Good evening everybody. Welcome to the Tuesday, April 21st, Board of Education meeting. We have seven of all our board of trustees present. We always start the meeting with the pledge of Allegiance. I jump to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. All right.
First on our agenda, we have recognitions. And the first recognition we have is our outstanding teacher of the year, Doctor Michelle Chesky. Thank you, Mrs. me. We are honored to attend this. We are honored to recognize an exceptional group of educators this evening, teachers who have made a lasting impact on our students, families, and colleagues. Please, please join me in celebrating our 2026 Outstanding Teachers of the year. They. I don't think I need to tell all of you, but this is.
Gilbert is a very, very special person. She has seen thousands and thousands of students come through the halls and classrooms here at Falmouth. But what's most important is every day she brings her very best to the classroom. She brings the very best of herself to this school and to what she does. We're here to celebrate her as the middle school teacher of the year. Congratulations. The work that she does on behalf of all students here at Axtell, specifically her second graders,
and the impact that she's had on hundreds and hundreds of students across the tri school district. It's indelible. So we wanted you to help us celebrate Miss Mal Hart as the 2026 Elementary School Teacher of the year. Can I have a. Update that is 100% focused on her students inviting them in not only to our school as new individuals, but in some cases brand new to our country. And not understanding how all of this works, she takes her time
and her patience to sit alongside each of you and your families to better understand what it's like to be to go to school here in the United States. Your teacher, Mrs. Reddick, has been nominated as, elected as the high school teacher of the year. And more importantly, the overall Troy School District Teacher of the year for 2026. She graduated. I. This year, more than 49, Troy School
District educators were nominated for this distinguished recognition. Each nominee reflects the very best of our profession and demonstrates an unwavering commitment to the success of our students and community. From this remarkable group, three educators, as you just saw in our video, were selected based on their passion, dedication, impact and edge and excellence in teaching. To begin, we to begin or at this point, we'd like to hear from our three winners. We do look forward to celebrating, all of our nominees and winners
at a special reception on Wednesday, April 29th at Troy High School. This event will provide an opportunity for our teachers to connect with those who nominated them. Each nominee will receive a certificate, their nominating packet, materials, as well as a small token of our appreciation. This evening, though, we are proud to have all three of our, teachers of the year. Winners in the audience. And at this point, I would like to introduce, Lindsay Malouf, art Elementary teacher of the year from Costello Elementary. Hi, everyone.
Good evening. I, I am so happy and truly honored to be standing here today, and I just have a few things to share with you. I'd like to start by thanking everyone who played a part and making this moment possible. That day of the surprise was truly that it was an incredible moment, a huge surprise. It was Spirit Day. There was so much going on. And I appreciate everyone who helped to make this moment possible. And while my name is on this award, this represents far more than one individual.
This award reflects a community that believes deeply in education and understands the true impact that teachers can have. This award represents my fellow teachers, the heart of our schools. These are the people who show up early, stay late, attend countless evening and weekend events, and still somehow smile through copier jams, safety drills, and of course, that welcome back email and August. These are the people who turn hallway conversations into therapy sessions and solve life changing problems with a simple look,
a gentle hug, or a reassuring pat on the back. As you know, teachers juggle countless roles, from life coaches to data analysts, and somehow we still master the art of teaching and learning. We do it with humor, heart, and resilience. Every teacher in this district has a story. A moment when they lifted a child, changed a life, or helped someone believe in themselves for the very first time. Because this is Troy. And so to our students, I want to thank them for being the reason we do this work.
They keep us humble, honest and laughing. Even on the days they tell us we look tired, smell like coffee, or smell something wrong, we absolutely did that. The kids are the joy in the classrooms and the reason we all keep coming back, striving to be better every day. To our administrators, the Ta and the board. Thank you for your support and for creating conditions that help us all be successful. And to doctor to Ponyo. Thank you for seeing in me what I sometimes don't see in myself. Thank you for pretending not to notice when I'm in the office scrounging
for an afternoon snack, because sometimes that's the best intervention. Yep. And to the Troy. To the one Troy community. Especially the coastal community. Thank you for being a place where education is valued and togetherness is a strength. Thank you for constantly showing up. And lastly, I would be remiss if I didn't think my family. For listening to endless stories about who lost a tooth to tell them, who and who misplaced their shoe on the way to special thank you to my family for understanding that sometimes
730 really is my best time. Teaching is messy. It's loud. It's unpredictable. It's also the most rewarding job in the world. Our work isn't about perfection. It's about connection. It's about helping children feel that they belong. Showing them they matter and believing in them long before they believe in themselves. Thank you again for this incredible honor. I'm grateful. I'm humbled. Sorry.
And I'm proud to stand with the people who show up for kids every day. Believing in them and choosing them again and again. And. Thank you very much. Next, I'd like to invite to the podium, Tammy Gilbert, our middle school teacher of the year from Buena Park Middle School. Not sure if I knew this, but just simply. Good evening, Doctor Petrescu. Funny story I forgot to share with you, but I know I shared when you walked into my room with that big array of flowers, the students thought, oh, where's the ring?
They thought you were. So I forgot. I was middle schoolers. Oh, you look so, doctor. When I see a school board to. You did it last through the speech. So there's, like to thank you. Standing here tonight. I'm overwhelmed. Not because this moment is about me, but because it represents 38 years of shared moments, shared laughter, shared challenges and shared victories at Boland Park Middle School, I spent nearly four
decades teaching math, science, coaching, basketball, volleyball. I worked every summer teaching math and supervising volleyball. At this point, I think I've taught half the city of coach, the other half absorbed enough middle school energy to power a small city teaching sixth grade science. I watched students gag dramatically at the mention of bacterial fang theatrically during the human body unit, insist they inherited their messy lockers through genetics, blame every bad hair day on humidity
and physics, while middle schoolers are basically walking physics experiments always in motion, usually defying gravity and constantly testing the limits of force and momentum. Middle schoolers keep you humble. One minute they're asking brilliant questions about the cells, and the next minute they're trying to microwave a fork. They are unpredictable, hilarious, brutally honest, and endlessly curious. And that's exactly why I love them. Coaching has been just as rewarding.
I've watched shy kids become leaders. Athletes discover confidence, and teams learn what it means to work together. I also watched a few air balls miss serves and plays that I'm not sure were legal, but what people call those growth opportunities. To my students, these are some thank you's, past and present. Thank you for giving me purpose, energy, and more stories than I could ever fit into one speech. You are the reason I love coming to work every day to my colleagues. You are the backbone of bowling.
You've supported me, challenged me, inspired me, and occasionally saved me from whatever chaos was happening in the hallway. This award reflects all of us. I want to give a special thank you to my amazing science team. Collaborating with you has been one of the greatest joys of my career. Whether we are planning labs, sharing ideas, troubleshooting experiments, or laughing about whatever wild thing happened in class that day, you made the work better, the days brighter, and the science department feel like family. Huge thank you to my dream team administration.
