##VIDEO ID:qhlwFgE0w1s## e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e oh yeah that's true it's like it's plenty as seats up here I'll be all in the first row hey everybody good the time is 6:33 I'd like to call this regular Board of Education meeting to order the first item on our agenda for this evening is the roll call for those Board of Education members who are present trusty goodd could you perform the roll call please certainly Madam president trusty Fields trusty gainsley trusty Townsen here trusty Goodrich I am here VI president Lee president Hawkins here thank you trusty goodr next we have the acceptance of the agenda is there a motion at this time to accept the agenda as presented Madame president vice president leeu that the Board of Education accept the agenda as presented thank you um a motion has been made by trustee vice president Lee I apologize is there a support for this motion trusty Townson support thank you supported by trusty Townsen all those in favor I those opposed that motion carries um next we're going to go backwards to make sure we invite the public and all those present for our meeting today to join us in reciting of the pledge I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice for all next that takes us to achievements Awards and recognition at this time I would like to turn it over to Dr Zachary Roth to uh introduce Our Guest for this evening thank you madam president uh today we are excited to have um wonderful wonderful news um that is happening at esterbrook elementary they're going to share their points of Pride we have the illustrious principal Ryan Johnson and his team from ES Brook Elementary would you please come at this time good evening everybody I appreciate the opportunity to have my students speak on behalf of Esther Brook and all the wonderful things that are going on on there so without further Ado I'm gonna Caitlyn you're gonna start off okay throughout the summer Miss sty Schwarz took the vision of Miss Ashley Patterson and went environmental Miss Schwarz the art teacher at estberg elementary and known muralist spent hours and hours transforming the library into a neutral space to support learning with the help of some employees Grizzly learning Camp students and Miss Ashley the esterbrook librarian the transformation has been completed with donations from numerous paint supply companies carpet guides and stores from our community the epicenter of esterbrook has become an educational hub for our staff and students pictures cannot do the space Justice we invite all of you to visit esterbrook and spend a day in our library my name is Mustafa and I would like to say uh say a few things of esterbrook esbrook esterbrook English learners had excellent growth o and achievements on the NWA mstep and WEA assessments nine as Brook students exceeded the programs more students than any school in the district we celebrate these students at our First Assembly in November we will have have a festival of cultures we to celebrate all our English Learners and their family at ESB Elementary we proudly support a wide range of Learners including four self-contained classrooms built to meet the specialized [Laughter] needs at esterbrook Men We proudly support a Class A we proudly support a a ride a wide range of Learners including ourself contained classrooms built to meet the specialized needs of our students in am in addition we Ser we serve 122 multiple Lang Lang langu Learners offering instruct in targeted instructional to help them succeed to help them to help them succeed andic academically wild C this is a Tong twist okay you do a wonderful job you keep going celebrating their their are language and culture students yes sir you're good our commitment in in including all students and ures everyone has access to the reasons reasons and supports they need to thrive this diversity and russan they the learning and environment of for everyone EST Elementary thrives to strong relationships with organization dictated to and iing Student Success and will be being collaborations with six children l netw and a cors [Music] provoke critical academic and literally support wild Alpha Cala Anda sorority chips and childhood hunger inov power back food programs ins and students atro need part Mission with emo coning Ando prac students offer essential method Health Service and Hands-On learning experiences further to support network available to our students and Families these Partnerships are vital in creating a compr nurturing Environ and environment for all learners do to the growing of the due to the growing number of English learner and multi langual students at estra Brook we have expanded our services to include a new grade second through third newcomer classroom this addition comp complements our existing grades four to fifth newcomer classroom providing targeted support for students who are new to English these specialized classrooms offer language Focus instruction to help students build foundational skills ensuring a smoother transition into a the general curriculum the expansion reflects our commitment to meeting the needs of our diverse student population [Music] bage emerging now in its fourth year at ycs continues to grow by one grade each store year participating families and students continue to appreciate this opportun that build strong engagement foundations in two languages and and live just publish an article today it's a great read and good news for ycs music plays a v role in the development of students at esterbrook elementary through partnership with the U ofm University Music Society an arbor sympathy Eastern Michigan Theater and the Ark we assure that every student has the opportunity to experience live performances live performances annually these field trips expose students to a wide range of artist artistic expressions and reaching their cultur cultural awareness and fostering a lifelog operation appreciation for the art by in integrate grating CL music and performance into our curriculum we neuter creativity nurture creativity critical thinking and a deeper connection to the [Music] community thank you again for the opportunity I I mean they do amazing things there so thank you for all your support thank you Mr Johnson um I would like to just recognize all of the uh estherbrook staff all of the estherbrook parents and all of these outstanding estherbrook Scholars once again could everyone from estherbrook Community please stand up and be recognized Madam president before they leave can we get their name and what grade they were in please sure so our first reader was Caitlyn uh she's a fifth grader our second reader was Mustafa he's a fifth grader zier fifth grader Zariah fifth grader yes okay Alan is in our third grade Spanish Immersion class class uh Haley is new to the building fifth grade and Kenneth is a third grader and John Carlo is also a third grade Spanish emergeny thank outstanding job Esther Brook Scholars uh next we have uh some more recognitions Awards achievements and I will turn the next two presentations back over to Dr Zachary Ross thank you madam president National custodian day is commemorated every year on October 2nd on on October 2nd National custodia workers recognition day encourages appreciation to the employees who keep our schools and workplaces Across the Nation running smoothly custodian workers operate behind the scenes they are often under appreciated for the hard work they do day after day these are the Personnel keeping schools Office Buildings museums our churches and other buildings clean and well-maintained while delivering services and running a well-maintained building they contribute to critical First Impressions and the success of any business they're the people we call on to give our brick and mortar businesses a Polish look they make our schools and offices look organized and presentable because custodian workers um efficiently keep everything in top condition additionally their skills save our businesses and organizations money their well or their wellmaintained carpet and our services last longer they ensure seasonal updates and maintenance help our buildings to run more efficiently efficiently too custodial workers make sure that our buildings are ready each season and they make sure that our buildings run 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 for us to be able to teach our students and for us to be able to care for others the work is physically demanding depending on the position custodial workers may work varying shift and possibly in several locations they may be part of a team or work independently no matter where they work this day recognizes their dedication and hard work at ipsan Community Schools we honor respect and value our custodial staff and we thank you for all that you do for our students staff and community thank you to all of our custodial workers also national school bus safety week is the week of October 21st to the 25th this is our every year held during the full week of October um 21st to 25th each year National School Safety Week is an active and um evolving public education program and an excellent way for