and I would like to call this regular Board of Education meeting to order the first item on our agenda for this evening is the the roll call of those Board of Education members who are present trustee goodr could you perform the roll call please certainly Madam
president trusty Schindler trusty Fields trusty gainley trusty Townsen trusty good I am here president Hawkins here we have six Board of Education members and one who
is absent next that takes us to the Pledge of Allegiance and at this time I would like to invite everyone present to join us in reciting of the Pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one
nation under under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all next that takes us to the acceptance of the agenda is there a motion at this time Madame President uh this is Trusty gri I move that the Board of Education accept the agenda is
presented thank you a motion has been made by trusty Goodrich is their support for for this motion thank you supported by trusty Fields all those in favor I I those opposed that motion
carries next that takes us to achievements Awards and recognition and at this time I would like to turn it over to Dr Zachary Ross and right after that we will go into a presentation which is our special education millage
and I'll just let Dr Zachary Ross keep going from four to five is that okay Dr Z thank you madam president well good evening board members it is such an honor to be able to um ask this person to come up um it's
one of our newest members of the administrative team he came in last year and just hit the ground running and this year started off um over at batty Early Learning Center and if you go in front of that building you'll see just what a
difference a year has made the building looks wonderful and they've even started off the year looking at even more plans on just making even the outside of the building look wonderful as well as doing some things on the inside so I'll just
be making sure to introduce to some but just um bringing forth to others um the batty Elementary principal and director Keenan Atkinson welcome welcome thank you for the nice introduction Dr
Zachary Ross I appreciate it good morning good morning wow good evening everyone how's everybody doing tonight good good so um we have uh our point of Pride uh as you can see that is
the way batty looks now um the outside they cleared up a lot of the brush and um landscaping company has come out and really did some some things that looks a little bit more welcoming than than what it has uh previously so that's something definitely uh to be prideful and point
out next so the first week of school our first day was 93 which was last Tuesday so uh we haven't even been in a full week yet uh at least 80% of our students that did enroll they did actually start
um we did hit some hiccups with uh students not being able to start due to uh immunization um and not having medications but these parents have really been on it I know one parent in particular I've seen her probably about three or four times she's trying to hurry up and get the child's
medication all situated so her baby can start school so that's been um encouraging to see and uh you can see in some of these pictures and that this was the very first day of school the these children were excited especially my man right there to the left uh that's
Emanual um when I started in March uh he was a a little guy that would come in with his headphones on um every day and now to see him excited brigh eyed he speaks and it's
just that's the reason why we do what we do so it's it's definitely an inspiration for um us at batty to keep going next slide so we had our parent orientation um last week on Thursday at
2:30 and Friday at 10:30 uh we had to push it back because the day we originally had it set for was the day when the district was closed so uh you know we we um we prepare for things and we had a a makeup day so we decided to
make it up on both days we went over to parent handbook what to expect uh pedestrian safety which is something every family has to go through uh going into um dealing with head starting gsrp at the beginning of the school year also health and safety guidelines which was
awesome to be able to do because as you find out later on in the slides we now have a nurse there in the building so she was able to go over that um present that part of the slides um and we encourage the parents to volunteer Head Start is traditionally um
in kind hours is traditionally where Head Start gets a lot of their funding from so I encourage them to come on in volunteer uh you know come in and do something I don't care if you put sheets on the kids CS just do something just come and be a part of the building so
I'm hoping that they come out this school year and U really become a part of the building our foster grandparents Grandma Pat and Grandma Dey Grandma uh Dey is the one up top she's normally in classroom four with uh miss
canr and miss um batty and Grandma pat down below is there with uh one of our Rising leaders Ashley Brooks who's in classroom three Miss Brooks and uh Miss Sarah and Grandma Pat is with them uh I was just recently informed last uh last
week towards the end of last week that there's also two additional grandparents that want to come and participate and volunteer a BTY it's a married couple so I think that'll be good so we just won't have grandmothers in the building we can have a grandfather in the building and I think that' be good for the children to
be able to um participate um with as well uh the fun part about the Foster grandparents was when I first got here uh Grand my DD still to this day calls me Mr Williams I don't know why so that's the running joke is I'm Mr Williams in the building
um so far cry from Aton and Williams but that's okay um we uh one day well not one day but they had a um a luncheon and Dr Zachary Ross was there
um and Miss Brooks uh presented did a uh present it as well so just to be able to you know coming in my first couple months and being a part of that I mean it it it it meant a lot and um just to see Grandma D and Grandma Pat's face light up because hey Mr Aon the the new
PR this our new principal here at batty and you know they were showing me off and whatnot so that that felt great that was a wonderful feeling next slide ah new additions and St uh we have Early Head Start coming we
are going to be one of two uh within the ISD to have um INB building uh Early Head Start uh so this is um this is a major major task coming in um we'll be
serving ages 18 to 36 months and I am in the process of transitioning that class which is classroom 8 from being a regular head gsrp room into being an Early Head Start room so we got our furniture in last week uh we're still
getting a few things in here and there still working on Staffing a little bit in that classroom I have one teacher um already hired in over there at that building uh last week the ISD um Dr Zachary Ross and Sue came out as well we went over like the playground area