Toni Morrison, Christy Hall, you too are amazing. Your leadership, support and ability to keep bowling rolling smoothly, even on the days when the universe seems to test us. We had a power outage last week. We they kept it very calm. But more than that, you pushed me, challenged me, and you allowed me to grow. It means a lot to still feel encouraged and supported and inspired. To the families and community. Thank you for trusting me with your children for nearly four decades. Feel me up here. Yes, it is that the honor of my love to help them grow.
To my family. Now for showing me that 12 hour work days are the norm. When you care deeply about what you do. To my three younger siblings, they taught me how to negotiate, how to listen, and maybe most importantly, how to explain things multiple times without losing my mind. Honestly, their skill level prepared me perfectly for middle school. For 38 years, I can say with absolute certainty. Teaching isn't just my job. It's who I am. I am grateful for every day that I've been able to do it
at Boland Park, surrounded by people who cares deeply as I do. Thank you for this honor. That truly means the world to me. Finally, it's my pleasure to invite Christina, Rick Troy high school. High school overall teacher or high school teacher of the year and overall teacher of the year. And the 2026 Oakland County High School Teacher of the year. Congratulations. Good evening everyone. Thank you for inviting the teachers of the year to join you tonight. I'm an English language development specialist at Troy High.
And as you saw in the video, I really like Spirit Days as well. I decided to dress more professionally, although I still like to represent the Red Hot Chili Peppers. I'm honored to be chosen as the Troy School District High School and Overall Teachers of the year, teacher of the year, and also the Oakland County High School Teacher of the year. This meeting is much calmer feeling than those surprise classroom visits. I began my career in Troy High in 2016 after six years in another district. This year marks my 10th year teaching in Troy.
So being named teacher of the year makes this milestone especially meaningful. I'm proud to represent Troy School District and the English Language Development Department. Approximately 16% or about 2000 students in Troy are English learners. Teaching multilingual students, including those who are new to U.S. schools, brings fresh challenges and learning opportunities every day. I'm often the first teacher international students meet on their first day at Troy High School. I take great pride in welcoming them and their families, and in creating a safe, supportive environment where they feel seen and valued.
Our multilingual families enrich our community in countless ways. They bring linguistic and cultural knowledge along with joy, hope, resilience, and sometimes struggle. Supporting students in this role means listening with care, nurturing academic and social emotional growth. Celebrating progress and advocating for students needs. I often tell my students I'm their school mom because I learn alongside them every day. Just as a parent does. They've taught me empathy inspired me through their perseverance. And challenged me to view our world through new perspectives.
It's an honor to be part of a family's journey. During their time as Troy School District. I'm grateful to work in a district that values student belonging, and recognizes the importance of ensuring every student feels welcomed, supported, and empowered to succeed. Thank you to my nominator, Jody Duda, the selection committee, my admin who's here, my colleagues and my para pros. They're like my right and left hand. My colleagues who are also friends and my family, my mom, dad and husband are here today for their continued support.
They probably know my students by name. They know all the stories about them. Just as the other teachers have said. And they they listen even when I'm sure that I've repeated the same story again and again. Thank you for honoring this work. Much of what we do as teachers is unseen, but it is so meaningful and it makes a difference. Thank you. Lindsay and Tammy and Christina. You can come on up, and we'd like to get a picture with you and our board members. And we have got some certificates for you.
Oh. And. You. Yes. It's. You can see. Again, congratulations to our 2026 Outstanding Teachers of the year. We look forward to celebrating all of our nominees, including our teachers of the year. April 29th at Troy High School. So look forward to celebrating you again in the near future. Our next item of recognition
is our mission moment the Shamrock Shake down. What started as a shared passion for basketball between students and staff at Troy Center for transition has evolved into a vibrant, meaningful schoolwide transition tradition. Excuse the Shamrock Shake down. This event represents more than just a game. It celebrates teamwork, inclusion, and a strong sense of community. I East has been an essential partner in bringing the shake down to life leading game day, set up and serving as master of ceremonies. The atmosphere is electric,
creating a stage where Troy Center students can truly shine, enhanced with a dynamic soundtrack and engaging halftime performances that elevate the experience for everyone involved. It's my pleasure at this point to invite Bryn Lawrence and Mark Chinaski up to the podium to introduce our students and share more about this important event. Wonderful. Hello. Thank you for having us this evening. We appreciate it. My name is Bryn Lawrence, and I am a coach and a teacher at Troy Center for transition. And I would be remiss.
I'm going to go off script already, but we do have some people in the audience from our program as well. And even though I am a coach, I'm not the only coach. I just kind of been around the longest. So I just want to thank everybody for making this happen. It's a very special event to all of us, and we're really honored to be here tonight. So, it is my pleasure, actually, to introduce my student Nathan here. And for this, I will use my script. He is a four year player at Troy Center and an experienced Shamrock Shake down competitor. Go, Chargers for all their gear.
He is tall, he's tough, and he owns the boards. If the ball goes up. Nathan's coming down with it. But it really sets him apart is his teamwork. He always is helping others make plays and lifting everyone up on the court with determination and a true love for the game. Nathan proves every time that nothing can hold him back, and that's what the Shamrock Shake down in autism awareness is all about. Hi, I'm Nathan. My favorite part of this Shamrock shakedown is the crowd. Everyone cheering makes me feel so excited and full of energy. An added bonus this year was that we won it all.
I'm really proud of that moment and everything we accomplished as a team. I look forward to shaking everyone's hand after the game and showing good sportsmanship. Basketball has taught me how to be a good sport and the value of hard work. I'm proud to be part of it. And my name is Mark Chanel Skin, P.E. and health teacher at International Academy East. And, I had the pleasure of, helping to plan the Shamrock Shake down for the past few years with Brian
and the staff. Each year, my 10th grade classes, I devote multiple class periods, to creating the decorations, as you'll see in the video. And, but each of the last two years, we've had a junior leader, so my sophomores helped with it. And then, now we've kind of established this pattern that a junior the following year. So one of the sophomores that becomes, shows a particular passion for the event. Becomes the junior leader of the event.
And so it's my pleasure to introduce Ava Pittman, the junior leader of, Shamrock Shake down this year. Hi. It's great to be here with you all. My name is Ava Pittman, and I was the junior leader of the Shamrock Shake down this year. The share market shake down was a huge honor for me to be able to help lead this March. I first assisted with the event during my sophomore year in Mr. Sage in class, where the sophomores were given the opportunity to help with the decorations in fulfilling roles such as referees, Scorekeepers, and cheerleading during the game. I love helping so much.
During my sophomore year, I was given the opportunity to be earlier this year. I couldn't pass it up. The fact that it also account as one of my IB environments was a great bonus for being able to lead this event was such a privilege. While working towards the big day, I got to visit gym classes that were creating decorations and give them advice and work alongside them, which I felt was a full circle moment and I enjoyed it very much. It was really cool to see how well and amazingly, my school embraced the event. They were full out cheering and supporting players and it was great to see. They loved the giant heads of players and waving flags of the different schools.