parents students teachers motorists and school bus operat operators and school administrators and other in interested parties to join forces and address the importance of school bus safety is designed to promote school bus safety and school districts throughout the country are to observe this school bus safety week so at ipsan Community Schools we want everyone to join together to honor respect and value our transportation staff we thank you for all that you do for our students staff and Community thank you to our bus drivers our monitors and all who work in the transportation department October is also recognized as National principal month and we have many of our administrators here I see you there thank you each October is National principal month and we understand that they are recognized as an essential role um and that that the principles play in making our schools great principles are among the hardest working yet often least recognized individuals in education principal set the academic toll for their schools and it is their Vision their dedication and determination that provides the mobilizing force for achieving Student Success each October the N ASP nap and AFA seek to honor these unsung heroes for their tireless efforts in pursuit of excellence in education National principal month is a widely recognized celebration of the principal ship marked by national and state resolutions supporting the event as well as acknowledgements from the US senators and representatives and top government officials however the most important National principal month celebrations are the ones that take place in schools and communities across the country at ipsan Community Schools we honor respect and value our building administrators thank you for all that you do for our students and our staff and our community we value you and we thank you for your service I see again several of you sitting in this room so thank you thank you thank you if you stand so that we can acknowledge you all of the building administrators here come on up see you thank you thank you uh it's an honor to to recognize our custodians National custodial day national school bus safety and National principales month at this time I would like to read a resolution to celebrate our building leaders whereas National principles month is a month-long event that occurs each October where School leaders are in the spotlight for their endless commitment to being principles National principales month devotes the month of October to thank principles for all they do and we celebrate these Heroes of education and honor our School principles for their significant impact on the success and well-being of our students and principles 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 ipsilanti Community Schools can fulfill the potential of a bright future is providing students with a rigorous and well-rounded education and principles set the academic tone for their schools and it is their Vision dedication and determination that provide the mobilizing force for student achievement success the effort of our school leaders is tireless in the pursuit of excellence in education and principles are a vital part of our students education as they set the academic tone by working collaboratively with teachers and staff to build High academic standards set performance goals and utilize best practices for achieving 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 evaluation to student discipline and more school leaders have an important role and principles are leaders who work tirelessly to ensure the success and well-being of each student in our learning community and great schools have great leaders be it resolved that the Board of Education of ipsan Community Schools encourages parents Guardians and our community to learn more about the contributions of our School principles and the roles they play in ensuring every child has access to high quality education and a safe supportive environment and let them know how appreciated they are at this time is there a motion that the Board of Education approve the national principal month resolution as presentent thank you a motion has been made by trusty Fields is there a support for this motion support vice president Lee thank you supported by vice president Lee all those in favor those opposed that motion carries congratulations on this special day for our building leaders National custodial day and national school bus safety let's give everyone another round of applause next that takes us to presentations and it's this time I will turn it back over to Dr Zachary Ross thank you madam president at this time we are very fortunate to have um one of our special uh Partners here with us we have the grizzly scholar program presentation and we have M Nick Valentine here um with some of our Grizzly Scholars uh to present so thank you Nick for being here thank you thank please allow me to start with a thank you of my own to two very special ladies without whom this program would not be able to be in existence first of all Dr Zachary Ross about four years ago was in discussions with my wife Ronda Germany Balentine who had the idea for this program and with her support we were able to start Grizzly scholars in 2021 in the fall of 2021 three years ago thank you very much dross that's not mine nice muted the other lady I would like to recognize Iz for her tireless work in pulling together all of the logistics and she's become known as M Grizzly scholar but U Miss Julie Haynes please give her so anyway three years ago we started the uh program of grizzley Scholars here in ipsan and me we started it as a yeah as a two-year uh pilot program and we started it with a group of fourth graders we started with 20 fourth graders from MIT Lan five from each of the four elementary [Music] schools and these are the goals that we brought them into the program with we wanted to provide a supplemental program to supplement what they already learn in school not to uh not to duplicate it uh Rhonda my wife had grown up in the school system here and although she was able to eventually uh get into the University of Michigan and be very successful in her career she felt that she could have benefited from exposure to more stem especially at that time U young women were girls were not encouraged to go into that field in fact she was encouraged to become a secretary and because she was a girl so um we wanted to provide a supplemental uh program in stem for uh children starting in the fourth grade because that's early enough so that they're not yet distracted in most cases by fads social media pressures and the norms for boys and girls that Society puts on each one of us they're still allowed to be freethinkers and be interested in things other than what is normal so we started uh in fourth grade with the intention of committing to these students that we're going to stick with them and uh provide this program through the rest of elementary school middle school and high school so that makes a nine-year program and the hopeful goal at the end of that is that they will be more inclined and better prepared for a college education preferably in stem or engineering even and for uh work and for life in general so we start uh in fourth grade as I said and we go through high school and then the intention is that those uh Grizzly Scholars who go into college uh we would continue to Mentor them as they're in college uh through one of the other programs in our foundation and on from college into jobs the uh program is uh as it you can read up there it's students centered so we uh focus on the individual students and provide them not only uh stem subject material but also uh financial literacy and the opportunity to grow socially uh in part by giving them opportunities to travel and one of the efforts uh that's takes a lot of effort from uh Miss Julie is obtaining helping the students stents in fifth grade along with any parents that are interested to obtain their passports and then introduce them to to traveling outside the country first to the next door neighbors in Canada all right so as I said we started with a two-year pilot and it started in the fall of 2021 and went through the year planning each quarter or each season for the next one and then uh these fourth grade uh students between fourth and fifth grade uh attended a week-long day camp at the University of Michigan who's one of our uh Partners in this program and and the program at the University of Michigan is in the College of Engineering and has been a lot of fun to watch in the mornings the students uh participate in STEM related learning and activities and then in the afternoons there are field trips to museums to uh manufacturing uh facilities to uh other facilities at the University so that they're introduced to that as well all right then in fifth grade as I mentioned that's when uh we work with the students in order to get their passports and take a day trip to Canada you should find in front of you a wonderful trifold brochure that Miss Julia has put together which summarizes the uh the program really well along with some pictures of uh the various