because the children in that age and Early Head Start have to have their own play ground so we looked at the area and you know went over some some things with the uh the people that go over and um to do those do those type of things so it's
just a matter of me looking at the um the schematics and what might fit best for our group of children um and I'll keep uh definitely keep that Dr Zachary Ross in loop with me on that um as far as new staff goes we uh wow now this is
incredible because when I first got here I was probably down three associate teachers um a nurse and yeah it was just it was it was rough getting here in March um so I am
happy to say we have a new associate teacher Miss Lan cook um she's in classroom seven with uh Miss G uh we have a Early Head Start teacher that came over to us from um from Ford uh she
was a young B teacher but she has her CDA and all that other good stuff and that's uh Miss uh laquandra uh drale and she's um been filling in in classroom one until we open up her classroom 8 which is the Early Head Start room so classroom one is down still down an
associate teacher but miss drale has come in and just feel right on in like it's nobody's business um we also have a new family support specialist Micah Bowers she came over to us from Ford as well she transferred over and she's been a welcome addition um she's really going
to keep us on top of our toes and make sure we keep everything in line as we should uh the one I'm probably most proud of is school nurse and that's Katie O'Neal and She interviewed so wonderfully I did not want to interview anybody else I something in my heart was
like no she she's it so interviewing her and she has come in and I can feel it she's about to be great so I'm looking forward to it um and speech and language pathologist we have Marty Coleman and I can't take credit for that that goes to
Ru Jordan thank you Ruth Marty has come in um she was even uh working with some of the children today so we hitting the ground running around there next slide so coming up soon just a few things to look out for up at B so I do
know in particular you can go to the next one there we go all right so we have the food gatherers coming up um they come in deliver food once a month uh so parents are able to get like
milk other little um grocery items and fruit vegetables and take them home with them uh we have two groups of volunteers coming in we have the washing all promise um group they should probably be in I'm thinking at at the end of the
month uh I know still pin in some uh background checks and all the other uh type of stuff same thing with the U ofm nursing program they come in and volunteer they do a program called Babaloo um which they do uh like some
physical activities with the kids so that should be starting soon as well probably at the end of the month and I have the E up there for emu because we are in Ian so it's always good to include um Eastern Michigan and something uh I know last year they had a
Million Man March at our building um with some of the U men's basketball team participated so we're hoping to get that back started again as well in October I believe it is so that's a lot of the stuff I was talking about and we also have may
dadness coming up uh that will be in May so I'm going be encouraging the guys to come out the men to come out it's always good to see um being involved in their children lives uh me being a father I understand the importance of it uh when
my son was that age he probably didn't like me that much but now he's eight now he's back here and I'm probably one of his best friends so you know is um it's important having that male uh figure in your life so I want to encourage the guys to come out and be a part of that
uh I don't think I have anything else that's upcoming that I want to focus in on uh no that's about it anybody have any questions or anything thank you for this presentation
Mr ainson board members do you have any questions yes go ahead trusty feel okay so I'm give you a little background I originally started with Early Head Starts so I probably dealt in my the entirety of my career probably about half of my career in Early Head
Start so Early Head Start is not much different than regular Head Start the only difference is their age but you're still doing the same things um doing High scope um you're incorporating learning through play socialization all those pieces that come in normally with
regular Head Start it's the same thing they're just younger okay well all right I just I was just curious when I start the age group I'm like oh don't feel bad when I first when I first got into the field I was like I I have to these yeah but it you you'll
be surprised and then um what I did find over my my years of doing it that once they leave early Head Start and they go to Head Start they ready they ready they ready so do you get a strong number that's still new so we don't really know what that looks like as far as like
classroom size yeah and the numbers like you know it's coming out and I'm sure parents would be excited because I I mean if I were a parent had some little ones like I would be excited but I'm just saying yeah well it's only um so the difference is like with regular Head Start there's 16 in the classroom Early Head Start there's only eight um you do
still have two teachers in the classroom um as far as interest and whatnot we we'll have that fully enrolled in no time I um if I I don't know exactly what the
interest numbers are but they're high so yeah that's going to be full in no time and I think this it'll be great for ycs because then we can start off really early like that and cultivating have these children come up all the way through high school and going on to
college so I think you know you we want really want to see the fruits of our labor probably for the next 15 20 years but that's a that's a it's a good start it'll be yeah it's gonna be well wored thank you welcome any other board questions
comments thank you so much Mr ainon all right thank you all have a good evening you too well thank you Madame President I decided to come this way so that I can I can look here and answer the questions I'm standing here as part of the
committee of every child every day ensuring educational opportunities for all as you know we've had a special education millage in this community and been fortunate to have um one for years and it's time now for this community
cons to consider a special education millage renewal it's a renewal that'll be on the ballot uh on November 5th and as you can see on the bottom of this slide it's not just if Community Schools this is a countywide millage renewal so
it includes the WD and all the other local school district districts involved and so the question before the voters that they'll see is um they'll be asked to do a renewal of 23826 millage renewal to cover the
unreimbursed cost that it is for us as a district to provide special education services in our entire County so that 2.38 26 goes to the ISD for all special education students in our entire County
