All right. Welcome and good evening, everyone. We're going to go ahead and get started. So again, welcome to our December 16th, 2025 Board of Education meeting. We have all of our trustees present. We have three of our four student reps with us tonight. So will you please stand and join me in saying the Pledge of Allegiance? I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice
for all. All right. Our first item, agenda item tonight is recognition document. Chesky. Want to introduce? Yes, mayor. Thank you, Doctor Hart. Appreciate that. We're very pleased this evening to recognize, our state champion boys tennis team from Troy High School. Mr. Janssen, if you would please come forward. Doctor Chesky, members of the board. Thank you for having us today. The Troy High varsity tennis team completed an undefeated season, capturing the AA Red championship, a 13th consecutive regional championship in the state championship.
Motivated by runner up finishes in each of the past two seasons, the team entered the year determined to represent their city with pride, returning 11 of 12 starters from the 2024 season. The group consistently demonstrated maturity, discipline, and experience throughout the year. The defining lesson of the season was that yesterday's setbacks can become today's success. The players embraced that mindset from day one, and their commitment was ultimately rewarded with a state championship. Please join me in welcoming head coach Brian Miska in the 2025 mHSAA
state Champion Troy Courts. Come on up, gentlemen. Captains, right out of here. They might have a few questions for you. This is the last. One. So while we do have certificates for you gentlemen, there may be a few questions. Yeah. Remember any board members, any questions for this state champion team? I guess I'll start with a question. So, you know, we were introduced by saying you used your setbacks from last year to motivate you this year.
Tell us a little bit more about that. Well, I mean, for the past, you know, 2 or 3 years that a bunch of us have been on this team, we've kind of fallen short to a very strong competitor. Bloomfield Hills. You know, they've always had a really good team, and it's kind of driven us every single year to try and compete and make ourselves get better and, you know, beat them every single year. And so finally, we had the chance this year to finally, take that win. Great. Congratulations. And go ahead. Do you guys have any memorable moments from this year? Anyone want to share
a few? If you can share, I'm sure there's a bunch. We've had this little red nut ritual, but like, the little thing that we've been doing this year where after every home match or every away match, we'll go and, get some dinner together and we'll go hang out, make some jokes, have fun, eat a lot of food. It's become a little bonding season. Yeah, that's the bonding exercise. It's to be anybody's night. How do you guys like the new tennis courts? Oh, yeah. Yeah. Did that help? Sure. Did. Yeah, yeah.
So how many of you are seniors and how many of you will be back on next year's team? So who are you? Who are the seniors? Okay. And I say ten out of 18. Are you going to try to play tennis in college or do it as a club sport or. I'm I'm probably playing. I'm sure there's a handful. Others will also probably end up playing clubs. Yeah. So it's a passion for you and something you think you'll continue on in life and beyond college, for sure. Good. Well, it's a great, great sport. Most of these guys are good enough to play golf.
That is the thing is, when you go to college and you want to play, they all want to go to University of Michigan or go here or there. So those who are obviously. Yeah. Against the wall. Yeah. Phenomenal players. The depth on our team I mean when when we talk about just the guys were towards the bottom of our line of, these guys are the one singles at 99% of the state in the state. And he said 99% of the state. And it just shows. The biggest thing I would say about this team is the lack of egos. You have 18 incredible players and you have guys that are good enough
to play one singles, or I got a guy had three singles who's like top 100 million below us, right? I mean, it's just and ridiculous and I don't get any complaints from them. They all into it's national team. No one out of all these guys, the thing I'm most proud of is none of them, believe their bottom two, which is really. They don't get that all time. I get my naturally right kids, I try I mean, this group of kids, it's like, wow, they have no egos. And just care about you. They care about you guys in the city. And that's that was kind of our our goal. We wanted a sign on long legs. So people come
on. So it's a great group. I think they did a great job representing our high school so well. Congratulations. Thank you. All right, so we. So we have some certificates for you. We'd like to make sure that you get those number one. And then also, when you get that certificate, if you could come over here, just kind of ring the table and we'll get a picture when we're done. All right. So that should be the name. So should I have the name I it's up to you. I'm here from South Beach.