activities that the students have gone through including the one at the beginning which has all the students in their white coat which is the way you start out the program four grade syb us each other and to stick with it and so these students who've been picked by teachers and principles in their after their third grade um they don't know what they're going to do yet and we don't know how they're going to grow and mature so we are making a commitment to help them start where they are at the end of third grade beginning of fourth grade and work with them on up to college thank you Julie for putting that together so this is uh an overview which you can see in your uh handouts we are now at this point we went through the two-year pilot so we had a a group that started in 2021 they are now going into seventh grade so they're in Middle School in the second block there and we have uh last year's uh class which will be the class of 2032 for their High School graduation year and they're now in fifth grade and then this year we started another fourth grade class a month ago uh so the class of 2033 once they leave I'm going to try to go a little bit faster because we'd like to give some of the students who are here representing uh Grizzly Scholars a chance to speak as well but once they left U Elementary School and now in Middle School we've introduced a program that was formed by the a Consortium of school districts in Michigan called Maven and the program itself is called grow Main Street and introduces the students to seven industrial Fields instruction and design uh which is the program that we worked on a year ago with the sixth graders and then at summer camp we did transportation and energy and we actually designed and 3D printed uh EVs and we went on trips to things like the uh Ford Rouge Plant and weedies and bu so this program will continue as they are now in seventh grade and then eth grade and there are uh we want to continue to supplement What's Done in the in the district and what they're getting in school so we're flexible still as to what we'll uh how we will go on into the high school program but there are uh parts of this grow Main Street and Maven program that we are seriously thinking about including this is some of the equipment that was included in including the 3D printer on the left and the car parts in the middle okay so from uh after Middle School we still have two years this year next year to go in middle school and then into High School these are some of the things that uh we're considering in the program uh so I think I want to close with my remarks and ask the uh students who have graciously volunteered and parents who have brought them to say a few words to introduce themselves and uh say a few words about grizzly Scholars themselves so uh we have two students from each of the three classes so if the seventh graders up and Anthony you please tell the board your name which school you're in hello my name is maram I'm in seventh grade and I am a student at WTH um something I really like about grizzly Scholars is it's not only a great opportunity for my future but it's an amazing and enjoyable program with its project and field trips and summer camp that really Prov self-centered emotions and fun thank you hello my name is Anthony hello my name is Anthony I'm in seventh grade I go to uh epsc Middle School something I really like about the Grizzy scholar um C scholar program is the amount of opportunities it gives us we also have two representatives from our fifth grade class none of them is doing double duty this evening that's Mustafa and hello my hello my name is Mustafa I go to as asuk Elementary I am in fifth grade uh gry Scholars is a great opportunity for learning it has fun projects I've been there for two years now it bring you to fun projects and lets you do who experiment into there and you have a great time and a great opportunity for Learning and fun at the same time um hello I'm ryen I a fifth grade haer at ente International Elementary uh school last um this is my second year as a CHR scholar this year um last year we studyed a Dynamics learn learned about um fers and like flight and aerodynamics we experimented with we know we experimented with things and learned about forces we also had a fun hmer camp at University of Michigan's North Campus um and looking forward to the his year where we are learning about hydrodynamics and did an experiment on buyy we will also work with gly Scholars to get our passports and and we will go to Canada um and I'm grateful for this experence and the opportunities that I get as a part of grizzly Scholars our newest class hasn't even had a class yet they had their white coat ceremony induction ceremony a month ago that we have two representatives from that class NAA Townsen and King Robinson you please come up my name is n Townsen and one thing I want to do is find out how to do stuff in Grizzly Scholars and I'm really happy to be joining Grizzly Scholars today and I'm so excited for tomorrow cuz tomorrow will be my very first day at Grizzly Scholars and I can't wait to learn and see and do new stuff every day well every time we can come at gly Scholars I'm King and I would like to learn a a bunch more about engineering and a aerodynamics I'm really excited to be here and wait what's the thing called oh yeah the grizzly Styers I forgot I forgot thank you Dr Zachary Ross thank you Miss Julie for your help thank you Bard for your attention and your time we really appreciate the opportunity thank you again to all of our Grizzly Scholars and parents and supporters of this great program um and all these Future Leaders that we see in front of us um next that takes us to our uh Ghana presentation and I'll turn that over to Dr Zachary Ross thank you madam President we are very fortunate to have additional uh Scholars who traveled to Ghana Africa this summer led by some of our Dynamic building administrators you please come hi [Music] hello good evening everyone so this this is sharissa Harris and she's want to speak on behalf of the group for good evening board members and Aban Community Schools and family I am sha and I'm 11th grader in the eth program in our community schools I want to share with you my my incredible summer experience in Ghana it all started at Detroit metro airport where I joined a travel group from there we flew to Amsterdam then to Aqua Ghana and let me tell you them flights y'all they was long long but even though I've been on planes before this was the longest I've ever flown by the time we arrived it was late at night but the airport was packed with people after a stressful trip and waiting what felt like forever for my bag we finally made our way out of the airport but all that stress melted away we were greeted by an amazing group of drummers and dancers the energy was contagious and I even danced along with them despite being exhausted the food in Ghana was really different from what I from what I'm used to I was way too tired to try anything new that first night but the next day I was ready to dive in and explore one of the highlights of the trip was visiting various attractions but the most memorable for me was the slave dungeons our guide told us that we were standing on the DNA of our ancestors that was such a powerful moment that I will never forget we went to a naming ceremony in a village there were little kids dancing and I got the name kuua meaning born on Wednesday the markets were also amazing imagine walking down the street and seeing people selling just about anything to think of shes towels food and even phone cases it was a Cy overload but in the best way possible if you ever get the chance I highly recommend traveling to another continent like this it's not just about seeing new places but about learning from other cultures and GH really gave me that experience and also a step on my step on my passport we have a u slideshow prepared for you all just to show about our trip so please enjoy thank you [Music] oh e e e e e e e e e e e e questions of any of the students any board questions let's give it up again for our Scholars thank you for allowing us to see a glimpse of what you experienced thank you okay that takes us to action item number seven on our agenda under student affairs and that's the acceptance of a field trip request to Toledo Ohio is there a motion at this time Madam president vice president Lee who that the Board of Education approved the field trip of the ipsilanti Community High School to Toledo Ohio on November 12th 2024 thank you a motion has been made by vice president Lee is there a support for this motion t uh trusty Townsen support thank you supported by trusty Townsen any questions or discussion on this item board see none all those in favor I those oppos that motion carries next that takes us to item eight on our agenda which is a discussion um and the topic of that disc discussion is on Safe schools and I'll turn it over to Dr Zachary Ross to introduce um our guest this evening who will share um some information with us regarding safe schools thank you Madame President uh we know that this these times uh that uh we have a national