The one thing that I will remember most from working on the Shamrock Shake down is how, during and after the game, parents, teachers and students kept coming up to me and sharing how much this event meant to them and how grateful they were to have it. It made me so happy in any of the struggles I had faced. Planning and executing the game were minuscule compared to that. As the first official person that this event has been handed down to. I can't wait for it to to continue and only grow from here on out. Thank you. To. Those.
You. Nathan. Ava. We have some certificates for you, Mr. Chinaski. As long as you want to join them.
Because. These isolations. All right. The next recognition in our agenda are autism acceptance Month. April has been designated as autism Acceptance Month. The Troy School District recognizes the need for public awareness, to promote acceptance, celebrate differences, and be more inclusive towards autistic individuals around us.
In honor of this month, the Troy School District would like to pass a resolution to celebrate the contributions of all neurodiverse people and work towards ending disparities. We have a resolution since Doctor Phillips. Whereas autism spectrum disorder affects more than 5 million people in the United States, and Whereas centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that 1 in 36 children may have autism. And whereas autism is a neurological and developmental disorder characterized
by social impairment and restricted interactive and communication behaviors and can affect anyone regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, or socioeconomic background. And Whereas, symptoms and characteristics of autism may present in a variety of combinations and can result in significant lifelong challenges in areas affecting learning, daily living, employment, social interactive behaviors, and understanding verbal and nonverbal communications. And Whereas, as the effort to address autism continues,
physicians, psychologists, behavioral analysts, speech and language pathologists, occupational therapists, vocational rehabilitation professionals, and educators can assist persons with autism and their families by supporting early identification, education, intervention, recreation, and other opportunities that are vital to enhance development and well-being. And Whereas the Troy School District is honored to celebrate the many ways individuals with autism enhance the quality of our school community
and is committed to fostering an acceptance and a sense of belonging as we work together to create a more welcoming and inclusive environment for all. Now, be it therefore resolved, that the Board of Education hereby recognizes April of 2026 as Autism Acceptance Month in the Troy School District. Support. Okay, Rick. Resolution moved by Doctor Phillips and supported by Mr.. Least. Any questions or comments from him? And first seeing none. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes.
Those who opposed say no. Resolution passes seven zero. All right. That concludes the recognition size up side part of our agenda. We will have a brief five minute recess so that all the individuals who are here for to be recognized can maybe take leave and go and do their work while we go about our business after. So we'll break for five minutes. Welcome back guys. We're going to continue with our meeting. Next on our agenda is additions and deletions.
Doctor Michalski there none this evening okay. All right. We go to public communication on agenda items. We have two public communications on agenda items. So I'll call your name and you have three minutes to address the board. Mr. Ashoke, buddy. Very good evening to all the members of the board and to the community members who've taken time to come here on this, wonderful evening. Thank you all. Education matters. Matters to every child, but more specifically to the kids here.
And try to the community here and try. And we are here to, you know, tonight to discuss geometry materials. But we must recognize that a textbook is only as good as the foundation it is built on. Currently, I believe the foundation has cracked. Selecting rigorous material is a start, but it doesn't fix a broken promise. In November 2024, this community gave a clear mandate to restore the honors math. Since the track was removed, students in algebra
have fallen significantly behind the peers in neighboring districts. This isn't a Partizan talking point. It is a reality shared by families across our entire community, regardless of ethnicity or anything else, and echoed by our concern. Teachers. Accountability is the currency of leadership. And elected leaders must do more than listen. They must stand up for voters and use their platform to make a change. It is time to fully course correct, restore the honors path as promised,
and ensure that the mistakes of the past where community input was sidelined will never happen again. Our students deserve a curriculum that challenges them and our community deserves it. Leaders at all levels that uphold this objective, and I hope this board listens to the voice of the community. Thank you. Thank you. Please, please hold your applause. This is a meeting of the board. Thank you. The next, speaker is Maura. David Bethany. Hello.
Good evening. Members of the board. I'm here also to talk about the geometry material. I know you already have started planning for the. By the way, my name is very deliberately. I'm a 19 year proud resident of Troy. 19 years back, I moved from Sterling Heights to Troy. Only because of the district's reputation in education for better education for kids. So why do you put together the next, material and everything for the next academic year?
The Troy Honors program was taken off for the middle school there. For the high school. We don't have a clear path on what's going to happen to the program. The, current program that's going into the high school doesn't have a proper pathway. How it's going to be taken up within the high school, what it's going to have. So I do urge the board to consider, both the current middle school students
who are in the current program, and, they're going to go into high school, go into the honors program next year. And then the path for them was kind of just, putting together a different path in between. I do not know where the future lies. Also the school I know the school. Last couple of years, the numbers started looking better, but they're not as good as it used to be. I feel that the students should be given an opportunity to be challenged so that they can excel.
It's not just few kids excelling. Few kids excelling brings up the standard of the entire district of the entire class. So it's not selective. Students that would get benefited because of the program. So I urge the board to strongly consider restarting the program and compare it to other leading school boards across U.S and the world, and not compare, because I keep looking at probably being compared to other districts where it has like 3000, 4000 students. Our district has 12,000, 13,000 students.
So we are for the biggest school district. I have a lot bigger budget. So and people like me just came in to try for education. So at my house in Sterling Heights, more for pride just for the education. So thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. All right. Next on our agenda is the general consent agenda. We, the consent agenda contains, may the minutes of the March 3rd, March 3rd, 2026, Board of education
workshop minutes of March 7th, 2026. Board of education, winter retreat minutes of March 17th, 2026. Special Board of Education Meeting minutes of March 17th, 2026. Board of Education meeting. The Treasurer Report of February 2026. Second reading and adaptation of the new and revised board policies. The E-Rate Voluntary Alternate two package world language purchase including Spanish, French and German
geometry material purchase CRB video for Elementary Code of Conduct and Ethics Handbook may have a resolution, please, Mr. Hall, be it therefore resolved, that the Board of Education takes action to approve items A through M on the consent agenda to support. Okay moved by Mr. Harvey supported by Mr.. Least. Any questions or comments to any of these topics? The only comment I would like to make is that we have reviewed all the material.
I know it looks like a big long list here. We have reviewed every one of these material in detail at the workshop last two weeks ago, so if you, any of the audience would like any details on this, please go ahead and look at the workshop material and we will be able to see those. Okay. Considering no other comments, all those in support of the resolution, please say yes. Yes, yes, those who oppose please say no. Hey, the resolution passes 7 to 0. All right.