We writes Irish pick up ghetto. Sorry. Why don't you come right over there? Start the line right over there. There you go. That's pretty cool. So. Over there. Next. Yeah. Jesse, we'll get you all in there. Jonathan, down! The radar. I think there's still nothing. I'm sorry. Joe, the question.
Is. There with him. So much damage. To Jackson. Got. Me about the column. Again, there might be something that was 130 on this Dane County. It's not. It's Nathan. Chris. Anthony. Who?
Is city. These names just rolled one a couple of times in here. Like this one is over. Atlanta for two rows. This Kansas. There you go. You know Philly system. If you go pick me up and you see these choices. No not just the bridges here I say
there you go. Congratulations again. Coach Miska and the state champion boys tennis team from Troy High School. Thank you, gentlemen, for joining us. You, you are free to leave if you wish to do so. We're not going to keep you here. Let me know. It's a busy time of the year. Yep. Wow. Thanks again. So, next on the front of this? No, I'm. Good job. And I was in transition.
I just, this. Thank you for joining. Us. Okay. We are going to continue on with our meeting. Doctor McCluskey, any additions or deletions tonight? There are none this evening. Public communication on agenda items. We have one. Public communication on non-agenda items. Okay, well, we'll hold that till the end then. So our next item of interest, of business, is to approve the items on the general consent agenda.
Tonight's consent agenda includes minutes of the November 11, 2025 Board of Education workshop, minutes of the November 18th, 2025 Board of Education Meeting, the October 2025 Treasurers Report, AP French and Spanish Resource Approval and Schools of Choice, section 105 105 C. May I have a resolution, please? Mr. Hoppe, be it therefore resolved, that the Troy Board of Education takes action to approve items A, B, C, D and E of the consent agenda support.
Okay, we have a resolution by Mr. Hoppe supported by Miss Aleix. Is there any comment or discussion on these items? No discussion and just a comment. Is it okay? I just want to comment for general public that one of the items in the consent agenda is actually we are opening up a hundred spots for school of choice for next year, just for information sake. That's it. Okay, okay. Anything else? Okay. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes. Opposed? Say no. Okay.
Thank you. Motion carries. Our next item is personnel. Mr. Pagel. Good evening, Doctor Chesky and members of the board. This evening, for personnel, we have, the consideration of an administrative appointment for the position of supervisor of data and research. I am pleased to recommend the appointment of Doctor Jordan Dennis to the position of Supervisor of Data and Research. Doctor Dennis began his professional career as a classroom teacher in Novi and Northville, before transitioning
to Oxford Community Schools, where he served as an instructional coach, program coordinator, assistant principal, and principal. He is a proud MSU Spartan and spent 11 years as a student at Michigan State University. Doctor Dennis holds a bachelor's in history. Education a master's in educational technology, and in 2023, he submitted his dissertation on the impacts of unfilled teacher vacancies and what they have on Urban School Districts, to earn his doctorate in education leadership.
With your approval, Doctor Dennis will formally begin his supervisor position at services beginning January 5th, 2026. Okay. Thank you. We have a, resolution to approve, our new supervisor of data and research. May I have a motion, please? Be therefore resolved that the Board of Education issues a two year probationary administrative contract without tenure in the administrative position to Doctor Jordan Dennis, who will begin his duties as supervisor, data
and research, effective January 5th, 2026. We have a resolution by Miss Annie, supported by Mr. Hoppe. Is there any discussion or question on this resolution? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes, yes. Opposed. Say no. Motion carries. And, thank you very much. Congratulations, doctor. Dennis, I'm Doctor Dennis here with us this evening, and I think he's brought his wife along with you. Okay? Yes. I did bring my wonderful wife, Ali Dennis along with me.
Who is Nai backbone and support, in this entire process. But I just wanted to say that I am honored to be here in front of you tonight. I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity, and I'm just thrilled and excited to join, Troy School District's educational community. I'm very excited to utilize some of the skills that I have developed, throughout my doctoral program, master's in educational technology and throughout my professional career. And just to utilize them to the best of my ability to service
this community, and support with the data analysis and the visualizations and, well, as any other other duties as assigned, I suppose. So, just again, very excited to be here. And, I'm, I'm excited to join in January and I can't wait to start. Well, thank you and welcome aboard. We're very excited to have you, particularly somebody who gets so excited about data. I was telling him, you know, for some of you, before it came that this board loves data. So he's going to be very popular.