pandemic regarding school safety um around our country we've been seeing just an uptick of just a need to just talk about school safety and I just really appreciate um ipsan Police Department uh Chief Kirk Moore for coming today and just engaging in um police safety uh just talking about how we collaborate uh regarding school safety um this is just a concern that we have around our community and how we integrate with one another and so um there's been questions about how do we work together what do we do to work together and so I appreciate just uh him coming out just to have just a discussion about what do we do to partner how do we do to communicate and just just to have a just an open just discussion um about what we're doing in our community to work together to ensure that um our common goal is to have our students in Ian Community Schools safe and I think that that's the important message I think that we just want to ensure that we get across and so thank you Chief Moore for coming out tonight of course good evening Board of Trustees uh administrators faculty parents and most importantly the students even know some of them have left uh thank you for giving me the opportunity to speak with you today uh to discuss this very important topic about Public Safety as a representative of Public Safety in Washington County in the state of Michigan I'd like to talk about a couple uh things surrounding our response how we investigate and you know the protocols that take place when we uh investigate incidents or alleged incidents surrounding Public Safety in our schools let me say this first um as a chief of police uh as a representative here I recognize how impactful uh even the threat of violence against our kids uh impacts not only the students that the administrators the parents and of course the district itself so over the last um I going to say more than 10 years we've had more than our fair share in this country of instances where individuals have taken the violence against our children and so as a uh a public safety entity and the chief of police uh representative here we've had to take u a hard look at what is the best response for one prevention and then intervention in these type of situations what we've learned uh very quickly is that we know the most important thing we can do in these scenarios is of course intervention um quick decisive action saves lives that is a fact we have uh countless uh incidents across the country with the data and that shows us exactly what we need to do so I'm here today to talk about first how we investigate threats and then I'll tell you about uh the protocol uh first and foremost if we receive a threat to one of our schools or any place where there's a a large Gathering uh where we have concerned that there can be an active scenario where violence and killing is taking place we have to investigate that threat we have to investigating and thoroughly bet that uh that threat all the way to its uh compl completion now that completion can be determining that it's untrue that it's not credible or in some instances where we have to make arrest so we work together as a a public safety body across not just wasow County but across the state we collaborate with each other when we get threats so an example we may receive a threat on a specific school and regardless of how it came in it could be through phone call through email what have you we track down the leads even into the night until we get to the very you know bottom of the threat and we're able to make a determination if it's credible or not thre credible once that occurs then there's where the communication uh takes place with uh the administrator uh over the uh the district and we kind of you know uh make a determination of what's the best course of action or if there's any action that needs to be made so that's an important uh piece now in the event that we have information that there is uh you know we get reports that something occurring in a school the state of Michigan under the uh under MOS which is our um you know which is our advisory body which uh sets the standards for Public Safety in the state of Michigan has mandated and provided training and this is ongoing through every person that comes into the profession is required to go through what's called uh active shooter protocol and mtech training and a joint response for an active shooter scenario what we know is there's no agency uh large enough in the state of Michigan that could handle uh an active shooter incident by themselves so we know we're going to have multiple agencies uh responding and of course we have to be working on the same page on the same protocol and have the same set of standards in that response that being said we get that type of uh information that's exactly how we're going to respond we're going to response expeditiously as quick as possible and we know as said before that our intervention we want to turn the individuals attention to us Public Safety and not to our children so that protocol uh is in place that training occurs not only did I go through the training of course in other states but as I came here and received my certification in the state of Michigan even as a attened law enforcement professional with 33 years of service I still had to uh negotiate successfully negotiate the requirements here in the state of Michigan so we all have to do it and it's not you know it's mandated of course but it's something that we take uh great pride in we want to make sure that we're proficient and that we know exactly what we're doing in our unified response so it doesn't matter if it's ipsan police washingon County it doesn't matter if it's emu uh it doesn't matter if it's uh Department of Public Safety State Police or any other entity in the state of Michigan we all are trained in the same uh set of rules and circumstances and we're all trained together and so we know we have a unified um front and we're able to respond to these scenarios in the best possible way and end them very very quickly so i' like to open it up the questions from the board because I know you guys may have some more questions thank you are you no I'm not I'm just opening it up to the board go ahead try Townson um I think with these last couple of incidents that we've had I think the biggest issue or concern that I have is consistent communication um one of the things that's very important in any any investigation I come from a family of law enforcement I've been an investigator on a bank bank site for several years is details and you have to be very clear and consistent with information and one of the things that I have asked is that depending on what the situation is the communication needs to be un uniformed and it has to come from one or two main sources either law enforcement directly and or the superintendent's office because when you have multiple people providing information you may have you may you know mess up an investigation and so I think it would be good to just make sure that the district and law enforcement have tighter protocols on that just be I'm a parent everybody at this table is a parent and when you have situations like we've had in the last um couple of months it and now that we have larger exposure on social media it's just good to make sure that we're providing consistent factual information um because like you said lives are at stake you don't want you want people to feel that the district um is accurate in their information it makes us look like we don't have control in my opinion when the information is not consistent and so my question for you Chief Moore is how how can we better make sure that our communication is in line so that one we don't create um a problem with the investigation to parents and families are properly informed I know we cannot give all details out but at least so that people still feel reassured that both parties are have their children and families and staff members safe and that that is a priority for us absolutely so thank you for uh that question and I I will say uh the first thing I'll say to that is I completely agree with you uh we recognize that over the last month and it's it's been a little taxing but the month of September was uh one of the highest months that we've that we've had on reports of or threats to schools and it's not just in the city of ipsan not just in Washington County but this has been a trend across the country so this trend has also in a way shown us some vulnerability right in in areas that we need to improve so as a result of some of the things that have happened just in the uh the last in the past month we recognize we got to tighten up in those areas especially surrounding communication effective communication to parents so that they know what's going on and of course to school administrators so myself Dr Ross um the uh uh Sheriff Clayton um also emu uh chief of police and a couple other Public Safety professionals we've been working together to come up with a legitimate protocol that we all can f here in washingon County to make sure that information is is Flowing evenly and you know Timely right because we recognize that it's