viewers may watch live board committee meetings online at tcaps.net/board. Recorded meetings may be viewed on demand at the same address. Uh before we uh get started, I want to just add one item 3E.
um under procedural items to discuss briefly the committee meeting and time um and day of the week. Any objections there? >> Okay. All right. Then um the committee
has set aside this time for public comment, but it looks like we do not have any such requests. So we will move on to procedural items and move to our draft committee meeting minutes from January 27th.
Any suggestions or um catches from the two? Okay. I just wanted to add one thing under umformational item 4B which is the AP biology and AP chemistry textbook and EEX purchase. I think it
would be nice to add one sentence about um the review process for the district and you know was following teacher input or evaluation that the um Pearson's education of Campbell biology and focus and the chemistry um textbooks were why
they were selected new series new addition whatever the case so just adding one sentence there >> we've got some notes and I'll give them to you >> okay all right so with that I think we're now making motions um I move to approve the committee meeting minutes from January 27th, 2026.
>> I second the motion >> as amended. Right. >> As amended. Sorry. It's okay. >> Is that good procedurally? >> It is. >> Okay. All right. Motion passes. Moving on to our 2025 to 2026 TCAPS
district course catalog updates. Miss Holton. Um, yep. So, pretty much the first few here are NMC courses. Again, those are NMC courses. Um, some of those are early college, some are dual enrollment. Again, those might have been courses that are new at EMC or we hadn't
had a student yet um, interested in taking those. Those are the first three there. The AP physics uh, course is an interesting one. It's actually being taught face toface at our career tech center through the MTA program starting next year. That's an addition that they
have chosen to include into that program. actually needs to get added into our course catalog in the face-to-face because we don't offer AP physics as a face-to-face course due to enrollment numbers for students. We've never had enough students who have selected that course to be able to run
that. Um, just know that there are three ways our students can take a college level physics course. They can take it through MTA at Career Tech Center. Um, we do offer it through Michigan virtual. So, we do have students who take it online. A lot of times those students
will um also kind of work a little bit with our physics teachers on help or that type of stuff. Um so they've got that adult support in the building and then they also can take it at NMC. I know we have gosh I think you have four or five kids right now who are taking it
over at NMC this year. Um which is not four or five is not enough for us to run a full section. So um but that lies in our face toface because it's not an it's not a career tech center program which is a separate tab of the course catalog. It actually is a course that students um
will earn credit for and it'll appear on transcripts. Um so that's that one. Um the next >> Sorry, what does MTA stand for? >> Uh that's the manufacturing technology academy. >> Okay. That's different from our engineer the engineering academy. >> Great. Did they change the name? >> CTC.
>> It's at CC. >> It's the same. It's the same. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. >> Interesting. >> Yep. It starts uh I think like during a zero hour. It runs in the AM only. We usually have just a few kids from each high school that um go to that and then obviously there's kids in the area too
who attend that. >> Great. Thank you. The next two are Michigan virtual courses. Again, those would be either new to the Michigan virtual catalog or those are courses that kids have now shown interest in that would be aligned to our Michigan Merit curriculum. So we would like to
add those. Um and then in that second column, so the first two that ACL is the Aselis platform which is our online platform that we use for the majority of our students who are either at East Middle School or Traverse City High School in the fully virtual program. Um
the SUB is stands for subject. So Jen and I, Jen Choek and I have been doing some discussions and you know uh Aselis uh we're on our year two. We've had a few sticking points um both with the product and some of the things that we're seeing um that gets delivered to
kids and our costs have nearly doubled in that pro in that product as well. That vendor has kind of we were on a a gratus for the first year and now they've sort of each month ratcheted up the fees. Um it's a interesting pricing um structure too. So, her and I did some
investigation this fall and met with some other uh schools that have virtual programs that we felt like um we felt virtual is interesting. We really still want it to be a curriculum that we feel like kids are developing skills that they could transition back to face
toface and that the courses transfer really well into postsecary. Right? We want to make sure that if kids want to go on whether it's FC or Michigan State or any other, you know, two or four year university, they would recognize the the courses. Um and subject is one that we
came across that we were really impressed by. We were impressed by um how they deliver content to to students. Um we also were impressed they have 14 languages that they can fully dub courses in. So, we do have two students right now at um at Trevor City High
School who speak no English. Um they are full Spanish speaking students and they're older in older in age. And so we are working on English acquisition, but we also would like to move them along in their curriculum and earn credits toward a high school diploma. And those two students are actually enrolled in some
of these subject classes in taking um biology fully in Spanish, right? And so now the language isn't a barrier. It's it's they do Ukrainian as one of the 14 languages, Arabic um and they're adding more languages. That's something that they've really found um valuable to uh
to schools. We also through subject um if we don't have a highly qualified teacher in a course that a student is interested in, which has happened in the past, we are able to tap into their staff um and hire and use one of their highly qualified teachers. In the past,
we've had to tell students, "Sorry, we can't. I see it's in the course catalog. We can't offer that. We don't have a teacher who can be a support. So, we're piloting subject uh for this second semester. Um and Jen and is picking out
kids that she feels like would make a good fit and would give us good feedback on it and then we'll make more of a decision about our contract with Aselis will run us through the end of June this school year and the majority of the kids are going to stay on that. >> Okay. So, are you thinking that that
might be the end of a Celis for the district? >> It could be. It could be >> evaluate this. >> We're going to evaluate. Yep. >> Yep. >> And what's the process for um piloting a new like online platform like this? What's our process for that?
>> Yeah. So, her and I started conversations I would say this fall um and we talked to her teachers that are involved in that. Then we started contacting some schools and other places that have online again wanting to look at what are highc caliber programs that would transfer and then we her and I met
with vendors and sort of what do you have what's a pricing structure you know who else what other districts might be using you I had some conversations with some folks uh in Wisconsin that are using subject a similar comprehensive high school structure and using it for things um and then we kind of negotiate
price and contract and time length and stuff like that and then we'll get feedback both from kids um who are using the subject. All the kids who are using it now have used Aselis, so they're going to give us a nice comparison between the two. Um we'll get some feedback from our instructors um who are supporting the program too as to what it
looks like on the backside to support students. Um so and then we'll make a decision. >> So from the from the committee standpoint, the board standpoint, the approval of the course is the vetting process for the committee from that process. Even if we have a pilot and it's a course we're doing from a pupil
accounting standpoint, it still has to go in the course catalog in order to be able to do that, >> right? And if we have to if we enter into a new contract obviously with some >> we would have to take the whole new classes of that whole new thing back through just like we have a list >> you would see them all come up here.
Yeah. And Sophie on the backside she's like our you know our data guru for the district. She's having to add all these courses as they get adopted. So, you know, having a new online platform is actually there's actually quite a bit of work on the backside to ensure the courses get approved and then to get
them into powers school and then to train our staff and those types of things. So, >> does do they give you a free pilot? I mean, they want our business, right? So, is is there any cost business, Josie? I've learned that like very little things in life are free and sometimes free things you don't want. I mean, um
No, it's not free. It's about $5,000. It's not about it's $5,000 this semester for as many courses as we want in anything we want it in for us to explore. Um which is >> a pretty good price point. Um >> unlimited access for us and in
everything we want and then we'll make a decision. >> Okay, great. Well, we will stay tuned this summer to hear about the results of a cell versus a sub. And then this is obviously MBHS. This that's a set aside. >> And we still have some of those, you know, you know, especially at our our
comprehensive high schools when we have oneoffs, you know, they're really really good in some things like some of the foreign languages, you know, like so we have select things. Again, that's the beauty of having in your course catalog. We can go counselor may go, you know, this one's really good compared to compared to this one. So, it's nice to
have those options. and sometimes Michigan virtual um especially for those oneoffs for our kids that are in an advanced level are really good. >> Yeah, AP courses are really good. >> Just going back to when we picked then a year and a half ago had our district
evaluated sub then subject um not that I know of. Mhm. >> I had never met them and so but just about literally was about the same time in two different places we were both introduced to subject. >> Um and I had never seen their product before at that point and you know so and
but when I I I had the opportunity to kind of see their pitch and what they're doing it was a unique that the part that they have Michigan certified teachers is very much like Michigan Virtual. Michigan Virtual is kind of the only game in town that really has kind of
that, you know, ability. And so for this group to come in that also does but have even more flexibility yet than even Michigan Virtual does was intriguing to me. So literally like a week later she says, "Hey, I saw this subject." I'm like, "Me, too." And so uh so no, we had
not I had not seen them at all earlier. >> See, John, that's why your professional development is so important so you can travel and network. >> No doubt. >> All right, sounds good. Moving on. Uh this next is a link to our course catalog looking at uh for next school
year. Just to put that out there publicly, you'll see the courses highlighted there. Just a a note, it was a question to me when this presentation came out. Um do we remove the courses that we no longer offer? And the answer is no. Um and the reason why that's a pupil accounting, we have to have all
the courses that we've been offering. Um so that as transcripts or things get audited, there's a record to go back. Also think about a student who maybe graduates and isn't sure and takes a gap and then decides to come back. Colleges do come and look, okay, what does that course mean? They will reference back to
our course catalog for that description. So, it is important that all of our courses um show up there and appear there. I move that the 2026 2027 TCAPS district course catalog be added to the consent calendar the next board meeting.
