The first item on our agenda this evening is the roll call for those Board of Education members who are present. Trustee Goodrich, could you perform the roll call, please? Certainly, madam president. Trustee Sutton Kennedy. Present. Trustee Fields. Trustee Goodrich, I'm here. Trustee Townsend. Here. Trustee Espy. Vice president Lee. President Hawkins. Here. We have all board of education members who are present this evening. The next item on our agenda is the pledge of allegiance. At this time, I would like to invite everyone present to join us in reciting of the pledge. I pledge allegiance to the 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. Next is the acceptance of the agenda. Is there a motion at this time? Vice president Lee move that the Board of Education accept the agenda as presented. Thank you. A motion has been made by vice president Lee. Is there support for this motion? Support. Trustee Sutton Kennedy. Thank you. Supported by trustee Sutton Kennedy. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Next, that takes us to item four under achievements, awards, and recognition.
And at this time, I would like to turn it over to doctor Zachary Ross. Thank you, madam president. We are very fortunate today because we have one of our magnet schools here. We have our very own principal, Daniel Young, with his team from Ford early learning Ford's STEAM early learning center with their points of pride. Welcome. Yes. Great. So thank you to our board members, our superintendent, and district staff, to our community
and families. Thank you all. I am Daniel Young, the principal of Ford STEAM Early Learning Center, and it's been taking me some time to get the word STEAM even though we've been to STEAM school now. And I noticed, like, on the, interview that we did on the news, I said Ford early. I was like, no. But, but, I I just thank you for this opportunity for us to share the great work that we've been doing at Ford. And so oh, before I begin, we are going to call up Isley Angle, who's
gonna make a presentation here. Excellent. Hi. My name is Aisling, and I go to Ford. You're welcome. Thank you for helping us. Here are some seeds and plants in my garden. There are some seasons from plants from my garden. So all of these plants that you all will be receiving tonight are straight from our garden in our courtyard. And, of course, we have some, great northern beans growing. I think those are the tall ones. Maybe some carrots and some radishes. Thank you so much.
Thank you so much. This is beautiful. It's good. Your full work? What kind of man is it? Do you know? The beans? Nice. Thank you. Okay. Surprise. Be surprised. Thank you so much. Thank you. Yes. Yep. So, a lot of the work we did last year and last year was our first year as, of our first year of implementation where we began to roll out our plan as being a STEAM magnet school. And, we did a huge project that is, was really based around our courtyard.
I wish I had some before pictures because it didn't look like that before. And so, our preschoolers our preschoolers project was to create a recipe book using ingredients that we grow in our garden, and those are the recipe books that are being passed out to you now. Those were created in all of our, various preschool classrooms created these books. And, of course, we gave them out, and that's just something for the community to have to know what kinda ingredients you can use in different recipes.
Our kindergarten students, they are the ones who actually designed the courtyard. We had some community partners come in that are also designers of, gardening spaces. So they could, connect it with our students and with miss McKinstry in our Maker Space classroom. And all of the different classrooms, they all created how they wanted our courtyard to look. So if you actually come and see it, you'll see that some of them are clovers. Some of the planters are clovers. Some of them are hearts and things of that nature because that's what the students drew.
And so they all each class had different drawings. And, of course, it was just a collaboration piece where our scholars literally designed that courtyard. So, first grade, our first grade students, if you look at the picture at the top, that's a couple of our previous first grade students, and they created, the process for composting. And so they have began the composting that is still going on at our school now, but this is these are the students who began that work. Of course, now they're all, our first graders are second graders now, and our kindergartens are our current first graders, and our preschool students are now our kindergarten students.
So this is the great work that we have began doing. Oh, and there's some seed packets coming around to you as well. Alright? Alright. So so feel free to go ahead and just grow, grow, grow. Thank you so much. Uh-oh. I don't know what oh, that's what I did. Hit the wrong button. Okay. So, some other pieces that happened in our first year of implementation is that we now have an innovation lab, and we have the makerspace. I don't have a picture of the makerspace. I'm sorry, miss McKinstry. The makerspace is where a lot of the other classes go on.
Like, our preschoolers, they come to the makerspace on a biweekly basis, and they create they do robotics, things of that nature, and so do all of our other classes. They all rotate through the maker space. And this is just where they're creating, just various ideas and building just steam projects on a weekly basis. New for 2025 is the music innovation lab. That would be well, innovation lab. I put music in front of it, but I'm a musician. But, it's our innovation lab.
And what we do, we have our first graders. They actually have a beat making club where they learn how to make music. And those are the systems that we are using this year in order to bring that to fruition. Also, in that same room, that's where students will learn to do video edit editing and podcasting. What happened, we have a podcasting setup. Miss Burnett is here, and she leads our podcasting. And just our overall school wide STEAM projects and robotics for our grades preschool through first grade. Also, if you look at the picture at the top, it is our Lou interactive
playground. It's a indoor playground where it goes into the gym, and the wall is actually interactive with students. It's touch activated. So there's many games where students are working on coordination, gross motor skills where they're throwing balls at the wall. And so these are things that were made possible through the magnet grant. So this year, 2526, we're looking at creating outdoor learning spaces. And, of course, we have a lot of field trip experiences. Even this month of October, there's probably more, field trip days than not field trip
days. So our students are taking turns because we can't take the whole school at one time, so they are all, staggered on the trips that they're taking. And every trip that we take is intentional, it's planned, and it's in alignment with, whatever it is that we're doing. So now we're talking about the outdoor learning. Also, we're still continuing, the ongoing work of the garden. So a lot of the field trips are about going to gardens, about going to the apple orchard, and, of course, that's a real popular one anyway, but it's really about growing and how to have outdoor learning spaces.