All right, next on our agenda is personnel documentation. There is none this evening. All right. Thank you, Doctor Majesty. Curriculum? None this evening as well. Right. Thank you, Doctor Chesky. So the next, two items on our business agenda, we have Boland Park renovation project. Doctor Chesky. Yes. Mr. Trudel is at the MSBA conference. For the next two days, he's asked me to sit in and is in his place. But, to, miss Miss Anees, previous comment,
the two items that we have were both reviewed, at at the workshop. First item, for consideration is the Boland Park renovation, which is this. This is a project two of three, if you'll remember, back in March, we, the board authorized the first of the three bid packets packages. That was the largest. That was just over $20 million. And then, this is the second of three this this one is, just over $7 million. And at our next meeting, don't think you'll you'll see the third of three.
It's a much smaller packet, to the tune of approximately 28 million in total. Is the. Is it all right to get me the full renovation for for ballpark? Sorry about that. An RFP was issued to obtain competitive bids for a complete renovation of Bowen Park Middle School, including architectural, mechanical, electrical, and structural work. Bid responses were reviewed by Rob Carson, director of operations, and Burke Mello Company. It is your recommendation the bid be awarded as stated below. All right. We are asked to consider the Boland Park Renovation project.
May have a resolution. Please. Mr. Lee, be it therefore resolved, that the bid for complete renovation of Boland Park Middle School, including architectural, mechanical, electrical and structural work be awarded, is attached hereto in the amount of 7,293,000 $293,050, and that this amount be approved as an expenditure of the Capital Projects Fund support. I'm supported, miss Potts. Okay. Moved by Mr. Lee, supported by Miss Potts. Any questions or comments regarding this topic?
Okay. And, I know, I typically ask this at the, at the workshop in the, this in terms of the, the bullet amount, those are all coming in according to, to budget. Yes. He has worked very hard to get that project, within a range that we were comfortable with. So two of about $28 million in total. That is for for the audiences. As a reminder, that includes the entire building gutting the entire building except for, the main office area,
which was part of the 2013 bond and and the gym area, if you recall. We we did resurface the gym a couple of years ago. Bleachers are our newer, so that area is going to be actually used as storage, for a part of the building, while the remainder of that building is, is, completely gutted. And that will happen as soon as school is out. Which is why it was so important for us to be on schedule with Smith, which we are, and in fact, we'll be moving moving furniture in to Smith in July.
And, will be, occupying their buildings shortly thereafter and, well, in time for fall, but it was really important that stand time be so that we could get the Bowman students as soon as school is out. Get that building vacated. Get it? Get everything out of it. And, start the timeline of that 16 month renovation. So the work for the Bolen, renovation would start fall 2026. It's going to start in June 2022. In fact, it's already started. They've already cleared out the the pool area.
And, they're starting packing. Staff is already packing up where possible. We've got time set aside from them for them at the end of the year. But they've already been given the materials necessary, and they're they're starting the packing process. Okay. And for the community sake, where would the bowling kids go? And the bowling kids will be moved to to Smith for the fall of 26 through, spring of 27 for that full year, the entire year for the full academic year. That's correct. All right. And I'm not okay seeing no other comments.
All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes, yes. Those who oppose say no resolution passes seven. Oh thank you. Next item for consideration is the Troy High Bemis, Barnard and Baker renovation projects. RFP was issued to obtain competitive bids for Troy High partner Bemis and Baker renovation project. Bid responses were reviewed by the TSC Operations Department and Bart Mel. It's recommended that the bid be awarded as stated below, and as a reminder for that for the community. The A for Bowlen or excuse me, for Bemis and Barnard.
These are for operable walls in the in the gymnasium. Similar to the work we did. It was, I think about a year or so, a year and a half or so ago. So those that's what that is for at Baker. It's for the secure vestibule. So we'll be doing work on the secure vestibule of Baker and at Troy High. They are. There's another operable wall in one of our categorical rooms that will provide, that will provide some, opportunity for a quiet space, and so forth for our, categorical students. All right. We were asked to consider a resolution for Troy High School.
Barnard, Bemis and Baker. Renovation projects may high resolution, please. Doctor Phillips. Be it therefore resolved that the bid for Troy High, Baker, Barnard and Bemis renovation projects be awarded as follows, and that $441,960.61 be approved as an expenditure of the building site and sinking fund for general construction. LMS construction. The base build includes alternatives one in the amount of $271,997
for the approval petition. Gardner. Both including all one in the amount of $137,000, 225 and $0.79, with an 8% contingency of $32,737.82, for a total project award cost of $441,960.69. Support. All right resolution moved by Doctor Phillips, supported by Mr. Hunt. Any questions or comments on this
for the sake of the community, what's the timeline for this project? These will all be done over the summer. Yeah, this will all be done in the summer. Wonderful. Any other questions? Comments? Seeing none. All those in favor of the resolution, please say yes. Yes, yes. Those who oppose please say no. I like resolution passes seven zero. Well that's that completes the business portion of our agenda. Next we have public communication on non-agenda items.
And, The first one is Lingman Zhang. Please. Yes, please. Hello, everyone. It's my first time joining this board meeting, so I don't know whether I'm doing something right or wrong. So it's all right. Anyway, my child is in, sixth grade right now. And then he was in Barnard for the last, first few years, and now he's six, right? So it's a hard age for me.
So I'm still thinking what I do right or wrong or the school is doing which part is good or what's what's not. So I just, personally opinions. So, my voice is I think, is from a group of boys, like eight, parents are mostly Chinese parents, so we have a group, but I'm only my child is only in sixth grade. So for like, the honors class or, higher level grade stuff, I really don't have an idea. But the group has more parents who have bigger kids, who have more experience.
So from what I heard from that group is, like, since we cancel the honors class, the kids, like, don't feel cheated enough. Especially, being the last month we had the survey for the math, and then the result is more than 20% of parents now kids feel they're not channel enough. So I heard from someone like my colleague who work here now and then. So, for our parents, there are boys is the other classes will honor. Like we chatted to the kids to make them, I think have a better level.
So that's one voice. And then another one is for the iPad. So I've had start when Covid starts and then I kind of you when Covid ended. Why cannot why couldn't have the iPad go away. So because we are and I talk to other parents I talk to teachers and teachers have the same challenge too. They had to find a way to make sure the kids are not using iPad for a thing. They don't want the kids to use. But, I used to be a teacher too. When I teach, the kids don't have iPad.
They can still survive. So I believe if we don't have iPad school will still be there. So I just feel like. And then I talked to the former principal in or two, she agree with me. And then especially I think last month the math teacher sent back the math, workbook from school. And I have like this month is almost new. Are still a few pages correctly right. But he's kind of like brand new math workbook and last year from Barnard,
the last teacher also sent back a brand new, totally new math book. So I talked to principal. The principal agreed with me. I said, if there's a notebook, we pay for it. The school has it, why don't we use it? And the principal agreement is so she encouraged me to send the email to the teachers. But teachers have so many excuses and I believe they use it like there's a reason they use it. But I still feel without iPad the school is still work. Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank. All right. So next one I have two people's name on there.