>> I second the motion. >> Great. And then we also need a motion for the 2025 to 2026. >> I move that the 202526 TCAPS district course catalog with updates as presented be placed on the consent calendar at the March 9th 2026 regular board meeting.
>> Second. >> All right. Terrific. So, moving on to field trip requests again. Jesse Hoden. >> Sure. So, we've got uh two field trips here. The robotics that they are tentative because the qualification those are the world competitions there,
but obviously the um advisers and coach want to sort of start planning those trips there. And then that last one is a trip to Japan. Um and you see uh that one is go, right? Yes. Do you have enough kids for them? Yes, you do. Okay.
I wasn't because they're working on getting enough kids and ensuring. So, that's a trip for this June to Japan with one of our adviserss. >> Now, one of the things I'll answer any questions about the trips before I tell you about the packets, which is differently presented to you guys. I know.
>> We already approved the Japan trip. I thought that already came to the board. I'm not crazy. a long time ago because they could have needed a few years to plan that much money back. >> And we went back through notes and we looked and we couldn't find that it
actually had gotten approved officially. So that's why we wanted to include that. >> Seems like we did and then they cancelled it and they're bringing it back. Was that a different one? >> We had a change in staffing. So the staff member who initiated this trip is no longer in teaps and so it was picked
up by someone else in building. So that might have added to it as well. You might be right. >> There was a triple. >> There was something. >> Yeah. >> And I did notice this has only five kids. It's a small group. >> You have six now. >> Okay. Are you jumping in?
>> It's going to be great. >> Yeah. I This one in particular, we went through and scoured everything Miss Speak and I did and we couldn't find that it had been approved and we wanted to make sure that it went through the process. So, um I think it was a different trip. Okay. >> Um so, >> yeah.
>> Got it. So you were about to explain though why we don't have the substantiating. >> Yes. So um we are all working with the new ADA compliance that are coming out. And so the way we had been doing all of the packets is um not ADA compliant. And
so we are working our office as as all of our um different areas and TECAPS are working with what does this look like as we go for progress not perfection. Daniel. Um, and so we went through the board requirements as to what we we give
you guys and what we publish. And it is it's not required that we give you all of that information. It's required as far as internal processes that we've viewed it that we've, you know, audited that. >> It's something that I had asked for. >> Correct. that we've met with. We've got sort of a checklist as advisor submits first to the building principal and then
they come down to us and then they have to meet with um Sandy Low in the business office and ensure finances and we have to look at the hotels and all of that but it's not required for packets and for us to make the packets ADA compliant um it is quite a lift um of
time and so >> we're talking American Disabilities. >> So we just did a presentation on this and it is taxing our entire organization >> of what of what it is. you get a chance to see the presentation, you know, online, you'll see it. >> And it is it is massive. Uh all of our
websites, everything we do has to meet that protocol. And if not, we're out of compliance. So there are some things just staff-wise, we're going to have to have conversations about not doing. >> Like so for instance, just give you a small one. So like the video today all has to be completely revoiced over.
>> Every single video we do has to be revoiced over and formatted to be put online. >> That's probably an improvement in my case. Well, for my boys, >> me too. But >> replaced by AI, >> you know, but but so there are some of those things we're struggling with just capacity wise right now that we're even
going to have to have a conversation about some staffing levels like I worry about Larry big time. I just don't see how it's possible. So, but if you get the chance to see that presentation that we we did give to, you know, the committees, um it's huge. >> So, normally we we link it. It's a PDF.
All PDFs link in like that are not ADA compliant. anytime you have images, we have to do alt text to the images to make them ADA compliant. So what we kind of brainstormed as an office is if we give a description to the board as to where the trip is, how many students are
participating, what the trip is for, what the expenses are so you guys can see that will that meet enough information like we're open to feedback about how we can give you enough information that you guys feel comfortable approving the trips. also know that that backend stuff about checking financials, looking at rooms,
all of that has been submitted. But the minute it becomes a public document, we've just got to ensure we have all the ADA and it it is hours of it's probably Megan's time and at least for this, I thought, well, let's start here and let's get some feedback from you guys and we can always make improvements. The
memo that we have linked in here with the descriptions is ADA compliant. So if there's pieces that you feel like, can you guys include this in the future or we would like this, we're open to that. But linking in PDFs, especially with images, is part of what makes it labor
intensive for us. >> Wow. >> So you're are you planning to come back through next month with an update then that is ADA compliant for the >> That's the question. No, we are not as of now, but again, if you guys want it, okay, I'm just letting you know it. It's
literally hours worth of work. How important is it to you? is the question we're asking >> as long as I mean we're not required by law to have or by our board policies. >> You know what I will I will tell you what kind of let do it is um and you'll remember this. We had some folks question some housing conditions and
things on some of our trips that we had to South America. And so I wanted to make sure that I saw pictures so I could go yes this is so it was an additional layer I did put on. But now with this it's kind of like like I'm going to maybe ask questions. and not but so it's
not so taxing on staff to produce all of these document things that are you know take a ton of work for compliance. So >> okay well for here and now Houston and Japan we're probably you know going to have decent housing conditions but um
yeah no thank you for for the very full explanation. Um I just had a couple questions about the two robotics requests because I noticed they're really different from each other. West Senior High versus Central. For one thing, West is going out two day. They're proposing going out two days
later than Central and then they have like double almost double the number of students and of course the costs are going to vary accordingly. >> Um and then their funding sources too. West has you know is asking TCAPS to help assist along with their their
boosters and then families whereas Central's asking for sponsorships and family support. So not district support. Both both will get district support. We talked in cabinet yesterday. Both of them will get um their travel expenses covered by the district. So I will make sure that both adviserss are aware of
that. Um but that's what we do for teams that go on to state or national champion um ships like this. Um we do allow our advisors to determine when they're going to a trip, you know, with a certain level of of is that reasonable what the
dates are and how they want to travel. West has a larger team than Central does. So that's where you see the the 34 to 18 student discrepancy there. Um and then they do just have a little bit of variability in sponsorships and um you know how much money they've already
collected in fundraising, how much the adviserss feel comfortable with asking families for versus tapping into that. So but they will both get receive district um travel stipens. So the approximate $500 for West and 700 for Central, those how much of that would
TCAPS be contributing? >> We're looking at a flat amount. So we've talked about, you know, that it's a $30,000 number is what we would see as a max >> for each school. Yeah. Okay. Good. Just want to make sure we had >> equality across the two schools. Okay. Very good.
>> Um Okay. Is there any information in that memo that you feel like you wish was there that were in the packets before? >> Understanding the realities we have. >> Yeah, I just say I would just say like
whatever you're requesting for the district to pay for like we have the total amount. >> Okay. So, just >> ask me per per student 500 and 700 respectively at those two high schools, but then it's not clear what is the district going to contribute. So, if >> Okay, making that clear that would be helpful. >> Perfect. We'll make a note of that in
the future. >> Yeah. And then if we have questions like you said about hotels and things like that, I think that's where we can ask those questions. >> The reality is is verbal we can do all day long of the labor. It's when we put it in a public document or a video that the whole thing, you know, changes.
>> But also, you know, you'd also hope that our everyone's doing what they're supposed to be doing and we've got our team that oversees that and then brings it to the board. So, um yeah. So that's Yeah, I thought the memo was fine. >> Okay.
>> I move that the field trips presented be placed on the consent calendar. >> I second that. >> All right. Motion passes. I know it's weird, isn't it? Like this motion thing. I know. >> Well, I watched y'all on January 27th. There was a lot of laughter. So, you know, I'm good now. Um, all right. So,
moving on to our committee meeting time and day of the week. So just based on feedback I've heard over the last year I and I knowing other committee meetings I think we're all good with Tuesdays but >> we just an alternate >> talk. Yeah you but your your voice
matters though you may be here for a few months. >> Um just the start time >> for >> or not and we go to the second alternate either way. Um, the start time instead of being 8:30 a.m., I wanted to propose
based on, you know, some feedback over the last year that we move that up by 15 minutes to 8:15 a.m. If that works for everybody, staff and board members alike. >> So, that's you, Sarah.