Innovation in STEAM early learning and which this is very interesting to me. So we hosted the Seamus summer twenty five institute at Ford, and, actually, there's a conference coming, for national place based education. The conference is coming, and so the preconference will also be held at Ford. And in the CMUS community forum at EMU in May, we had six first grade scholars who who made presentations. And the thing is is that this work that we're doing, we didn't intend on
getting all this attention. It's drawing attention of other people. This is why I'm saying we're becoming innovators, and I'm I'm coming to this realization that that's what's really going on. But that wasn't our intent. Our intent was just to provide excellence to our students. And just through doing that, all these other places are we're attracting attention where people want to come to Michigan and actually look at for to see the great work that we're doing. So that is definitely a, point of pride. And once again, the intent was excellence.
The intent was to give our students wonderful experience, real play, real project based learning, and this is the result of it. So here's our news story, and we were on the news the other week. Right. So that's just a little news bit that was on the other week. And so we're we're very proud of the work that we've been doing. And so this is a picture from our ribbon cutting at the moment that the ribbon was actually cut, it was a great celebration. We had all the entire first grade class. Some of our kindergarten classes were out in the courtyard at that time, and this
is the same day as the news story. And word just got out, so, these are just some great things that's happening. Uh-oh. There we go. Okay. So another piece that has really taken off is the work that happens in our media center with, mister Sean Brandon. And so there's a number of things that came through the media media center and the work, just throughout the district, but, the book vending machines, of course, that's in many of the schools, and that is work that came through the media center. And there was, some partnership with, the mural artwork.
It's a team of people who does murals inside of schools, and you can see the artwork that's on our walls in our media center. Also, there's some partnerships with ongoing guests. So we have an ongoing partnership with the EMU football team, and they come in and they read stories to our students. Beanstack is one of our reading award rewards programs where we track how much students are reading, and it's just to get them excited about reading. And, of course, this year, we have the Scholastic Book Fair that's coming back this month. And, also, it's very important that students learn typing, and it's very difficult at this
age. So we try to introduce it to them as soon as possible. So there is a first grade typing class, and we show students how to do keyboarding in media center as well as the media club, which is one of our clubs that's on a different slide, and, of course, the photography and videography of what's going on in building events. All of these things come through our media center. So some building updates is we have some new tables and new seating for our media center, so we have some upgrades. And that same team in partnership with Avery Williamson and Simple Minimalist, these are the
people who do the murals for us. So that is a mural where the students are drawing on it, and it's actually up in one of our in our main hallway when you enter into the building. So these are just some of the partnerships. And, of course, as you can see, it's about flowers and things we wanted to tie everything that we did in to our project based learning. And, also, of course, we have new landscaping. That is awesome. Awesome. Thank you all so much. And the building, painting, everybody comes in and say, oh, it looks so beautiful in here, and it really does. So we really just want to share those things that, we wanna have the best
for our students. Right? They deserve the best. And so, also, we have a new ASD classroom at four, and that is this year, for students with autism spectrum disorder. It addresses a district need. So what we noticed was that, we had students, a number of students with ASD coming into, the the district, but, we didn't have enough spaces for them. So, miss Jordan and I, we collaborated on a way to make more spaces. And since we had, Puente starting up, they opened up a classroom in our building.
So we collaborated and say, what can we do? How can we do this? So we opened up a new ASD room at Ford. And so we have now six additional places for students with ASD to be able to, really meet their needs that they have. So we're also a Michigan Green School. Right? So this also happened and is really out of the work that we were doing with, our PBL and courtyard. And so, we are certified emerald, which means that we had to do 15 activities. Right? Miss okay. Oh, 18.
18 activities that show that we are being green. So we are actually an official Michigan green school. And so just some strategic supports that we're doing because I always gotta talk about academics. What are we we talk about all these other pieces and, of course, the act academics is coming through the project based learning. But also some things that we've offered last school year, and we're gonna do it again this year, is the after school tutoring. We have reading core. We also do a program with Read With Kids where volunteers come in four days a week and read with our students during breakfast time.
Title one academic competitions. We have an annual math jeopardy competition. Miss Wilbanks, she's here, and she, hosts that and facilitates it. And we also have an annual sight word Olympics, and that's with miss Bogoski. And so new this year is, our specials teachers. They had a little extra time in their schedule. So what we did was we collaborated with the first grade teachers and set up interventions that they can go into the room and work with students that, that had some unfinished learning, and we want to make sure that we are closing the gaps
for any unfinished learning for our students. So that's the new piece where they are strategically placed with other classrooms. And, also, we are doing small groups in with kindergarten support. So we have, a schedule where a certified teacher goes in during small groups to help, create more small groups for our students to address the needs because we wanna get them learning as soon as possible. So these are just some of the strategic supports that we're doing. And our STEAM clubs, this is a really big piece. So if you look on the right where it talks about STEAM club offerings, these
are all of the clubs that we offer at Ford. This is a every Friday thing, and we were actually doing this before we became a STEAM magnet school. So this is something that we were already doing. And Friday clubs are, we have a, flex schedule on Fridays, which allows the families and their students to choose all families choose one of these clubs that they develop in. Of course, you see the music innovation club. I'm Tooting my own horn, of course, and and that is where they but you can see the various options that are offered, robotics. We have glee club, art club, science club, Lego clubs, pad podcasting, media club.