time of the essence and to agree with what you just said when information is is spread by the time it gets to One Source it's changed 50 times and now we have a much different and dangerous situation all based on you know no facts right things that you know just untrue so one of the one of the things that we're going to propose with um you know as we move to the communication piece is also a a lockdown protocol for the school and this is in conjunction with uh with the school district we want to go to a two-stage approach and what I mean by that is there are instances where law enforcement may be operating in a vicinity of a school and we don't think necessarily that the school is in danger but we think it would be better if the children were inside the school and not you know allowed to be on a preg on a playground so we call that a soft lockdown right so in other words you know we contact the school hey we like to put the school on a softt lockdown law enforcement has activity around the area of that school so it doesn't mean that you know the the children are in you know extreme danger but we want we think it' be better if we you know if the kids were inside the school that's a a soft lockdown and then of course when a complete lockdown is where we feel like we have u a scenario where kids are in danger it could be an active shooter or you know the threat is such that is warranted and we're trying to get there to intervene so those two things are are really important uh in a communication piece it it keeps us on a on a uh Level Playing Field and it also keeps the information now everybody knows you know what we're doing what's happened in uh you know the recent past we haven't had that protocol in place and so the information triggered different responses and so once those uh responses were triggered then you had the the large uh police presence so we're working through those pieces we're working with uh you know with u with the superintendent and along with all of the rest of the law enforcement uh leaders because we know we got to get this right and we want to make sure people have the information in a timely manner and it's consistent and it's accurate so we agree with you and we're working to to correct that and make it much more uh a smoother and simpler process so that everybody's on the same page I just want to clarify because I have a principle back there we just called it soft and hard so I have a few principles back there we did we've always had in our EOP a soft and hard lock down it was just called something different so just clarify verbage yes just verbage few principles like we've always had that in our EOP sorry being people they looking back it's just different language but it's always been in our EOP just different language the communication is what they're talking about and he's correct we like our there was different data out there and they were in investigation and so our debrief was not until the Friday after the incident from September 13th so they were in an investigation I can't talk about things when a police is having an investigation and so I cannot share information until they're in the middle of they're in the middle of a debrief and so I appreciate them debriefing but they can't I can't give information that a law enforcement is having and so I there still information from a debrief and so the police is having information and they had a debrief so they sent out thank you they sent out a community communication a community letter and so I don't have information so we've met since then to say this is what we're going to do for Community letters out to make sure there's clear communication for parents and so I appreciate that after that debrief to say this is important for our community to have clear Communications out and so we're working on doing that the incident is happening at the school there's parents at the school say like a active shooter okay at the school parents are at the school trying to pick up their kids you're not letting them do that so how are you communicating to them they want their kids but you can't tell them no you can't have your kids why so let me say this um if there is a an an active shooter scenario okay the protocol and the priority of course is to stop whatever threat there is right and so the incident that happened at uh you know our last incident the timing of it all of course was worst case scenario you have dismissal then we get these calls just prior to dismissal and so then we have parents not able the school is on lockdown parents not able to get to their to their children and then they start making phone calls to uh 911 saying you know active shooter and then that triggered the massive you know police response right and so that was uh you know and I don't know how necessarily to fix that communication uh because there were you know some there was some jumps and I know you had to deal with the active Sho right that's your main goal to keep those kids safe AB but the kid the parents don't understand that well they do understand that they do understand that but they want their kids absolutely and we have to work together to communicate we're trying to keep your kids safe but we also trying to get this active shooter but it's not an actor shooter there that time but if it is an actor absolutely that's a dangerous uh scenario and and quite frankly you know that presence you know with all you know the parents right would only exasperate uh the situation it would make it much more difficult difficult yeah it would and so those are some of the things that you know we're working through we talked about you know what are uh what are the resources that school district has for mass communication right and how fast you know is that communication able to get out you know to parents is there a paging system you know where you can get instantaneous you know information so we're working through uh that communication piece right it's not a a problem that we fix right like overnight right it's not a you know instantaneous fix but I assure you we are working uh together to find the best Solutions and to plug into the right pieces we know the school district has resources that we necessarily may not have and so it's just you know working out the uh The Kinks and how we get that information transferred so that we can communicate effectively and we all got to work together parents and law enforcement absolutely we got to work together and we got to be patient with one another please okay so can I add to that because after that debrief what happened because we unfortunately had another incident that happened afterwards and so once we had that debrief because we did not know that there were cause coming that said that there was an active shooter at that building so we didn't know that that was happening at simultaneously cuz we were on a different type of lockdown at the time so that did that was not coming from our I learned that those CS were happening to the police department so of course I would not know that those cause had happened until Police Department told me that there was cause coming from that building that was saying that there was an active shooter I do not get internal that there were cause coming and so the police told me afterwards that there were cause coming that they were told that they were active shoot there was someone telling them that there was an active shooter who would have known that I wouldn't have known when I wrote that letter to parents that was not known by the building principal till the police department allows me to know that we get that there were CA coming why would I believe that there was until the police chief tells me that that was caused coming to his office and that's how I learned about that and so afterwards we were uh we were told then our now our building networks and are if there's something that we are told about so then when that next situation happen since the principal has to be walking around because when they come they take over the building our principes aren't in charge I'm not I can't go into a building when they're on lockdown we are told we cannot get into the we cannot obviously nobody no parents no one can into the building but if it's other people cuz they are the ones with the keys that can go into the classrooms somebody else from the building Network then sent out through remind to the parents that there was something going on and it was not an actor sh or anything and they were just going around and so they sent a message out so if it's not a scenario and we know at that point we didn't know right at the at the situation at the wi building we did not know they knew information and had Intel that we did not have cuz they were getting CS we had no idea that they were getting those cars on that day so central office did not know they knew information that's why they went in there like that we had no idea but on the second scenario they were able to tell the administrator hey we're just looking around we're trying to find information they were able to then send out information to parents hey we're in a Sit we're in a situation everything's okay