and it would expire over 12 years so this is a long term so we don't come every three years every four years this is a long-term commitment for 12 years for this ask so who's impacted you might say you
might say how many students how many students does this mean in our County and is this that important that we come yes it is because there are over 6,000 students that's one in seven students that are impacted by this millage and
the ages they start from preschool all the way up in Michigan we're very fortunate to up to age 26 years old so it impacts a wide variety of students who receive special education services in our County and go back one a little
bit and we start early on just like you were asking trusty Phils I'm so glad that you did because we start um with nearly 900 children ages birth through three so when our students are identified by
their doctors early on that they need these Services we are able to provide services for students even before school age for birth through three before even entering um our preschool services
so what does that mean for us here in ipsan Community Schools well for us in particular is one in six of our students received these services in 2223 we received
6,374 650 in service in in services from this particular millage think about that six Mill over $6 million that would have come out of our general fund dollars and
so that's why we're super appreciative and so if this millage is not renewed if salanic Community Schools will be underfunded by estimated of $3.85 million and we would need to use our general fund operating cost to cover
the shortfall and so you might say well how is that well and why is it needed well we're mandated we're mandated to by both the federal government and our state government to be able to provide these
services from birth to 26 and we're not fully funded so that's why it's that shortfall of the 3.85 million from our state and federal government we do get 37% of the funding so I'm grateful for that we get 37% of these mandated of
what what's needed to give the mandated special education services that's only 37% the rest of it will fall on the general education fund so washingon County Special Education millage generat
61% of the funds that we use to pay for those services in our local districts and by the way ourmes so our County again is very fortunate so that renewal um would preserve our general Ed funding
and again if it doesn't does not pass that's $57 million on our whole County $57 million to spread out around our all of our local districts all of our ummies and we would need to cover those mandatory costs and so those Mill
millage dollars which is wonderful that go to our taxpayers it comes and stays right here in our um local districts and it remains and is shared by all of the public school districts and our public charters in Washington
County so again who receives it because you might think well it only goes to this particular um disability or this particular group you'll see here that um it is for all students eligible for these services so all the way from autism to those who are visually
impaired all of these persons any of these disability areas because they're all general education students first but if they receive services in any of these areas they their services are paid for um with the support of the dollars we
get from state and federal funds and the millages so again the biggest area people always ask us well what's our biggest area the biggest area for us is learning the area of learning disabilities that's all that has been the biggest area for the um for
the longest time it's the largest group of students receiving the um services and the second area is a surprising one cuz it's one that's not seen often it's not you can't look at a person and know it's not obvious to many people it's speech and language impaired and um
that's one that is oftentimes hard for us to have get providers so it sometimes that that's a very expensive service so we need to make sure we can actually pay for it and then the remaining students who have the disabilities range in the
areas from being mildly impaired to to to very severely impaired and we see those a lot of times in the center-based programs so again to reiterate again where is it we start early on from those
not even in school yet from 03 um who might have developmental delay those Blended learning environments and you'll hear people like who receive like teachers teacher um consultant to Resource room um speech and physical and occupational therapy those trans
transitional supports those are the ones who after they go to school they get out of high school all the way up to 26 those are those transitional support the assist of Technology they might not need a person but they might need a device that's the assist of Technology nursing
school psychology and social work and then also um the professional development that our Educators need to be able to support our spe the students who receive special services in the General Ed environment what staff because it's not
just for the students but the staff so certainly our special education um teachers our special education par professionals that are needed the teacher Consultants who assist the staff um also the special education leaders and administrative support staff are
also paid for out of that funding so again why is it now previously when um when we went to the voters Washington County approved two special education millages and both of
them will expire in 2025 now if renewed we're combining it into just one one operating millage that is going to fund special education services over this 12 years now here's what's important to
know is that if approved there is no tax rate increase no increase this is just asking even though was two going into one there is no increase we're just asking for it to be renewed so again you'll see here if it's a um a taxable
home value currently at $50,000 the current U monthly cost is $993 there's not not going to be a change it'll still be $993 everything stays the same no tax increase but what remember remember what
will happen if it does not pass is that for the local schools specifically for ipsan Community Schools if we don't have it passed we will lose an estimated 3.85 million in special education funding and
it's will have to come out of general fund that will make a huge impact in all of our classes so when is it Tuesday November 5th I'm hoping that everybody who's an eligible voter is already registered to
vote this is important election who then is eligible to vote register voters who are residents of all of our school districts Ann Arbor Chelsea Dexter Lincoln Manchester mil Seline Whitmore Lake and Ipsy I named them all because
if you have friends go tell them too there's Flyers here um just about the millage tell tell tell people about it they're just informational Flyers um just to tell what is it about who who it impacts and how much we're asking
for again this is about every child every day if there's questions there's a QR code I'm available there's things on our website um there's things on the WD website and on every District listed below and what questions you might