So all of these various things happen at Ford on Fridays, and we're about to start on October 24 because we gotta get all the students signed up. Also, if you look, the bottle cap garden miss McKinstry, can you please come to the mic and talk a little bit about the bottle cap garden? And she's our steam coach. Yes. This was done by the k one steam clubs and missus, Turbe's Spanish immersion class. And so we took bottle caps, and we made art out of it. And our k one students placed first place against, fifth and sixth graders in Washington
County. So we're really proud of them. So bottle cap garden won first place in the, recycling art contest for Washington. So they got a pizza party, and it was a lot of fun. We're so proud of them. Thank you. And and so you know what? I didn't even mention it. Thank you. She brought something to my memory. When I'm talking about being innovators, deal about what's happening at Ford is that we're preschool through first grade. The things that we're doing, you usually see those as schools that have much older students. But, I mean, we just believe in our students. You know?
If we give them the opportunity, they will rise to the occasion. And so right here, this is just an example of one of our steam clubs. It's the news club. So it's just a little sample of the kind of things we do with the news club. And so this is a just in case you missed it. So, it's the last slide. Alright. So Imagine Learning. So we were using Imagine Learning, and we're not using it anymore as a district. But when we were using it, they designated us for two years in a row as a school of excellence. So you'll see one of the banners that's hanging up outside, but that is the
most recent banner that they sent us. So that was two years, and I believe that we would've continued, but we're no longer using that program. Embracing our differences, if you look at the artwork at the top, that artwork is actually created by our students, and it is displayed the banner is currently displayed at Riverside Park in Ypsilanti. So if you go there and you see that banner, that banner was created by our art club last school year, our art steam club. So it's a giant banner is out there. So, also, this is hot off the press, Ford's, dream big award nomination.
So My Future Fund, for was recognized as having the highest family engagement or largest percentage of families who claimed their $475 bonus deposit, for MyFuture Fund. So these are just some things, and that just came in. So I just wanted to be sure that I shared I was trying to share as much as I could without taking too long. But thank you all so much, and I greatly appreciate you all. And everybody who's from four, please stand. Alright. Now Jason isn't standing, but he was very important. He's now a parent, but he was very important in the garden work.
I mean, he came and he sweated for days, and I'm talking about he was there all day for a number of days. So we thank him as well. But thank you all, so much for your support and everything that you all do for the district to make this work possible. Thank you. Right. Oh, oh, what questions might you have? There we go. There we go. There we go. Thank you, mister Young, for this, outstanding presentation and especially, huge thanks to the staff and the parents and caregivers and our our special, presenter this evening who delivered, these
beautiful plants, to us. We just wanna give you another round of applause before we turn it over to the board for comments or questions. Thank you. Vice president Lee, trustee Fields. No. Of commercials on TV. But, anyway, I wanna know how are how the kids really like that because I wanna come over and play that. I'm just gonna be Oh, feel free to come over and use it. It is open for the gym classes. And even, I'm thinking about last year, we, had a vacancy in our PE class,
so we rearrange the special teachers. So the special teachers had began to run the class, and it was so helpful them for them to actually be able to engage in those activities. So if they had to teach gym that day, they operated the Lou Interactive Playground, and it keeps the students extremely engaged. Yep. Yeah. I thought it would. Yeah. I like that kind of thing. Awesome. You're welcome. Thank you, trustee Fields, vice president Lee. For your after school tutoring, do you provide, transportation after school?
No. There is no transportation after school. Is there any way to provide transportation after school? I could collaborate with the transportation department and find out to see what we might be able to make happen. Okay. That would be great because I know a couple of families. They wanna get their kids in the after school tutoring program, but they just don't have the transportation to get them home. Right. That has been an ongoing barrier Yes.
And collaborating with transportation to see what might be able to happen. Okay. Thank you. You're welcome. Thank you, vice president Lee. Any other board comments or questions? Thank you again. Thank you. Thank you. Keep up the great work. Yep. Next, that takes us to National Custodial Day. I will take turn this back over to doctor Zachary Ross for the next three recognitions. Thank you, madam president. National Custodial day is commemorated every year on October 2.
And so on October 2, National Custodial Workers Recognition Day encourages appreciation to the employees who keep our schools and workplaces across the nation running smoothly. And we know this year was an exceptional year at YCS. Yeah. And so custodial workers operate behind the scenes. They are often underappreciated for the hard work they do day after day too. These are the persons keeping schools, our office buildings, museums, our churches, every all of
our buildings clean and maintained while delivering outstanding services and running a well maintained building. They contribute to critical first impressions and the success of many schools. They're the people we call on to give our brick and mortar businesses a polished look. The schools and office buildings look organized and presentable because of our custodial workers efficiently keep everything in top condition. Additionally, their skills save our organizations money.