>> It's all you. >> We got to show up to work. So, >> well, I will say for what it's worth, finance is meeting at 8:15 on Thursday morning. So this this actually is easier for everybody to remember. >> I would actually agree. This morning I had to like kind of second guess myself
if it was the 8:15 or the 8:30. So I I would agree that if both of those were at the same it might be better for the community. So >> and I'm the I'm the alternate on Thursday and if I hadn't like double checked the start time, I probably would have been 15 minutes late. So
>> yeah. Okay. So then hereby we will resume. We will have to amend our calendars going forward that they'll remain Tuesdays at 8:15 a.m. Yeah. Thank you everybody. That that'll be helpful. >> Okay. Moving on toformational items
learning series. Um Mr. Tyworth and Miss Oen on parent and family engagement. >> Yeah. So, um, in response, I think we had some conversations in our one-on-one meetings with board members with the idea of kind of organizing our thoughts
around what are we doing with parent engagement, uh, in our in our 14 different schools. Um, and how do we how can we share that with you and then maybe look for areas that we can improve and and kind of move forward with more ideas about about our parent engagement. I think the big the big idea that that
we kind of continue to to go back to is the idea of title schools versus non-title and the actual funds that we might get for parent engagement just to kind of frame everything we talk about. So the seven elementary schools that receive title funds and four do not. Right? The four that's not are
Westwoods, Willowhill, uh Monastery, and Eastern. Um, and just the kind of the the the comparison of the four versus the seven and what parent engagement looks like with with each of those. Um, I was principal at Westwoods and so is Jesse. Um, and the idea of parent
engagement for those schools is uh we put on an event and we have 75% of the parents show up. >> And that seems to be true with those four. Um, and not that it's not true with the seven, but with the seven, it's nice that with our seven title schools that they have extra funding um to be
able to provide um payment for teachers, you know, extra food um and then the the educational process, too. So, just to kind of frame that out as we look at all of our parent engagement and know that we do have title schools that receive funding, federal funding just for parent
engagement purposes and we have other schools that don't. So, in the case when we're looking through all the things we do and if if we want to add things um especially to our those non-title schools or even secondary uh that does come at a price where we then have to
figure out like bang for our buck um if we use other funding is that funding best used you know as we talk about strategic plan right and I know there's several parts of it specifically I think about student achievement right and Jesse and I are constantly going back and forth with funding about you know do
we use this on parent engage engagement or do we use at risk on regions? >> So, >> yeah, and I'll say at the secondaries, so TC High receives some additional funding through what's called a regional assistance grant. Um, which is because um they are labeled as the state of a
though they're an alternative school. We all know that, but they're labeled as a a low achieving uh school. Their graduation rate isn't where the state nor I think any of us would want it. And part of the reason um that we're constantly looking at different ways to reach those kids and ensure those kids get connected is because they need that
different environment. So Jen uses some of those funds to do she does parent dinners and sort of like that parent engagement night as well there. She also has a very large connection to a lot of wraparound services in the area. Um Dr. Van Wagner and I were met meeting with one of them yesterday, Stuff Up um
Northern Michigan, who's very present there helping families in the community. And so that's sort of a night that she partners with a lot of those wraparound services to ensure that parents and such are connected. So, um, so Dan and I are going to go through what is sort of
standard at all 16 of our buildings. Um, and and we've really worked to like have our principles collaborate together. I know at the secondary is one of the first things um, it's usually Kristen Studman does is send out on Monday what her communication is going to look like
for Friday. like so stress inducing. She's got the next week planned by Monday. >> That's my girl. She's great. Um, but they do they they send a pretty um and they say standardized, but also they they put their own voice and and feeling
and know their communities, but a standardized communication where they share with each other, right? What are we communicating each week to not only internally to our staff, but to our parents and to our students? Um, we obviously have the district newsletters that go out quarterly. um our social media. Dan and I have worked with Megan
and her um leadership too as far as what are we reposting and posting, how are we in compliance, and how are we ensuring that each school is able to tell their story in a regular cadence and celebrate the great things going on. Um student progress obviously we are at the secondary we use powers school to
document all of that. At any time parents can you know opt in and look into powers school as to attendance and grades on their students. Also know at the secondary every week they send that PDF grade report that gets pushed out to parents. So if you choose to not look at
your child's power school, you get that week and I just need that. Open it up. Great. Kids are doing good. Move forward, you know. Um that's been nice. We've heard from a lot of parents they appreciate that push out. Um so we have a lot of ongoing communication there about how students are doing. Um attendance, which I know we've talked a
little bit at the board level too about. So um you have the attendance, those robocalls that go out. We also do text messages that go out um as we see patterns emerge. That's when our counselors, our school social workers will get engaged um where we'll have meetings with parents and do some
collaboration around how to support um getting kids to school. So all those we have systems in which we're monitoring those. >> Didn't you Oh, go ahead. I'm sorry. >> I was just going to say Jesse just mentioned how we standardize and we're more efficient with when you have 11 elementaryaries or our total schools when we talked about communication that
everyone's using the same product. So that way we have that instead of eight different products going out for communication the last two years, we have it down to one and so we can help support what goes into that product and at a district level. And then with attendance, you know, we worked on on policy change in which now we formalize
that every letter that goes out for attendance is the same for every school also. And again, be able to support that and be efficient, use district funds a little more responsible, uh, it's super helpful to have everybody doing something very, very similar. Wasn't there weren't there some graphics too?
Um I remember Tiffany Palville like was finding some graphics um about attendance like just to communicate that in news newsletters as well building newsletters. Did that get roll? >> I have not I know Tiffany's not here today but no I've not had that communication with Tiffany but as far
>> something too as a parent but anyway just something about you know the importance of attendance. >> Yep. And we actually are planning a spring campaign when we come back from spring break to really um highlight that importance at a high level for the district. We're sort of going to wait for us to get over the cold and flu
season, but just to remind people to end the year really solid with that and what that looks like. >> And that is with some support from the ISD. Correct. So they are now helping us with the campaign with their team. >> Good. >> Um on the on that. So >> we still at a 0.5 FTE at the ISD level.
>> But well the truency office >> not sure yet. I know that they're adding some people accounting that may flex some time up there, but there may be a shift in there. I haven't heard officially on that one. >> Okay. >> Um and then this next slide again, what are some events? What's some feedback?
How what are ways in which we remove barriers across all 16 of our schools? So, um open houses, you know, those nights are very common. Um, we call them student registration days for our high schools, but open houses K8 occur, parent teacher conferences, and and I
agree with Dan, like when I was at Westwoods, I mean, almost every teacher saw every set of parents. Um, we'll let Mr. K speak in a few minutes about how does he engage that and how important that is. But I mean, lots of different celebrations, athletic games, concerts,
family nights, school tours. I know a lot of these guys now are getting a lot of calls and touring different groups of students, whether it could be I know the Woodland kids come over to Central and do a tour there and um some of our non-TCAP schools that then feed into us. We make sure that we've got those
connection points for parents and for kids. Um and then some feedback that we get from our parents and our stakeholders um there as well. And under events, you know, as far as family nights go, there are there is an academic uh part of of those family nights. Those are sometimes they're
super specific where schools might specifically do a reading night and sometimes they're part of the night of the celebration in in a title night situation. Maybe Mr. K will also cover. Uh but the idea is that that family connection piece. Getting families into the school is important. making them
feel part of the community based on maybe they had a negative experience with school and realizing it may have changed some and we want them to be part of it uh is a huge piece. But the academic piece also that we can we can have them sit down and we actually give them materials and say this is how we
teach right when we talk about new math and that that odd kind of >> outlook of math nowadays. but be able to show them how they can help their kids at home and then show them our our reading curriculum. How they again more than just a handout going on
>> is one of the barriers transportation. >> It's hard to say. I guess we'd have to survey to find out. I mean the nice thing is is that most of our if not all of our family nights, not all of them because I know we do some assemblies, you know, give it that after school that hopefully
>> um one car is available. So I've not heard of course I don't know how they would actually come and tell us I can't come because of a car situation. >> Correct. >> Um but even with parent teacher conferences we don't we haven't seen it necessarily where I have I in my experience where a parent hasn't come because of transportation. Obviously
with the new world after 2020 with virtual that's really cut down that particular barrier but with the family nights. So we could talk with Katie, you know, with SSN to see if there's any correlation of especially if she knows families are in that situation because we will often work with Beta to be able
to provide bus passes and stuff. So we'll take that back to Katie to see if there's any kind of cross, you know, look we can see if you know and maybe put something together when we have those those parents that she knows maybe has transportation issues to see if there's a way for us to correlate that. It's good thought. >> Awesome.
>> Yeah. Like I was just thinking like when the family nights are announced, maybe something in the building newsletter that says if you have a transportation issue, you know, come see the front office. Like so it's more proactive outreach and not on them to come to us.
