Good evening, everyone. Could I ask everyone to please take their seats? If everyone could please take their seats, we're gonna go ahead and get started. Alright. Thank you, everyone. Thank you, and welcome to the Tuesday, June 17 Board of Education meeting. We have all trustees present. I'm going to ask everyone to please rise with me, and we will recite the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States Of America Okay. Again, good evening and welcome. Tonight, our first item of business, typically we have recognition, but,
by law, we need to have a public hearing on our 2526 proposed budget. So Mr. Trudeau will take us through some slides to share the budget. And then that this will be an opportunity if there's anyone in the audience who has questions on the budget. And then after that, we will move into recognizing our many exceptional students tonight. Alright. Thank you. And good evening, Board of Education and, the community members that showed up tonight for this wonderful presentation. So I'm gonna go through here just briefly.
By law, we are required to have a public hearing on the budget, which is our truth in taxation. This is an opportunity for us to talk about the millage rates that are gonna be levied upon our citizens, within Troy, and then those figures then are tied into the budget that we did review at the last workshop. So as we go through here, just briefly looking at our taxable values, you can see here these are the taxable values that the county does publish for us. They provide us the l forty twenty eight document every spring, typically in April. These documents then are what determine the the millage rates essentially as we calculate them.
So you can see in the orange here, that's the total taxable value. There's about a just under 5% increase for the year, going from 5,300,000,000.0 to 5,600,000,000.0 across the city. And then we do break that out between the blue and the green bars bars there. That's your homestead in blue and non homestead in green. So, the homestead, those are your typical homeowner residences, primary residences, and then the green bar, that's all of your, commercial businesses and secondary rental properties, things like that. So these are the various taxes that you'll see. So the state education tax, that's the first one.
That one is not something we levy. That is something that is state mandated. So all of the municipalities, they levy those six mills on all of the homes and properties throughout the district. So all properties pay that six mills that goes back to the state, in the form of a foundation allowance that then gets redistributed across, all of the school districts. The operating millage, so this is 18 mills. That one is levied on non homestead properties fed school district so this covers some of our operating expenditures. We are required by law to opt or to levy that 18 mills in order to receive the full foundation allowance. So this is typically about 20% or so of our total foundation that we are
required to collect locally. If you do not do that as a district, then you're falling short of what your foundation should be. Hold harmless. This is on the homestead properties. This is essentially, a millage rate based on enrollment, taxable values, and foundation allowance. So you'll notice over time, that rate has come down a little bit each year and that's as our enrollment steadily comes down little by little each year. That's gonna affect that total amount that we can, levy. So you'll you'll notice in your comparison on the next slides here that that one did go down a little bit. But this one is, levied annually on the homestead properties,
across the district. And then the sinking fund and debt fund, that one is levied on all properties throughout the district for sinking fund expenditures and debt service expenditures. So these are the millage rates proposed, in our budget that'll be under the consent agenda for your approval this evening. So general operating, so we have our commercial personal property at 8.5796 mills. The homestead property, that one is six mills less than that. So 2.5796 mills. And then all other non homestead is the 18 mills that were required to levy as well. Sinking fund, all properties,
that's point nine five four, so slightly less than last year, just given the rollbacks that we have to calculate as part of that. And then the debt fund, again, at 6.1 mills, that one is not required to be rolled back. So the briefly, the millage rollback, that's essentially a rate that we are given by the county every year. So we have to look at last year's rate, roll it back a little bit by a percentage that's determined by the county. And then from there, that'll roll back the rate. So that way the the increase in taxes on a citizen is not more than 5% every year. So or less for a 5% of the rate of inflation.
So that's something that we have to calculate every year as part of this process to ensure that we're in compliance with the state law. So this is just a brief overview of the homestead millage comparison. So you can see there on the far right, we have our blue as the state education tax at six mills. The green is our hold harmless. The debt is the orange and then the red is the sinking fund. So again, each one just a little bit less than the prior year, with the exception of the debt and the state education packs. And that's primarily related to the headway rollback. And then on the non homestead side, so this is again all of your secondary properties,
your businesses throughout the district, or the city, I should say. And so for, state education tax, six mills that's required on all properties, the 18 mills there in the green, and then the debt and sinking filing are the same as your homestead. So in total, this is kind of a rough comparison from year to year. So you can see from last year on homestead, we went from 15.79 down to 15.6336. And then likewise, on the non homestead side, that one went down a little bit from 31 o six zero six to 31 o five four. Then all of that gets rolled into here.
So this is the l forty twenty nine. This is the document that we get the board approved. We'll have you guys sign that right after your approval of the budgets and then the establishment of these rates and then this is sent to the county and all the municipalities and then those are put on to the July 1 tax bills that are then sent out. So we have to list all of our operating millages, home hold harmless, sinking fund, all the debt funds, And then this shows the calculation of the reduction of, the heavy rollback as well. So and then I'll just briefly touch on the general fund amendment here.
So not many changes from the last, workshop. Again, we go through, we try to do last minute catching of key card purchases and things like that are that are slowly coming in over the last week. So, we do have a proposed amendment here of 3.794 use million, use of fund balance for this year. I think it was around 3.5 previously. So a little bit higher there. But again, conservatively, that's where we are anticipating to be. And then looking at next year, proposed use of fund balance of 3,700,000.0. I just wanna caution though that this is based on a very conservative budget.
We still we have three wildly different proposals from the government, state government. So right now, we're taking the conservative approach with this. We as a district have gone through and worked diligently as a team to make sure that we do make strategic reductions across the district through attrition. That way we're not impacting the classrooms, setting ourselves up for, success going into the next next school year. So as we get into the fall, right after the school year, as soon as the state releases the budget, we'll be able to plug those numbers into our, projection models and then take a look at these figures and do a quick amendment
hopefully, by November, December, if not sooner. That way we can continue to plan accordingly. And then on the rest of these funds, there were no changes from the board workshop. The only change that I did make was we had some transfers coming from some of our ancillary funds that we were moving into the general fund. I just had to make sure I put those in the ancillary funds, just to present those transfers coming out of those funds and then into the general fund. But that was the only other change that was made. Any questions from the board? No. No. We can open up for public comment at this time. Yes. K. Is there any member of the audience that would like to make a comment or
ask a question on the budget or any of the material that Mr. Trudeau went through? Go ahead. Come on up. The sinking fund? So the sinking fund is, the point ninety five four mills, and that is essentially a tax that we levy to collect funds to capital projects. So, things across the district was HVAC units, building modifications, Okay. Any other questions or comments? Okay. Thank you, mister Chadell. Thank you. Thank you. Okay. Now we will move on to recognition, which is why many of you are here tonight. I have the pleasure of being able,
to introduce the first, item of recognition tonight. As a former Girl Scout myself and as a former Board Chair of the Girl Scouts of Southeastern Michigan, it gives me great pleasure tonight, to recognize 2025 Athens graduate Eva Brunau for earning the prestigious Girl Scouts of the USA Gold Award scholarship. This is a distinguished honor, and it's awarded to just one Gold Award Girl Scout per council, and it represents the highest achievement in Girl Scouting. So,
Ava, we are so proud of you, and I know how, just what an honor this is for you. Gold Award Girl Scouts are leaders. They're change makers. They're role models. They who take action to create meaningful, lasting impact. Ava exemplifies this spirit through her award winning winning project, On the Spot, community first aid awareness for outdoor recreation. So she has really made, her project is making a difference in our community. So at this time, we would, like to invite Ava to the podium to share more about her inspiring work and
the difference that it's making in our Troy community. So, Ava. Good evening, everyone. My name is Eva Bunau. I'm a senior who graduated from Athens, and I'm honored to share the journey behind my girl scout gold award project on the spot. Many components of this project have been organized as a binder filled with timelines, community contacts, supply lists, and outreach goals. From the start, I was driven by one mission, to make first aid resources and education more accessible in everyday outdoor spaces, places like parks, trails, and playgrounds where minor injuries are common but visitors are often unprepared. As an initial part of my project,
I collected data by placing surveys in public areas such as the Detroit Public Library to better understand community needs and evaluate the impact of this project. This is one example of the surveys I put out. It was just the fire hung up with the QR code. What ended up happening was I created and distributed out there friendly first aid kits stocked with essential supplies for handling things like scrapes and cuts. To strengthen the impact, I give presentations at elementary, middle, and high schools high schools, walking students through the basics of preparedness and involving them in assembling these boo boo kits for their own communities to also build an understanding of basic first aid supplies.