Well maintained carpets and surfaces last longer. Seasonal updates and maintenance helps our buildings to run more efficiently too. Custodial workers make sure buildings are ready for each season and, and they're running correctly. As a result, the buildings are safer and healthier for those entering them. They also free up time for the rest of the organization to focus on growing our businesses. They help our teaching help us to teach students, and they help us to care for others. The work is physically demanding, and we depend on their positions.
Our custodial workers may work varying shift and possibly in several locations. They may be part of the team or work independently. No matter where they work, this day recognize recognizes their dedication and hard work. At Ypsilanti Community Schools, we honor, respect, and value our custodial staff, and we thank them for all that they do for our students, staff, and our community. Next, we honor National School Bus Safety Week, which is October.
This week is held during the October each year. National School Bus Safety Week is an active and evolving public education program and an excellent way for parents, students, teachers, motorists, school bus operators, school administrators, and other interested parties to join forces and address the importance of school bus safety week. It is designed to promote school bus safety. School districts throughout the country observe school bus safety week.
At Ypsilanti Community Schools, we honor, respect, and value all of our transportation staff. We thank them for all that they do for our students, staff, and community. Let us thank our entire transportation staff during the week of October 20 through October 24. October is recognized as principals' month. Our board has a resolution to celebrate our building leaders.
It says, whereas, national principals' month is a month long event that occurs each October where school leaders are in the spotlight for their endless commitment to being principals. National principals month devotes the month of October to thank principals for all that they do, and we celebrate these heroes of education and honor our school principals for their significant impact on the success and well-being of our students. And principals are visionaries who lead us in providing the best possible education to future
generations, and we thank these school leaders for all they do. And an important part of ensuring that the students of Ypsilanti Community Schools can fulfill the potential of a bright future is providing students with a rigorous and well rounded education. And principals set the academic toll for their school. And it is their vision, dedication, and determination that provide the mobilizing force for student achievement achievement and success. The effort of our school leaders is tireless in the pursuit of excellence in education.
And principals are a vital part of our students' education as they set the academic tone for their schools by working collaboratively with teachers and staff to build high academic standards, set performance goal, and utilize best practices for achieving the those goals. And a secret to student success is a well run school, and the key to that is a great principle. From leadership to teacher evaluate To student discipline and more. School leaders have an important role, and principals are leaders who work tirelessly to ensure
the success and well-being of each student in our learning community, and great schools have great school leaders. Be resolved that the Board of Education of Ypsilanti Community Schools encourages parents, guardians, and our community to learn more about the contributions of our school principals and the roles they play to ensure every child has access to high quality education in a safe, supportive environment, and let them know how appreciated they are.
Thank you, doctor Zachary Ross, for reading that resolution to celebrate our building leaders. Is there a motion at this time to accept the National Principles Month resolution? Madam president, I move that the Board of Education approve the national principals month resolution as presented. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Goodrich. Is there support for this motion? Support vice president Lee. Thank you. Supported by vice president Lee. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Before we move to the next item, which is number six on our agenda, I
just want to pause and and just thank doctor Zachary Ross for acknowledging and recognizing National Custodial Day, National School Bus Safety Week, and National Principal's Month. If we can give everyone in our district a round of applause. That takes us to item six, which is a request for a closed section under section eight one h o m a attorney client privilege. Is there a motion at this time? Madam president, vice president Lee, with that the board of education going to closed session pursuant section eight, one h of the Open Meetings Act to consider material exempt from
public discussion or disclosure under state or federal statute. Thank you. A motion has been made by vice president Lee. Is there support for this motion? Support trustee Townsend. Thank you. Supported by trustee Townsend. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. The Board of Education will convene in closed session at 07:28, and we will return to open session after that time. We will leave and convene in another room and come back to this room and finish the board business. Okay. The time is 09:06.
The Board of Education is reconvening back in open session. So at this time, I would like to, ask the board to consider, two amendments to the agenda. We know that we had a closed session this evening, and members of our public wishing to address the board have been sitting here. So we would like to, amend the agenda to agenda to move public comment before the presentation. And we would also like to add an item under that would be called other
at the end of the agenda. That would be after all of our action items. Madam president, I I'd like to move that we amend the agenda, suggested to move public comments to to right now before our CTE presentation and to add an additional action item after twelve. I second? That is correct. Thank you. A motion has been made by, trustee Goodrich supported by trustee Espy. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. We will now move into public comment.
And at this time, I will read the public comment protocol and invite members of the public to come up and address the board. Pursuant to to board of education policy zero one six seven point three, the board recognizes the value of public comment on educational issues and the importance of allowing members of the public to express their views. Please limit statements to three minutes in duration. Participants shall direct all comments to the board and not to staff or other participants. No person may address or question board members individually. All remarks shall be made in a respectful and professional manner.