Um, so I know you're gonna talk dig deeper into Traverse Heights, but um, just based on like the introduction you gave about Title One versus non-title one, I I feel like that's this is a good time to ask about um, how much those
costs are. And for the non-title one buildings, are there PTAs raising that kind of funding or are there buildings that are coming up with that money to offer the same family night? You know, just to figure out as a board like how can we help support all
kids have the same opportunities with their bu their family night. >> So for non-title, it's it's vast majority PTO. I would say 90%. Um, and those four, you know, the four, um, non-title PTO's have never had issues
with any type of fundraising whatsoever. Okay. Um, where it's double, triple, sometimes five to six times. >> So, at this point, no. I mean, as far as funding goes for those parent nights, I don't think there's any need
>> with a caveat. So, with the title funds, we're able to pay staff to come. Mhm. >> PTO's are not going to raise the money to be able to pay staff to come. >> So that just comes out of their building level budgets. >> They don't have enough to do that. No. So you're talking a a large amount, you
know, to pay staff. >> Currently, >> if we wanted to ramp ramp it up um and make it more of a like a apples to apples as far as sequential, as far as really pushing more the academic part of it. Um right now it's all voluntary, right, where those teachers come and and
a lot of them do. Um, but as far as if we're going to go through like and say, "Hey, Willow Hill, we're going to do a reading night." Um, there's there's other caveats to that too besides just the moneywise. There's there's obviously some contractual things also um to have that that payment connect with the night
itself. >> So, so that's the big kind of apples to oranges right there, different from what the PTO's are doing to what the title buildings are able to do because they have those federal funds to be able to pay that element. We would just have to get some direction from the board about
where would you want us to to change, you know, spending. Like Dan and I always say, we always kind of go back and forth. We're looking at next year's budgets about like service to kids. Like we're both a big fan of like how do we get more adults serving kids and providing that? Okay. Well, we could do
that, but would we have to cut back some of those intervention hours? Would we have to cut back some of, you know, not running a split so that we can then I mean, it's just a matter of where we want trying to figure out where where the biggest bang for the buck is. >> But that's I just want to make sure to your question I think which is that's
the big factor that I'd tell you that's going to be different between the PTO ones and that you know you get a lot of teachers but at the other ones you get them all. >> You know so >> and at the secondaries and I know Mr. Burgerer is going to talk a little bit about secondary engagement. Um to be honest we I've remember hosting nights
and having like maybe 50 to 20 parents show up. We we've had a harder time with a standalone night as opposed to connecting information to a night in which we know parents are already coming into the building, right? Our parents come in for parent teacher conferences. So, we do a fastful worksheet or
workshop during that whole time for families who need help filling out the FASA, right? As opposed to when we have it as a standalone night. We just we will pay staff, we'll allocate the resources, and then we'll get like seven families to come in, right? it just is like, "Oh, okay. How do we how do we do
a better job thinking about this?" >> Now, there's um like I've volunteered at Traverse Heights for like the jogathon and things like that where a push comes out to the community as well as Blair like for their carnivals and things like that where they are asking for the
community to come in and support. How like how can we utilize that more to support so we're not using you know maybe paying teachers to come in because we need bodies there for events and then take those funds you know and and like
you said less splits those kind of things. Um, like are we doing enough of that? And and do we have so for and also like when we do put out, you know, Blair, we need volunteers for the carnival, do we have to screen them like
like I went through screening? Um, so and like can we create more of a pool of of community members that, you know, that are screened and ready to go and want to volunteer just need to be asked? Well, I I would say that as far as
having teachers there, if we have academic nights, I don't think it's a matter of having supervision or bodies. I think sometimes at some of our title schools, it's as like you said with Carnival, some years they don't have it >> right. So, it's the idea of putting out that community push, working with varsity teams. I know that I've been
part of that before. Dr. Van Wagner and I have been working with um all PTO presidents. we meet quarterly now to kind of share ideas about what exactly you're talking about to get supports from other PTO's. >> Um again I think it goes back to when we
talk strategic plan and kind of our refocus of our time and our energy um around you know we talk about student achievement we talk about uh reading scores and and everybody uh you know trying to get to that level of
proficiency. So, as a, you know, as a as a board or as a an entity, I I think that's where we're, my thoughts are starting to go more and more. Like, I know parent engagement is important. Am I going to spend time working with principles to get volunteers for Carnival
>> or are we going to spend time putting money into tier one instruction, >> right? And so I think that's a shift like at some point with it we were instead of doing the same thing over and over and seeing our data flatline >> is we we I think we have to shift with prioritizing where we want to put our time and money. >> Right. Right. And
>> I think too keep in mind like the best people to have that academic conversation is the classroom teacher. Right. I mean that that's the person who knows the student as a learner. Um sees you know what the successes are maybe sees what the next growth areas are. And we do that, you know, at the
elementaryaries twice a year. They have that face-to-face private scheduled time in which they get that progress and that that help of how can I as a parent at home support my child in learning and what that should look like. I would also say we actually we we don't want our
parents to feel like they have to be the teachers. We have a phenomenal staff that does a great job, right? We want our parents to be the cheerleaders and the supporters of that, but we don't want our parents to feel like >> I have to teach my kid how to read or how to do math. No, actually, we have
experts, you know, but here's what support would look like from home, right? >> Um, I think that that's the idea, right? the I just think of like the messages that parents could receive about the importance of reading at home outside of what's assigned, the importance of
supporting your child doing their homework, checking that they're doing their homework, and then attendance, of course, as we've discussed, and then fi, you know, finally the reducing screen time and social media as they get older. Those are the messages I I wonder if we
have opportunities to grow >> that would, you know, impact academic achievement because I I'm increasingly convinced that like the parents are the last frontier that of really making a difference because if the home life isn't supporting the kids academically, then
>> you know the educator's day job is it can only go so far. We really need both to complement each other. >> Okay. Good. >> Um, this was a quote or sorry, this was a quote from Dan and I just felt applied to this presentation, so we wanted to
put in there, too. I I think the biggest thing is, you know, I remember when parents would call me with questions, they would, I don't want to bother you. No, no, no. That's what we're here for. If you have a question about anything, we want to be accessible. We want you to reach out. Even if you're like, gosh, this didn't feel good for me or my or my
child, then let us explain or let us figure out, ooh, what did we maybe miss here, too? So being accessible and um being able to be responsive to parents is really important to all of our 16 U building principles. >> And then this this is a chart that part
of my uh system I'm part of a system leadership cohort with >> um teach Michigan and it gives us um the opportunity where I go to five to six different school districts around the nation. So this was out of our Memphis trip and specifically we looked at
family engagement in Memphis public schools and Memphis I think was living in that um come if we call area to fortress school and when that happens I think in any district eventually um parents will will take a role and then creating a partnership on their
own. So they created a group called Memphis Lyft. Memphis Lift is a large network of parents that help support um other parents in other ways, attending IEP meetings, going to PTO meetings. They specifically have groups that do each of these. Uh Jesse and I then
thought, well, this would be a nice tool for us to use to kind of bet where we are as a district. Um and then how can we add opportunities to get, you know, to that partnership school? Um when I look at this, when Jesse and I look, I think we're we're pretty well grounded
in that open door school. Um, I think lately too, and especially on one of the other slides, um, as we've addressed more and more our English language learners, we just, um, added two more, um, Spanish interpreters. We're looking at adding more Ukrainian and we also
added, um, a software program that interprets all language. Um, and the growth that we've made with our EL program. So, that was one hurdle I think we got over as far as making school accessible for all learners and really getting into that open door and starting to move into a partnership school.
Yeah, I did read through all of these ideas. The two columns on the right being the bad attitude ones, I'll call it, >> and then the left two being more desirable. Um I was curious about the um school holds curriculum nights three or
four times a year. That >> so we're holding them like what? Twice a year. One one or twi. Yeah, one or two times a year. Um that would obviously take a lot more funding >> and that's a little you know a lot of times the larger urbans get a lot more federal funding you know be able to do those things.
>> But back to you know Erica brought up about volunteers um you know I've always been a big advocate of having more community volunteers. They're probably going to be parents but they could be grandparents. And we have just a lot of retired educators who've
moved here who want to help. Um I know Sunrise Morning the Sunrise Rotary Club has a lot of such people and um is there a way that we can tap into those folks for more regular tutoring
especially the elementary level um with math and ELA >> and we've got some of that. Brian has some of that right now at Traverse Heights. You know that that particular group you're talking has done a lot there. >> But just trying to grow that districtwide at all 11 schools. Um I I
know because I volunteered at Long Lake for three years in that capacity up until COVID. And the big thing is for a teacher to have that consistency and reliability. You don't want a teacher to >> try to forge a relationship and then the parent or the grandparents flaky. You
know, like that's the challenge. >> That's spot on. Jose Studman and I were just having a conversation about a volunteer that had called her really excited, had some great background and expertise in teaching math in particular. She got them all set up. they showed up like twice and now they're no show, right? And so and that was a lot of work on the front end to
make sure do they have the materials they need? >> Are they cleared? Who are they working with? Do they have the spa? You know, all those things. And then and and you know, we understand, right? You're volunteering, right? So, >> you know, the the piece that is with this I I just gave this to the
manufacturing council I met yesterday. You know, Big Brothers and Big Sisters is the model for me to kind of show how that can work. But what that took is is to say so you went out and got the money to be able to hire Robin Smiley that does all that connection, right? So it's not the principal finding the room, the
principal making sure the background check and you may remember before Tai was on the board, we had a Rotary Charities grant to be able to do that and that's what Tai was doing >> and then when that money dried up, we didn't have it anymore. So it's like >> for for finding that resource for that and the other I would say in the district is that job shadowing
internship kind of thing at the high school level. Like that's the missing pieces, the resources for that spot to be that community organizer of even a part-time person. Like it it's not a ton, but it's enough that again based on
the board's priority, this is a conversation if the board really feels again, do we stop doing something to do that is I'm very open to it. It's just what are the tradeoffs, you know, that are there to be able to do something like that or is there still a grant resource that we don't recognize out
there that may be able to help do it. We actually just were exposed to one yesterday um that my leap now the state's doing a parent engagement thing and has some funds. So, we're going to check that out and see if that's a financial resource that may be able to help us again duplicate what we were
doing with TAI originally that may be able to help that. >> Right. Yeah. you know big big brothers big sisters is absolutely the model it's great for social emotional connection but if we could grow that to the academic tutoring >> you know aspect that we just we you know
>> I also think we just have to be we have to be mindful of like when we're asking volunteers to teach academics to kids they are all so well intended and sometimes they're using practices that we are not best practice and potentially >> go against some of the phonics
instruction or math instruction that the classroom teacher is doing. So, like we can't just throw someone in and say, "Hey, please teach reading." Because sometimes that's actually the worst thing to do because then the kids are getting >> Yeah, for sure. >> Brian here smiling cuz And I remember it. Yeah.