we're just looking so a remind call was able to be made so it's scenario by scenario uh thank you Dr Zachary Ross and board members um my question is to you Chief Moore is uh it's really kind of a a statement would you be able to kind of walk through my understanding is you're able to pinpoint exactly where A call came from does that determine the level of response when there is a report of an active shooter could you just walk us through how you assess the threat and how you determine what the response will be based on that threat right so if we get information uh while uh school is in session right so if we get uh 911 calls from uh people reporting that they're at the location I'm at the school and they're saying there's an uh active shooter scenario then that you know we have we're going to send uh every we're going to put out an all call and we're going to have a complete response from all over the county and when I say all over the county it's going to be all over the county all the way to to M I mean you know across the county you're going to get that response now um if we get information let's say threats say I'm GNA you know I'm going to go to school at certain time or what have you so then that triggers two different things one is going to trigger the investigation to try to track down where that phone call came from and who made the call so that part then it's also going to trigger we're probably going to have a conversation with the superintendent and administrat at that school so and let them know hey we're going to have a presence here until we can get uh this scenario completely vetted so that's that's kind of the investigative process so it just depends on how the information comes in you know uh the last threat we had it came in through a phone call we've had threats through email of course and so we we have what's called swatting swatting is where uh individuals are using uh different uh untraceable lines Google lines voice lines with different uh you know untraceable IP addresses to make phone calls into police stations or and of course schools and make threats to school so we're we have a hard time tracking down where that information come to and it's usually we track it down and it ends up overseas so in those scenarios we know that that's not a credible uh threat right but we do out of an abundance of caution we still want to make sure so in the the recent scenario we had where we had threats what do we do we had an officer uh present at school that morning and of course I myself came because I wanted to talk to the principal talk to some of her staff and of course talk to parents just to kind of let people know why we're there so that's kind of a uh our protocol now when we get uh a threat depending on how it comes in we bet it uh but if it is an active you know uh allegation of a threat in an active scenario meaning school is in session and then we're getting reports that something is occurring right now that is going to trigger an all call response okay and so in this scenario just so I'm clear the response to wise was because a call was made within the school and that triggered an all call response two calls were made from within the school and that triggered all call response that's correct and the all call response what does that look like so the uh the county essentially gets hot toned uh a special turn tone or alert and let's and then it broadcasts that hey we have an act uh shooter scenario at this location all available units and then so everybody goes everybody who's available responds to that so at WISE what you had was I mean I wouldn't witnessed it myself because I I came to the school as well um so literally cars from every County uh we had EMS fire right fire staged that's all of the protocol we have a unified command where we work with uh FD in all of our uh you know ambulance services so that we're able to triage we just we respond as if you know prepared for whatever eventuality there may be and when do you determine you come in I heard you say earlier that you determine you come in and you take control of the building or so I heard that being said when do you determine that the threat there is no threat anymore and that control is relinquished back over to the district after we clear the school after the school is cleared after the school is cleared so once we get that call we have to be 100% certain so we're going to go through all of the grounds you know of that uh particular structure that building uh that those school grounds and we're going to clear everything and once it's cleared then we will return it back to the school thank you other point questions yes trustee GL Rich um more of a statement than a question I'm glad to hear the the discussion around improving communication um and I appreciate the complexities of some of the situations we've been through uh I think I I know that we've been working on making sure that we have updated parent information um through power school and and making sure that we have that basically I'm I'm hoping we can get to a place where we have redundancies in the system because I know that for many reasons we get a lot of communication out to our families through the buildings and through the teachers and naturally in a situation like this we want our building administrators and our teachers focused on the kids and on the the emerging situation um and and as much as it is possible to do sharing between the police department and Central Administration um I think this is a great opportunity to make sure we we have systems in place so that we can push out um information when there is a lock down to the affected families um from someone who's not the building administrator dealing with it on the ground and to um also share out at scale the all clear when the situation has resolved so that parents um know and when we have that information know what the best thing to do is um I know I was wrestling with whether to be at that building when all of the police cars were descending and what what as a parent we were meant to do because because understandably we had limited information yeah and the best thing is to not be I I even had the protocol we've been going back and forth through our SE stag training through the anonymous threat Response Guide through everything we've had if we are in those spaces we are in the way of the police and so we we they have to be able to get into those spaces and again we think we know even until the debrief and I'm getting even more information afterwards we don't know again I thought I had been talking to people from their department and the reason why I can't make those cars and you have to be in the building is because I didn't know what was happening in the building you cannot make those calls from central office you have to be in the building cuz even when they were in the building at the high school we were over here and we didn't know what was happening in the high school and I'm I'm a few feet away you have to be only in the building to make that's why it has to be someone from the BN team you cannot be outside the building and make any call outside to parents because I was given even from trying to be on the phone not proper information and so you have to be the person in the building to send out those messages and so that's why we say somebody from the BN team from the building to send out the message and so that was kind of the debrief was somebody from the building to send out the message so that it's the most accurate because you want the most accurate information because from here or from anywhere outside it's not it's not it's not as accurate so somebody from that somebody from their being because they every building has a climate and culture coach instructional coach somebody from that team is trained and so that was where the teams have all met afterwards and debriefed W looked over their Emergency Operations plan after we all met we met with the police chief the somebody from Sheriff's Office somebody from emu team went back over the seag team went over the threat guidance and said okay you've got to be a part of that crisis team to be able to make the decision because if you're not on site it's too many you've got to make those split on that decision to give the most accurate information and so that's why somebody from there to get that information right there to get it out so that people can make those good you know good information as quickly as possible so that that person can't be empowered to to communicate to a single individual who then does the more complicated task of communicating out to family they have access to the power school too because they the only ones who have access as well to that build that building's list as you said to the most accurate list so we want them to get it Qui as you said to get it quickly they have that most accurate list and there's barriers to getting that list shared at scale within the reasons yes y trusty G pass right trusty gainley thanks I'm gonna probably uh address that point a little bit more um just like many of you on the board know I was in the building uh during um the lockdown at WISE