have I'm here to answer any questions Zachary Ross for questions or comments I don't really I have a comment um I I agree that this is very important um I have children in my family who
receive these Services my nephew um has been receiving them from birth and um is now at Eastern Michigan University so I I I think that what people need to make sure that they understand is that every child has a civil right to a great education um especially here at ipsan
Community Schools and um I'm very proud that iilani has been very [Music] um responsible during our years of covid managing our funds making sure that we utilize our Co funds properly and it
would be a disservice to us if this was not passed um because it would set us back and I just think that when uh we are sending this message out that we need to just be mindful that every child deserves the right to have a quality
education and so I um fully support this and ask that everyone please share and um if you're not registered to vote you still have time and let's handle the business thank you thank
you any other questions or comments um thank you Dr Zachary Ross I agree wholeheartedly with with trusty towns um and I think um it's our responsibility to make sure we educate each other and also lead with no tax
increase we hear Mill often times and we think our taxes are going up we need to lead with no tax increase and what is to be gain by passing this millage for our local school districts in our count yes thank you thank you next that takes us to our public
comment uh first public comment section for this evening uh Miss Haynes are there any public comment cards that have come in thank you Miss Hayes uh next that takes us to item seven on our agenda which is the consent
agenda is there a motion at this time Madame President this is Trusty good I move that the Board of Education approve the 1 August 5 2024 regular board meeting minutes 2 August 23 2024 special board meeting minutes three
personal matters as per the presented list dat 9423 new 9424 I'm guessing new hires and resignation thank you for that catch uh trusty gutrich a motion has been made by
truste gutrich is there support for this motion trusty shler support thank you supported by trusty Shindler all those in favor I I those oppose that motion carries
next that takes us to item eight which is our discussion uh we have our second reading of our Neola policy updates and at this time I will turn the discussion over to um our chair and committee members for policy to lead us uh through
um these policy updates uh trusty schler thank you madam president um I there's a lot of good information within this agenda about what the different
policies um updates mean for the most part we are adopting policy updates as recommended by niola um which is the company that keeps on top of this for us and many other school boards
um so I think if you just kind of go through um because this is the second reading anyway um one thing I want to note is that we are resending policy 2410 at nea's
recommendation the language around um discussing abortions with um students in schools is changing um that had been prohibited for a long time and the the legislature is
um has has repealed that and so um and so those policies are in flux and so we're just following Neo's recommendations as we um as we continue to provide excellent comprehensive sex
education to our students um so I think that's I the only thing the whole policy committee is here and probably has other things to add so I want to ask if um trusty goodr or Madame President if you have anything to add or of course
obviously the super Ed um I don't know if I have anything to add at this point but um if I do I will um I'll let uh trusty goodr add anything that that she might want to add there
was a comment that I was gonna make on maybe not I have just one quick thing if that's okay so the the only other thing I'll say that wasn't just a straight up um response to the Neola recommendations was the updating we talked about this last
time of policy 01441 um and that's just where we have decided to formally tie the meal reimbursements to the GSA rate so that they are appropriately scaled depending on where um where one is when they're
conducting District business yes the only thing I would yes that yeah that's the if you see the reimbursable fees for meals um as trustee Goodridge pointed out that is the update just so that we are in line with what the the new changes are for that particular
policy um and we had some discussion the last time we met as a board um around the compensation policy but we've already um got some resolution on that so I don't think there are any other outstanding discussion items but
as board members are looking through the policies that we're reviewing tonight um this is an open discussion so if there any questions or comments I know this is our second reading um but if there's anything that board members want to add or share or point out that um we may have missed as a committee please do so
at this time if there are no board comments or questions or feedback are we ready to move to action item number nine okay so that takes us to item number nine which is the adoption of the Neola
policy updates volume 38 number one is there a motion at this time Madame President this is Trusty gri I move that the Board of Education adopt the Neola policy updates as presented volume 38 number one September
2023 thank you a motion has been made by trusty Goodrich is there support for this motion trusty Fields thank you supported by trusty Fields all those in favor I those oppos that motion
carries next that takes us to yeah second package yeah it it read it just was a continuation have a and b uhuh okay so that takes us to um they're just split up into two different sections um is
there a motion um at this time we're on not number nine but we are at B we just adopted a is there a motion um for B Madame President this is Trusty gri I move that the Board of Education adopt the Neola policy updates as presented
volume 38 number two February 20124 thank you a motion has been made by trusty Goodrich is there support for this motion trusty Fields I support thank you supported by trusty Fields all those in favor I those oppos that motion
carries next that takes us to item 10 under business and finance and that is our Michigan alternate route to certific certification agreement Madame President yes I move that the Board of Education approve the
Michigan Al alternate rout certification agreement with a purchase price of 38,000 $338,000 thank thank you a motion has been made uh by trusty Fields is there support for this motion supported by trusty Schindler is
there any discussion on this item board I would like um some further discussion on it just so I'm clarifying this is a separate from what we have with the WD program in eastern yes if Dr casarella or Miss
mccardy this is with the University of Michigan and these are students five in this case have already earned a bachelor's degree and are C seeking alternative Pathways to certification so for the next three