Any any questions or comments from anyone else on the board? We're so excited to have you join the team. Yeah, I'm so excited to be here. Well, congratulations. I'm excited to have you. Great. Okay, moving on. Any curriculum tonight? There is no curriculum this evening. Okay, then, we will move into, business. That evening, board of education. Tonight on the agenda are four items for your consideration. The first one being a food service equipment purchase.
So this purchase is kind of an extension of the construction over the summer, where we updated the tri kitchens and the serving line area. This will add a slat wall that will kind of surround the, new equipment inside of the cafeteria. So it'll create somewhat of a little bit of a marketplace, for the students to go where they can get all the cart items. So this will just kind of put that cherry on top, so to speak, to the, the new tri kitchen. So the total amount for this purchase, we did get three competitive quotes. The lowest bid came in at $37,455 to Stafford Smith.
And this would be funded out of the food service fund. Pending your approval, it would be ordered and hopefully installed over the holiday break here. So. Okay. Thank you. We're being asked to consider a resolution on the purchase of, food service equipment for Troy High. May I have a resolution, please? Miss Potts, be it therefore resolved, that the purchase of the flat wall enclosure be awarded to Stafford Smith in the amount of $37,455, and that this amount be approved as an expenditure of the Food Service fund support.
We have a resolution by Miss Potts supported by miss. Any any discussion or questions on this item. I know we discussed this, at the workshop, so. Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor, please say yes. Yes, yes. Opposed? Say no. Okay. Thank you. Motion carries. Next item. Dan. Next item on the agenda for consideration relates to the electrical and utility here for purchase. So we did issue an RFP and we have some competitive bids. And this will be for the pre purchase of the core electrical equipment,
for the Bowling park middle school renovations, the Athens High addition. And then we also had an alternate that we will be accepting funding approval for Larson Middle School as well to get that sense of equipment order and understand sure that not only do we get it in on time, given the long lead times, but also securing, lower pricing today as opposed to a year from now. So, we will place those orders and get those going. It ranges from 6 to 10 months. It just depends on the item. But if we do get things in early, we do have the ability to house that, in the meantime.
So, low bid came in to O'Donnell electric in the amount of $587,874. And this would be funded through the Capital Projects Fund. Okay. Great. Thanks for being asked to consider, pre-purchase of electrical and utility gear for their renovations of our two middle schools and high school. May I have a motion, please? Miss Sandler, be it therefore resolved that the bid for electrical equipment pre-purchase be awarded to O'Donnell electric in the amount of $587,874,
and that this amount be approved as an expenditure of the Capital Projects Fund. Support. We have a resolution by Miss Zentner supported by Mr. Haupt. Any comments or discussion on this item? Okay. Hearing none. All those in favor of the purchase, please say yes. Yes. Opposed? Say no. Thank you. Motion carries. The third item on the agenda for consideration is the 2026 Roof Replacement Project. So this is a typical annual project that we do. We have a plan across the district to address each building, over a 10 to 15 year period.
So, this specifically relates to work at Barnard, Leonard Morris and Elementaries. And then we do have some roofing, restoration that a couple other buildings, but not for roof replacement. So we try to keep things up, as we go as well. So, we work with Weather Tech Consulting Group. They kind of specialize in Brooklyn projects. So there are a roofing consultant on this project. So they reviewed all the bids. So total bids with contingency came in at $939,829.80. We will fund this both
from the Capital Projects Fund and from the sinking fund as well. Okay. Thank you. So we're being asked to consider allocation of resources for roof replacements for next year. May I have a resolution please, doctor mountain, be it therefore resolved that the bid roof replacement be awarded as follows and that this amount be approved as an expenditure of the Capital Projects Fund and Building site and sinking funds. Great Lakes Roofing for Morris Elementary in the amount of $371,061. MTD construction for Barnard Elementary in the amount of $207,000.