These kits now live in several several local locations, including Larson Middle School, Hill Elementary, and several schools in Detroit. But the reach of this project grew far beyond what I initially imagined. Today, On the Spot First Aid Kits have made it to Canada, Singapore, Italy, and soon to the Manuel Garza Elementary School in The Philippines where I will be delivering the kits in person on August 10. That growth would not have been possible without powerful collaboration. I'm grateful to have worked with the FTC two two nine minute railbots robotics team out of Larson Middle School, the the PCCM and KKPM Filipino youth groups, Detroit Public Library Bookmobile,
Detroit Nature Center and Trahistoric Village, several teachers in Detroit who helped bring this initiative into their classrooms, and many other individuals such as Isabella Dela Cruz, who's a physician assistant. I shared this project with local Girl Scout. As I shared this project with local Girl Scout troops, I also distributed first aid patches to the scouts who attended my presentations. It was a small way to recognize their curiosity, engagement, and commitment to helping others. This work has been deeply meaningful to me, and I'm incredibly honored that I was recognized through a national Girl Scout scholarship. But more than any award, it's the impact and the people I met along the way that have stayed with
me the most. This project reminded me that list leadership means listening, collaborating, and showing up with compassion. Even most. Thank you so much for your time, and thank you to everyone who made on the spot possible. Great. Any any questions from any board members for Eva? Go ahead, Vatel. Yes. Ava, nicely done. Quick question. Okay. Okay. Quick question. Do you, like, fundraise for, all these activities? I'm sure it cost a lot of money. Right? Yeah. So, part of the Girl Scout Goldberg process is we had to submit, like, a proposal showing how we'd, like, make everything,
how we fund everything because they don't want it to entirely be from, like, the Girl Scout's own pockets. So part of the way I funded it was through another project that I do. I also created and lead the project Macarons from Wars where I sell macarons and fundraise to donate allergy friendly food supplies to a food panther sound, the TCT. So I rerouted some of those funds from that fundraiser to initially help with this project, but I also did pop can fundraisers Okay. With many of the groups and people that I worked with to help bring in more money for this project.
But, I don't know. I think it might have been with the other stuff. But I also had templates that I gave alongside the kits. I placed these templates in the schools and in the parks, that and the templates ran through, like, basic person situations. Savers Printing helped donate those pamphlets by, like, funding a part of it. So partially through fundraising efforts, partially through, like, generous community donations, is how the supplies project was. That's great. I see that. Thanks. Other question? Go ahead, Stephanie. Congratulations, Ava. We're really proud of you. So tell us what comes next for you now that you've reached this great success.
In terms of the project, part of, like, the Girl Scout Gold Award is that it has to be sustainable. So through the partnership with the robotics team and the Filipino youth organizations and the Tri Nature Center, Tri Historic Center, Tri Public Library Bookmobile, Those organizations will help some will help with continuing the production of the kids. So more so the organizations like the Girlboss robotics team and the Filipino groups. And then the organizations like the Traitoric Village will help with the distribution of the
kits. But, notably, the Traitoric Village will have the kits available at their truck traffic jam event where, they get a lot of visitors annually. So that will help broaden the kids' usage and the kids', like, helpfulness, whereas, like, the other organizations will help distribute the kids at the school level and, like, distributing the kids to the parks. So, I'm still going to help out as I can, but especially as I'm stepping into going to college, I will just be working with these groups to help them continue making this project
sustainable. Thank you. Great. Great. That was my question about sustainability because I know that that's a requirement. So, it's great to see that you have really done collaboration and have a number of different organizations that will continue the great work that you're doing. So if you wanna step up here, we have a certificate for you. Congratulations, Ava. Our second, mission moment this evening, is to honor, or we are honored to present us at this second mission moment, one that celebrates an outstanding academic achievement. We are thrilled to recognize the Bemis Math Pentathlon team who have earned the highest
distinction in the nation, The twenty twenty five National Math Pentathlon first place gold trophy. Congratulations. This is an an extraordinary accomplishment that reflects both the dedication of our students and the support of their entire school community. At this time, please join me in welcoming, Bemis principal, missus Harleen Singh, to the podium to share more about this remarkable achievement and present the championship team. Good evening. It is my great honor to introduce and celebrate a group of students whose hard work, teamwork, and determination have earned earned them a national recognition.
In an exceptional demonstration of critical thinking, sportsmanship, and academic excellence, Bemis Elementary has been awarded the two thousand twenty five national math pentathlon first place gold trophy, the highest honor in the math pentathlon program across the entire country. This award is not just about math. It's about resilience, strategy, collaboration, and the spirit of learning. Competing against thousands of students nationwide, our Bemis students rose to the top by performing at the highest levels across all
three divisions. What's even more remarkable is that this team achieved the highest cumulative team score recorded in the last twenty four years of this competition from the entire state of Michigan. Of course, this success would not have been possible without our dedicated and passionate team behind the scenes. At the heart of it is our math and Teflon program coordinator, mister Lijio Tumana, whose vision and commitment laid the foundation for this success. Alongside him, our tireless and outstanding volunteer coaches who worked every week to support the team.
Each of these leaders displayed patience and encouragement to our students every step of the way. And now, please join me in congratulating the heart of this program, our incredible Bemis students. Bemis Bears, your commitment, integrity, and excellence have made all of us proud. You are not only champions of math, you are champions of character, effort, and community. Congratulations, Bemis Bears. We are so proud of you. And at this time, if you can come forward so we can honor you and take pictures to celebrate this incredible honor. So we can have our students come on up to the front.
We They've got them. Yeah. They've got all their others. So miss Montante, maybe around got everything? Well, maybe they can get it. Yeah. So cute. That's my long drawn out chicken. Yeah. Congratulations again to our to our Venus Bears, and we had the, several of us had an opportunity to celebrate with them at a at a very, very nice, banquet. Missus Emmert was there. Missus Ani was there. I had a chance to be there. Who else was there? Kendra. Kendra. Yeah. Miss Montana was there. We had a chance. So thank you so much for that invite,
and congratulations again for your for your hard work. It's certainly paid off as national champions. Congratulations. Next under recognition is our student spotlight, the last student spotlight of the year, this evening. We recognize the creative achievements of students in the TSD Creative Guild. Although tonight it may be more accurate to call it our alumni spotlight, we're excited to recognize some recent graduates for their outstanding dedication in the creative guilt throughout their entire high school career. I'm gonna invite Mr. Butcher to the podium to introduce our honorees this evening.
Thank you, Doctor. McChesky, and good evening, Board of Education. No. It's not Groundhog's Day. You do recognize these two because for the first time ever, they are both repeat student spotlights. This is not without reason. Tonight, I'm here to celebrate all of the work that these two have done throughout all four years of high school in the creative field. In fact, Anush was my second ever student spotlight when she was only a freshman. And I said then that I hope to bring her back one day when she's a senior because I knew there would be a lot more work to show you.
Akshaya was spotlighted in her sophomore year where she showed you her first short film. It was on that project where Anush and Akshaya first collaborated, and they've been friends ever since. So what has happened since the last time they stood here? Obviously, they've remained dedicated employees, But I'm especially proud of how each of them have continued pursuing their creativity even though their pathways look so different. Anoosh is always filming and has even found work outside of the creative field.
In fact, she's so talented, I hired her just a few months ago to film my sister's wedding video. Oh. It's no surprise that in her senior year, she won the Natas Student Production Award for cinematography. You see Akshaya all the time as she helps us record these monthly board meetings. What you don't see as often is her ability to write, produce, direct, and edit her very own short films. Last year, she won a NADA Student Production Award in film editing. And this year, she completed the trifecta by winning both writing and
directing. This year, they've collaborated again by hosting our legacy show, The Dream Job Podcast, and continue to work on it even after graduation day. We have a highlight reel to show you just how much they've done through personal projects and for our community. And I'm going to try to maintain my composure for one last moment before we play it. Anush and Akshaya have always been there. I have watched them learn and grow for four years. And now as they leave, there will be no one left in the creative guild who was there when it
started. But it's okay because the creative guild is what it is because of them. And their passion and success will continue to ripple inspiring student creativity here in the Troy School District for years to come. So thank you to this board for everything you've done to help maintain and keep creative field going for what it is. And, of course, it would not be possible without wonderful service like yourselves. Love you too so much. So before we open to any potential comments or questions,
I'll let you say it then. I just wanted to say, like, thank you for, like, the resources that Creative Guild has, like, provided me to, find, like, a community to, like, express my own creativity and, like, find my own way with art. Thank you. To add on to what she just said, it is very important to have a creative outlet for students to express themselves. And the creative guild has been there for me every single year as a constant, and you can see my improvement just in those short clips and has helped us win national and state level awards.