>> Um, so we did we do we brought Brian Kay and Ben Burger as two of our building level principles to tell you a little bit about how have they attacked this and what success have they seen and to tell you a little bit about different parent engagements um that they've had at their site. So Brian, I think I'll let you
>> Sure. >> You want me to get going? >> Rock and roll. >> Uh, well, I appreciate the permission. Fine. I didn't know if you want to do an introduction. >> This is Brian K. He's the principal. Thanks, Dan. Well, >> see my TV tomorrow.
>> Makes regular >> and we rehears this. That's the worst part about it. >> I was going to say deja vu. I think Ben and I were back here a few months back and the power went out. some knock on and hear some banging and clank. Hopefully we make it through. Um I just want to say I appreciate the opportunity
anytime I get to share what we're doing at Traverse Heights and hopefully um maybe some things that have bled over to other schools and TECAPS. I just take great pride in it. So if I go over Dan like you can kick me under the table, but >> there is no time limit to this meeting.
I'm just uh I just feel uh super passionate >> super passionate about what we do and um wanted to talk about a few things. I know that quote resonated pretty well with me like family engagement is not an
an event. I know like there's a night or two that is planned for most every school. Um there's other things that I think don't necessarily come with dollar signs that we can do to encourage families to break down some barriers. I think some people had mentioned just the
narrative or their experience with school is really negative. Um, and how we tell our story is super important. And so I think everyone in this room, we um, we do have connections with community members, but those connections sometimes are so brief. I talk to our
staff sometimes like we are drive by people sometimes, especially principles or schoolboard members, superintendent where we get 30 seconds with someone. So those 30 seconds are so important. And so when I think about what we do at Traverse Heist to w to welcome families, like how do we maximize the time that we
have? How do we get creative with the time that we have? Because yes, time is also money and sometimes it's money is not always there as we invest in like those tier one opportunities. So I just wanted to share a few things that we do. I don't think it's entirely unique, but I think it is something that I'm super
proud about. Um, and I think it's really important to share. So, one of the things we do, um, this is something extremely important and intentional. Anytime we have new families, we do often get new families that, uh, do come to our school, typically late fall is when we get an influx of kids that
either moved into a town or into town or across town and then also after Christmas break or after winter break. And so, what we've been really intentional about, we don't want that student starting without understanding what we're about as a school. Um, and so we're pretty intentional with the
families meeting with me prior to the first day of school. So when they come in, they're enrolling. That's a whole process that takes some time, but our AAS are very intentional about, hey, before you start, a mandatory meeting with the principal
is really important to us. We want to make sure you're welcome and settled. And so we do that the following day. That gives some teachers time to just prep and set up a new desk, a new locker. And then it also gives me an opportunity to check in with that family. So before they come that first day, they're already here at our
building twice. And so that's an opportunity I can check in with the family. Um talk about our expectations, talk about the students interest. And that's cost free. They set up 30 minutes with me. Um we have a chance to check in. I tell the teacher, hey,
here's what's coming up. This is what they like to do. So already there's a positive connection to our school. So, anytime we can have those moments, that is huge. And that's been something we've practiced for two to three years now. So, I I find that as a as a quick and
easy win. Anyone out of town or out of country coming into our school, they've had two opportunities before they get to their locker of what our what is our school about? Um, and that I think is relatively simple for anyone to do, but that's something we're very intentional about. Another thing we like to do is
kind of hand out a homework assignment. We have a book that was written by our former fifth graders 6 years ago, which is kind of crazy for me to believe. Um, but give them a homework assignment to learn about our school, to talk with their family, like, "Hey, when you come back to school, we're actually going to
have a new student ceremony. Our fifth graders are going to walk you around. I'm not doing that. I'm not walking you around today cuz I want some suspense for them to come back to our school the next day." So, we make it a big deal. And when kids come, at the very least, they know what we're about and they know what they're expecting. and then we
celebrate those students that come in. So that is um something we do regularly. In fact, I did it yesterday. So we've got a new student starting right now and I I'll probably when I get back to the new student ceremony. So um next thing, family festivals is something that has come up. Um thinking of reading night
and curriculum nights. Um we do get really great attendance, but then again that's an event, right? That's a one time two time a year deal. And while that's well attended and it's a lot of fun and it does create positive connections, we wanted to find another opportunity to connect with families in
a low stakes positive way. So we were intentional right before long breaks and it worked out this year with our early release days. We do those special events in the morning during drop off time. We know parents sometimes have an additional 15 minutes. Come in, sit with
your kid, talk to your teacher. Um this year we had donuts and grown-ups. kind of adopted that from other schools, but it's very low stakes like, "Hey, come talk to your teacher. Come sit in, have some uh donuts, read a book with your child." Just opportunities that are pretty cost-effective and an easy way
for families to get in. In previous years, we've had um families come in and I've actually addressed the families so to talk about attendance, to talk talk about our goals, and to coach parents up on certain things that we would um like their support. and that's been wellreceived just given some of the
early release day um the endings up until break we kind of shifted to the morning so sometimes I don't always get facetime with families but that's been I think well received with our teachers our staff and community we get a a pretty good attendance rate on those
days early release days are really tricky for us attendance wise so that's an incentive to come in like hey you bring your parent um uncle or aunt and just hang out with us for a minute. Um, other things that we've done, PTO's contributed to this.
Um, every Friday we have assemblies. So, that's an opportunity where we get to recognize students. Um, and we want to continue to recognize that with our families, too. So, we invite them every Friday or actually sorry, every Friday at the end of the month, we pair those with our house assemblies. They come in,
they have coffee, another low stakes opportunity to connect with our parent teacher organization, and then they get to join us for the house assembly. they get to see what we're all about. Um, and I think many of our board members have attended those. Um, and it's a pretty good turnout. It's a Friday, Friday
morning. Sometimes that's a slower start for some of the families. And then they get to cheer on either their son or daughter that's getting recognized or um, just be there and support. And that's been, I think, a really welcomed opportunity for our families just to come in monthly um, to our school. Um,
like I said, house assemblies, any family members welcome. anyone that um would like to join. Obviously, they go through our safety protocol and check in with the office and then they head to the gym. But um we have great turnout for that and that has been something that's quite a staple for us. Um and I
know Ben's going to talk about some things they're doing at Central. This is a great partnership and I'll kind of segue. Um I think this could be something leaned into even more. We we're recognizing our students of the month. Um but what we've found through um trial and error is like we've been
rewarding students with gift certificates and things and that which is still something we do but trying to provide fun and unique experiences for our students um has been really rewarding. I work with Justin Thorington up at Central High School and we pair our students of the month with an event
at Central High School. And so um in the picture there you can see a few students. They're third graders now. was our siblings in a classroom at our school. Um, and one of them got recognized at the Central High School hockey game. They got to ride around on the Zamboni. And every time we do this,
I like text Ben, I'm like, "Hey, this is like the coolest event that we do." Because oftent times I'll ask those family members who bring f friends or uh friends and um they I'll ask, "Hey, have you ever been to a game before like a hockey game or a football game?" And
usually they our families might say, you know, no, this is our first hockey game or this is our first time being in the press box up at Thoroughby Field. And so those are really great moments because those kids are going to be Trojans in a few short years with Mr. Burger. And so then they'll already have that
connection like, hey, I was at that football game. I remember you. So those moments are super um I think easy to to do. And those are just a few things that we try and do. And I think a lot of our schools do very similar things that don't necessarily have a dollar sign. So
those are just a few things. >> Um can your house assemblies I know I've been to what how what would you say is your like average percentage of parent >> involvement in those? I I know it's a tough question. >> Range like the bigger ones maybe towards like the end of the semester they get
bigger because those are our championships. >> Um anywhere from I would say 30 to 50 on the high end. 20 to 50. >> Okay. >> People or person people. Okay. Okay. Okay. >> And I would say like intentionally we're calling the student of the month family.