Royal West Roofing for Leonard and West elementaries in the amount of $283,700. A roofing and sheet for a restoration package in the amount of $33,315. Contingency amount $44,753.80, for a total of 900,000 $939,829.80 support. We have a resolution by Doctor Melton, supported by Miss Elish. Any comments or discussion on this item? But just in come in to the contingency. That's 5%, I know. Usually we see it as a percent, but that's a bit lower than that.
Yeah, this project being just little thing is a little safer. So historically you can go to that 5% mark. Site work might be upwards of ten, but okay. Okay. All in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes, yes. Opposed. Say no. Thank you. Motion carries. And our last item, last item for consideration is for paving project across the district. So like roofing projects we have a ten year plan in place where we go through the district each year and we address various buildings across the district.
So we issued an RFP. We were able to solicit low bids for work at Castello Hill and Martello elementaries. And then we also have, some work done at Troy High and the preschool. So the total bid package, is proposed to be awarded to Nagle Paving in the amount of $3,367,085. And this would also be funded between the capital projects and sinking funds as well. Great. Okay. We're being asked to consider a resolution for approval of resources on site work and paving projects. May I have a resolution, please?
I can do that. Okay. Miss Annie, be therefore resolved that the bid for sidewalk paving projects be awarded to local paving in the amount of $3,367,085 and that this amount be approved as an expenditure of the capital project fund and building site and sinking funds support. We have a resolution by miss any supported by Miss Aleix. Any discussion on this item. I do have just a question. Go ahead. Will all these be able to be done during the spring and summer?
Yes, that's the plan. Okay. Anything else? Okay. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes. Opposed? Say no. All right. Thank you. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Trudeau. All right, that concludes business. Now we will move on to public communication on nine agenda items. Mister. Up, up, up. Comedian. We've come up and address this. Please. Good evening. Good evening. Last week I spent some time reading through
the quarterly newsletter posted on the official district website. This newsletter was published by the DEA Department. It shows calendars that list a wide variety of observances and holidays for every month. For some holidays, like Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kapoor, and Diwali and Kwanzaa, it had multiple paragraphs that describe in detail the meaning of each holiday. What about Christmas? The newsletter doesn't have a single sentence dedicated exclusively to explaining the meaning of Christmas, considering that the vast majority of families and students
in the district profess to be Christians and celebrate Christmas, you would think that the inclusion department would be more inclusive of Christianity. Every single person in our city or country, in our world, deserves to hear about the true meaning of Christmas. When most people think of Christmas, they think of lights, gifts, family, food, and traditions. Those things can be beautiful, but Christmas didn't begin as a holiday. It began actually as a rescue mission. Christmas is really about God. Yahweh, the one and only true God. Stepping into the world, he created.
The Bible teaches that God saw humanity struggling, broken relationships, guilt, fear, and a deep sense that something isn't right. Instead of remaining distant, God chose to come close. He sent his only son, Jesus Christ, not as a king in a palace, but as a baby born into poverty. That tells us something important God is not far away in. He understands real life. Jesus grew up and lived a sinless life, one marked by love, truth, compassion, and integrity. He showed people what God is like.
He healed all who were sick in hurting, welcomed the rejected and offered forgiveness instead of condemnation. His message was simple but radical. God loves you and he wants to restore you. But Christmas doesn't make sense without the cross. Jesus didn't just come to teach, he came to save. He willingly gave his life, taking on the weight of human sin and brokenness. He died so that those who feel lost, guilty, or separated from God could be forgiven and made whole and new. And the story doesn't end in death.
Jesus rose from the dead, proving that sin and death do not have the final word. His resurrection offers hope, real hope that life can be changed, that forgiveness is possible, and that death is not the end. So Christmas is not just about a baby in a manger. It's about God saying to the world, I love you enough to come for you. It's an invitation to hope, to forgiveness, and to new life for Jesus. This is what Christmas is really all about. It's all about Jesus.