So thank you so much. This is very important for creativity. Wow. Questions? Questions from the board? I guess I can ask you. Go for that. So, I know you're very passionate. That's like any work done for four years. How do you encourage younger students to be part of the creative field? I would just say, like, don't be intimidated to start, like like, figuring stuff out because, like, film work and, like, camera work and just art in general is very intimidating, I think, to start off with. But But I feel like even if you're inexperienced, it's really easy to,
like, start finding out what you're good at and, what you can do with filming in general. Similarly to what you just said, it's very important to just do it. Don't be afraid to make mistakes. And the more you do it, the better you get at it and the more you fall in love with your work and the more you get recognized for it. It's not all about awards. It's about expressing yourself and just doing it, physically sitting down. Everyone has a phone. Everyone can make a short film or a statement. Wow. So you guys both clearly worked on a lot of projects, but do you have one that stands out?
I would say, like last summer, I was working on my second short film. And I think with that one, I had a lot, like I had a lot of, options for creativity. And I worked with Anush on that film as well. And I think, that had that left a really big impact on me because I found a lot of different ways to, take a camera and use it to to to make different effects and different reactions, to give the audience a certain feeling. At first, before I started the creative field, I thought I wanted to be in front of the camera. But after many years of using a camera and falling in love with it,
I realized that my passion is cinematography itself. So this year, especially, for the Natas Award, I made a, like, a collage of all of my best work into one video. And it finally, after many years of work in progress, it gave me the recognition that I, you know, I feel like I deserve to, for my work. But definitely this year's cinematography real for me. Great. Great. So what's next for both of you? So filming in specific, I'm planning on minoring it, minoring in film in college and,
like, university in the fall. I'm hoping to continue at least taking photos because I know I will get busier, but I'm hoping to continue taking photos and videos throughout Great. Like, there are spoilers. Good. I'm planning to study, communications and media at U of M. And hopefully, that gives me more of a foundation, for my love for film. And I will continue to pursue it as not only a hobby, but hopefully as a job later on in the future. As mister Butcher said, I filmed his sister's wedding, and I have a couple gigs coming up. So I'm just excited to continue,
to do what I love to do, and hopefully other people will fall in love with it as well. Great. Well, congratulations. Okay. You want me to do this one? Okay. We have, one other item under recognition tonight, which will be very quick. And this is, in light of, some of the things that have happened in our community. The board felt strongly, that it would be, appropriate for us to pass a resolution in support of gun safety and safe gun storage. So may I have a resolution, please? Assembly? I'll just read it right. Yeah. Yeah. First time. Whereas,
Choice School District Board of Education resolution in support of gun safety and safe gun storage. Whereas the safety and well-being of our students, teachers, and staff is a top priority in the Troy School District, whereas firearm related deaths is the leading cause of death among children and adolescents, whereas rates of death from firearms among ages 14 to 17 are now twenty two point five percent higher than motor vehicle related death rates. In The US, middle and high school age children are now more likely to die as the result of a firearm injury than from any other single cause of death.
Whereas, according to a report from the US Secret Service, in incidents of gun violence on school grounds, seventy six percent of attackers acquired a firearm from the home of a parent or other close relative. Whereas every year, roughly three hundred fifty children under the 18 unintentionally shoot themselves or someone else, whereas neither nearly twenty two thousand Americans die by firearm suicide every year, including over nine hundred and fifty children and teens. Whereas research indicates that forty seven percent of firearm owners who have children living in
their homes do not safely store at least one of their weapons. Whereas, evidence strongly suggests that secure firearm storage is an essential component to any effective strategy to keep our community safe. Whereas, keeping students, teachers, and staff safe from the threat of gun violence should be the responsibility of all adult stakeholders within our school district. Whereas in order to continue with preventative measures to increase student and school safety, we must act now. Now, therefore, be it resolved that the board direct the superintendent to periodically communicate the importance of
safe firearm storage and other firearm safety and violence prevention measures during gun violence awareness month and to disseminate material on an annual basis, stressing the importance of secure storage of firearms by including this in our annual notification materials. Be it further resolved that the board and superintendent will continue to work with local law enforcement agencies, medical and mental health agencies, and nonprofit organizations to collaborate and increase efforts to inform district parents of their obligations regarding secure star storage of firearms in their homes,
as well as other gun violence prevention safety measures. Be it further resolved that this resolution shall not be construed to conflict with any existing Michigan or Federal law. Support. We have a resolution by Ms. Zendler supported by Ms. Anay. Any discussion or comment on this resolution? Okay, hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed say no. Thank you. Motion carries. All right. That concludes, our recognition tonight. We are going to take a brief five minute break. So if there are anybody who,
is interested in not staying for the remainder of the meeting, you can feel free to go. But we will, resume the rest of our meeting in about five minutes. And again, congratulations to our wonderful students. Have a good summer. You certainly have worked very, very hard, and we're very proud of you all. Okay. We're we're gonna go ahead and get started. Thank you, everyone. So Doctor. Machesky, any additions and deletions tonight? There are none this evening. Okay. Next would be public communication on agenda items. Are there any They seem to all be non agenda.
Okay. So we will do public communication on non agenda items, after, at the towards the latter part of the meeting. So next item of business is our general consent agenda And the general consent agenda tonight consists of minutes of the 05/06/2025 Board of Education workshop, minutes of the 05/20/2025 Board of Education meeting, the April 2025 Treasurer's Report, renewal of our food service contract, renewal of our membership in the Michigan High School Athletic Association,
the twenty twenty four-twenty five budget amendment, the twenty twenty five-twenty six budget appropriations resolution, the district pavement crack fill and striping contract, the Troy Preschool Playground Pavilion purchase and installation contract, a Schools of Choice, Amendment for twenty twenty five-twenty six and renewal of our First Student, contract for busing. May I have a resolution, please? Mr. Hub. Be it therefore resolved that the Troy Board of Education takes action to approve items A through K on the consent agenda.
Support. We have a resolution by Mr. Hop supported by Ms. Alish. Is there any discussion on any of this? Okay, hearing none, all those in favor of the consent agenda, please say yes. Yes. Opposed say no. Thank you, motion carries. Next item is personnel and I will ask Mr. Pagel to come up. Good evening, doctor Machesky, doctor Filopart, members of the board. While it may be a little quieter around the Troy School District this week, we still have a buzz of energy in the employee services department as we continue
through our hiring season. And to that end, I have, some administrative appointments for your consideration this evening. First of which is for the position of, assistant principal at Baker Middle School. I am pleased to recommend the appointment of miss Caitlin Ebert to the position of assistant principal at Baker Middle School. Miss Ebert started her career in 02/2011, teaching American history and English at Powell Middle School in the Romeo School District. The past seven years, miss Ebert has served as middle school assistant principal at Romeo Middle School. She has fostered meaningful relationships with students,
staff, and families while consistently pursuing the broader mission and vision of the school community. Miss Ebert has a bachelor's degree in secondary education from Central Michigan University and a master's degree in school principalship from Central Michigan University. With your approval, miss Ebert will begin her duties as assistant principal at Baker Middle School commencing with the twenty twenty five-twenty six school year. Okay. Thank you. We are being asked to, pass a resolution for the appointment of our new assistant principal at Baker Middle School. May I have a resolution,
please? Ms. Alesh? Be it therefore resolved that the Board of Education issues a two year administrative contract without tenure in the administrative position to Ms. Ebert, who will begin her duties as assistant principal at Baker Middle School commencing for the twenty twenty five-twenty six school year. We have a resolution by Ms. Alish, supported by Mr. Hoppe. Any comment or discussion on this? Hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, say no. Motion carries and welcome, officially welcome aboard the speaker. Thank you for this opportunity.
There are very few reasons why I would leave my current school district, but the one big reason is Troy School District. I think that that's evident tonight. Just seeing the students that were represented, whether it was the math tagline students, girl scout representatives that, the old video was absolutely amazing. The opportunities that Troy School District allows for our students in our community, my own children included, is the reason why I wanted to come here. And I am very grateful for this opportunity to serve the staff and students at Baker. So thank you very much. Thank you. Next up for your consideration is an administrative appointment for the director of teaching and
learning. I'm pleased to recommend the appointment of doctor David Recker to the position of director of teaching and learning. Doctor Recker started his career in education following graduation from college in 2012. He began his education career teaching language arts and journalism in Dayton, Ohio at the Dayton Early College Academy. Doctor Recker then moved to the Troy area in 2014 and took a language arts position at Troy High School. Doctor Recker accepted the role as assistant principal at Larson Middle School in 2017 and then accepted the role as principal at Hamilton Elementary in 2020.