um as one of the parents who was standing there picking kids up as they did the soft lockdown I think there's a couple places where that communication went one is that it from what I understand it should have been a soft lockdown because their threat was not immediate and it was communicated as a hard lockdown yes that was what the the people in the building understood um and I would say actually that that from what I saw the the building responded admirable admirably they responded perfectly to what they had understood to be a soft a hard hard lockdown now yes that was a communication but under the information that they had they did exactly what they needed to do um you know as someone who was in the building I was getting information over the PA I found out that it was not in the building it was a threat from outside you know those sorts of key pieces of information that the people who were on the outside were not getting I think one of the biggest pieces I think to this discussion that was just happening um I would really strongly agree um I know that within our our general pro protocols for communication the principal has to is the is primarily tasked with that communication to our to our parents um and and I understand there are barriers with with furpa and some other things we need to have a way to get to we need to have a way to do this whether it's an email list whether it's you know a secondary form of communication there has to be a designated individual in addition to the principal I would say two in case someone's sick that day um but those people also really need to be signed up for all the communications as if they are app parent so if they know that this principal didn't send out the communication they know as a parent that they haven't gotten the remind message that says there's a lockdown please don't come to the school to pick up your student until you get the all clear yeah you know it doesn't need to be a whole letter like it needs to be one I just said someone from the BN inside the building so the building I would make that redundant outside and inside um but with the with the people in the building being primary um but really making sure that someone is on whatever they don't see and I don't think that person can be the Principal because the principal is the one who's communicating absolutely so I I just think if there's there's one thing that we've learned that that parent communication needs to happen immediately and we need to have very specific people who are responsible for it um esbrook uh just by happen stance the principal happened to be in Florida that day and so those families got better communication because the principal was able to focus on that um so I think that that those two pieces of the communication and I think the second thing that I I you know I don't know what the solution is um on the second part of this which is that there was a shooter in this community on that day from what I understand now not anywhere near the school right over in MacArthur right um but I just really want to acknowledge that like this was not a complete um you know it's not a fluke right this is a of violence in our community and many of the students in fact some of the students that I was in a room with had heard that I don't know how I don't know what text message they got um but they had heard that that was where the shooter was and they were really worried for their families and they were very worried for for their own community so I just also want to lift up the fact that like in addition to the um you know the the very real communication protocols and pieces that we need to make sure our schools are safe the best way to keep our schools safe is also keep our community safe um and so you know I really appreciate your partnership um on that Chief Mo and and I know that it's something this board is deeply committed to thank you I I appreciate uh those words and you're absolutely correct uh it wasn't a complete fluke there was a a a shooting incident substantial right uh that required a significant police response it just wasn't near uh that particular school so there was a little bit Lost in Translation but also Al uh and I'll say if there's a silver lining to any of this it showed what the actual response would look like uh and so it that gave me as an administrator and chief of police an opportunity to really evaluate this uh countywide response and what that's going to look like and if there are gaps let's fix them in event you know so hopefully we never have to uh do this for real but there there are lessons to be learned and uh you're absolutely correct so thank you I just have one last question so back to the communication has there been any so you you mentioned something about there's you all have your own uh countywide communication between law enforcement um in light of you know the shootings we've had in schools even in Michigan and oxburg has there been a further discussion to have a countywide communication um Network or system or text similar to what you receive at the colleges if there's an active shooter for the actual schools in the county because I think that probably would help because then you have someone who is trained to properly communicate a situation to help parents and families versus it 100% being on the school um because law enforcement communicates differently than if said well I have that training to Comm train to say specific facts but it's different if someone is not trained gives out factual information tries to give out factual information versus someone from law enforcement and I just think a Tex wide system for all school districts in the county it would probably be more effective than saying okay this District got to have this system system this District got to have that system versus a countywide system that all districts are a part of so you know it's ironic you know you know we're talking about this I mean literally um today they're gone now but we're getting our um our Radio Systems updated to uh include more Mutual Aid channels so that we can uh communicate inner agency uh better for agencies that are not you know on our frequency in the event of you know catastrophes and incidents like this and so those channels are being literally updated you know today we've had they've been at you know my department all day changing the radios uh I do think for this application with uh with parents and and uh in you know school district and that would not texting or uh that type of platform there are some platforms out there that will make it easy to mass communicate uh one of the things that that we utilize in public safety is reverse 911 now but of course that wouldn't just isolate students we're able to isolate just areas so in other words uh you know we'll say three blocks around the school they all you know we can reverse 911 and tell people to stay you know uh shelter in place and those type of things so there are options uh I think we have to continue to work you know through what's the best option for uh our school system and uh Public Safety and so that that information can really be uh transferred so I don't have a complete answer but we are doing uh talking and trying to see what's the best option and how we can make that happen sender y same absolutely and I know you guys like what we have kids what we yes we we do our drills there's required drills that we have we're and we're doing um some training we have thank you coming up uh Alice training even for um our community October 22nd here in our district um but we have required training uh for our families we try not to do Alice specifically here um for our students but we have the have the drills and that's why I know you said our teachers never feel prepared for for when our when they come in for actual um for an actual event because it it's just to see see Law Enforcement Officers with Uniforms on you're never ready for any scenario like that it is just so traumatic for students and um for families and uh but to try to at least give them the the trainings and we do our safe schools modules but again nothing like actual an actual scen event is is going to prepare any student or um or teachers even but we continue to go through drills and continue to talk you know Continue to update our um eops and and review but we do have upcoming Alice training for not only our student our um staff but our community we're going to offer that October 22 I I'll be talking about that later on today we have to just keep offering it I know before the pandemic it was just offered all the time and then we kind of have waited a little bit they've reted the training um because it's it's it's powerful but um we have to just keep doing it unfortunately the way the world is today and I I do appreciate you guys sending out information because what happens is they're investigating and a lot of times the parents say well what do you know I don't there's there a lot of these things now as they've been seeing on the news they're now becoming police investigations afterwards because they're asking who's doing what they they're so all we know is that they came in they're