years they're employed by RS while they're working towards their permanent certification we work closely with that program every summer they send us candidates that spend three weeks with us in Grizzly learning camp and um so we
ask is that they give us a commitment through the 2928 school year and in return weay their Mr fees that okay so this is I believe um Mr Davis was over the teachers a couple years ago when he
was doing Grizzly Camp is that the same type of group okay thank sorry to not say it verb yes okay any other discussion or board question thank you so a motion was made by trusty field supported by truste
Schindler all those in favor all those oppose that motion carries next that takes us to the SJ Apple Consulting Group strategic plan for ycs is there a motion at this
time Madam president truste Shindler I moved at the Board of Education approve the SJ Apple Consultant Group strategic plan proposal for the purchase price of $35,000 thank you a motion has been made by trusty Schindler is there support for this
motion thank you supported by trusty gainsley um discussion on this item I'd be interested to hear just a little bit more um you know the the proposal was relatively brief so i' love a little bit more background and it also refers to an 8we timeline and I'm just
curious what what when they would start thank you thank you and I did ask the consultant one of the Consultants to be on the line to answer and I think if Dr naris is there we did look at other proposals like and
this one did not print well and I know they have other other some of the other proposals went through like two school years or other longer programs um one of the one of the um thoughts for ours was
really to make sure that this group got to hear this group of board members really got to be a big part of the of the work and to make sure that um we could start doing some implementing with
our pal group um pal and everyone doesn't know what pal our partnership work with what we're doing at the State of Michigan um with Michigan Department of Ed since this is totally connected connected with myip and so not making it
go so long but to make sure we're hearing from our community but I I'm not the consult Dr Nar H superintendent Zachary Aon oh you can't hear let's see if I put up can you hear me
now part of the question was I don't know if you heard the question about eight weeks the eight week what it looks like and long and can you repeat that yes uh first I just want to say thank you for the uh an opportunity to um uh to be able to work with you on the uh
strategic plan um just to give you a little bit of highlight on our our work and I'll also show you a little bit of an example too I'll share a little bit on the screen um as you already know Street plan is the road map for the school district to guide where they'd like for now either work with their
Community but Dr naris they're gonna our Tech person is can you hear me hello they're switching speakers I know you met with our Tech person
girl um I can hear you can you hear me it's low can hear you but it's low [Music] um hello you hear me
now hello can you hear me now it's better okay all right so um well first again just want to say thank you for the um opportunity to uh work with you creating a strategic plan um as
you know strategic plans are the road map for the school district on where they would like uh students to go how the community to engage and the work um that needs to get done um a part of our work we believe in going through a lot of strategic plans has been to make sure
that uh one is you get the voice of the community um two you're also engaging um as much as possible with various sets of stakeholder not only with the board the superintendent the staff but also to be other community stakeholders that you
have um in that process and so uh what we try to do in our work is we really try to engage as many people as possible as we're also taking a set of notes around what are the hopes aspirations and dreams for for children in the
community but also what are the specific spe ific plans uh um with measurements that's um the district the board and the superintendent and the various uh stakeholder groups want to see happen uh we always say it's a part of uh moving the work around that looking at the
efforts on what wants to be done what's the actual Focus areas and then how do we measure that over time um when you talk about eight weeks uh one of the the main things that we would do immediately is we try our goal is always to gather a lot of information um
um meeting with board members meeting with teachers meeting with principls meeting with bus drivers you know meeting with various people in the community taking those and then creating what we call pillars uh those pillars are the categories that the board
decides with the community what are the main themes of things that they believe are the most important components so they can start to create measurements to get there and I'm going to actually share my screen and show you an example uh because I've always learned uh you
can talk about stuff but letting people visually see it makes it uh whole much more livelier so um let me share my screen so here's an example share here here's an example of
of a work in a district here um so this particular District their focus uh when data was collected was they they wanted as a district to focus on four major areas student achievement of course which is usually the Hallmark and one of
the cornerstones for uh the school system we've yet to see a district not say student achievement so we always know that's that's one but the second is around they wanted to improve customer service and then also how they function operationally and then employee uh development was important to them so
that was kind of the work that they've done and we started to process around making sure that the board and various staff meet together over a set of retreats to begin to tease out that work um this is the area that you see me talk about where we see others we adjust our
efforts and we measure the impact and uh and the the school district is the center of that once you're able to tease out those various uh areas we then will put up what those categories are what what we call initiatives and commitments to action initiatives are what are the
initiatives in the district that you want to accomplish I know the board has put goals together I'm sure of it that we'll be discussing what they are and then how do you make those initiatives actionable and within those actions we then create what they call Key
performance indicators uh for this particular District they wanted to do over a five year span we talk about whether it's a threee or fivey year and then we measure that over years with what we call our kpis and these uh numbers that you see are kpis with the various commitment and that would be for
each of the categories that you have you follow the same set of format so for here customer service was an important factor for them so that's how you do it you notice if you look an example of initiative make every point of contact a welcoming experience well you'd say well