And that is our protocol official protocol. I would just also like to add that any public comments made at our meeting this evening, we will acknowledge members of the public. We usually follow-up with members of the public by way of an email. And then if there is a follow-up required by administration, they will do that as well. So I just wanted to make sure members of the public know that there will be follow-up if needed, after these meetings, but there's always an acknowledgment to each of our members of the public, thanking them for their participation and engaging in with the
board, and sharing their thoughts and remarks with us. The first person that I would like to call up this evening to address the board is Jeremy Haley. Absolutely. Gilda Miles. I'm here. Gilda Miles, you are up. I'm here. Good. How are you? Bless. And thank you, Jeremy. My name is Gilda Miles, and I'm not sure if I need the microphone, but I'm a retired proud Ipsy educator for over thirty years. Started out teaching, moved up to administration. Actually, the first and I'm sharing with this so you understand when I share the
leader when I'm here, you'll get you'll get it. I have, I apologize. I may be having a little motion as well. I started out teaching, went up to, where I actually created our business first alternative program called new directions, which is at that Fletcher School. Student named it. We went to Belleville. A woman named Julie named our building. And when they started making cuts, I went back into the classroom.
When I started out at Adams. Some of you may have know Ma Forbes. That's who I replaced. And I'm just gonna be honest and transparent since I heard some of you speak that. I was all about the the child and their expectation. I didn't care if you had an IEP. And I said I didn't care. I care, but their expectation to be you can still hear. So when I had a five check before you send the kids to my room, did you have a one on one with that job? Did you make a parent contact? Did you even go to their parent's house?
Did you allow that time intervention with the social worker or or the counselor? And most importantly, did you just let Johnny with the suit and sit there and take a shit with it? And if you didn't do that, then guess what? I would say when you can go back and they should try those five things before we bring them to file off as principal. Because if I'm gonna let the child chill, do what he or she do before I say you got to go. Why is that important? Because at the time when I came in, the district was starting to change, and
the director was starting to change. I'm standing here before you because the kids I had in New Direction, the young lady did it because she was a New Direction because she had a what I can't do. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. I'm not gonna do it. I'm I'm okay.
So I say that to say, a couple weeks ago, we had a situation with a young man who was still on Washington. That young man I knew at that middle school. Now now I won't mention the name, but that's touching. So so that following day following Monday, I go to the middle school, and I just showed up. I know where the time is coming from. And I met I said, doc I called doctor. I said, can I call from you? And he looked at me and he To the house, the job, I dramatic, I didn't care.
And I told them, your child needs to be from their parent meeting. So I'm gonna ask you, what was it? What's inside of this app? C. What's inside of this app? Yes. Nutrition. Yes. What's inside now? Someone that's over there. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. Yeah. You did say C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C. C So that's what you're doing is helping. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Continue the final way to make that. Thank you for listening to.
Because we're losing. Mhmm. And I'm here to say, even though I'm retired, that I think most Mhmm. Sometimes I do get that. Yeah. You know? Yes. Same. Same. Thank you. Thank you, miss Miles. We appreciate everything you shared this evening with us, and I assure you that somebody will be back in touch with you. So thank you for waiting on us to share this with us. But please feel free. I don't know if anybody wants my phone number or whatever. I'm glad to share.
But it's a team effort. It's a team effort, and I'm I'm I'm grateful. I'm grateful. You're gonna need to. Oh, yes. No. Thank you. Thank you all for listening. God bless you. Yes. Thank you. Let me ask oh, one more thing. I have met I've spent over a $100 so far since I've been a man's death meeting with I've met with the police director. I'm scheduled to meet with Walter. I'm sure. I have met with mister Davis, still one week with, doctor and and I'm meeting
with young people. I'm also connected with a lady who's in Ann Archer. Her first name is Denise. And so you may have already heard this. These are gun locks that, you know, she's willing to school to one of them to pass out their free that we can share. But I I can't Thank you. Jeremy Haley. Thank you. And that was something else. Jeremy Haley, Ypsi Township. Good evening, everyone. What I like to talk about is the behavior of some of these students that
I've been seeing from Ypsi on my street and stuff and what's been going on at the start of this summer and stuff. And I'm here to ask you guys opinion, advice as what I should do because I already got advice from the community neighborhood action officer, which is Washtenaw County Sheriff, and they they basically said I should call the cops out. I'm here to ask you what how I should approach this this situation. And this summer, it started basically the kids down the street from me.
They're in the road, refusing to move from the road as you try to drive by. When you drive by, they rush the car and smack it all over. Not a very safe behavior at all for me or for them. And that happened through the summer. And just recently, the kids, as they're eating, they'll drop their garbage in people's yards along the road street and just leave it in their yards. And when I saw one, they picked it up.
I thought he picked it up and put it in trash, but, no, he picked it up and curled it up and put it in my bush in my front yard. Recently just driving to go to appointment. Group of young teen girls were at the corner in this road trying to make a right, and one of them started twerking at me in the middle of the road, not moving. I didn't wanna see that. I don't need to see that. And that twerking movement is a I don't know if anybody's told you about it. It's basically assimilated sex act of a woman on top of a man, pretty much.