Like those are usually 100%. Yeah. Like those five families are there. But >> um we have our PTO regularly there and then quite a few people will join us each month. Yeah. >> Got it. Got it. That's great. Yeah. I think there should be a board member
Zamboni. Right. >> They've got the seat. Watch your head on the way. >> Got a seat belt. >> We might pull that, but you're not driving it for the record. >> Oh, that'd be fun. >> Yeah. >> All right, we're shifting. Jesse, am I
good to go? >> Do you need an interview? >> Ben, pleasure to see you guys. >> That one is a burger. >> Uh, no. To piggyback on what Brian's saying too, what he doesn't tell you is he's at every one of those events, uh, our sporting events with the family. So
it's not just the family kind of walk cuz because that can be an intimidating environment. You've never been to a hockey game you've never been. And so Brian's there as a liaison and like just making sure it's an experience the whole time. So it's a bonus that that we get along and he really likes hockey but
he's at every game which is really a cool thing because that's just um there's no substitute to that human connection and you know in between periods that conversation you're having all you're doing is building trust that then you hope spreads. And so, um, at the high school level, I mean, you guys
all currently have or have had high schoolers, so you know, um, we are just trying to give dinner table, we're trying to equip parents with dinner table conversation at the minimum and we're trying to open our doors at the maximum. So, uh, we look a lot at what
the elementaryaries are doing like Traverse Heights and and what can we do up at the high school that either may have not been tried before, maybe deemed unconventional, but um, some of the things I'll talk structures first and then we'll talk the three avenues that we see parents having the ability to
contribute. But, um, one was, uh, we started just a a coffee hour with myself. You know, our structure affords me like the building runs fine when I'm not there, right? And so I my role is to be that connecting point externally. And
so community or parents are invited and it's uh an hour conversation or avenue where you can have conversation with me. You can bring what's on your heart or mind and then we have the opportunity to to leave a card if you want a private meeting, right? Like a lot of some of
those parents early on came with topics that were really important to them and then they looked around the room and saw 10 other people and um turtled up a little bit. And so just that safe avenue on the attendance to say a follow-up and we've had a couple good one-on-one meetings after that. But um it really is
you get I've got some return customers once a month that love coming uh and and they love just knowing what's going on. And again I don't really get discouraged if we have we had six people at the last one but the hope would be that they then tell their circle and um we're really
trying to combat keyboard warriors or overheard in Traverse City, right? like come shame on me if we don't >> good luck, Ben. Right. >> Hey, >> shame on me if we don't give you the avenue to connect and come ask those questions. Um, and shame on you if you
choose not to. So, you know, that's what it's like. We'll take anyone and everyone. In that first Brew with Burger, I had two parents show up just because they thought I was going to get beat up in the and and they said, "We don't have anything to talk about. We just want to make sure you're okay." I'm like, "I'm fine." I was like, "It's going to be great." And so, um, a mom
the other day at the hockey game said, "You're probably sick of seeing me. I'm the squeaky wheel." And I said, "Well, you're the squeaky wheel. That brings up really great points." And so, really just normalizing that because the parents that do want to get involved write the narrative that they're causing issue and they're not, you know, um, we
need people to question and to talk and so just trying to normalize. >> Thank you, Ben. >> You're welcome. So, just normalize. >> I'm talking to you, Josie. >> I know I am targeted here. But the but the brew with burger, like
Brian said, it's been a nocost um and we're trying to fin like 8:30 in the morning is is not a great time for everyone. So pushing out in our student newsletter like by appointment anytime, you know, I we'll go meet and talk at a hockey game or anywhere. And trying to
emulate what you guys are doing, coming to events and just making yourself available um is the first one. The second would be just our structure. You know, we get a lot of people that come to us new, like Brian was talking about ways to welcome new families and students. Our size can be really intimidating. And so just the structure
of making those three schools within a school and allowing that continuity of principal, coun counselor, admin, assistant because we have then families that come from Woodland or Children's House um or move to us and they are overwhelmed and then when they're graduating they formed these great
relationships with their wing office and those are their people that they talk to whether their kids's absent, sick or other. And so that has been good. And then our protocol with our assistant principles and counselors is parent conversation, right? We always want to follow up with a phone call. Sometimes you're talking to a 17 and 18year-old
and you could take for granted that you've passed along information or you've had a breakthrough of some kind, but we always want to equip the parents with that dinnertime conversation, right? And so a lot of our sentence stems are if if it were my kid, I would want to know. And so just that two-way
communication so that when Johnny gets off the bus, you're able to have that celebration or that or or support us in that conversation about making good choices. So that's our office structure. And then the in-person events and and we get really excited for that first one. Athan and nth grade night is our Super
Bowl first impression. And we have it this Thursday. And you know, you're going to you know, I really don't mind if parents don't remember a bullet point on those slides, but they need to walk away feeling like their kids's going to be cared for. And so that night is really exciting for us. Um, and it's a
great turnout and touch point, standing room only in the auditorium. And then this year we implemented a senior parent night cuz sometimes we take that for granted because I've seen 16 graduations in my time here. And I forget that there's always firsttime parents and there's a lot of questions and a lot of
anxiety that's mirrors the eighth and ninth anxiety. And so we had a senior parent night at the semester and it was a parent came up and said it just felt like a nice close to the loop of I was sitting here four years ago when you were welcoming us to the school. So um they're they're hungry for touch points
that sometimes we would take for granted. Um and then our our conferences like Jesse had said at the onset, you can see grades at any time, right? And and and gone are the days where we want teachers to just go, "All right, Sarah, here's the assignment your daughter's missing." because you can see that. And
so really trying to change the narrative of what the questions are being asked and does the parent walk away knowing that you know facts and details about their kid and that you care about their kid used to drive me nuts when my dad would go to conferences because he would just ask the teacher is Ben working up
to his potential. And I didn't love it because I knew the answer already. It wasn't good. >> We can guess. >> They're like are you talking socially or academically? But so so so when you ask that question and the teacher freezes, they're not equipped to have that conversation on a
human element. So how are we equipping our staff to talk to the person, the student, and the parent and not talk to the score or the task? And so those parent teacher conferences while maintaining the same time window and the same teacher like sitting in the cafe table, but we're changing what those
connection points are. So those those are the first three. And then this I wanted to share. Um this is in our French 4 classroom. And in a high school level, you might think that there's not a lot of parent involvement or engagement, but in French 4, um they do projects where every student brings in
someone that's important to them. So most times it's a family member and they get to come in and they talk in the language to the class about their um guest of importance and then the the person gets to sit and watch some of the lesson. So, what a cool opportunity and
window for our parents and for our kids. And the teacher speaks to it's it's Miss Jamie Grant and she speaks to the vulnerability that it takes to bring someone in and talk to talk to your peers about someone that's important to you. And then the ripple effects it has on the classroom environment for kids
taking risks in the language moving forward. So, um that's always a highlight in our French classes. So I there's three there's three prongs to I think parent involvement. Um and you don't have to have all three. You might have one of the three but as a parent you either have time, resources or
expertise to help us. So our job is to get you in the right direction. You know if it is time out of brew with burger we have a loft at lunch which is a place for neurode divergent kids to sit in a quiet area and it's staffed by parent volunteers. So to your point, Erica, you
know, we had a mom who was passionate about that and said, "I'm available every Wednesday. We got her cleared on the volunteer process and now she's up there in a quiet area where we have a pocket of kids." Because it's just overstimulating in the cafeteria for some. So that idea came not from me. It came from the community and now they're
manning it and it's not a it's not a fle it doesn't cause strain on our system at all and it's just a really nice way to have them in involved in in our building. The second would be uh resources. So if you've got donations and fundraising help, we've got some really great connections as far as
people in the community tied to the regional community foundation or that just um have some great economic status that they want to give and they want their money to go right where it goes. So we've made two programs, Trojan Legacy Endowment where we're able our goal is to give every student, every
senior uh a fun a scholarship for their post-secary endeavors. Um, we are now fully vested, so we can give $2,000 a year. Um, and then sideline sponsors. We had parents at at the coffee chats talk about barriers to entry on certain
sports. And so sideline sponsors is QR codes around our school where you can say, "I want to give $200." And then it's put right to equipment, player fees, etc. And so the athletic department pairs it with families in need um or where they identify that. So that's resources. And then expertise,
you know, we've got um industry specialists coming in to work with our robotics and our innovation design classes. We've got in our biomed classes parents who uh work at Mson coming in and talk. And so we always want to tap into those expertise because while you might not know how to teach a child the
phonics of reading, you can come talk about your job and the skills you use in your job and then our teachers can make that connection to the curriculum. Um so those would be the three ways. And again, um it's not perfect, but uh making those avenues open for the
families and at minimum equipping parents so that they can know and be involved in what's going on with their child when they're with us. And at most in a time when our buildings are more secure from a safety and security standpoint, how do we have community come in, know what's going on so we can
build that trust? Because when we take a risk or we do something innovative, we're going to need their trust. And so we're building all those deposits in these moments so that when something good or bad happens, a parent says, "Well, no, I I've talked to them. I've, you know, I've had coffee with Mr.
Burger." And so you get that benefit of doubt versus again hopping on Facebook. >> So we hope or over her. >> Yeah. Or her. >> Thank you both, Ed and Brian. Yeah. Dan, Jesse,
>> I'm looking forward to Thursday. >> Yeah. eighth grader. Eighth grader coming in. So, >> Super Bowl of nights. >> It's so good. >> You're awesome. >> Oh, just to ask about parody across the district. So, obviously you're here representing Central High School. Are we
planning to do the same sorts of things at West Singer High for like the senior parent night? >> I love that. >> Absolutely. And and I talk to Mr. Gwinny all the time. And in fact, I think I think that idea came from their theirs. They had one in the fall in their library and we just never have had one.