how do you measure that the commitment act will be an improved participation response on customer service satisfaction surveys so surveys will be one of the markers on seeing how families are responding to that to see whether that accomplished and we measure that over time um and so the main goal
goal is as the um plan is created over that time you're then able to make sure that you're monitoring everyone that approaches you get the the the board or any presentation around the Hallmark of the pillars that you're driving the
entire District um as I shared before it's an actual road map and that helps uh to focus in the particular areas when we talk about the eight-week span for us the first week or two is meeting with board members meeting with the superintendent meeting with uh various
teacher groups meeting with principls there's a lot of meetings where we will get um large stakeholder groups kind of focus groups to talk through um a various set of questions and then we're Gathering those questions so we can crystallize those specific areas and
then we work with the superintendent the board and their staff to have a a meeting as well for a retreat for us to discuss what they are so we can start to begin to lay out each of the areas that we have to put it together and then from there um we will have then uh by within
the the end of the eth week a fully baked out strategic plan um one of the goals we'd like to do as soon as the board approves is to come back to you uh to share a timeline for the community we believe it's important all the time for the board and Community to see uh
transparently what the timeline is and so we can kind of execute on that timeline and then we pretty much stick to that all the way through our process I'll stop sharing my screen any questions okay other board questions um
I have a question so I like Department it's much more it's easier to read um and it's more user friendly it looks like it's going to be more user friendly um my question is is you men uh that you will be getting um having
conversations with the communi stakeholders how are those individuals selected yes so we we actually have a discussion with the superintendent and also the board as well around who are the important
community members they'd like so um in some districts sometimes they want to be um a u a stakeholder group like community members could be a community group that they chosen within their Comm to represent each of their areas uh we've done that another way um the the
ones that are the more easier ones we would say is more internal staff uh usually depending on this the size of the district you can do uh you know groups at schools and those pieces to kind of talk through uh but then if you are doing community some you know you'd have to decide and let us know which
community members in terms of stakeholders whether it's um faith-based or whether it's um business or any of those areas and then we kind of work through that or also um there are also nonprofit Partners also we talk to them as well to make sure that we're
Gathering anyone that supports the school system to be able to make sure that we can gather all the information of um so that the as we're building out the board can be aware of each of the areas okay then you mentioned something
about surveys you all issue out surveys correct yeah so so a part of the survey example that I showed was uh in that area where you saw that that board wanted to in that Community wanted to focus on customer service the way they
wanted to measure customer service was um they would give a survey out to see how people would respond uh so if you had more people responding positively than they felt like that would be an indicator that there good customer service that was happening um so that's an example of that what we would do in
terms of gathering information we are going to be on the ground we do on the ground focus groups uh we like to hear directly from people as we're gathering information uh and then as we're building out what the pillars are and what the community wants to measure in
terms of the success for the plan then we would put those indicators in there and then we would put what they call measurements or key performance indicators to say well if we're doing good if people are feeling good about our district for example then we're going to see based on we give maybe you
know they want to either cour L surveys or monthly surveys would be just one strategy to say that that that's happening at a higher level for them thank you thank you other questions comments
yes so just to ask again um when you said a you're imagining you would start quite soon and and be wrapped up by the end of the year is that the the plan frings yes absolutely so if you you say yes tonight we're already we're packing the to to make sure that we start uh
meeting right away um we'll start to engage immediately uh board members individually as well as as a group and also with the superintendent we love to have a a designated Retreat where we actually have you all in a room together um um usually we try to do we'll talk
with the superintendent on on on uh how she'd like to address that but usually what we'll do is we we like to have the superintendent their executive staff and the board together as we're planning a retreat process to lay things out it also helps everyone to be on the same page uh we've learned through the
process is a um it's it's it's important to get right on the same page with language and approach and that helps to facilitate much faster um and then we can be able to um so when we start to lay out the plan uh everybody is on the same page uh uh to
move forward and so one of our first uh asks will be to meet uh with the board individually we'll meet with superintendent and their staff and then put a retreat together immediately uh to have one day to be able to walk through a process and then begin the process more
[Music] questions I have a comment kind of question so after the presentation and dissemination uh part of the work what involvement do you maintain with the district is there a um a period of uh
monitoring or checkins or followup that you provide as part of this work and talk to us a little bit about that yeah so we'd like to do like a quarterly monitoring and that's mostly to look at your key performance indicators just so
we can make sure that there's Clarity and Alignment um in terms of what you're looking for in terms of progress um um usually once the plan we always say strategic plan is a continuous document it's not just a one-hot thing uh because
as you go through it you may decide there may be additional indicators you want to make adjustments to or make modifications so we work through that process with you quarterly um quarterly for how long uh so uh right now uh we really we
really would do it for the year but if if you decide that you want a little bit more than that we can um those are all additions we can talk about okay thank you question thank you so much for answering
