive talking because it makes kids feel comfortable, safe, acknowledged, valued, and this all goes to what Dustin was saying too, like that's what they need.
>> Um, because they're I don't care how secure they are, they're vulnerable, all of them. >> Um, and they need adult people who can help them navigate all of the scariness of being a teenager. And Genevieve, you have two parapros who
help you in your space as well. >> I do and they are awesome. Yep. Same thing. We we um when Brian came over, he he brought that mentoring program over. So they they run that and um they are um very savvy. They are they are very
savvy. And um I re I rely heavily on them to identify some of those skippers. Like sometimes it's easy to notice the kid that's like eating and on their phone and swearing and whatever. You're like, "Okay, where are you supposed to be?" Um, but it's the kids that kind of
like sneak in and kind of you don't see them. And and I feel like both of the paras like they're on that they they they see that probably quicker than I do. >> Wow. I mean, I just can't say thank you
enough. I mean, especially right under the umbrella of building belonging in our schools. It's it's what we as a board are faced with um just that mental health component and how do we address um those issues? And so, thank you. Um I
mean, all of you, elementary, middle school, high school. Um, one thing that Jen said that I I'm curious about is the self-funded and and how with the mental health supports that we have, can we not help? Because I do think some of these
kids are literally our most vulnerable. Um and so when we look at, you know, even when we talk about that the middle school and the tragedies that happened at um at um Cedar Springs, you know, like those are the moments of catching
these kids. And so I just I mean even if it's a community driven uh support, right? we get things like, "Hey, we need snacks because our kids need snacks and we need snacks and like I I you know, but I think in this
case too would be really something to look at." Um, yeah. So, um, but I really thank you for sharing because just like I said, the belonging piece is is crucial. So, >> yeah,
>> I think it's amazing to see how much that has transformed. I think since we were all in school, libraries were that quiet space. And >> now that space, when I first learned the dances, you were hosting something in there >> for kids to do other things. Again,
brings kids who might not have gone to a dance >> out and >> or want to go, but the the dancing and the loudness is not their jam. >> For sure. For sure. >> So, thank you. >> Yeah. It's it it's funny. My biggest
fear since I've been on school boards has always been the what I've called the silent majority. It's those kids who don't have an advocacy group. They aren't accelerated learners. They aren't challenged learners. They fall right in the middle with parents who may or may
not be involved in their and and they they're anonymous. They're maybe C students. So, they don't even stand out with getting poor grades. I I I'm scared to death that we're losing those kids and they're the ones
who are from my perspective the most vulnerable in this. So I appreciate whatever you can do to reach them because I don't even know that a lot of schools know they're there. So I I I anything we can do to reach that group
would be phenomenal. Yeah, we've been really thankful um from a budget standpoint to have these three full-time teachers who don't, as Lissa said, have 150 students on their case load and, you know, roll through the day. They're such a huge resource to all
of their work as how do we develop systems in our buildings or spaces in our buildings? How do we be that tier 2 catchall? How do we notice some of these kids? Or Justin, how do I support my staff in making time to do this? You're already doing this. how can we do it a little bit more with intentionality,
right? Like all of that work that these guys do, I think is is really important for those pieces and and trying to reach those kids. So, >> thank you for saying that because I will say like that that when I was a classroom teacher, that was always my worry. There's a lot of supports and
funding for the the two ends of the spectrum, but I was like, what about just the average kid? And that was one of the things that was most frustrating for me as a classroom teacher. And all three of us have been in the classroom and quite a quite a long time in the classroom. So I I think in our new
roles, not only do we get to do just something different, but I think that experience in the classroom gives us those perspectives of like we know the limitations of the classroom like that you mentioned. And so it was like how do we how do we back fill the gaps where I
think if these weren't certified positions? Um I don't know that you would have that perspective. >> Well, thank you. >> Good stuff. >> Okay. Uh we're going to switch gears a little bit. I have just an update uh
about a purchase that we are going to be um doing this sort of winter and spring. It's not a purchase that um I need to go through board finance for because it's below the threshold for the price, but I wanted to make board uh curriculum aware
of the purchase. So, both of our AP science, our AP biology, and AP chemistry, we are we got sort of a one-year extension on both of our contracts there. Um so, we had a day in which uh our teachers from both sides of town came together, met with uh a
variety of publishers, looked at um different texts that they can use. Uh, keep in mind our advanced placement courses gets they get a list from College Board as far as what approved textbooks they're allowed to use in their classes because that aligns with the courses. Um, they met through those.