During his career, doctor Recker has supported teachers, navigated complex student issues, as well as cultivated responsive literacy practices. Doctor Recker Doctor Recker has a bachelor's degree in adolescent to young adult education from the University of Dayton and a master of arts in education administration from Michigan State University. He earned his education doctorate degree in organizational leadership from Oakland University in 2021. With your approval, Doctor. Recker will begin his duties as director of teaching and learning commencing with the twenty twenty five,
twenty six school year. Thank you. We're being asked to, consider approving an administrative appointment for our new director of teaching and learning. May I have a resolution, please, miss? Be it therefore resolved that the board of education issues a two year administrative contract without tenure in the administrative position to doctor David Recker, who will begin his duties as director teaching and learning commencing with twenty twenty five, twenty six school year. Support. We have a resolution by miss Anay supported by miss Potts. Any discussion or comment on this resolution?
Okay. Hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Suppose say no. Congratulations. I just wanted to give a quick thank you all. Thank you to you all for this opportunity and to my, selfless wife for always sacrificing me to interview prep. I it is very bittersweet to leave something so good at Hamilton Elementary School, truly, but I am excited to get to get back to all levels from previously being a secondary teacher, secondary administrator, and elementary administrator. It'll be fun to get back to serving in the district, at a full scale. So thank you all.
Thank you. We look forward to welcoming you. Doctor. Rucker, do you want to introduce your family? We understand you have some travelers here tonight. Great. And finally, for your consideration this evening, we have an administrative appointment for the principal at Hamilton Elementary School. I am pleased to recommend the appointment of miss Reba McNally to the position of principal at Hamilton Elementary School. Miss McNally began her teaching career at Hoover Elementary School in Hazel Park in 2016. In 2018, she moved to Hamilton Elementary. Miss McNally served as the Troy School District summer school coordinator in 2023.
Miss McNally is currently the elementary principal at Greenwood Elementary in Lakeview Public Schools since 2024. During her career, she has ensured a safe, inclusive, and engaging environments for staff and students. Miss McNally has a bachelor's degree in early childhood and k eight elementary education from Western Michigan University and a master's degree in k twelve educational leadership and administration from Eastern Michigan University. With your approval, miss McNally will begin her duties as principal at Hamilton Elementary School commencing with the twenty twenty five,
twenty six school year. Okay. Thank you. We're being asked to, approve administrative appointment for our new principal of Hamilton Elementary School. May I have a resolution, please? Miss Alesh. Be it therefore resolved that the Board of Education issues a two year administrative contract without tenure and administrative position to missus Reba McNally, who will begin her duties as principal Hamilton Elementary School commencing with the twenty twenty five, twenty six school year. Support. We have a resolution by miss Alesch, supported by miss Anay. Any discussion on this resolution?
Okay. Hearing none, all those in favor, please say yes. Yes. Yes. Supposed, say no. K. Congratulations. Hello. Thank you so much for welcoming me back, here to Detroit School District and for this opportunity. There were also not many things that would have caused me to leave my principalship this year. Had a great year. Learned a lot about myself as a leader. But hearing that, you know, David was moving on and Hamilton, my home, that, you know, trained me and helped me become the teacher and leader that I am, I felt called to come back and just deep responsibility. So I'm so excited to come back and work alongside,
you know, these amazing individuals that are the staff that make up the school. And then so many of our students that I've had, and their families, and I'm just really excited to serve them and rejoin them as a team. Great. Well, congratulations. Hey, thank you. And again, congratulations to our three new administrators. Well, two new Troy administrators. I don't want to call you a recycled one. You're moving up. Yeah. Moving up. So we're very excited and looking forward to working with all three of you. Our next item is on curriculum. Doctor.
Machesky. Yes. We have one item under curriculum this evening. It's consideration for elementary writing units of study. Director of teaching and learning along with members of the teaching and learning team providing information to board members on the recommended materials for grades K five for the upcoming school year. Board members had an opportunity to review the plan, ask questions, following, the board workshop in both May and June, as well as follow-up questions with administration. At this time, it would be appropriate for the board of education to consider a resolution for adoption of the above mentioned materials. Okay. We're being asked to,
consider a resolution for the elementary writing units of study approval. May I have a resolution, please? Miss Potts. Be it therefore resolved that the above mentioned recommended materials for grades K-five be approved starting in the twenty twenty five-twenty six school year. Support. We have a resolution by Ms. Potts supported by Ms. Alish. Any comments or discussion on this? Yes. Miss Zendler. Thanks. I just want an opportunity to first praise the work of the district. When I came to Troy as an administrator in 02/2011,
the reading and writing curriculum framework was, much like the Wild West. Everyone was sort of doing everything and anything they wanted to instruct. Since that time, there has been great work toward coherence around the method and appropriate instructional framework. As an administrator, that was an amazing place to be, and I'm proud of the work that every single teacher in the elementary sector of the district has done. Now as a board member, however, I have to look at this work from a different frame. Policy is a focal point of my work now.
To that end, my highest priority is ensuring that every student receives evidence based instruction that is proven to improve to improve writing and reading outcomes. While I appreciate the intent behind the proposed purchase of the writing curriculum, I must respectfully vote no on this adoption. The reason is simple. Our district must begin to align all literacy instruction with the science of reading, an approach grounded in decades of cognitive research in how children learn to read and write. The science of reading emphasizes systematic and explicit instruction.
It has a strong, well documented track record of improving reading and writing proficiency for all students, including particularly those who struggle the most. In contrast, the curriculum you're asking us to approve, while popular in some circles, has been widely criticized for lacking a strong evidence base and for not adequately addressing important foundational reading and writing skills. Recent revisions to the program have attempted to incorporate some of these things, but these changes still fall short of what is required for a comprehensive, research aligned literacy framework that works for all of our students,
in particular, our most at risk learners. Adopting a curriculum that does not fully reflect this work would be a step backward. At a time when we need to accelerate learning recovery and close achievement gaps, I believe we owe our students a reading and writing program that reflects the best of what we know. From science, and I believe our teachers are already poised to do so. I will continue to advocate for instructional materials that are proven to work for all of our learners. Thank you. Okay. Thank you. Any other comments?
Miss Milton? Doctor. Milton? Thank you. At the workshop, I if for those of you that were there, you recall I had, questions about or concerns about parental involvement and the timing, also involvement of all our teaching staff. And I also had a lot of questions just about the curriculum itself, and I really appreciate that, our teaching and learning department took time out of their day to to meet with me, and show me materials, answer a lot of questions. And I I really did learn a lot that I didn't know before. And that's as a board member, that's one of my things that I keep trying to do is learn as much
as I can so that I can make good decisions. I had questions around data. And although, the type of data that that I had hoped for, wasn't something that we had at that moment, I was able to see classroom level data that had been collected around, particularly spelling. And I saw some positive results in that direction. So I left, with another question when we were talking about this curriculum. It was proposed this kind of, like, we do revised units of study, and the reason that the others were rejected was because they weren't rich. They weren't,
student driven, and it was framed as kind of teaching out of a workbook, which a 100% I don't agree with. You know, we the writing that was talked about is motivating for students. And so I left thinking, why would why would districts do a workshop or or a workbook based, writing curriculum? And so that left other questions in my mind. So I did reach out to some other districts and talk to some superintendents about their transition. I particularly picked districts that had used units of study and had transitioned away from
units of study, to ask them about what they liked, what they didn't like, how the transition went. And I posed that question. You know, in my district, we're looking at this and then the other things were kind of like learning to write from a workbook. Is that what you're doing? And none of them said that that was the case, which made me even more confused because, then I wondered why would we pick one curriculum that has all has these positive features and then put it up against four others that are so,
so simple. And I think we lost out on an opportunity to maybe do a deeper dive into, other curriculum. And and that was disappointing to me. So I just wanted to to let you know that I had done a little bit more thinking beyond that and, and just have some concerns about the the process that we went through. Miss Alain? Yes. Okay. So this word, on the writing curriculum is not an easy decision for me. No curriculum ever is perfect or complete. And, philosophically, I kind of find the idea of separating reading and writing curricula somewhat counterintuitive.
Additionally, we know that we have state mandated changes for the reading curriculum that are expected in the next two to three years. So my initial instinct is to delay this adoption and save the money. However, after deep in-depth conversations with many of the teachers and hearing from them, I've decided to support this curriculum. First of all, this is not a brand new curriculum, and this is the same writing curriculum that our district has been using for almost a decade with incremental improvements, such as spelling and grammar and other essential components,
does not require significant additional professional development. And a vast majority of our teachers support it to adopt it. So and even those that I've spoken to who don't fully endorse it kind of oppose it because of the timing concerns and the fact that there's going to be changes to the reading curriculum. Now I hear and respect their perspectives. I understand them. Ultimately, I believe that this incremental improvement will benefit at least two to three years of our students by strengthening their writing skills,
and it is worth this investment. We may we can always reassess our reading curriculum, along with our reassess our writing along with our reading and make adjustments as needed when we move forward. Okay. Any other comments? Okay. We ready to vote? Okay. All those in favor of adopting the writing curriculum, please say yes. Yes. Opposed, say no. No. So that's five yeses and two noes. Okay. Motion carries. Thank you. All right. That's all for curriculum tonight. Our next item is we have one item of business.