our questions and being able to join us here on Zoom uh to walk us through uh what this could look like for the district thank you we appreciate look forward to working with you so we have a motion that was made by truste it was supported by TR
gley all those in favor those oppos [Music] that on strategic planning um to get ready for 2013 then you worked um with
Dr Naomi Norman in 2016 he did the long range I did listen and learns and gave a plan in 2018 um you brought in Mary Kerwin in 20122 with the long range
planning and exer funding in 2022 and now at the end of 10 years uh this will be a a a true Long Range strategic plan this work happen in 24 so you've been really coming back and
looking at your plans you have all those documentation to start from you don't have it's not from scratch by the way yes but it hasn't been like in this kind
of I've been looking at different forms thank you for sharing those notes and reminding us of how busy we've been all right next that takes us to um our second public comment uh portion for this evening Miss Haynes have any cards
come in okay thank you uh next that takes us to uh item 12 which is um our discussion item are there any Board of Education subcommittee reports at this time all right that's fine that's fine and you know what policy is doing so you
know no need to [Laughter] share all right no Board of Education subcommittee reports that takes us now to board superintendent comments uh board comments at this
time go ahead Grizzlies yes yes I'm getting trouble because I didn't he my mic on but um yeah so I just want to come me you know it was yay to be able to say that and even though I didn't make it to the game Friday because they were a little ways away but they were close so we looking good I
just want to say I'm excited about that you know we we about to do some things up here at uh with the Grizzlies on our football team right go Grizzlies yes thank you trusty Fields other board comments um I would just like to say
um I feel like these last three years have been long um a lot long long um I am very um I had a great time at the uh board retreat um
we got some work done I learned more about myself further counseling needed but anyway um I'm also very proud proud of this board um we I know for me in these last three years we've gone through a lot and
um it is now we're starting to be on the other side and so I'm very proud that it was this board so I can put it on record it was this board um that made it through covid it was this board um that
made sure um that our debt was relieved and started making sure we had intentional conversations and it was this board that listened to the community and um the community wanted a uh recreational center on the
Southeast side of this uh County and it was this board that listened and um stayed uh very diligent mindful focused on what the work was and did not allow
anyone to deter us from what being intentional for our students and our the people in this community so I am very proud to say that I've a part been a part of this board um so please etch that on some brick somewhere that it was
this board um that did all of that work so I'm very I'm just very happy to work with this these team of women and um our amazing Administration staff and our our overall staff and I'm just looking forward to seeing uh
greater days ahead for ycs um because this board said that um thank you yes yes go ahead um I feel like I missed a lot at the retreat so I might have to get the update um I just wanted
to say congratulations to everybody on a strong start to the school year um you know the buildings look great everyone is in in a great mood I you know despite having a power outage in the first week which is always a little rough um everything seemed to get off to a smooth
start and I've even KN on all the wood heard that the busing is going pretty well for people which I know is always a really difficult time through those first couple weeks so um I then I know it always Smooths out in week three so I the first couple weeks are a little rough I understand um but even you know
even the folks who I know who I've heard from who have been taking the bus have um it's been been going a whole lot better than last year so uh thank you to everyone who's been involved in the busing um and then I also wanted to uh say a thank you to um Miss mccardy I haven't seen the numbers on helpful we
were on Staffing but again what I've heard and what I've seen just from my my own kids school um I we didn't have any vacancies last year I think we started with a teacher vacancy and that's a really hard thing to do coming in and having a substitute teacher so having all of those um positions full I know
we're still working on filling um a lot of our par Pro slots um and I hope that we can uh you know move toward that especially with this special education millage absolutely critical for making sure that we can pay the people who um
work very closely with our most vulnerable students so um I know we're doing a ton of recruiting there so anyway thank you thank you um to everybody who's been involved our entire District coming together and then um my question for um Dr Zachary Ross and her
comments is that I'm just uh speaking of Pros uh I'm curious about how the Union negotiations are going other comments um I'll be brief uh thank you board members um I want to Echo what has already been said and I would only add
to that is I think what part of what makes um this board so special and unique is the fact that we have always been clear about Century students and I think when you are driven by making sure students get what they need and you are
looking at everything through a lens of equity everything else falls into place and I think we have not at all let anyone deter us from that track we have eliminated distractions and we have stay clear about where we're going and where
we need to be for our kids in this District um this board is forward thinking we are Innovative don't get me started what are we Risk Takers Barrier Breakers change makers um and I just W to you know note
for the benefit of the public that you know not only do we do the work here and we do it in committees um but we present right we go outside of the district we are presenting this year at masb we are presenting at Cube um conference again
this year um because you know every board across the state of Michigan and Southeast Michigan across the country is not doing the same work right and I think there's something special and unique about what this board has done together and that's something for us to to celebrate and to be proud of and it's
not just the board right it is we are an eight member team and we are very clear about that that our Superintendent at the helm and her team and us all kind of rowing our ores are they ores the things that you in okay I want to make sure
they're ores okay um that we're all R our ores in the same direction and I don't think the work is possible when a boy and a superintendent and a leadership team are not all working for the same purpose and I think we've demonstrated