Are you planning on speaking together then. Two three minutes. It's Megan Hatto on our Sharma cameras. Oh, you can. Good evening, board members. My name is Megan Hallam and my name is Iris Sharma. And we're students from team two, two, six, the Hammerheads and the Toy Robotics Foundation. First, thank you all for following up with TRF after our last meeting. The fact that you all kept the conversation going showed that the board is taking this seriously, and that matters to the students in this room tonight. A quick update on where we are over spring break.
We hosted two district events back to back right here in Troy with the help of FRC 87 and 28. The Argonauts from Athens. We brought in teams from over 80 school districts across Southeast Michigan in support of their ability to compete this season. Troy is already on the map. We have the largest density of robotics students in the world. We're already heavily supporting Southeast Michigan. That's not something we're asking to become. It's what we already are as a community. What we don't have yet is the facility to back it up.
Novi has two full facilities I believe has one of its own, plus space in another district building. Each district has space to serve about 250 students, whereas Troy still doesn't have a facility for our 600 students. Troy has the students, the teams, and the nationally acclaimed results. We just don't have the building. And this isn't just a high school thing. Our middle school and elementary programs are where it all begins. Over 600 students are enrolled and toward this year, from our youngest
athletic teams up to the FRC high school program, with more than 150 on the waitlist for next fall. That's nearly three times our friend and competitors in Novi and Avondale. Right now, most Detroit teams are working out of volunteer coaches homes or borrowing space wherever they can find it. And our Troy High School two teams still drive to Lake Orien every week just to practice on the field and run our own tournament sequences. The operation is already running. It's just running without the building to hold it.
So here's that. So here's our ask for the next board meeting. We want to finalize a plan for our practice field space. So high school teams don't aren't driving our district anymore just to practice. And we want to keep the conversation moving this summer on the for Troy Robotics Center, a real k-through-12 home for every robotics student in this district. We've done the hard part. We've built the program. We just need the space to match. Thank you. Thank you. Was a synonym for us. She said our scheme. Right.
Okay. Doctor. Dumbledore. Starsky. Sorry if I didn't get your name correct. Good evening everybody. I have a very happy news. My street or our street is getting younger and younger. We have more and more kids. When I moved to Troy, there was just my son and the neighbor's son going to Troy High. And now we have a lot of kids. So I would like to ask the board for the bus stop on Sylvan.
That's all. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you so much for this year. Like me coming here. Okay. All right. That concludes the public communication section of our agenda. I guess then we would go to our students. How are you guys doing? Chloe, how are things going at TCC? Good afternoon everyone. Is has had a very busy in all caps. Chloe, would you mind speaking into the microphone?
Maybe to get everybody to hear it? TCC has had a busy in all caps past couple of weeks, so I'm just going to jump right into. I'm going to start by giving a big congratulations and pat on the back to all the juniors and underclassmen participating in the PSAT, S.A.T., and AC act, and the Mister President. I remember being there and definitely wouldn't want to go back. So again, I hope they. So again. I hope that they are all giving themselves pats on the back.
Speaking of pats on the back, we had we held our third annual award ceremony following the end of the third quarter and beginning of fourth to celebrate all of our students, plus the hard work as well as the dedication this past quarter touching some more, dedication, our girls as well as juniors to get them inspired. Our senior girls, a part of the Women of Tomorrow program, attended the senior luncheon last Monday. This luncheon consisted of a career quest lunch,
a public speaker, scholarship awards, and a raffle, as well as an honorable mention to the free massage tickets and the senior bags that I will be using ASAP. Though overall it was lovely though. Overall it was a lovely ceremony full of lovely women. I mean seriously, it was quite a refresher being in a huge room with not a single man in sight. While we're on the topic of Women of Tomorrow. We attended our last Women of Tomorrow of the year at least my last meeting and for some of us it was last meeting ever, minus
the field trips taking place made. For this meeting, we all talked about the basics of budgeting, our financial goals, the differences between wants and needs, and credit cards. Jumping to our staff and student council. Student Council has worked hard, debated sweat, and then agreed upon our prom thing, which is masquerade slash casino night themed. TCC will be hosting, so TCS prom will be hosted May 14th at the American Polish Cultural Center.
Tickets will include dinner, desserts, game tickets, prizes, photo booth, music, dancing and a night to remember. Soon. Council worked so very hard to put this prom together the past couple of years, so I really just want to hype that up given how excited we all are. Of course, our teachers are continue to continuing to be absolute rockstars through this all literally and metaphorically. Mister K, our art, our art teacher of all mediums, purchased deejay equipment to practice for
for our annual Arts Beats and Treats event hosted back at TCC where students and staff, but mostly students, come together to celebrate. At the end of the year, seniors leaving and everything else in between. Students will be singing with a live student band, baking, slash cooking and selling their food, selling and showing their art. And then student council will also be serving walk walking tacos again. That will be May 13th at TCC starting at 1230.
We would all love to see you guys and show. We would all love to see you guys and show off some of our skills. Then lastly, miss G and her business math class are prototyping and designing acrylic propagation planners that will be cut out with our laser machine. So if any of you are our plant people, that's just another reason among many to attend the arts beats and treats where they will be sold. Thank you so much for listening and I hope you found TCS recent development developments as interesting as we are.
Awesome. Thank you Chloe. Hi young. How are things at Ieast? Good evening everyone. I hope everyone is having a great Tuesday. I can't believe it's already halfway through the school year, but I'm really excited to share all the great things that have been going on at least this month. First of all, really importantly, we've had a lot of amazing performances at several statewide competitions from each student. So first up at the Science and Engineering Fair of Metro Detroit, we had around 20 students from our school compete across biomedical sciences and engineering categories.
And I is truly shined at the competition as we are a total of six projects from over 500 students this year across metro Detroit that placed top three in their category and we also had one project from our school from the Computational Biology and Bioinformatics category, receiving a grand award to move to, to move on to compete at the International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix, Arizona this night, which is an incredible accomplishment. And we also had students compete at the statewide Michigan Science
and Engineering Fair and all five projects from East received top four across the state of Michigan, competing from students like Flint and Kalamazoo. We're so excited that we had such incredible results from this year's science fair, and we can't wait for results from the International Science Fair as well. We also had 40 students compete at the Hosa, Future Health Professionals State Leadership Conference this past weekend in Traverse City, and I'm very happy to announce that ten of those students placed top ten in their respective events.
Top three. Sorry, giving them the qualification to compete at the national level at the international Hosa Leadership Conference in Indianapolis this June. And I'm also very excited to announce that one of our students was elected to serve on the State Board of Officers for the Michigan Hosa team, and we wish all students competing at nationals this year the best of luck. But on the more creative side of things, our drama club recently performed Radium Girls for their spring performance, and it was a student led performance this year by senior.