Mr. Trudeau. So this item on the agenda for your consideration relates to the EPIC system. So you may recall back in February, the board did approve for the EPIC paging system to be installed at the remaining 10 elementary schools. This in particular, item on the agenda tonight is a change order. And to explain this the best way I can, so the old Smith Middle School right now has a paging system that is pretty dated. It doesn't function very well. But we're not installing anything in that building yet. We're gonna install a new epic system in the new building. Knowing that we have three more years of use in that building,
and and ultimately wanting to use that building as kind of a training ground, we have worked with Bartmello to put together this, change order. So So it would utilize the pricing from the previous approval, but it would essentially just authorize us to go ahead and install a system, hopefully, in September, pending your approval, in that old Smith Building. Typical useful life is four to five years on the equipment. So we figured if we can get three good years out of that system, use it to train the existing Smith Building, staff and students, that'll aid in their transition to the new building.
Baker's also in the works right now, hopefully next summer to get their system installed. And then this would leave Boling and Larson without anything until their renovations, in '27 and '28 school year. So we felt like this would be a good opportunity if we did install it, hopefully in September, by the September, get it installed. Let the new or the current Smith Building use it. And then as Bolen and Larson move in and out of that building over the next few years, it would ultimately provide them with the assurety that they're gonna have the knowledge on how to use that system when they move back into their newly renovated spaces.
So, at the conclusion of the use of that building then, we would then pull the equipment out, and then use those as spare parts in the rest of our building. So it's compatible throughout the rest of the district. So we felt like, you know, in the name of security and equity, we wanted to make sure that, Smith and Bowen and Larson also have opportunities to utilize the system and learn it, for preparation for when they move into their new spaces. So the total of this, change order is a $173,978. Right in line a little bit more than a traditional elementary school. We're not adjusting the total contingency that previously existed on this project.
So that'll remain then to support the 11 buildings, should there be any modifications needed. But, it was our recommendation to the board that we did approve this. That way we can get it installed as quickly as we can, hopefully, by just after the start of school. Great. K. We are being asked to consider, approval of purchase of an epic system for Smith Middle School. May I have a resolution, please? Miss Alish? Be it therefore resolved that the purchase of an epic system for Smith Middles will be approved through VSC Inc. In the amount of $173,978.00.
And then this amount be approved as an expenditure of the capital projects fund. Support. We have a resolution by miss Alish supported by miss Sanne. Any discussion on this? Yes, miss Alish. Question. Can you just, remind us what the EPIC system is? And then also, just, I guess, confirm we've already installed this in some of the elementary schools and been working with it. Yep. So the EPIC system sort of stands for education paging and intercom communications. So it's essentially an advanced more robust version of a PA system. So staff are gonna have the ability, to access, like, a platform of the primarily the central office staff.
They'll be able to access a map of the building. They can page in and out of a classroom. Teachers are gonna have a wearable around their neck. If there's an emergency of any kind, they can page the front office and that then kind of moves around the building with them so that they can have, that's that same type of connectability between the the office and the, the classroom. I know Rochester Schools had theirs on the news. Recently, w x y z ran an article on their type of system. It's the same type of system. They just went with a different brand than we did. I know Royal Oak Schools uses EPIC as well, so it's pretty popular in this area.
More and more districts are are looking to, get into that. But there's customizable notifications, different bell customizations, the the displays in the hallways for where the clocks are, that can page messages as well. So really it's just a much more advanced, system, but it also then can connect into the surrounding, or the perimeter doors. So that way you have access to see, like, which doors are propped open and which ones need to be closed, setting alarms, things like that. So, it's it's a combination of PA and and a security platform all tied into one. And then as we look further into this this bond,
we're gonna look at our building, access controls across the district that would then integrate into this system. So we're trying to design that piece right now, for board approval at a later date, but we're trying to kind of connect all of these systems to function together. And we've already installed some of this in the elementary schools? Yep. Bemis and Leonard Elementary both piloted it for a year. So then the board approved it back in February for the remaining 10 elementary schools. And then, Baker's was set this summer, but they needed some electrical work across the whole building in order to make it compatible, which will occur this summer. And then next summer,
they would get their system as well. Okay. Any other questions? Okay. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes. Opposed say no. Okay. Thank you. Motion carries. Okay. We are now, ready for public communication on a non, agenda items. I think what do we have? Ten, ten, people speaking. So when I call your name, if you would please come up, watch the clock, you will have three minutes, to address the board. If you would just say, your name and whether you have children in the district. And then, again, this is your opportunity to address the board. It won't be a conversation.
So we will, If there's any follow-up required, we can do that outside, after the meeting, or at an alternate time. So our first speaker tonight is Mr. Walt Storrs. President Sholpiart, members of the Detroit School Board, doctor McCheskey, Judy, it's a grand night to be here with the students. Wasn't that such a wonderful, wonderful thing? That that was neat. I worked on a project, for the army that was headed by General Whalen. In any conference rooms, you'd have these meetings. When you walked out of the room, there was a plaque on the wall and it said,
whenever there's a problem, we have a meeting. And then everybody leaves the meeting thinking something's been done about the problem. Pretty deep. Anyway, I came before you, about a year ago in June with this Sylvan Clinc 3 flooding. And, I'm the guy I left you a picture that looks like the jaws out of a horror movie or something. So and and I'm not gonna explain that, but I also gave you a little, scenario. You know, we've we've been working through, some failed commitments, and, I've done a lot of learning. And it's kind of a goofy problem because it's the Troy School District water flooding
the back of May. That ought to be the responsibility of the city of Troy, but they're not too sure what their response anyway, I think we got the right people talking to the right people now. We got, Kurt Bozeny and, Mike, I think is his name, over at the Department of Public Works, talking with Rob Carson and Dan and and doctor McCheskey. So I I think we're on a good path. So, my purpose coming here tonight is to ask you if they need any support from you all, from the board, would you please give it to them? This is it's a peanut problem,
you know, in the scope of the district, in the scope of the city, but it's critical to 5707 Martell and the citizens of, Sylvan Glen Number 3. So thank you. Okay. Thank you. Thank you very much, mister Schurman. Our next speaker is, doctor Judy Armstrong. Armstrong. Uh-oh. Armstrong Hall. Hello, doctor Majeski. He he he's the only one I know because he's sitting in my classroom. I I'm a retired science teacher from Detroit School District, and my name is Judy Gale.
I go by Gale, Armstrong Hall. Okay. And I I don't have an EdD. I have a PhD. And what that means is that it's a theoretical degree, and I study in-depth how the environment affects students' brains. I spend many hours in the medical library at Wayne State University looking into this. And so what I have to that's why I want to listen to me. Sometimes when you people just say, doctor, you don't know what doctor is going on. There are only three ways to put information into the human brain.
First one is silent reading, which doesn't work for most students. Maybe you'll get 30% of the group. And I can't tell you how many times I've heard my colleagues and myself say, go home and read this over, and then we'll have a test on it. Well, that doesn't work for most students. The second way is, the I only have three minutes here, doc. That's not good. Okay. I know the third way. I can't remember the second one. The third way is, by writing. If you write something down, it that will go right into your memory.
Oh, the second way is oral. You read out loud. How how often do we ask children to read out loud anymore? We don't ever ask them to read out loud. So those are the three ways to get and and why do we wanna get information into the brain? So that they can pass the test. That's what it's all the bottom line is these teachers want their students to pass the test, and they want all kinds of students to pass the test, not just one group. And so I I'm gonna stop talking right there.
Is that my three minutes? Yeah. Thank you. A bit. And you're very smart to go slowly with the writing. The writing business, I'm telling you oh, I should mention this. I belong to this group of physicists. It's a it's a regional group, and they were complaining that no students were writing. They just weren't writing, and that's because they're just not taking notes. Well, there's lots of reasons why they're not taking notes. I'm just about ready to go to the National Education Association in front of 10,000 people. I'm gonna get up there,
and I'm gonna talk about how we can get more information into our students' brains by writing a little faster. That's it. Thank you. Time. Thank you. Thank you. Judy Dale. Next speaker, mister William McFarland. Hello. It's been about two weeks since the last address of the board, and I had some concerns related to transportation regarding the combined musical of Les Mis next spring in 2026. Now it's been about two weeks since that happened. And so far, there has been no announcement regarding anything.