that and it's not been easy but we stuck it out we've got to the other side I feel like we're on the other side um because we show up and we do the work and so I just want to thank everyone on this board for everything that they do every day here in the Board Room outside
in the community attending events going to Retreats presenting at conferences it is a lot it is a lot um but we care about kids and and I think that is what makes us and I think I would say every board I would hope Center students but I
think we not just say it but we actually do it um so I just want to Echo what has already been said um and I'll turn it over you Dr Zachary Ross because we don't have any more board comment all right well again um yes welcome to 2425
school year and um thank you trusty G for just saying it it has been for it to be a start of the school year think about what everyone has had to do it has been um when you just talk about the fact we don't just talk about being
stronger together it is about living out that Mantra it's not saying it it's about living it and so um it has to start off with a thank you um as we started off the year moving to the Middle School um on the Willer run site
um the work that our grounds custodial the all the I look at I'm I'm looking at you my friend the work you did back there um everyone I'm thinking of all the folks even to the point of moving
the mail like the small to the smallest detail our tech department um all the work they had to do to get that work up and running you think about food Services had to move every single every single Department if I start naming them
I'm going to be in trouble so every Department all the teachers who had to move their rooms everyone and so when we think about stronger together and that example of moving a building when every single or every single group had to do
that and how that opening day went um over there and seeing the 67 men come and be there at 7 7:30 in the morning welcoming them thank you to the community who did that that was an
example and then to come into as I saw you there we were at halftime like shaking little young men they the the team was so excited at halftime in that first game even though again we didn't really have lights it looked like we did
but again that it took that took some facility spokes Renning light because the power was out but that's again everybody coming together with our coaches with the team even though our band couldn't performed that day they were still cheering them on even the
Young Folks were there the crowd was huge even though we had the rented lights and generators going that tells you the the strong Grizzly Nation Pride it was there and then on Saturday
everybody was still there we had trustees there we had community members there we had you were there we all were there get know you were there you were there um still we were getting Cora ice and we were there um celebrating the
fact that we were on the site of Cheney recognizing that this these families still were there because their voices have been heard and coming together bringing $30 million for this community to have in
that special place a recreation center that's needed and now we're moving forward to to even um tomorrow we have our Grizzly Scholars white coat ceremony at WISE at 6 Thursday is the um
ychs open house um we have we're telling people to vote we're working hand in hand on Tuesday September 17th we're going to have that mobile bus that was out there at the if you saw that big old bus that was in front um at at sheney we
got the voter washingon County takes voter registration services on the road it'll be at shadford field um from 1 to 5 in the parking lot um so we're working with our Community Partners we're already continuing to show we're that
we're partnering we're um we're stronger together and we are we're starting the school year off partnering we're starting the school year off um in the right spot and so I just can't wait to see what this year is just going to be about and again I just thank this board
you're right you worked during the summer you worked all year and led the way and then everybody else when the lead when that what is that that John Maxwell starts with the law of the lid we can't go as high as the leadership
does so again thank you for what you do and thank all the teachers Miss ton thank you she asked out the negotiations we thought we going we we thought we were done so many times we are almost there so teachers all the um all the professional staff we are almost there
the other group we are they voting this week so you can vote two teachers and we almost there we we almost there um but professional staff we're we're almost there too um we they have been working I thinkk I have thanked them and she has thanked them on my be behalf cuz they
have worked with us since before May and they have been with us till the night time and we are we are um we had to redo all the language since 2011 and they did not do what some other people just did and tried to just throw
in the language they went through that contract line look look I'm I'm not a pre no I'm trying to be a preach no I am they went through the contract line by line and truly did negotiate they said negotiating is not everybody just happy
at the end because we have we have truly they've given we've given they've given we've given they brought in food and and it was not traditional you would think it would be something they were bringing in food and treats and we literally sat at the table and and like family and
just kind of worked it through and we're going to work through and we're going to get this done and so thank you to all the professional staff um for just working with us and knowing that we're doing this in good faith and for the other group we we got we got a TA we
just got to vote it on through now so the other group we ready we we just there we we're waiting on that to to see if we voted on through and then Bo we're gonna have to be asking for probably a special meeting because then we know we got retro we have to work through and so
thank you again for your leadership Miss Tillerson um for and working with us and for your whole group because it's been somebody's already counted the hours and I think it was 84 I don't know 8 were 86 90 something I don't know so thank you
so to answer your question they have been working with us we work again on on Thursday or some one day Wednesday Wednesday and thank you to everybody who allowed us to start off this school year strong parents number one you've gotten them to school every day all day thank
you to the parents and the community members you are part of that team too thank you Dr Zary Ross um seeing no other board comments or superintendent comments I just want to thank the community for joining us and being here with us miss Tillerson being here hang
on we almost there uh thank you to the cabinet that is here and of course thank you to miss Haynes who who always is keeping us together um so thank you we