And it tells a true story of a young woman who painted with radium in the 1920s, and the set design, acting and costumes were truly incredible and we're so proud of everyone who was a part of the performance. Now, since it's the end of April, it's also the seniors last week at school this year, and their last day is on Thursday with IB exams starting next week. So we wish seniors all the best of luck. And also, our Science Olympiad team is competing at Michigan State this weekend for Science Olympiad. State competition. And our forensics team is also competing at Eastern
Michigan University also for our state's buffer forensics. So best of luck to both teams. And that's it for April, and I can't wait to share more about the happenings at East in May. Thank you. Thank you ion. All right, Sarah, how are things at Athens? Good. Athens High School had an incredibly successful third quarter this year, and I am excited to share the highlights. Over spring break, we hosted two robotics competitions with over 100 schools entering red Hawk territory to compete. The dreaded state testing went well, with 98% of students
in attendance to take their exams, and we had 1116 students make the honor roll from third quarter start off fourth quarter. Last weekend was the opening weekend of is performed by the combine, Troy High and Athens theater companies. Don't worry if you missed it though. There are more showings this weekend as well. This week is an exciting week of much celebration. Right now, Athens is hosting an amazing ethnic fair with food, dances, and other performances from many different cultures. The performers have been working extremely hard to deploy and to display
such an amazing performance for the community. Tomorrow we will be celebrating Student Appreciation Day with ice cream and other treats in the cafeteria during lunch and in the evening. Tomorrow, our Athens Baker, Larson and fifth grade band programs will display their talents at the All City Concert, which I encourage everyone to attend. Throughout this entire week, we are celebrating neurodiversity with Spirit Days and a concluding neurodiversity walk around the track on Friday. Looking forward, Athens prom is themed Starry Night on May 1st at Cherry Creek Golf Course.
Students and staff are amidst the final prep for AP testing, which starts on May 4th. Finally, May 13th from 6 to 830, Athens will welcome our eighth graders for an activity fair to get them excited about becoming a Red Hawk. Have a wonderful evening and go Hawks! All right. Wonderful. Thank you. Sarah. Isabella, how are things with Troy? Hi. Happy spring everyone. This past month at Troy High has been filled with strong accomplishments in all areas and exciting events. As we move further into the season to begin, Troy High's quiz Bowl team
competed at the Nqt State Championship, where they finished sixth overall and achieved an impressive undefeated record in the preliminary rounds. Additionally, two team members were recognized among the top individual scorers at the tournament and economics Troy High students had an exceptional performance at the Michigan Economics Challenge, earning first place in both divisions. Congratulations about the Quiz Bowl and Economics teams. Our United Nations program continues to stay active, recently attending a two day conference at Open University with over 40 of our delegates participating.
In addition, the team will be hosting a new crisis style conference this weekend. Focus on the Roman Empire, providing students with a unique opportunity to engage in fast paced problem solving committees. Student government has also been working hard. Last week, they hosted a senior citizen event during Dress rehearsal for women's. So kind of like a Matt and I. Except it wasn't. It was just the dress rehearsal, welcoming approximately 30 guests for dinner and to watch the show tomorrow. They will continue this initiative by hosting the senior Citizen Prom with similar attendance expected. Additionally, about ten student leaders attended a leadership conference today,
at Stony Creek, where they collaborated with peers from other schools and shared ideas about student led initiatives. At Troy High. This week, Troy High is celebrating Character Spirit Week, highlighting the key values such as responsibility, kindness, empathy and resilience through daily themes and activities. A student survey will also be conducted as a part of the initiative. On Friday, during all lunches and celebration of Earth Day tomorrow, Troy will be hosting its first Earth Day Fair. During all lunch periods, encouraging students to engage in sustainability efforts and environmental awareness. Looking ahead, next week will be Senior Week, featuring a variety of activities
including a spirit week, food prep, steering lunches and a senior barbecue and a lot more interactive, games throughout the week. The week will conclude with a pep assembly to celebrate the graduating class. Additionally, the Troy United Theater Company, a collaboration between Troy and Athens, opened this week with a very incredible performance of lemons. And if you haven't had the opportunity to watch them yet, you can watch them on April 24th or 25th at 7 p.m. or the 26th at 2 p.m. at the Troy High School Theater. And these next several teams are off to a strong start this season. Girls soccer had a very successful opening stretch.
Girls lacrosse recently secured their first win of the season, and varsity basketball earned an early league victory. Multiple teams including track, softball and others have upcoming competitions this week and we wish them all the best of luck. Overall, it's been exciting and productive to try and look forward to everything to come for spring, and thank you for your continued support. Wonderful. Thank you. Any questions or comments for our students? I have a question. What? When is the Arts beats and treats at TCC? It's May 13th at 1230. It's at TCC.
Thank you. And 13th at 1230. All right. Wonderful ladies. Thank you. That brings us to the other part of the agenda. I can go with Mrs. Chandler first. I guess I, All right. First, I'd like to thank all of our, speakers that spoke tonight. I want you to know that we continue to hear and receive your feedback. And, also, to my friends at the Hammerheads, to the appreciate the, shark, to help us. We were very curious.
And I would get it, one of our speakers tonight, one of our speakers tonight, mentioned accountability being the currency of leadership. And along all of those things, you're correct. We are accountable to, meeting our robotics teams where they are. You are doing the hard work and bringing honor to try, and we appreciate that. And I can speak for the rest of us, and that we are going to work hard to make sure that we provide you a space and find a way to make it work for you guys. We all here believe in whatever it takes to suit you.
Since you're doing such good work for us and for yourselves, to our community members that were here talking about, honors math and our math trajectory, we have been hearing, objective and student centered, student focused data at our last two workshop meetings. We are planning to hear some more on April 28th. So, we encourage you to continue to engage by participating in that meeting or watching it online as all of our meetings are now recorded and posted for you, so that we too can be accountable to our community as leaders.
Additionally, while you're in there, while you have, you know, the opportunity to have your voices heard, our district is also going to be embarking soon on a kindergarten through eighth grade literacy curriculum review process. We are required to adjust our methods and our curriculum. So on May 11th from 630 to 730, that curriculum review will be open to community members and families in the district. We encourage you. I think it's here at services. We'd encourage you to participate actively in that as well. Our parents are our most important partners in the work we do
because you are a first are your child's first and most important teacher. So it's important that we get your feedback on all of the things we're doing here in the district. And last, I'd like to, thank the PTO, both from Hamilton, Martel and Morse. Those three PTO made, donations to the Tree Youth Assistance Group in an effort to support their ability to provide scholarships to students. To be able to afford classes and programing for students that need. So if there's a
situation where a student wants to take a class, one that came up at our meeting was driver's education, which for any of you in the room who have drivable age kids knows these are really expensive. And for some families, that is a price out. That means they can't afford to pay for their child to take driver's ed. The Troy Youth Assistance has a scholarship fund that affords things like that for families in need and PTO supporting that creates this full cycle thing. So I wanted to personally thank those PTO and challenge the other PTO to consider a donation to the Tree Youth Assistance in the future.