Not even a single word has come out of Detroit School District. Will there be gas money? Will there be fares? Nothing. And, really, from my heart I'm speaking from my heart right now. I feel like this it doesn't really prove that the Troy School District is world class, especially when you're supposed to be properly accommodating. And, of course, listening to the concerned students, alumni, and parents, especially in the audience. I remember two weeks ago, there were over for the parents that spoke. And I don't want you guys to turn a blind eye and a blind ear
to their concerns because they made very valid points that in my and in the opinions of many other people here had concerns that were especially relevant. And it's been around two weeks, and all I'm asking for is transparency and accountability from the district and from the board regarding this. Because it's in a year from now, the spring show, not even a year, but, again, you have to prepare for this. Because if we're not properly prepared for the combined show, it is not going to help the students here,
their parents. It's not going to help anyone. And the way I see it, the way many other people see it, you've gotta prepare it. Again, I don't want any ill thought to be put into this. I have nothing against anyone here, but as far as I'm concerned, I would at least appreciate it a bit more if you guys could tell us something or anything even related to the issue of transportation next spring at the combined show because it's gonna be at Troy High, and a lot of students here have driven that.
I talked about this two weeks ago. But, again, like I said earlier, if you guys could just be more direct and transparent, I would admire that. And that's all I'm asking for. So yeah. K. Thank you. Next speaker, mister Walter Cook. Good evening. My name is Walter Cook, and I'm a Tory resident and proud father of a rising first grader at Hamilton Elementary. As a Michigan State University trained economist of education, I spent the last decades studying the complex educational landscape here in Metro Detroit. I've studied Detroit Metro Area education for over a decade,
first in the nonprofit advocacy space and then as a staff researcher at Wayne State University's College of Education, now as the director of research at a large urban district in the area. One area that I've studied extensively has been the impact of attendance on educational outcomes. At the board workshop two weeks ago, several public commenters spoke about the post COVID decline in our third grade ELA and step scores in the way the ELA curriculum. While I share their concerns about the scores, I respectfully disagree with their diagnosis. The ELA curriculum is the same as it was pre COVID, so logically we should look at something that has changed since COVID that explains the
decline in M STEP. Therefore, I urge us for board to instead look for an answer to M STEP beyond the curriculum to a different factor not often discussed at Troy's school board meetings, the rise of chronic absenteeism in Troy following the return from the COVID nineteen pandemic. For those unfamiliar with the term, chronic absenteeism is defined as an assumed missing 10% or more school days for any reason, which is around ten which is around eighteen days in a full academic year. In the post pandemic years, Troy's chronic absenteeism, has surged to levels that were initially four times higher than before the pandemic. Specifically, the chronic absenteeism rate used to be around five percent before COVID.
It surged to nearly nineteen percent in 2122, and remained elevated at thirteen percent in 2324, more than twice than it was, pre COVID. As one might imagine, missing school has been documented as having significant consequences on academic achievement. Specifically, a large body of academic research has shown a direct and causal relationship between attendance and academic achievement. Although my according to my own research, students who are not chronically absent are nearly five times more likely to be, proficient on M STEP than those who are chronically absent. My former Wednesday colleagues published a book this year entitled Rethinking Chronic Absenteeism Why Schools
Can't Solve It Won't. They explore the successes and failures of Detroit Public Schools' efforts to reduce chronic absenteeism. Even though Troy's context may be different from Detroit's, they're important lessons from local policy makers and I encourage you all to read it. I have I also have some ideas on ways that the district can leverage their findings and recommendations I will share in a follow-up email. A robust whole child approach to improving test scores is necessary to address chronic absenteeism. I respectfully ask the board to investigate and invest in solutions to this pressing problem as I believe it is a significant piece of the puzzle, better understanding and reversing the decline in our students' third grade ELIS test scores.
Thank you for your time and consideration. Thank you. Mrs. Bella Ray or Miss Bella Ray. Good afternoon, members or board members. I want to preface with the fact that Athens kids do not want this combined company change. And it's important to mention that we feel we haven't been considered in this whole process, and we feel unwanted. Nothing was communicated to us beforehand about the possibility of combining, and we never got to give our input. We would have liked to give our opinions before this change was officially made. Not to mention, things will not be more difficult just for a child to do theater in the spring. It has been said that it's about cost of hiring and that it isn't about
cost at all. But regardless, if you're going to pay for a bus to take kids there and back, why not just pay a new director? Nothing has to change. Kids don't have to stress about this new program where the other kids will hate them anyway, and it's just easier all around. And not only will ATC get to keep their individuality, but so will CTE for the musical. We are not excited for this change, and neither is TTE based on what I have heard from them. So I would like to know who has expressed interest in this joint program. We want our feelings to be heard and considered because theater is supposed to be fun, a time to grow and make new friends.
This year, it's scary and uncomfortable. We are working with someone new and kids who don't want us. None of that screams fun to me. So please think about us, because in the end, we're just kids. Kids should not be worried about their company. Kids should not be scared to work with other students. Kids should not be this outraged by a decision, yet here we are fighting for ourselves because no one else will represent us while we go home and cry into our pillows because of the amount of uncertainty revolving around our home, the one place we feel safe to be ourselves. These outgoing, loud, funny kids will suddenly pull into their shells and hide.
For most of us, theater is our whole world, our life. Don't ruin our life. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is missus Jennifer Lee. Good evening. I am a parent of a student in the district. I am a resident of the city, and I am a teacher here as well. Just wanna mention, to the two young ladies that were up here for the creative guild earlier. One thing that really stood out as as I was here was that they said every student needs access to a creative outlet, and I thought that seems really appropriate. About a month ago, I wrote a letter that I sent to,
Kendra Montante and did not have an opportunity or did not take the time to send to the board, but I wanted to share with you while I'm here. And I do want to to be said that, you know, I have no doubt that mister Mark Vickers is an outstanding director, and I feel badly that he has been put in this position of conflict. The letter I sent was as follows or is as follows. As an alumna of Troy High School, I would like to say I am extremely proud of the work that Troy Theatre Ensemble has produced over the years. My siblings and closest friends were part of Oklahoma,
Fiddler on the Roof, Greece, and Camelot, to name a few. As a community member, I've seen shows at both Athens and Troy High, Seussical, Mamma Mia, Shrek, and Elf. The list goes on and on. However, as an Athens parent, the decision to combine programs is nothing short of a disappointment. My daughter, newly inducted into the Thespian troupe, is a proud member of the ATC and has fallen in love over and over again with the theater and its community through the program at Athens. As a teacher, though, the way that this comes across is,
simply put, a fast and easy way to save money. Why hire two teachers when one can do the job? Why run two theater programs when one can easily be filled and make it look successful? When I look back at all of the success our theater programs, plural, have had, it saddens me to think that this is the decision that Troy School District has made to try to continue being world class. A world class district should be embracing the arts and building them up,
not cutting back on them. It saddens me to think that this was the decision made in the name of bettering our district. Sincerely, a disappointed alumna, community member, parents and teacher. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker is, Miss Olivia Lee. Good evening. I'm a student at, Troy Athens High School. It's disappointing to be back here explaining the same things, just written a different way. But my peers and I are determined to be heard, so here I go. Over and over again, we're being told that the Athens Theatre Company will not be dissolved.
But what's staying? We're losing our vocal director, our choreographer, our tech dinners, our pre show traditions, our our own director. We're losing the use of our theater for the spring, meaning there will be no student matinees for the high schoolers, so we're using those too. What are we allowed to keep? The actors? The name? What good is a title if there's no story behind it? No legacy? The belief behind us not getting our own director's personal gain. We were told in a student meeting that mister Vickers needs the combined talents of both programs in order to put on the best possible performance of Les Mis.
But I'm not understanding why he couldn't just co direct if this is truly about making us one Troy. My peers and I feel as if we're being used. The whole thing feels like an excuse to do a show that one company is not equipped for independently. Please hear us. We want our own director. I, for one, would speak about this at any number of future meetings, and I'm sure many others feel the same. Because while theater will still have a place at Athens, the truth of the matter is the Athens Theatre Company will be dissolved without any individuality. The only surefire way to keep more than just the name of ATC is to give us our own director.