Nobody. You know? But then after that, car got rushed with the kids banking on it. Just recently, there's a couple teen boys. My girl was walking. I saw him because I was outside closing things up. Whole way down the street, the boys were wrestling, wrestling around, knocking things over. When they were wrestling around in my yard, I had three the three compost cans out. They knocked the middle one out pretty much wrestling, smashing it, knocking it halfway out
in the road, the content spilling, and they just left it and just walked away. And just recently, this, what, cup not this Saturday, but this Saturday, previous, couple same girls were in the middle of the road at 12:30 at night with their phone on the road making dancing videos. People drive through there hellaciously fast. What should I do with this? I'm asking because I'm at a loss. I don't wanna call the cops then, but on the one night at 12:30 at night, I did because I was very unsafe being in the middle of the road in dark clothing, and nobody can see you.
I'm just asking what should I do. Thank you. Thank you, Jeremy Haley. As shared at the beginning, we will follow-up by email just acknowledging. And if there is someone that you can follow-up with after the meeting today, we will make that connection. Okay? Next, that takes us to our presentation on the CTE millage. At this time, I will turn it over to doctor Zachary Ross. Building your skill, and train their As many of you know, that's Dylan Presley, one
of our, CTE scholars at YCHS. And as you see on the right, these are our, we talk about how we align local industry with our CTE pathways that align to our programs here, and those on the bottom are are secondary options. We really collaborate here at YCS. We know that, right now, people have been asking about November 4.
The ballots are already out, and so people have been asking, well, why is it and what's the connection to our, CTE programs? Why what is it, about November 4, and what is CTE? Because they've heard of it in the past and under different names. And so they've asked again for the local school districts to make sure we talk about what this is. So this is just another short presentation about, what CTE is and what's on the
ballot. CTE, career technical education, it helps students learn by doing. We know it's about classroom learning with that hands on experience and the real world skills. And this is about sparking curiosity, building confidence, fulfilling college and career pathways. It's not about putting scholars in a hole. That's why I love Dylan saying, don't put me in a box. It opens the doors about college, careers, and beyond. And it's not just about high school either.
This is about getting, our scholars to high wage, high skill, and in demand careers. So it's all kind of careers. When we're talking about not just about the welding, things, it's about cybersecurity, engineering, health sciences, robotics. It is welding and construction, and there's more. And so what's before the voters, it is a one mill proposal, and that millage would expire after ten years. And if if proposed, it doesn't come to the locals.
It goes to the WISD, and it reimburses the locals for our CTE expenses. And it's the whole countywide, so you see all the school districts along the bottom. It impacts all the school districts, including YCS, and it is preschool through, high school. And so right now, there's a huge demand. Washington County's CTE enrollment has grown by 69% over the last four years, putting lots
of scholars involved in CTE, but there's still a wait list. As you see, the numbers have increased over the years. They we've done the work, though. It's all about data. Michigan's, youth policy lab did a study saying, you know what? There is there is the need, but the access is still limited, especially for districts like ours. I put this slide together since the last time you saw, saw this.
They had it a different way, and I said, let's just make it real simple. You talk about the access. I'm like, I just wanna I wanted these x's. Look at it. If you see the green is where there's access, and the red is where there's not. I was like, this is simple. Look at that red, all the red across Ipsy. That's the lack of access we have. Because I was like, that's just clear. We don't have access to all those programs on the left. And so I was like, that was simple for me to see. I said, like, this is good.
Just show me the this is this made it real simple for me. I said, boy, oh, boy. That was that was the way I said, yes. Ashley, make this it was clear. I was like, I just need to see that slide when it was like, wow. Our scholars, as much as we have access to, it was surely showed me how even though we have a lot, it we we don't have access to those. And if you look at it across the board, there's no there's nothing that everybody
had access to. And that's what made it clear about Washington County. Like, all the others, we are so we have so much we're we're so resourceful here in our county, but we just don't have access to everything. There's no no nothing across our county, which doesn't make sense because we're so resourceful here in our county. And so how how is that so? Well, we don't have sustainable funding. We have used a state grant funding source in recent years to help us add these new, new funding sources.
So if you look, we have 535,000 in 02/2021, '22, then '2, 2223, 05/7000. Then we got a big boost from the state, 1,150,000.00 in '23, '24, and a big fat zero this year. And so there's not sustainable funding. And so the state federal funding only covers about 28 of our existing CTE, programs. And so we're underfunded by $10,000,000.
And so we use our general operating, dollars to cover the short fund shortfall. And so across our state, 41 ISDs cover, cover most of the funding. And if you look at those red spots, those are the only ones that don't have the CTE millage. And so, as you see, there's a road map. Most people think about CTE, CTE programs in terms of high school.
But if you think about it, the pre k the pre k opportunity is for our scholars to wonder, where they utilize play and imagination. K five is about awareness, where they discover their personal interests. Six eight is about exploration. Nine twelve is about the preparation, and it's for not just college because I know, I know you've always talked about everybody's not just going to college. We agree with you. We agree. It's about college, apprenticeship, workforce, and military, and it's so for everyone.