That's all I have. Thanks. As Pat's keep a list. I guess I have to look for that one. I'm not going to repeat a whole lot of what you said. But to our teachers, congratulations to our winners tonight and congratulations to all of our teachers and our community. Everybody who was nominated. We could not do the good work. We can't give all of our kids the credits without our educators pushing them forward, supporting them. Autism awareness, acceptance month. I just want to give a shout out for that.
That's a very important thing that's very near and dear to my own heart. Having many friends who have autistic children. And I just wanted to comment about the ethnic fear that I'm missing tonight. I'm so upset about it. I really wanted to go. I tried to maybe skip out on this joy fair. It just shows the, the highlights of the the rich, cultural diversity of our community. I'm very proud of that, because our community is, is only richer because of the different ethnicities. And then just to touch on what Mrs.
Dunbar was talking about with, honors math, we are committed as a district and as a board to continue to move our district forward with our math program. Always, always try to move forward. Right? Always try to do right by kids. Always try to put them first. That also means giving our teachers a voice in how we're going to implement our changes that we are going to recommend. So I, asking for the community, community to be patient as we work through this, we're going to do it with, the right information and in the proper way.
So, other than that, happy April where I can see the finish line to the end of the school year. I think we're we're done even earlier this year, which is both equally terrifying and exciting, because I know just how many snacks I'll have to buy for the rest of the summer. But I always love to hear from our student reps. There's so much going on at our schools all the time. I get whiplash trying to keep up with everything, and I've been filling up my calendar with all the activities, the eighth grade
interviews, all the high school stuff I need to clone myself. If anyone can help me with that, I would appreciate that because I just want to make all the things. So, thank you for that. That's it for tonight. Thank you, Miss Burns. Doctor Phillips, you know, I was also just going to bring up that, there still are several of our middle schools that are looking for, interviewers. And so that has been published in many of the district communications, but it's a, a great opportunity for, members of the community
to have an opportunity to hear from our eighth graders. I think you'll be incredibly impressed. How, this group of of young people, really present their portfolio of what they've accomplished, you know, over their, their middle school career. So, again, it's a two hour block of time. They run from the end of April through the, the end of May. And so we are looking for volunteers. I also want to offer my congratulations to the teachers of the year.
And I think, again, that it is really, demonstrates the, the high caliber of our staff, that, you know, out of the entire 28 school districts in Oakland County, one of our educators was was selected as the overall, county teacher of the year. And then the final thing, I just want to put a plug in. If you happen to be wandering through the, Troy Community Center, the district art show is, is on, and it is really, really impressive the talent,
of our students and the wonderful guidance they get from our staff. So, it's definitely worth a look if you happen to go into use the gym or play pickleball or whatever, just swing on by the main, corridor and take a look at some of the amazing art from our students. I know, Doctor Melton, I would like to congratulate Doctor Phil Apart and Mr. Pilotto for a very successful presentation, at the National School Board, Association conference. Recently, it was a very well attended session.
They did an excellent job presenting, lots of people interested afterwards. I also wanted to thank the district for the opportunity to attend. I think it's important that our board members are afforded, opportunities to learn and experience other, educational settings. I was fortunate I was able to attend, a session where we actually took a field trip and we went to three different high schools. The session I picked, I selected because as a district, we were very much interested in how we can get our kids
more involved in career exploration, at earlier ages and also, within the school day. So that's actually why our district was selected, to present, our cap, project. I also attended a session that focused on bringing that into the school day. So right now, our Cat program, we're doing that outside of the school day. So I was very interested to learn how we can give kids experiences and
and more learning around career options, within the school day that all kids would experience. So, the presenter was, superintendent from, suburban school in New York, talked about what they did there and then also talked about how they, started to expand it down into the middle school level. So that was an example of a great session, very relevant to what we're working here on the district with. Another session that I attended was, a moderated or presented by the director
from Ed reports, and it was on the school board's role in selecting, high quality instructional materials and math. So very relevant as we are doing an analysis of our math program. So, I'll speak more on that when we have our workshop next week on the 28th, when we take a little bit deeper dive into our math curriculum. But again, very worthwhile. Lots of stuff. And I know that the other members, learned a lot too, so I'm thankful for that. Thank you. Right. Yeah. So, I also want to congratulate the our teachers of the year.
I also want to thank the teachers who are getting through the state testing period right now. My son came home today, and he's just like, I'm so tired from stuff. So I appreciate all the, help in making sure that they have a little bit of rest after the tests. You know, just kind of unwind and get things through. I was going to mention the art show as well. I happened to stop in today not knowing it was going on. I probably stayed for too long playing hooky from work. Looking at all of the art, which was great. It's we have some talented kids, and it's very nice to see. And then I absolutely want to promote ladies.
You guys didn't do a good job selling it over there. It was phenomenal. The acting, the singing, something's in the water. And Troy, really talented kids from set design, costumes, lighting, everything is just phenomenal. So I would go see it again if I, if I could, but last weekend. So go see if you can. Okay. Miss Ellis. October. I'm sure I'm in the wrong again. April 8th. I attended the Government Relations Committee meeting at Oakland County's school board association.
There's a lot of legislation moving both at the state and the federal level. There's, so I'll just cover a couple big things. Budget hearings have, have started at the state level. One, it looks like there will be a need to cut about $800 million from the state budget. Likely. What is going to happen again this year is what happened last year that, the school, the school state aid fund will be, moved to general fund drop.
We'll call it to be the word to make up some of the difference, in the general fund. And what happened last year was probably likely to happen this year is that instead of money is being used for K to 12, which is what they're supposed to be used for. They're going to be used for higher education. And the moneys in the general fund will be used to cover some other, so, so that is going to be a really big challenge, for our district, but for all districts, going forward. And then as part of the budget hearings, there's talk of,
perhaps enacting a weighted funding model for school districts. So the districts will get their pay, plus, and we'll call it non categorical funding based on things like, English language learners and low income. Some of the worry going forward is that, if too many categories get put into the weighted portion, something like special education for example. That you know, those moneys go into the general fund
and wouldn't necessarily have to be used for, for particular categories. So that'll be interesting, interesting as that moves forward again. So, so, you know, at the same time we might be experiencing, less money and then a different allocation of, of monies that we had, in the past. And then also, something that affects local governments. The state House did pass and did pass it. No.
Just can only be on the November ballot. It is unlikely to pass the Senate, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen. So, that is again, another item that that affects, school funding and all sorts of ways. And then the other thing that I wanted to mention, and I did want to acknowledge that in terms of, you know, parent feedback, we've received quite a, you know, quite a few emails from parents on honors math. And I do want to acknowledge that, you know, we are receiving that information.
The one thing that I stated at the at the workshop two weeks ago at this point, and I'll say that again here, you know, at this point we are waiting for feedback. These are not, you know, decisions to change curriculum or, or to, to chart a new path forward is not something that can be made quickly. The the board has committed itself to being more data driven.