Merry Christmas. Thank you. Merry Christmas to you as well. Okay. We will go on to our other. We do have one, formal agenda item in other. Before we move into our roundtable. And that is to approve, the resolution, that, is being proposed from Oakland schools. I guess I don't really have the resolution, but let me let me go through here. So we are being asked to approve,
two resolutions, from Oakland schools. Do you have those? Yeah, but I need to read what those are, and I don't have those in front of me. Okay, so the two proposed resolutions. Proposed resolution number one is, to support along with Oakland County School Board Association, nonpartisan school board elections. The rationale for this resolution is that,
public education, regardless of which side of the aisle that you sit on, you know, should be a nonpartisan activity. And we are encouraging people to participate on the board, who really have the best interest of students and public education at heart. I guess we will do these, one at a time. Although I think we probably are in support of both, but, may I have a motion to approve, the first resolution,
which is having this board support nonpartisan school board elections. So move. Yeah. So I'll make that. Okay. So I'll make I'll make the motion. Miss Sandler is supporting that motion. Any discussion on this? Okay, all those in favor of supporting that resolution, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed? Say no. Okay. And then the second resolution, is to support full funding of early on Michigan, which is an early intervention program
for infants and toddlers from birth to age three with disabilities, developmental delays or at risk for delays due to certain health conditions. And the rationale for this proposal is that, this is first of all, consistent, with Michigan law to say that all students, deserve the services that they need for, an appropriate education, provided from birth through age 25.
And the criticality of these kind of intervention programs for students with special needs, which will help to, to, make them successful, you know, get a good start in early childhood. And then throughout the rest of their, their education. So, I will make the proposal that, we support this resolution for full funding of early on Michigan. I'll make the motion. Okay. Support supports. Okay, so the resolution, by miss any supported by Mr.
Hoppe. Any discussion or further comment on this? Okay. All those in favor of this resolution, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Opposed? Say no. Okay. Motion carries and we will pass that information on to the Oakland County School Board Association. Again, our member districts, are all having the opportunity to vote on that. And then that will be, appropriately sent to Lansing. Okay. With that, it's now time to hear from our students.
And so tonight we're going to start on this side of the table. So Sarah, I will start with you. What's going on at Athens? I'm extremely excited to discuss what has been going on Athens High School recently. In November, 120 students were inducted into the Omega chapter of the National Honor Society, which is very exciting. Since the last school board meeting, winter sports, the ground running, most notably, our wrestling team defeated Troy High 66 to 14 at the meet last Wednesday. Athens also had two holiday concerts last week. Band performed on the ninth, while orchestra performed at the 11th.
Studio hosted two very successful drives this December during the holiday Blood Drive, we had 27 units of blood donated, which will help and assist over 80 people. While during the holiday gift car drive, over $1,500 in gift cards were donated to help families during the holiday season. A huge thanks to the Athens community for making these drives so successful. Our newsletter has been updated to be released weekly, which I was told was very important. We are also looking forward to the upcoming break and hope that everyone has a safe and restful two weeks off.
We are excited for what the new Year will bring. And I'm excited to get to 2026. Yeah, great. Lots going on, but everybody is looking forward to break. Bella, how about you, Troy? Hi. Good evening everyone. As we head into the holiday season, December has been a busy and meaningful month at Troy High. We have been giving bad showing, leadership, and finishing the semester strong across academics, activities and arts. Today's student government and leadership hosted the Middle school Leadership Conference at Troy High. About 128 middle school students from across the district attended.
So we did have middle schoolers and middle school attend. And we had over, 40 Troy High leadership students running the event. Middle school leaders rotated through five different cabins. The conference was camp themed, so that's what we call the breakout rooms. Okay. Each cabin was led by Troy High students and focused on leadership skills, team building, and preparing them for high school. The conference was entirely student led and planned. And we are very proud of the outcome. I personally had a lot of fun facilitating collaboration with middle schoolers and my overalls and Birkenstocks today.
Building on that theme. The Model United Nations also hosted a middle school conference this Saturday. Students learned about diplomacy, practiced debate skills, and connected with peers while getting an early look at high school model, U.N., model U.N. host. Cuz monkey conference is very often throughout the year. We try to aim for like one every quarter. Along with leadership on this week has also been fun for school spirit. Today was actually the 75th day of school and also the 75th. And it's also the 73rd anniversary of Troy High.