And so what does that look like? Well, the funds will be used pre k through five. These are just examples. So they're not, like, cut in in stone because, again, across our district. So there's not everything is not needed everywhere. So here's some types. Like, so pre k through five, it might be career exploration camps or project lead the way or first robotics or field trips or touch a truck like we have. Or, sixth through tenth grade, you can see again the Project Lead the Way gateway
curriculum. So that's where you might see that. Or first robotics or, like, drone soccer or career day opportunities. And then in high school, it might be the transportation, like how we do go to dual enrollment at the community college or student organizations or the certification assessments. We know those are very expensive. And so that might be ways in which we see funds used across, districts. And so when is it, the millage election? We know that people have already received things in the mailbox if they, vote at
home. But Tuesday, November 4, who's eligible? People who are in all those in all Washington County districts, they can vote either, in person on November 4 or they have absentee balance balance already. And so this is just informational, but I know people have been asking. So I want to make sure to bring that back, today because people have received these ballots in their mailbox. I know things came. We did one presentation before with doctor Ryan Rowe.
We just wanted to bring that back again. So out of what questions might the board have, if any? I know it's late. Thank you. Questions? Oh. No? Thank you, doctor Zachary Ross. Same. Next, that takes us to our action item under student affairs, which is the acceptance of a field trip, request to Cedar Point. Is there a motion at this time? I move that the Board of Education approve the field trip for YCHS to Cedar Point on 10/31/2025.
Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Espy. Is there support for this motion? Trustee Sutton Kennedy. Support. Thank you. Supported by trustee Sutton Kennedy. Any questions, comments from the board? I just have one quick one. Is there the the budget impact for this field trip, is it coming out of is it fundraising? Students and fundraising, it appears. Students and fundraising? I didn't see it. Thank you. And to also add to that question, they also added in a note that, they're through the fundraising, they will provide assistance to make sure that all students can attend,
who would like to. So when when we usually ask question about that whenever student funding is involved, so I just wanted to make sure to make that note. Thank you so much. Next, that takes us to, Can you read the vote? I'm so sorry. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Next, that takes us to, our second public comment section for this evening, and I don't think, Madam president. Yeah. Consent. We moved public comment up. We did. Thank you. It's late.
Not trying to keep us here longer. I promise. We're on eleven. Because I know we usually have two public comment portions on the agenda. So okay. So consent agenda. Is there a motion, that takes us to the consent agenda? Is there a motion at this time? Trustee Sutton Kennedy, move that the Board of Education approve the 09/22/2025 special board workshop minutes, and two personnel matters as per the presented list dated 10/02/2025, new hires and resignations. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Sutton Kennedy. Is there support for this motion?
Trustee Fields, I support. Thank you. Supported by trustee Fields. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Next, that takes us to our action item under business and finance, which which is the approval of the Blum Blue Interactive Projector purchase for an amount of $82,012.50. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Townsend.
Is there a support for this motion? Trustee Espy, a second. Thank you. Supported by trustee Espy. Any discussion on this item? All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. That takes us now to the approval of the first makerspace purchase. Is there a motion at this time? Trustee Townsend. Go ahead. Go ahead. Go ahead. Trustee Townsend moved at the Board of Education, approved the first makerspace purchase for the amount of $36,930. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Townsend. Is there a support for this motion?
Trustee Fields, I support. Thank you. Supported by trustee Fields. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. That takes us to the approval of the Apple device purchase. Is there a motion at this time? Vice president Lee, move that the Board of Education approve the Apple device purchase for an amount of $159,990.70. Thank you. A motion has been made by vice president Lee. Is there support for this motion?
Trustee Espy, I support. Thank you. Supported by trustee Espy. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. That now takes us to the approval of Project Lead the Way of a the project lead the way purchase. Is there a motion at this time? Trustee fields move go ahead, fields. One day. Alright. Trustee SB moves that the board of education approve the project lead the way purchase for an amount of 31,958 and 15¢. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Espy. Is there support for this motion?
Support vice president Lee. Thank you. Supported by vice president Lee. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. We are now at the adoption of a resolution to designate a representative and alternate representative to Middle City's Risk Management Trust. Is there a motion at this time? Trustee Fields. Yay. Yes. We got it. Board of Education adopt the resolution to appoint a representative and alternate representative to Middle City's Risk Management Trust, making the director of the business finance representative and director of
state and federal programs the alternate representative. Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Fields. Is there support for this motion? Support Townsend. Thank you. Supported by trustee Townsend. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Are there some questions? Can you can you elaborate on that for me, somebody? The designee? What does what does exactly what does it mean exactly? I'm just wanna understand. The well, I will let doctor Zachary Ross interject. But just briefly, I will say that previously, we had someone named as the designee,
and we're switching it so it's the title. So it's not based on who is in that role. It's based on the title. So it's just the director. So whoever is the director at that time Thank you. Versus you just I just need a clarification. Oh, you're good? Yeah. I'm good. Alright. Okay. Yes. Mhmm. Don't we have to have someone's name in here? No? Mm-mm. Okay. Nope. Yeah. They prefer just the just the title. So if people switch, you just have a title. Right. Okay.
Yep. Good questions. We already voted. Did we vote? We did. Yes. Okay. But trustee Fields, your question was answered. Next, that takes us to the acceptance of Expansion. The expansion of the one eighty program at Erickson Elementary School. Trustee Espy, I move that the board of education accepts the attached quote for the expansion of the one eighty program for Erickson Elementary School for the amount of $40,300. Thank you. A motion has been made by oh, a motion has been made by trustee Espy.