Um, and like I said, we had teachers from both West and Central in these groups. Um, and they both selected new texts for um, the next six years. And so that you can see the purchase prices there. Um, this will give us classroom actual physical books and then e text
for every student to have. We've really heard from students that they prefer the digital text and not having to I mean that biology book looks small but it is like this big and kids just don't want to carry that around. Um and the instructors want the availability to have some in their classroom if they
need to. We'll have a few in the library in case a student needs to check one out as we do. Um but those will all be digital for six years for those. So that'll give our teachers some continuity in their curriculum. And then this will also allow us to get our teachers trained um with some of the software and updates that have been done
in both these books. Um the other thing about digital is if there is a change or an update um AP Chem is one that doesn't get updated as much and apparently chemistry doesn't change as much throughout the years, but some things with biology do. Um those would just happen automatically in the books. So
that's just an FYI for board curriculum. Okay, we will move on to the final segment of the meeting, our celebrations and successes. So before we start on this, I do want to thank the five teachers that are here that came in on your snow days. Thank you guys so much. We had a few early morning texts about
so do you think you'll still come or should I tell one of the principles they need to be here? So thank you guys. I mean it's a testament to how committed they are to our kids and their work and really appreciate you guys making the time and the journey in today. >> Thank you.
And such a good learning series like such a >> feel good >> feel good learning series. I was going >> every one of them is >> glad that board. >> Well, I miss you. I miss you guys. Right. >> What are you on board finance?
>> I know. I know. I'm I'm coming back. >> Uh here's a shout out to some of our East Middle Su um East Middle School students. They are doing some uh work in one of their science classes and made some uh derby cars and set those up. So pretty fun uh lesson and project there.
Very engaging for those students. >> And again at Corteade the Den uh a lunchtime experience for kids that Miss Helman and Miss Herren have created um where kids again can make those connections and and have an opportunity to uh connect with each other
>> fit in place of recess. just >> sometimes. Yeah, it can be. >> This week it's being used a lot for >> I bet >> inside recess and then uh teachers can sign up for it when they've just been in their classroom for too long. Most of the time though it's it's uh run by um
parent volunteers. We kind of have continued a lunch buddy program and this is where we put lunch buddies. They oversee like a small group of kids that want a little variety or kids that we've been talking about this whole meeting, kids that might have struggles at recess but will have success in a more
structured environment. >> Cool. Love that. >> Um and here's a little shout out to West Senior High. They had a New York Times editor come in and join um their staff there. Karly Tenbush is the adviser
there and pretty cool on her sharing um her insights and her career with the students there at West Senior High. So, great opportunity for them. in the elementary or some winter uh family engagement opportunities more than just um it's always nice to get
families into the building for our our movie nights or our um some dances, but also there's a lot of opportunity where families come in and learn curriculum and then making that connection with families to be able to take that knowledge of curriculum home with them um to help their kids out. So, our family engagement opportunity
specifically with our title schools uh Blair Traverse Heights, Long Lake, Silver Lake, uh Corteade, um and Cherry Nol have these, uh throughout the year as part of their title status to be able to bring families in and share
curricular resources. And then so Trevor City High School on Fridays, remember they get different opportunities for us to um send our those students out into the community to different places and learn about that. All of our students over there, go on at least two visits a semester. Jen Choic
and her crew do a great job, but this is they were at the courthouse and so you see like they let the students like get right up in there. Jen um but Jen said it was a great day and they learned a lot about like what all of that process looks like. All the kids came back and said, "Whoa, there's a lot to all of
those moving pieces." So, pretty cool. And very thank you to our courthouse for hosting and and thank you to all of our local businesses that have hosted these students and and expose them to different avenues of careers or ideas and those types of things. So, cool day for them. And shout out to our outstanding um
social studies JK12 team that uh as we did with Indigenous Ed Day put lessons together as a team uh vetted out books and resources um made sure everything was culturally appropriate and then created the lessons to be taught in every classroom. Uh, obviously MLK day
was a um snow day this year, but we talked to administrators and the lessons were still be taught throughout the week as we dealt with exam schedule changes and everything else. But it's just nice to have kind of a process in place in which everyone has the same lessons and