So you all came wearing our Blackhawks shirts. Tomorrow is Snow White whiteout day, and we'll end the week with a festive Christmas mayhem Day on Friday. This month has also been celebrated around the so sorry centered around service permutation has been hosting a toy drive throughout December. These donations will help make the holiday season brighter for families and our community. Quiz Bowl has started the season with a strong momentum. They competed at the University of Michigan Autumn classic and placed second. And then earlier in the season, they competed at Michigan State University.
They split into two groups. One placed 10th and the other place 13th. Tomorrow Green Space Club is partnering with league leaders to conduct a lunch waste audit. So hopefully we'll get a better understanding of Troy Heights. Waste footprint, I guess. Oh, ten members of the girls swim team qualified for the state finals held at Oakland University, and we're very proud of all of them. December has also been a very busy month for performing arts. Eight Troy High musicians were selected through auditions to perform at the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids and including members of all state band and all State Jazz Ensemble.
Additionally, seven orchestra students were selected through a statewide audition process to perform at the same conference as well. Yeah. Overall, we're just, very excited that December highlighted, our leadership, service and school spirit. And we thank you for your continued support and wish everyone a very happy holidays. Great. Thank you. Okay. Chloe talks well before I and happy early holidays buddy. And it's been a very calm past few weeks at Troy High but not Troy High. My college and career, but never too calm.
And since I already started the holiday talk, I might as well follow up with our annual annual Turkey Thanksgiving Feast, which is so special to us given the variety of circumstances and situations of our students. Though all the laughs and smiles make it worth the while. Plus all the turkey and pie, of course. But following it following Thanksgiving, we have all of our Christmas and how the holiday events such as the Holiday Helpers formerly known as the think those adopt a family where every year the staff chooses a family to sponsor and we collectively purchase items off
of a provided list in order to ensure the best Christmas morning possible. Another charity like event, the Oakland Police Department, coat Drive, really got students motivated and in the holiday spirit, 12 of us loaded up all of our collected coats and got to work as soon as we arrived. Organizing, going through, and bagging all of the coats, gloves, scarfs, and hats all in just under two hours, which is very impressive, for it was a humongous warehouse and it was like all boarded up and it was full of coats and not even just hats
and gloves like a bunch of other random clothes. Like, I swear people are just emptying out their closet, donating stuff. So it was very impressive for the two hours, we were supposed to be there for four hours, so I just wanted to throw that in there. Very proud of us. Then lastly, in the holiday department coming up this Friday, we have our Christmas celebration ran by student council. If you guys can tell by now, we take holidays pretty seriously where we are going to have food, karaoke games, a movie, and all kinds of all kinds of team bonding and building activities.
As always, I will report. Then I look for at the next meeting how that went. Well, our students are getting antsy for the long break coming up. The staff helped us all, helped all grades regain focus by having a separate assembly for all grades to inform, prepare and answer any questions about the SAT act, PSAT, graduation speeches, and anything under those categories. Other Honorable mentions A week ago, December 9th, our Woman of Tomorrow team participated in a group yoga meditation class where we were very blessed
to be able to have a real yoga instructor from Lifetime Gym. Thanks to our mentors and head teacher, miss G and all of us girls have a deeper mind to body connection in their calm self-awareness and balance and overall relaxed mind. It was so impactful that I know at least five other girls, including myself, that want to do a weekly class together. But then lastly, but definitely not least, Miss Leonard and her human impact classes are really making their impact in our community.
Partnering with Sakara to add and put the place and put in place tons of recycling bins and systems all throughout the building. Thank you for listening and again, happy holidays from TCC. All right. Thank you Chloe. Well, it sounds like all of our high schools are really finishing the year strong. Lots going on. So our students certainly deserve a couple of weeks of rest and break. Miss Sandler, any roundtable? A very happy, very Merry Christmas and happy holidays to our community
and what I'm sure is going to be a good and restful break. And, note if you, any of you on the board or in the audience have yet to see there was a press release yesterday. There was a literacy summit with a new state superintendent who began work last week, who we got to see, many of us got to see. At the MSP conference in October, he and his team from Dearborn presented, there's a joint press release yesterday. Governor Whitmer in the new state superintendent. The entire focus of the press release was literacy, improving literacy, making sure our teachers get appropriate literacy training to be ready for the science of reading as the laws roll into place.