And so it was a push from West Senior High to have that same kind of night. And so like Jesse had talked that really helps sharing our weekly communications, but like when we have a night that goes well or you know I'm looking at his eighth and nth grade slide deck and making sure that when there's a good idea, we have it for all four
secondaries. >> Five. >> And we're working really hard. You know, I say all the time, it's the number one thing the team will tell you I preach is that we are a school district, not a district of school, right? So, you know, like the PBIS things, the things that Brian has done with the house system, like, you know, while we've had two other buildings now that are doing the
house system, but then we have like what Andy's doing at Corteade and and acknowledging kids and right and calling their parents, you know, so little bit of a tweak difference, but like one of the things I'm I'm really really um just preaching is like it I'm not saying it
has to be exactly the same, but it needs to be at the same level. It needs to have the same goals. So, we're we're we're getting there. We're almost there, like with our PBIS across our elementarymentaries. And this is something that I think Jesse is is doing a great job at the secondary level working with those five principles.
>> Um, you know, the um, you know, to make sure that all three of our high schools and two middle schools are talking and and and seeing, oh, that's a great idea. How do we do this? and and uh and so I think that we've made strides there, but continuing we've still got work to do in that element and we're going to continue
to do so. >> I think that's a fair balance though because you want the building administrators to feel some autonomy as well. >> You do, but it has to be robust and I'm not going to back off that, you know, of that level that we have at one building. We don't find a way to do something the
same or or a little bit different um to make sure we have the same outcomes. >> Yep. Great. Well, thank you very much and and I think we're um uh just time wise we need to move on right to the technology pilot tools. So I will defer
to our two guests on that. >> Yeah. So we have Danielle Brunstrom who is a a K12 instructional technology leader helps us supports our teachers with technology in the classroom and then Evan O'Nab our executive director of technology here. Um currently at the
secondary, so 612, so the five secondary buildings are all piloting um three different uh AI tools um within their classrooms. So I'm going to have Danielle and Evan talk a little bit about why did we choose them, what did we choose, and at this point I just felt
like it was pertinent for the board to hear it because all the tools are up and running and teachers are using them and Danielle has done a great job rolling out professional development and supporting teachers and answering questions. Um, and so I wanted you guys to be aware as a board that we are looking at these and and why we selected
these. So, >> yeah, I'll start and then let Danielle kind of speak because she's done a lot of the work on the ground as Jesse said. So, um, we get inundated all the time in technology because there's always the latest and greatest tools coming out there and we can appreciate that passion from the teachers and wanting to
obviously assist them and in implementing those. Uh, it's been really great. we've done a better job um collaborating with Jesse and Dan and the CNI team and kind of working out as we get these requests which ones are going to be the most impactful, how we're
going to implement them. And then I appreciate their willingness to listen on just kind of the infrastructure needs and what's going to work. Um you know, how a rostering situation is going to happen because I don't blame the teachers for not necessarily thinking about all those extra details. they just
see kind of what they see is going to impact them directly in the classroom. And while that's great, we want to make sure that it's going to work and we're going to be able to support it and there's going to be less of a lift on their side. So, we've been working uh a lot on those. We've narrowed it down, as Jesse said, to kind of three tools that
we got a lot of feedback from teachers um who had tested them kind of in one-off situations. And so we looked at making a more broad pilot situation where we can really gather a lot of feedback and kind of make some decisions on which ones again we're doing a better job standardizing across kind of the
district so that we know that they're all using it and what they're using it for. Um even though they might be in different departments. Um and so with that I'll let Danielle kind of speak to the three tools that we've landed on and what they're testing currently. >> Sure. So, our three tools that we're
testing, um, we have brisk teaching, class companion, informative, and they're all very different and they do different things. Um, again, these came from teachers, so they, um, have a proven record with them, and they're very excited about using them in the classroom. Um, barisque is really an
efficiency co-pilot. It helps the teacher. It's an overlay on top of their Google products and it offers um, lesson suggestions or ways that they can engage students in the work. Um, it's really teacher mediated, so it runs right through the teacher to give feedback.
Um, and it's really great for grading speed, differentiation, and um, so that's brisk. The second one is class companion. Um, this one really came from our middle schools. They were loving it because it's an AI writing coach for students. So the teacher kind of sets up
this this place where the students go and they um answer the questions that the teacher have has given and the AI gives them feedback and often it's um the AI will say like you did really well on this part but you need to expand on this part more. So the child gets a second chance to answer the question
with using that AI feedback. Um AI gives some feedback again the child gets a third chance to answer the question and get feedback. So, um, the teacher is able to look at all of those and move forward with where do I need to go next with this kid. Um, so that that's been a really nice, um, helper. The teachers
are seeing a lot of the kids are just writing more and that the feedback is really aligned with what they would have given. So, they're being really intentional about making sure that that's appropriate feedback. Um, and then formative is the third one. Formative is really a very robust
platform um, for assessment, data, test prep. Um, it's a standalone platform where the teacher goes in and builds these robust assessments and students can answer using voice or video or drag and drop. There's all different kinds of ways that they can show their knowledge
and then the teacher can really intervene real time um on on what the child needs to learn next. So, we've gotten great feedback for all three. And that's um this is something that we started, if you go to the next slide, we started this in January with um just
surving some of those pain points with teachers where where where do you struggle with with doing what you need to do and what can we do to help you with that? Um just getting baselines. And then we offer we've offered training in all the buildings. Um different ways of supporting staff in making sure they
understand the three products and how they can use them. Um, and then that's been going on for a couple of months. And then right now within the next couple weeks here, we'll be looking at getting some post feedback from teachers on how it really improved instruction. Did it improve instruction? Um, what did
you see from the kids? What was their feedback? We just want to gather it all and make sure that we're making the best decision possible because there are a lot of AI tools out there right now. It's built into everything. So, we want to make sure that we're not just choosing technology for technology's sake because it looks good or it's shiny
or because it's something that we hear is good. We want it we want to make sure that it actually is going to improve student. >> Yeah. I was just going to ask if if um somebody could provide a highle summary of what led to this endeavor, you know, like what are the problems we're trying
to fix? So, it's not just okay, let's just experiment with AI and see what happens. like and do we have performance measures so that we can really see in this pilot are they achieving the goals the the problems we're trying to fix.
>> Yeah. I I would say um what led to this was Evan alluded to this like yes they are innovative as are teachers right and teachers want to make their job more efficient and want to you think about something like class companion um and it's I only smile because our English
teachers love it but as do our AP teachers anyone who asks students to write and then collect them all if I'm one individual and 150 students write an essay and I collect it I'm one individual I will not turn that around tomorrow. And what our English people
say is they turn it around the next week and kids look at them and go, "What is this?" Like, "Oh, not helpful for growth." Like what you need for teaching and learning and growth is feedback, right? You need feedback that's timely, feedback that's specific. And so, um, it really it caught on at our middle
schools because the teachers thought, "Wow, this is a way in which I upload the rubric, right? I build this um AI where it knows what the goal is of the assignment. It knows how to coach kids, not give them the answer, but make them
think and give them the feedback. Kids also, one of the things that's interesting is teachers will say they're just writing more. They're trying different things. They're making mistakes as opposed to like turning in one essay and waiting a week for it to come back. So where it came out of was and then Evan and I as we talk all the time is like how do we streamline some
of this so we don't have 85 teachers all in 85 different things and how do we ensure we have the security and the integrity that we want as a system right and the last thing Evan wants is teachers off in some land over here using some AI tool that we that doesn't
have the security level that we would want that would potentially send our kids work we don't know where or that isn't sustainable because they have to call the help desk every day to get their product rustered, which by the way is not sustainable for organizations. So, we really kind of sat down and said,
knowing that we always get these requests, is there a way in which we can say, "Hey, here's a menu of options that we've heard teachers are saying, these are ways in which we can do a better job reaching kids and instructing that fit the parameters that we would feel
comfortable as a district supporting and we're able to support." Um, >> and it's equitable and it's research based and it's vetted, right? So the when technology really started to roll as far as when we went one to one uh with PTO's all over purchasing items,
you know, there's no equity there. Uh the sub the free subscription runs out. Now what do we do? We have all of our our data in here. Now we can't get it back out. So the idea that Jesse and technology that we're trying to work on is making sure everything is systematized, right? If we're going to
implement something, it's implemented at a district level so we can actually support it moving forward and get in front of it. >> Yeah. And we've got great teachers that say, "I see this tech tool, the district didn't adopt it, so I'll just use my own credit card and I'll buy it." And then like all of a sudden the building administrator gets a call and a question
about a tech tool that their kids are and Ben's never heard of it and never seen it before. Had no idea. And it was all done under good intention and helping kids learn and expand skills. But like gosh, that isn't one that we would have used for these reasons. Or actually, we already have one that meets all of our security safe thresholds and
integrates with all the other systems we use that we would want the teacher to use. And and Dan's not wrong. Like what's interesting about formative is that came to us through world language out of all departments because the kids can verbally respond. But now our music teachers are like, "Oh, could we have kids play into this? Could we have
Right." And so like how do we ensure that the world language department at all five of our buildings is aware of it as is the other teachers who might use verbal responses for um questions could use it as well. And so that's sort of to answer your question Josie where did
this come from? Yeah, those three tools like Danielle said are kind of addressing different needs and those were those different needs brought by the teachers and then as Jesse just pointed out what we found is when we do a better job of systematizing it you find that so like the foreign language but then music was like that sounds
really great and then credit to Danielle again for getting out there and kind of working with all these different groups sharing with them how these tools can work and maybe showing them what they wouldn't normally be thinking about how to use that and also because all this is rooted in the lovely uh AI, she's been
able to align that with our guidance, right? So, that's another thing so that it's not just it's being more efficient, but it's not saying, "Hey, all you got to do is offload this." Like, just dump it into Class Companion and you're done. You don't have to look at it. It's like, "How are you going to use this? We've talked about how we're responsibly using
something like AI. Here's a way you can be super efficient and you can get your hands in it and it's going to make your job easier, but it's also going to let you continue to put your touches and interact with your students and provide them with valuable feedback. >> Yeah, Danielle came into the course audits which at secondary were auditing every course that's required in a
three-year cycle. And she came in and was it was a nice touch point for her to talk to teachers. They had time to process the tools to look at them. And one of the teachers who was using it, she was like, you know, the gold standard. She was like, "Actually, I could see my second hour wasn't really good at writing essays in this sort of
way, but my first hour was fine, so I need to give those students more targeted practice." And I was like, Daniel and I were like, "Yeah, that I mean like that's exactly what these are supposed to she's like, I would have never known. I would have never realized the pattern of these kids need more
practice in this area and these kids don't, >> you know. Um, so >> all right. So, how many teachers are Our classrooms are piloting this right now with >> all 612 teachers have access to all three. Danielle has been to all five of
our secondary buildings to provide an overview of the product. She's now going to work on setting up just being available for help and coaching and support. She's talked to all of our curriculum leadership folks, too. So, it's really it's open for any of our secondary teachers. >> Okay.