the same resources and it needs to be replicated year after year. So this year we went to uh elementary, we did books per grade level and they're able to keep those books um and do the same lesson in future years. >> Awesome. Good stuff. And I see we have
no public comment. >> I I have a public question. >> Okay. >> And this may be more complicated than we can answer today. I was involved when Eastern Elementary was was built and the idea was to decentralize the libraries
to be able to put and I'm not quite sure what the academic rationale was but disperse them to the school. That doesn't seem to have worked. Is that now from a library perspective
something we're no longer following in terms of that procedure or process? Like I said, it may be way more complicated than we can answer here. >> No comment. >> Yeah, the central grade school. Some of
it's logistical as far as and I know they've tried to do this at Eastern, but the idea that >> MDE and access for K2 must be on the on the same floor. So, as far as spreading out library more is more the challenge. is not currently the idea at Central
Grade that we go back to more of a traditional library in a separate space. Um I'm not sure the history would involve too much at each room as far as the thought or research behind having the space and the books and having that shared learning space. I think that was
the idea right that we have a shared learning space which we have built into central grade school also that's this idea of teamings this idea of the crosscurricular connection to have a larger space where more than one grade level or where more than one teacher can get together and teach we've
accommodated that we just haven't necessary to use the library space to do so >> yeah and I think that you'll see those more often in those the buildings like a K5 or a K8 school I've toured I toured one out in um on a conference it was a
K6 school that had a very similar structure to Eastern and a lot of that is those students have a home room teacher um and now they have more access to things right and the way they've placed instructional materials throughout the building was you know the fifth grade wing over here they had all the resources that would align um and
then they did have a librarian that would come through and sort of rotate materials and help grab kids but the resources were right there where most the students are the the difference at the secondaries is kids are all over Right. And so I I think it there's too much complexity to that and I think
you'd h I've never seen a secondary a large secondary that has done it that way before. Doesn't mean it doesn't exist. >> Um but it is more traditional to have sort of that space as to where it's housed at the secondary level. >> And then I think the challenge at the to
the librarian in a secondary building then is to get to the teachers and bring them to you. >> And so that's what we do a lot of. there's a lot of teaching done in the library space. Um, and that's the other way that it becomes a more centralized
location, even if in the geography of the school, like at at my site anyway, it isn't. Um, and I and I've been in a lot of high schools with my children's sports stuff and notice like it's a very very similar thing. Of course, we're in buildings that have been built we're
right with one whole model at one point. But I do think that's the job then of the person who is tasked with running the school library and at the sec the library at the secondary level is to be the person that says, "Okay, come here and we'll do this here." And that's a
way that that becomes um a more collective space um for the the te the curriculum aspect, the teachers of the building, the librarian of the building. And then that allows for kids to feel comfortable in another space that's an extension of their classroom spaces or
or the the other places where they could hide. Um and so then they they can get there and they know it and they're comfortable there because they know the people there. So, >> I would encourage you to follow up with Sephi Light, our elementary um she's in charge of all the elementary libraries,
and she would be best able to answer your question. >> Okay. Well, I mean, it's sort of counterintuitive to what you talked about as community connection space and gathering space and multi-purpose and that seemed to be more focused on the book repository and having those
dispersed throughout the school and it seems like it's playing a bigger role at the secondary level. Can it play the same role at the elementary level? So I whatever >> I would just note that in my elementary experience, I've seen that library be that place that those kids who are
checking out books and maybe your library days Monday and we've had a snow day the last several Mondays, but they're still walking down to check in with the librarian. And whether that's a mental health check, they really need to book, who knows? >> But it's one more safe space for them to
be. And I think that's really really important for kids to have one more space, one more connection. >> Okay. Again, it's probably far more complicated than you know. >> It's a good question. >> It is.
>> All right. We don't have any other items and this meeting is adjourned. Our next meeting will be Tuesday, February 24th at 8:30 a.m. Perfect. Thank you.