So, if you're a data nerd, something good to read. If you're not, you should read it anyway, right? Merry Christmas. Great. Thank you, Miss Potts. I'm going to keep it short and sweet. Just going to wish everybody a merry Christmas and happy holidays. And I know that, the holidays are a time of reflection. I know some people have a difficult time during the holidays. I'm probably one of them. Struggle a little bit. Missing family members who should be here with us. I do want to reflect a little bit about stuff that's been happening. Happening in the world.
Certainly something that's not foreign to our community as well. Not Troy specifically, but, you know, in Metro Detroit, I'm sure everybody heard about the shooting in Australia and, the rise in anti-Semitism. And, you know, at a time where everyone should be celebrating the holidays, we have to be aware that there are people who are full of hate, intolerance. And, you know, the Troy School District is always had inclusivity, no matter what anybody else up at the podium is trying to preach.
So, that to put a damper on anybody. But I just want to wish everybody, happy Holidays and everybody from the Jewish community, in the religious communities, you know, you are you're all welcome here. And I wish everybody a happy and safe holiday season. Thank you, Doctor Milton. Happy holidays to everybody as well. I, I'm going to piggyback a little bit on what Miss Sandler talked about the the Reading Literacy Summit. Of course, Governor Whitmer said that literacy in, in terms of education
is her number one priority for this coming last year of her term. And then, of course, our new superintendent said reading is is his top priority as well. Which I've been thinking a lot about a conversation that I had recently with, 2022 graduate of of Troy School District, who is is a friend of of my oldest son. And it comes to mind because we've talked about earlier in the year, we had Kim Saint Martin come from M.D. and talk a little bit about reading, and structured literacy versus balanced literacy.
And the question came up of, you know, where are these kids at now? You know, it seems like they're fine. And that there's more than one way to teach reading, which there is. But if the way we're using is not helping everyone, then we need to have look at other options. Which is kind of what we're approaching with with the new, laws coming up. And when I was talking to him, he's in his fourth year at OC, still trying to find a program that he can find success in
because of his inability to read more complex material. So when we talk about kind of where they at and are, they find, I think we have to think about what is your definition of fine. And to me, not being able to read complex materials to find success in college is not fine. But I think there's some things that our other board members might not realize in terms of special education.
When kids move from high school to to college, the, I guess supports that they typically have in high school. Don't go with them. It's a different setting. So in middle school and high school here, we don't have interventions that are teaching kids to decode because we're assuming that they already know how to do that. So that in and of itself is a problem. But then in their IEPs, we accommodate them to success. So we say, okay, here's, you know, all of our books are available on audio.
They can listen to it so that they can get the information. The tests can be read to them, whether it's a standardized test that they have, an automatic reader, or they can go to a support room and have, someone read the test to them. But that goes away when they go to college. So they're left with like in this particular circumstance, the young man wanted to be a mechanic. He had to read manuals. He had to take the certification test. He couldn't do it, not because he didn't know how to do it on a car.
He couldn't read the materials to be successful. So I just wanted to bring that to everybody's attention, because I think we need to think about what is okay, and how do we make sure that our kids leaving us aren't in situations like that? And I think identifying kids early is critical to that. And we do that through appropriate assessments, and data. So I'm super excited to hear, so,
you know, my hope is that with the proper, screeners moving forward, we're going to catch these kids earlier, have, appropriate interventions, tier one instruction that's going to help all of our kids, and that over time, we're going to see situations where stories like this, we're not hearing it anymore. So thank you, Mr. Hop. So again happy holidays everybody. Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, all of that. I do want to call out, we get a newsletter every once in a while as the school board from the girlboss of last year.
Yes, I wanted to call them out because they just recently were at a Michigan state competition this past weekend. Yeah, I saw that. And they brought home the first place award, and they were ranked 15th overall, which I think was excellent. And, just looking through the newsletter, all their stuff is super pink and I love it. And, they just do a lot of good work in the community. So I just wanted to give them a shout out because they deserve it. Great. And so, I sure do wish everybody happy holidays. Happy New Year. I did mention this at the at the workshop, but I wanted to mention it here as well.