And in that regard, I, you know, I as a board member, will be looking for more data. So, as Mrs. Potts said, you know, we would just ask the community to be to be patient. I don't know that any of us are for or against. We are, at this point, just trying to get more information, both from our staff as well as is that there are really important, there are really important data points that are coming up to see how our change in the curriculum and pathway,
is, you know, is having an effect on our kids education. So there's lots of tests that are taking, you know, as parents are. So there's lots of testing that's going on in the spring and we won't have that data available till October. A lot of it is about in that fall October time frame. So if we are being asked to look at that, then I would ask the community, let's be patient. Let's look at the data and make, you know, and allow us the time to make the, you know, decisions in that, in that way.
But we are and we'll be getting more information next week as well. And we'll go we'll go forward with that. And that's it. All right. Thank you, Doctor Chesky. Absolutely. Yeah. A number of things have already been brought up. As was mentioned, the budget, is, both House and Senate budgets did drop today. I sent the board a summary of some information. The devil is, is in the details, as they say, with respect to the state budget, in particular, the language. So we'll be digging into that even further. It does appear, in all three, including the executive budget,
about approximately $250 increase, which is about two point, what, 3% ish or so, increase, which is what we assumed, in, in building our budget moving forward. So, we're close in terms of that assumption and but we'll wait and see what some of those other potential categorical funding, all of those things, what impact that might have on the budget moving forward. But that's something we're keeping a close eye on. A number of, of the activities have been mentioned. I'll mention a few that may be, that haven't at this point, we are the, each year,
our elementary students, work along with middle school and the high school environmental science to, to raise salmon in the classroom. And those are released at the end of the year. So that salmon release date is the 30th of April five, 5:00 at Riverbend Park in Shelby Township. So those little salmon will be released and hopefully they'll make it to wherever it is they're going there. Yeah, but, that's a that's always a fun always a fun day. I know our students really enjoy enjoy doing that. I will also mention that, open Air fest will take place in May.
That is an opportunity for, students to demonstrate their artistic abilities. It'll be at Troy High. So you'll hear more about that in upcoming newsletters. But that's May 15th are the incredible kids ceremony, takes place, that is supported by the Troy Coalition. 630 that will be on the 29th. So that's next week. And that, at the Troy Community Center. So you could go and see the, the art show at the same, at the same time to, to there. I'll also mention the, the, student advisory boards middle school leadership conference will take place in this room on May 22nd.
It's where we bring eighth graders, a group of eighth graders from each of our middle schools together. And the, student advisory board, sets a day of leadership training for those students in preparation for their, for their step into high school. That the following year, I want to two other things. I want to acknowledge our our students from the hammerheads this evening that spoke I, I will I will share and I was going to share this week in my update with you all that, Mr. Trudeau has been working with the, executive board for the, the, Robotics Foundation.
And we are in the process of seeking, some solutions to the space issue that would be outside of our buildings. So that is that is in the works. More to come on that as, as, opportunities to visit and, and site visits that will take place. And our goal here is to identify a space, in the short term, that will meet our needs as a, as a community. Certainly the students laid out the number of students that we have participating
and so forth, the space necessary to have a practice field to build to do all of the things necessary, to do that would allow our high caliber of of, students, to continue to grow, and, and develop. So more to come on that, as we, as we seek that, that space moving forward, our goal long term is to have that space, built out within our buildings. But until we get to that point and our goal is to find a suitable spot. So again, more to come on that. Lastly, I mentioned the, central Office will be moving back to or that
our group will be back into central office on May 4th. So, Central Office will be open for public on May 4th. So no longer needing to come to this building. I know the folks here are eager to get rid of us, and push us into that building. So we look forward to, to making that move at the end of next week, and then we'll, officially be in that, that building for, our maybe not our June. We'll talk about our June meeting. We're thinking about moving our June workshop because it's June 1st. That is, because, we have some we were a little later
in terms of retirement, acknowledgments this year. Normally our we would we would celebrate our retirees in the middle of May at the May at the May meeting. I've given we may need a little bit more time for that or we're thinking about moving that to June 1st, giving us a few extra weeks. So we would do the retiree reception, prior to the workshop on May 1st. And we would move that to Troy High to June 1st. Excuse me. So June 1st, the goal is to have that retiring reception 5:00 in the cafeteria
at Troy High, and then we will convene the workshop in the media center. Okay. All right. And yes, I am wonderful. Thank you. I want to start off with, congratulating Mr. Plateau and Doctor The for presenting the Cap program at our NAB conference. A lot of interest. Quite a few people wanting to know how to connect with the businesses in the community and how to have a great relationship like that. Had a chance to attend many interesting sessions.
Is, one session included, including student voice in the board decision making process? I think that was from the Minnetonka school district that I've attended, and another one I attended how to engage the community in advocacy in all levels. And then also I've attended a session about curriculum adoption and review process, an in-depth review of that. I did get a chance to go to, and I ISD's high school campus, which has three high schools in the same campus
where they're focusing on different aspects of career readiness. The community there is, quite different from us. And, there's a lot of, certification driven high school, readiness so that they can go off to work like pharmacy tech or, any kind of things. And it's very, very interesting to see how they focus on various things. It's I, I always enjoy visiting the other schools and how they do stuff, more than the conference itself. But I've learned a lot. Thank you. Since our last meeting, I got a chance to go to the Iowa East Art show.
It was really nice. I got to see all the great art, artistic displays from our IEEE students on Saturday, I got to go and watch lemurs at the very first Troy United Theater Company production. It was amazing. Yes. We didn't sell that well enough. It's still an opportunity to go see. But, I mean, they really brought out the talent in our students. I didn't know they could sing that. Well. Service. I mean, it's truly amazing. It was so, so congratulations to Mr.
Rakers. Miss Koby and Mr. Nothings and everybody else who made that happen. Definitely. Very well done. Yes. And then back to the math curriculum. I know many of you spoke about it. It's I do want to emphasize some things that were already talked about. It is important to note that current curriculum changes take time. And, usually 3 to 5 years is what they say. And the session I attended as well talked about all of those as well.
And in our case, our implementation range from less than one year for our eighth graders to almost three years for our sixth graders. We got great feedback from our students, parents, teachers, and we've been reviewing all the data very thoroughly and carefully. I believe focus group discussions with our teachers are in progress. Our teachers have given us very thorough and very open feedback on our curriculum and areas that we could potentially see improvements or do improvements.
So I would say there are many, many options that we are looking at. Accelerated pathways, more practice resources to develop fluency, support our students and teachers and parents with the tools. All of these are on the table. We will be reviewing all this information next week, and I promise you that we're going to. We are committed to make the necessary improvements to best support our students and our student. Success is our priority. And that's all I have.
Next workshop is next week. Next Tuesday, April 28th right here. And our next meeting is on May 19th. Three weeks from now. Anything else? If not, meeting adjourned.