And let me, explain that let me, say that when in that in speaking before you, neither I nor any other students here mean any disrespect towards mister Vickers or anyone else involved in TTD. Thank you. Thank you. Next speaker, mister James Ray. Good evening, doctor McCheskey and board members. My name is Jim Ray. I am the mayor of a very passionate, Athens High School student that you just heard speak a moment ago. I'm here tonight to express my concerns about the recent decision to consolidate the Troy and Athens after school theater programs under the direction of mister Vickers,
the Troy High theater director. While I understand the the challenge that was created by the retirement of our longtime director, I'm asking the board to help us get the administration to reconsider a solution that places, a burden, that places a burden entirely on the affluent students. Under the current plan, our students will have to travel to Troy for rehearsals and performances. And while I'm not gonna ask for gas money for that, it does cause problems and make things difficult. It's already been stated the next show will be combined as was earlier mentioned and will be put on at Troy High.
This introduces significant transportation challenges, and scheduling conflicts, especially for students that participate both in theater and other after school programs like sports, including my daughter that I've seen exact problem. These opportunities coexist today only because everything happens in one building. Beyond the logistics, this decision effectively dissolves the identity of the Troy Athens Theater Company, the ATC, a program with a fifty year plus legacy and deep roots in our school community. This legacy was witnessed by all who attended the June 3 workshop where at least
a half a dozen alumni and former residents of Troy Keen spoke out about their concerns to this board. Combining the programs may seem efficient on paper, but in practice, it's side lining entire group of students and it erases a culture that has shaped countless lives, including my own dog. I respectfully ask that the board encourage doctor McCheskey and the administration to engage with Athens' families, students, and staff to find a more equitable solution, one that preserves the distinct voices of both schools and ensures fair access to theater
arts education for all. Thank you, Breton. Thank you. Our next speaker is missus Jody Duda. Hi, everybody. Doctor Necheski, members of the board, as you consider the adoption of the k through five writing curriculum tonight, I wanted you to have a picture of where these students were headed. I teach English at Troy High School, and I wanted to tell you about some of my most proud moments from this year with my sophomores. I was impressed how students reached beyond the text to make their learning personal and relevant. For instance, one of my students who, was inspired to research the Assyrian genocide in his AP seminar class after studying mouse
in our English class, He continued to work with the topic in our final argumentative unit, writing an open letter to the Iraqi government about the effects of the past and the present, one of the lenses we use to interrogate Maus. He wrote, my family and relatives have repeatedly stated that they do not want to return to Iraq, their home, claiming there's nowhere safe to go. In his letter, he argued for land on the Nineveh Plains as an autonomous safe space to reunite families. You might be thinking, well, this is an AP student and this level of work is typical.
But I see this engagement in students of all levels. One of my most fragile learners reengaged this year after returning from an extended absence and feeling quite overwhelmed. He chose to write his argumentative open letter to you, the the school board, advocating for a four day school week to help manage his academic workload and his and protect his mental health. This student found his voice, and it's so clear to me that this kind of choice empowers students. The students I'm talking to, about worked with a piloted tenth grade curriculum,
and there's been so much talk about our recent instructional shifts. And as a leader in this work in ninth and tenth grade, I can tell you it's working. I have hundreds of stories about students of all academic levels who are empowered both in and beyond the classroom by this body of work and the instruction that brings it to light. If those who want to bring back honors could see what students are doing in our classroom, they would have more faith that their students are in good hands. To that end, I wanna recognize the work teachers have been doing to shift their practice and take on new curric curriculums.
There's been a tremendous amount of learning and growth in our departments, and it's not always been easy. The district's support empowering teachers to create our own curriculum has united Troy High and Athens ELA departments. We embody the one Troy spirit. We've attended conferences and professional learning together, which has really strengthened our relationships. So thank you for supporting our work and believing in us. Teachers at both high schools have noticed that our ninth graders are coming to us with rich reading lives. They are increasingly independent and motivated to set reading goals and work towards them.
As a parent, I see this as well. When my son, who graduated from Troy High last year when he was a senior, His teacher was a time in class for independent choice reading, and my son read an entire series of graphic novels. So this is what our ELA work is doing for Carrie. Thank you. Sorry. Time's up. Okay. And our final speaker is, Mrs. Carrie Donovac. Hello again. Thank you for your time. I'm Carrie Donovac, and I'm speaking to you as a parent of two Troy School District students. One who will be a senior at Athens this year and is a very proud
member of ATC. I'm here to ask the school board to please advise Troy School District administration to hire Athens High School their own theater director. As this at the school board meeting as the school board meeting was coming to surface in the last couple days, Athens Theatre Company students were wondering if the school board really listened to them at the last meeting. At the last meeting they rallied. They had many students with passionate ideas and they shared their love for their current theater program. They came together and told you their thoughts and their feelings. Many current parents of those students and other current parents with students who chose not
to speak at all shared on behalf of their families. So some of the students really wanna know. If you were listening and you heard them can you now advocate for them? Those students are the community members that will be most impacted by this decision. They spoke up. They let you know how they felt and they're waiting to see if you can be their advocate. The new model that's being presented to them is taking away their opportunities. There's no other way to see it than that three performances is less than four. Both Troy High and Athens have always run two shows each.
The presented model is a decrease in the number of opportunities. It's also evident that these are not equal opportunities. The new model is limiting for Athens Theatre Company students. Another concern that student speakers mentioned was that they're sad they won't be able to perform their musical in their home school. Performing a student matinee was brought up by more than one speaker at the last board meeting because the Athens Theatre Company students enjoy sharing their passion with their friends and with their peers. Under the model being presented, this is no longer an opportunity. So again,
our Athens theater kids are asking, will you be their advocate? They want to know, can you please advise Troy School District administration to hire an Athens theater director that belongs only to Athens High School? Thank you for your time. Thank you. Okay. That, concludes public communication. Thank you to our speakers for your comments. We're going to move now into other. And before I turn it over to the other board members, I'm going to, use this as an opportunity, to share, the board's evaluation of our superintendent.
The board recently completed, Superintendent Doctor. Richard Machesky's performance evaluation, and would like to share the following assessment, with the community. Doctor. Machesky is an exemplary superintendent who has met or exceeded expectations in all evaluation categories. He continues to execute to the district's strategic plan and drive high expectations for our vision of learning for all as the basis for instructional decisions. The district remains fiscally strong under his leadership with sufficient fund balance to mitigate disruptions
in state funding. A new business operations team was integrated into the organization this year, and bond projects are tracking at or below budget. The district continues to focus on the alignment and implementation of multi tiered system of supports to address achievement gaps, particularly for special ed English language learners and economically disadvantaged students. New assessments have been put in place for secondary students to identify achievement gaps and high quality teacher professional development in math and literacy were provided for all grade levels.
Several initiatives have been put in place to increase students' sense of belonging, well-being and security. All staff labor agreements were successfully negotiated and signed this year, providing the district with attractive compensation to retain and recruit staff. Going forward, Doctor. McCheskey and the board are committed to developing a more robust process that gathers input and engages the community earlier in the curriculum evaluation process, while still relying on the expertise of our educators for decision making. The board also applauds Rich and the business roundtable for the implementation of a growing
successful career accelerator program that provided 75 high school students with internship opportunities in local businesses. The district continues to thrive under Doctor. Macheski's leadership, and the board has full confidence that he and his team have the capability and capacity to face future challenges. Doctor. Macheski's current contract runs through June thirtieth of twenty twenty nine, and the Board plans to extend this by an additional year. Okay. With that, Ms. Sendler, any comments or other? That's a tough act to follow.
Congratulations, Doctor. McCheskey, and thank you for leading us well. I'd like to thank all the people who spoke tonight. I want you to know that while you might not see the decision making that goes into every, issue you bring to us, that we work hard together. And it's been a a a good year of learning for myself as a new board member and much more to come in that regard. So we do appreciate your feedback and input. Keep it coming. And we wanna make sure you know we're listening and we hear you. Last, certainly, a thank you to all of you educators in the room who are hopefully getting
ready or already enjoying a wonderful and well deserved summer. Thanks for your hard work. And rest up, because it's going to get busy again soon. Great. Ms. Potts? Hi, everybody. I can finally congratulate all of our TSD graduates tonight. As the last time we were in public, only Athens, Troy High, and IA had graduated. And I was able to attend a TCCHS graduation, and that was also amazing. So I can officially say congratulations to all of our scholars for graduating. To know that we are sending so many scholars off to higher education, career readiness,
and some to serve in the military should make all of us very proud in the Detroit School District as well. To be able to brag about these accomplishments would not be possible without our incredible educators and support staff here at TSD. Behind every scholar who graduated was an educator who believed in them, pushed them to excel, and challenged them to be an even better version of themselves. With June also comes many celebrations and not just graduations and dance recitals. Loving Day was on June 12. And for those of you who don't know about Loving Day, it's a day that commemorates when laws that prohibited interracial marriages were struck down in The US,
and it wasn't passed until 1967, so not that long ago. It's very strange to me to think that anyone who loves someone of a different skin color should be regulated. So thank goodness that isn't illegal anymore, or else my family would not exist. Which brings me to the celebration of Pride Month every June. To our LGBTQ plus community, happy Pride. You deserve to be celebrated, acknowledged, respected, and loved. You will always have a place in Troy. It is also men's mental health awareness month, so I encourage all men to get their mental health together.