So, are you expecting to report out on your results in a couple of months and then we're looking at some costs associated with this for next year? >> Yeah. Yeah. Um, that was kind of our thought of getting here in front of you guys so you knew that this pilot was off the ground and going in case you heard
about it and then we'll let you know at the end of the year where we're moving with it. >> And one last thing I'll throw out there, it's another thing Dan and I have been talking a lot about. I we've had the chance to see some AI tutoring programs quite a bit out in the field. all of us. And um it's starting to get interesting.
I I had the chance to see one three weeks ago that that have now had two research studies and it had a 0.7 effect size equal to a human. >> Yeah. The first one I've seen like that and it had the solid research background
behind it. So like these are things when we talk about summer school and tutoring like is that our next venture in looking at this? So, um, it's it's getting cool and scary. >> Moving so fast >> and moving fast,
>> super fast. So, you know, one of the things I've mentioned to the team is I do think our guidance I think again this summer we're going to have to re-evaluate like where are we at? Like what's new? Like how does it, you know, is it is it going? So, u more to come for sure this summer.
>> Yeah. Yeah. It's I just want to throw one thing out there because I happen to have a high school senior right now and I I the the word of caution is with college applications and scholarship applications, there are a ton of them that say we're going to detect AI. We're
going to >> scrub your submission for AI. So do not use AI or plagiarize obviously. So that's one piece where I wonder like if you're >> the social responsibility part of it is I think that is something as well with our profile of a graduate like we've
been talking about like there's there's a there's a value system to all of this that >> maybe getting is more important than the content part you know for us. So I think that there's definitely a lot of conversation deeper in that exact thing you're talking about. >> Yeah. It's interesting too having uh my
daughter in college as a freshman and what's going on at that level with AI and testing and like Michigan's had a ton of issues with AI using in tests and so they've had to go to like paper >> bubble tests because
>> you know and so you've got that but is that the answer like that's what I'm saying we've got some definite discussions to have on where that goes. So >> more to come for sure. >> Yeah. >> Okay. Terrific. Well, thank you everybody, all of our guests for coming and
>> fleshing out what's on the slides and bringing it all to life for us. We really appreciate your taking our questions as well. >> So, um I think with that we're going to move on to our celebrations and successes, which is always a little >> Yeah, celebrations and successes. So,
I'm going to kick it over to uh Britney K who attended a fantastic conference down in Florida. >> Yes. So, um, myself, Kirk Randy from Blair Elementary and Kelly O'Banovic from Eastern Elementary, we were award, we were nominated and awarded a competitive fellowship through the Reading League National Chapter. And so,
we were able to last week go down to Indian River County, which is in Florida, um, and really see some of the work that they've done in terms of, um, creating a blueprint for systemic change, um, and really elevating academic achievement through the area of
literacy. Um so really melding the worlds of you know systems change um uh science of reading and leveraging community partnerships. So it seemed fitting kind of given our conversation today um and really walked away um a lot with some really I think um applicable
ideas when we think about what we can replicate because we know districts across the nation all function very differently. Um and so it was really great to kind of take away um some pieces that we can think about as we move into year two and year three of implementation with CKLA and just ensuring that we're providing that high
quality high quality literacy instruction um so that we can hopefully start to see some gains on our um strategic plan measures of success. And then I'm going to take this one as well. So as you know we are engaged in our middle school myar pilot which is
our um sixth through 8th grade science curriculum. Um, and I had the pleasure of um, going into Kristen Garrett's um, class at East Middle School. She's also East Middle School's um, science department lead um, to see a kickoff of a lesson. She's actually piloting um,
the sixth grade unit as well as the seventh grade unit. So, I got to see um, the seventh grade launch, which um, the key piece of that is really grounding all of the learning in an anchoring phenomena. Um and so uh this uh particular uh lesson that I got to see
was a simulation in how um infectious disease spread within a community and they did it through the passing and mixing of milk. Um and they got to see one person got um I can't remember the exact uh piece that was in the milk. One person got it and then they had to mix
with three other partners and then by then they uh increased and saw the spread of the infectious disease by two or three times. Um and then so from there they used that simulation um to then reflect on it had some discussion in terms of leveraging academic
conversations which is also a focus um at our middle schools and then worked on drawing models to represent um how one kind of contracts an infectious disease such as the or such as the common cold and then how it passes and then what is our response within um our uh differing
body systems. Um, so it was really great to see that and I have some upcoming visits I'll be engaging in um both at East and West Middle School across all three grade levels. >> It's gross that they used milk. >> I know. But interesting
>> got the point across, >> right? Like I hope it was not day old milk. >> And shout out to our own >> right we headed down to Lancing uh for our state of the state address. So through our partnership with uh Teach Michigan um looking at our our schools
that participate in Teach Michigan and our our champions of of literacy um and Brian is is certainly that at Traverse Heights and I know the governor is going to talk a lot tonight about early literacy funding connected to that. Um so we're we're proud to have him there >> tomorrow night.
>> Tomorrow night >> headed down. Are you headed down tonight? No, in the morning >> early early morning headed on this. >> How you guys rehearsed the >> intro? I threw it off >> briefly.
>> Well, thanks Frank. Awesome. >> You're welcome. >> Yeah. >> But congratulations. >> Congratulations. Really exciting. >> Thank you. Um on last Friday, uh we were able to pull some special ed assistants together and I was able to provide uh training that I received from the MACE
organization, which is the Michigan Association of Administrators of Special Education. And uh we pulled about 12 folks together. We have now trained 30 special ed assistants throughout the district on different strategies to support students whether it's academic
or behavioral. uh and to really look at their job as a whole. And so the quote there uh was one of from one of the assistants and she was just so appreciative of the work and the six hours that they spent together to think about different scenarios and how they
can support their students better. It's a great opportunity. >> And this is uh images from Sarah Dat. She's a art teacher at West Middle School. You actually be seeing her at the next board curriculum. She's going to come and help talk a little bit about middle school art. Um, but some of her
students here um just were awarded through the Cheerleian Humane Society. They did a project there. So, community connection with that, too. >> People pay money for that sort of thing. >> I know those are cute. Yeah. Very good. >> Yeah. Really impressive.
>> And lastly, at Willow Hart, Willow Hill, uh, third grade CLA, uh, unit 4 celebration. Again, just showing an example of really the extension of of our curriculum with CKLA. Um, some of the teacher buying and just some of the celebration around it. Uh, kind of
really immersing the students in the curriculum and and the level of enjoyment that we're seeing at the schools. >> By stance, I talked with a central grade parent yesterday who also had a kid, third grade, had great things to say about CKLA and how it's really bringing
subjects to life. And so you think back to that board curriculum that Britney had that map about all the different areas. Remember that they lay sort of that foundation so that later on when they learn in detail about this they it's their second or third exposure to that point too. >> Same thing I had the chance in my board
on Thursday the Blair had their STEM day and it was also overlaid with CKLA and had those connections with it throughout it. So same concept >> but only we could keep this level of enthusiasm at the secondary level. >> We got it. Come on over. You got it.
>> I agree. >> Oh my goodness. >> Come to Ethan nth grade fire here. >> Okay. >> Okay. >> Well, with that, um, we this is an opportunity for our second p public comment period, but seeing how we do not
have anybody in the live audience, um, we'll move on to the other items. Does anybody have anything else? Okay. Then lastly, we will um announce that our next board curriculum committee meeting will be Tuesday, April 7th. We will not have a late March meeting due to spring
break. Um and we will be convening at 8:15 a.m. folks here at the Glen Lumis building. So with that, we are adjourned. Thank you everybody for attending. Thank you.