I want to thank, Chris grief, her and Harlene, the principal at Bemis. We did have a school visit two weeks ago. And kind of goes along with the others here. So we had, we had the opportunity to see a first grade and a third grade classroom, to to see some of the, updated curriculum that was approved last year to see some of that in action. And so, you know, hopefully we'll keep moving in that direction. But it was, it was really nice to see some of some of that being implemented.
Okay. Okay. Before I, I wish everybody the happy holidays. This is our last meeting for the year. So it's a time for reflection to me. And I was reading it. And Adweek has a word of the year for 2025, and it's called dismantle for education. So we started the year with pretty much call for dismantling public education, our Department of Education at the federal level, where our funding is cut down to less than $0.10 per dollar to spend in public education. I wanted to highlight that, and that's how we started the year.
At the state level. Our budget was a little better. Our final budget, though, it was late and it wasn't perfect. We at least got some increases in the per pupil funding and some additional resources to meet our at risk students locally in our district. We started the year with three new amazing board members. We made some major progress. We had our new cell phone policy, which was, I think, a great success, but most of our students and parents and everybody seemed to like it. We had approved our writing curriculum,
which needed, additional stuff like grammar and which, like Amina mentioned, we had a chance to look at, go and see in person in the classrooms and how this new curriculum is being taught. And the new additions are definitely helping. The students are brand projects are making major progress overall. Amazing progress at Smith and all the amazing athletic fields at all our high schools. They look great. Some small setbacks here and there, but overall amazing year.
But we still have a lot of work to do in many areas, such as we still haven't had our lakes high school start times, we are still working on it. We have a lot of work to do for next year. We also were partially able to resolve our students, double splits, but not completely. We have major work ahead of us with reducing our achievement gap, especially in our At-Risk Student groups. And finally, we also have to tackle the topic of AI, which is everywhere in the world nowadays,
and we have to figure out what to do in our schools and our policy. So a lot of work ahead of us. So what I will do now is wish everybody, Merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah, happy holidays to everybody. Rest up. Have a great enjoy a great break with your family and come back energized. Great. Thank you for that wonderful summary, Doctor Chesky. Yeah. Stocks fell apart. Just a reminder that, when we return from break, December or January 19th at 8:30 a.m. as the citywide Martin Luther King Day of service, all the community is welcome to attend.
Look forward to seeing, as many as possible. At Athens starting 830 with a breakfast. There'll be a presentation, short, short, presentation. And, and from there, we'll move into, several opportunities for service activities. It is a if you haven't had a chance to go, it is always. Well attended. And I think when folks leave, they feel thankful that they've spent, some time with community members, with family,
and, and a small opportunity to give back on a day when and others may be out of work. Everyone's out of school. But, working together, is a, creates a great sense of pride within the community. So encourage everyone, to come on out for the day of service. And, other than that, just wishing everyone a happy holiday. Okay, great. Well, I will close. First of all, I really want to thank my board members. You know, I think Miss Snow, you did a great job of kind of summarizing,
you know, the accomplishments, the the challenges, the the opportunities ahead of us. But I, again, really want to thank, you know, half of our board was new. But again, our three board members, just jumped into this with energy, passion. I don't think I've ever seen board trustees complete as much training in such a short time as you all did. So it gives me, a lot of, confidence that we will hit 20, 26 running.
And we will be up to the challenges ahead of us. So, please, everyone have, a wonderful holiday, a well-deserved break. Happy 2026. And we will see you our next workshop. So we start with the workshop in January and it is January 13th, which will be 6:00 here in this building and then followed a week later, with our normal board meeting. And then, our normal board meeting on the 20th will be preceded by an organizational meeting
that will be, very interesting for, I'm sure the public to hear. But we have to, kind of establish our officers for the year. We have to establish our committee assignments and so on. So it'll be, really some housekeeping work that we will do, and then we'll get into our normal board meeting. So with that, if there is no further business, we will adjourn this meeting again. Happy holidays to everybody. Happy New Year and we will see you on January 13th. Thank you.