Is there support for this motion? Support Townsend. Thank you. Supported by trustee Townsend. Any discussion or questions on this item? Seeing none, a motion was made by trustee Espy, supported by, trustee Townsend. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. And next, that takes us to the donation section, and that's from the YCS Foundation. Is there a motion at this time? Trustee Espy, I move that the Board of Education accepts a donation from the YCS Foundation for $5,000. Trustee Espy, donation from the YCS Foundation for $5,000.
Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Espy. Is there support for this motion? Support vice president Lee. Thank you. Supported by vice president Lee. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. Thank you for the donation from the YCS Foundation in the amount of $5,000. That now takes us to other item 13, which is our action item. Is there a motion at this time? Madam president, I move to give the superintendent the authority to resolve the case in question in accordance with the recommendations of legal counsel.
Thank you. A motion has been made by trustee Goodrich. Is there support for this motion? Thank you. Supported by trustee Fields. All those in favor? Aye. Those opposed? That motion carries. That now takes us to, our second public comment portion for this evening. Have any public comment cards come in? Thank you. Excuse me. Yes. Before we move on with that last vote, make sure it's six to zero because I didn't know. A few sections. Okay. I did any one extension, miss Haines? Six.
Yes. Thank you. Next, that takes us to our discussion. I'm sorry. Yes. No. I'm not sorry. It's late. I'm I'm sorry. I'm I'm it's late. Sorry. Not sorry. We are at board of education subcommittee reports. Are there any, subcommittee reports at this time? Yes. Trustee Goodrich. This is really quick because you all know already, but the policy subcommittee met on, September 29, and a major topic of discussion was, exploring the possibility of moving to a new policy provider. And I know that superintendent Zachary Ross and I are are gonna be talking about
the financial implications of that, and that's all I got. Thank you, trustee Goodrich. Other subcommittee reports? Alright. Seeing none, we're gonna move to board superintendent comments. Comments from the board. The only comment I got was, when the game was good, but I didn't only two of us was there for the boots on the ground, so I don't know where the rest of you I was at. We were holding down, trust the fields. I had my hat on and my boots. I just wanted to do. I don't know. Yeah. Well, they saw the pictures. I don't know. What'd you say? They saw the pictures in the video.
Oh, yeah. I know. I'm just saying I was looking for my my other supporters. It was a good time. It was a good time. Alright. I just wanna offer that I'm hearing really good things from the district, with regards to, our new principals in their in their buildings. Mhmm. And that's really exciting to get that feedback, with, the new staff that we've brought in. So I just wanted to put that forward. Thank you, trustee Espy And trustee Fields, any other board comments? Yes, trustee I was able to attend the white coat ceremony for the first time.
It was so nice, cute. I I just love seeing our future, professionals. Very well attended by parents, and I just think it's an excellent, excellent program. And I look forward to seeing it continue to grow. I believe that's fine. Alright. I also attended that white coat ceremony, so I did all those comments. It was a great evening. The students were very proud and looked like future doctors, engineers, whatever they, you know, plan to become. Great, great program, and great support by, miss Ballen Ballen.
Always yeah. Miss Ballen. The only couple of quick things that I have before I turn it over to doctor Zachary Ross is just to thank the board for all their engagement and participation in all of our district events. We have a couple of tours coming up this week, I believe, on the eighth and ninth. Is that the eighth and ninth? Wednesday and Thursday. Yes. So I look forward to joining those board members who are going to be on the tours this week and then to also acknowledge and thank the board for their participation in advance, for continuing the press professional development and learning, at the MASB conference,
which is gonna be from October 23 through the twenty sixth. Doctor Zachary Ross. Yeah. Thank you, board, for your time and commitment today, even being at the board debriefed, earlier. Tomorrow, the driving possibilities oh, Friday resiliency center was honored at the WACC, award ceremony. So congratulations to Teresa Allen for, her work with the resiliency center. Tomorrow, Driving Possibilities will be receiving an award, in through Toyota because of the work
that they are doing with us and Lincoln at the Novi showcase at their it's called the ACE Awards. So it's really nice that, that work is being recognized. There's gonna be a, surprise with Estabrook is going to be a part of the Burlington Coke Factory grand opening. So they're gonna be a partner in that grand opening of, on October 10, so that will be exciting. The YCHS homecoming football game is October 10, so everyone is welcome to come on
out for that, opportunity. The auto collision fundraisers is happening through October 10, so get your cars detailed with our scholars. The Perry Preschool parent meeting is October 13. The the YCHS homecoming dance is October 11 if you wanna see something beautiful. And then the Erickson harvest curriculum night is October 16. So a lot's happening before our next for me. Mhmm. Yes. Alright.
So that's going on. Anything else, doctor Zachary Ross? Alright. And just a huge thanks to, everyone who had a hand in organizing and making sure we have the tours ready to be scheduled and taking all the board members and whoever else is joining us around, and and to miss Haynes for always taking care of our professional development needs. I know that we we we are a lot, and, we appreciate you. That's all I will say.
We really do appreciate you. So I just wanna say that publicly because we couldn't get to half of the places we're at without you making sure you are ushering us through that process. So thank you. The time is 09:58. Thank you, board, for hanging. It's been a long evening, but but we've got a lot of work done. And I'll see you sometime this week if you'll be on the tour.