And last, the celebration of Juneteenth. On June 19 in 1862, the abolishment of slavery occurred, but it wasn't until 1865 that the last of the people in slavery were freed in the state of Texas. It's a day of freedom. So looking ahead to July and August, I hope everyone has a safe summer and enjoys time for their family. Thank you. Doctor Malvern. I would like to, again, congratulate our new administrators. I'm super excited, to have them on board, especially I'm not singling you up, but I am.
David Recker. I'm so excited as I was working, in the district when he was teaching, became an assistant principal. And it's just really exciting to see, one of our own kind of kind of come up through the ranks and grow and have all these experiences. And I'm really excited to have someone of your knowledge and quality, in that position. So congratulations. And I'd also like to say, congratulations and a and a huge thank you to Natalie Hazelbrook. She has served our district well in education, in the classroom. She's made a difference in hundreds of kids' lives and even more in her role
as, our k twelve curriculum coordinator. So thank you, Natalie, for all the work that you've done and best wishes in in your work moving forward. And then, you know, as as we move on with our our curriculum process, and I I sound like a broken squeaky wheel, but, miss Cindy, I I do think you were right in that that when we see that there's a gap, we need to fill that. And we we see that there is a gap with some of our we're writing. So I'm confident that those gaps are going to be worked on, filled, that our teaching and learning department is is learning and and working on data collection
in that area. And I hope to see, similar, sense of urgency when we work with our, up and coming breeding program. Thank you. Mr. Hunt? I want to acknowledge that I am getting my mental health in order. I also just wanted to say you know happy summer to everybody and congratulations to our new administrators. But that's also a goodbye to Natalie. You've been great over the years and we're going to definitely miss you. You've been a solid foundation to the administration, so thank you for all your hard work. Okay. I feel like mine's a little more boring. I attended the June government relations committee meeting for Oakland County School Board Association.
I know, I believe doctor Wojczeski mentioned earlier or somebody did that. There's a couple of proposed budgets. There was one passed last week by the house that that unfortunately would direct some of the, would affect direct payments to schools for things like lunch programs, career and technical education, and mental health services. So, you know, hopefully and in addition, it would, divert about, about a $170,000,000, to scholarships for students in private universities, in addition to about, $50,000,000 that would be diverted from public schools,
k through 12 schools. So that is something that is, you know, that is circulating in in in current budgets. In addition to that, some other state level activities, there is some movement on a cell phone, law, that seems kinda similar to the direction we're already moving in there. The Michigan Supreme Court did decline civil suits in the Oxford shooting case, which means that there is, you know, some governmental immunity, in cases like that. One of the other things mentioned, there is a valid initiative that is likely to start this summer, to generate funds to fund public schools.
It's called the tax the wealthy to fund schools. Essentially, be a couple earning over a million dollars and pay additional state taxes about four to 5%. Something similar, passed in Massachusetts in 2022. If this were to make it to the ballot and pass, it would generate about $1,700,000,000 a year for public school funding in the state. Additional something related to safety, there is a school bus bill that would close a loophole, which currently allows motorists to legally pass a school bus with flashing yellow lights. So so those are some of the things that are happening at the state level.
And that's I would say that's that's it. I would wish everybody a happy and safe summer, and we'll see you back here in two months. Alright? K. Miss Suhre? I don't have a lot. First of all, I do wanna congratulate all our graduates, not only the graduates that graduated from our high schools, which I got the chance to attend along with many of our, board members. Also, the graduates, as in the teachers who have retired from our district. I wanna thank them for their years of service. And, because of you, we had so many wonderful graduates and continue to learn more.
I do wanna thank Natalie for her service. We're gonna miss you. I'm sure doctor Recker will, continue his service, but we'll definitely miss you for all the work you've done. Summer is here. While the teachers and all need rest up, I do want to continue remind the students to stay curious, keep learning. Summer learning loss is real. Continue to work. Okay. Great. Doctor Machesky? Yeah. Thank you all for the for the comments this evening. I do wanna just make a couple of references to the budget. And as, miss Leish mentioned, we this is gonna be a very challenging summer for us in in public education
across Michigan. As of right now, typically, we would be seeing a state budget. We would see what our revenues are gonna be. We don't expect to see that until likely well into the summer, if not early fall, unless we're we're really surprised. With that in mind, to mister Trudeau's earlier point, what we did build our budget on some very conservative numbers for that very reason, and we're hopeful, that, the the funding does come, does come in higher than we expect, so that we can continue to do the things across the Troy School District. To the community, if if things do look challenging late summer into early fall,
we will reach out and ask you to contact our your our legislators, and, advocate, on behalf of not only the Troy School District, but all students across Michigan. And so we'll keep an eye on that, and we'll we'll make sure the community is is fully aware of of what's going on. It should also be noted that, to mister Trudeau's point, we we started, we started planning for this budget shortfall last school year. So in the 2324 school year, we, through attrition, were able to reduce about 12 FTE This current school year,
or or this in this current school year, going into next current next school year, our budget is based upon a reduction of about 22 to 23 FTE, so almost double. We're doing that through attrition. That was a commitment of this board, through attrition as well as utilizing fund balance. And while some individuals may be in a bit of different positions, we are we are maintaining our entire staff, moving into into next year. We'll continue the hard work of looking at our budget moving forward, to assure that we made fiscally, stable, as a school district. But certainly,
the, the funding at the state level is gonna have an impact on that. So, again, we'll keep you we'll keep you note we'll keep you posted on that. I do wanna thank our our Athens students and parents for coming out this evening. I I want you to know that we do hear you, and what I would like to do is invite you, to come, schedule some time with, miss Deepalado and myself this summer. Maybe we can all get together on a on a given date or two, come together and have a conversation. We do wanna hear what you have we have heard what you've said. We do want to continue to hear, and strategize with you moving forward. It is our goal to create to to provide, opportunities for students not take opportunities away.
So we wanna work collaboratively with you in that, to that end. And I too would like to thank Natalie for her for her work in the Troy School District, teaching and learning, the work in the teaching and learning department. The work of our teaching and learning department really has never been stronger, and Ms. Zeller, thank you for mentioning that the idea of coherence because it is really through the work of of Natalie and the team that that has come together. Our our building level administrators, our staff, who have come together to assure that every student across our school district is met with rigorous, expectations on a daily basis with research based curriculum,
and opportunities to excel. We meet students where they are, and we take them from where they are, to great heights. That is something that we will continue to focus on across the Troy School District. So as you all and as you go go into the summer break, our students and staff, we wish you the very best. We look forward to seeing you back in August. Okay. So I am not going to repeat what all my colleagues and doctor McCheskey have, done so well other than I have to say again, thank you, Natalie. You're going to be missed, and and you have made such a such a wonderful contribution to the district.
Because I'm the board rep to the Troy, Foundation for Educational Excellence. I just do want to say that they hosted a very successful, golf outing. Don't know what the final tally is of the amount of money raised, but that money, is money that goes right back into the classroom. So it gives opportunities for teachers and students, to fund projects that are above and beyond. So, I really want to do a shout out to, the leadership of the TFEE, and Mrs. Holmes, who always does so much,
to support. She's the best ticket seller. I think I When all of a sudden done, they probably raise more money out of silent auction tickets and stuff like that than they actually do for the Audi. We are even though, we are on, you know, kind of a summer, I guess I can't say break, because as a board, we are legally required. We have to meet monthly, to still conduct business. We have a little bit of business that we have to conduct in July. We are going so we are going to hold we will not be holding workshops,
in July and August, but we'll be hosting regular board meetings. So our July 15 board meeting is actually going to take place in the morning. It will be a very we have a very light agenda, some business, and contracts that we have to approve. So that is going to take place at 09:30AM here on July 15. Then we resume I think our next meeting is August I wanna say eighteenth or nineteenth. Nineteenth. Whatever the Tuesday. So that'll be, the Tuesday, you know, our normal Tuesday evening schedule. Then we start back in September,
with workshops and, board meetings. We'll be in service at Central Office. Oh, okay. So the July 15, we will not be here. We will be at Central Office. Okay. So with that, if there is no further business, we are going to adjourn. Thank you everybody for coming. Again, congratulations to our new administrators and have a wonderful summer.