investigating and I don't have the information it's a police investigation so they came in and I don't know I help can you help me cheap with that information because they think I'm withholding information from the parents and so what can you share with the cuz I know you came you came in you're investigating and then I think they feel like we're not being transparent when the police are coming in one of the things that uh that also was a bit of an impediment in this particular case and and it will be for you know quite frankly in future cases because we're having multiple jurisdictions respond so now we're we're having you know we're trying to gather information from multiple agencies right so we're looking at body warn camera from the county we're looking at body warn camera from uh emu we're looking at body warn camera from uh Dipsy City we're looking at body One camera from uh any of the other entities that arrived on scene right because we're trying to see okay did we did it work like it's supposed to did they you know complete the steps because there's more steps did they complete the steps while inside you know uh the school so those are all of the the different pieces and so it takes manpower to look through you know all of those uh all of those videos so it's you know it's not immediate and then you know different agencies has have different capabilities but we're trying to improve on on all of those fronts so that information you know is much much quicker and and we are going to talk you know continue to have dialogue about you know how do we how do we work that information where it can be a little bit more instantaneous Just for information to the parents come don't come here's what happens you know those type of uh Communications so we're working on that other board questions or comments um Chief Moore I just want to thank you for taking the time to be here to EXP explain the protocol from law enforcement side um I appreciate it that you said intervention that's quick and decisive saves lives um I am thankful that our children in this community are saved um it is unfortunate that we had an actual shooting situation um but I am glad that no one was hurt and and those folks are safe um and I also recognize um the questions the concerns and the opportunities to learn from and think about what we might do differently and also know that this is not going to be solved tonight so I appreciate you taking the time to be with us to share information to educate us so that we are aware that when there is a call it triggers a particular response and that response looks like decisive action because your goal is to make sure students staff parents anyone in the buildings are safe so thank you for being here tonight um feel free to hang around um if you'd like um but uh we really appreciate the time that you took I know you're a busy busy person um so thank you for all you do for our community to help to keep us safe thank you very much appreciate you next that takes us to um our public comments for this evening and before I call up the community members who would like to address the board I would like to read the public comment protocol which is as follows pursuant to Board of Education policy 0167 point3 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 3 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 is it Jeremy please come up to address the board Jeremy thank you all for having me and I just like to remind everybody that you all who s here before me are here for of and by the people and uh what brings me here tonight is last July riding home on my bike from grocery store in Dexter where right I used to live out in front of the Avalon housing project that they built you know the out in Dexter just newly open a couple years ago a black four-door sedan pulled out of it made it right the back window opened up a head in the hand came out of it with a bottle water bottle in it proceeded to throw the water bottle and hit me while riding my bike I already have a broken neck if if I were to fall or anything it would have been really horrible and after that incident I told myself I just can't sit here and be quiet I need to go out and start these meetings and start seeing what's going on so I started going to the city council meetings in Dexter and let them know what was really going on over that NE the Woods by walk about Creek and uh that gave me the courage to overcome what people people would call this fear of actually talking and what I'm going to ask you is a lot of there's a lot of Sigma ISM and fear about it you all have a black lives mattered flag flying on the public school pole it's a nonprofit political organization it should have nothing to do with a school at all you you take public funds it's so I'm asking that two of you have courage to overcome the fear to have any in all this curriculum or anything related to Black lives matter removed from the school if they have the courage to make a motion and have one second it if you don't have that I'm going to have actually have the courage to ask you if you don't have the courage take down the flag and anything related to it put up to 10 Commandments in the school because you allow by putting up that flag and allowing the nonprofit organization political organization within schools that means you allow any organization within the schools I know all of you thinking want whatever you want I have the courage to come up here and say it all right and I don't have the fear of anyone before you want to start calling me names look at yourself in the mirror and start calling those names because that's who you're calling them to it's not right to have that flag flying on a public pole paid by public tax dollars thank you thank you Jeremy next we have Heather Martin hello can you hear me okay is it one y i first I want to ground this um comment in Gra gratitude for each and every one of you and your dedication to the school district and families and community and it's certainly a big job and I'm coming here centered in gratitude and in joy for all the amazing things that Ipsy Community Schools offers um Children and Families my son is a second grader at WISE a very eager second grader and um I appreciate you taking the situation that happened on September 13th very seriously and um I'm coming here to talk about um part of the my experience as a parent who was locked in the building um during what was announced as an active shooter crisis I want to be clear that the intercom announcement that happened at ipsan international elementary school was an intercom announcement that stated there is an active shooter all parents and children go inside the building there W there is an active shooter so I want to make that very clear because what happened and proceeded over the course of the next nearly 52 minutes was a true crisis response and so I know that um Police Chief Moore had a lot to say about communication and discernment but I need to speak from a firstperson perspective about what happened so I was ushered into the building at pickup my son's door classroom door was locked I could not access him I was ushered down four classroom rooms to what I then later Learned was a third grade classroom the announcements over the intercom continued to escalate over the course of the next 20 minutes so the first announcement was that there was an active shooter there was no statement of precautionary or soft lockdown to the people in that building then there was an announcement that students needed to go under in Corners under cabinets away from doors and windows and that doors and windows needed to be closed and adults were told that we needed to identify objects As Weapons this came for all students all teachers this was announced on the intercom naturally students began to panic and experience deep fear I run a a healing centered organization that I have 15 years of trauma informed experience that I was able to employ in the classroom that I was in where we did somatic body calming practices where I answered questions directly that was not the experience in every classroom my son's classroom experience that was that he was told that if any of the students in that classroom made noise or cried or expressed that they would be sent to the principal's office in a kindergarten classroom they were told that if they cried made noise that the bad guy would come and find them this is not only an issue of safety in the logistical sense this is an issue of the emotional safety of the experiences of our parents and children and teachers what happened during this lockdown was students crying students throwing up students a student near me crawled into the fetal position and passed out because the intercom announcements were not not in any way tied to a precautionary narrative at all no one knew it was precautionary until we were 45 minutes locked in that building the police arrived at to clear the building and the communication that happened desperately in that building not only between your District buildings but in the building of this traumatic event which it was because it was sensory experienced as lifethreatening they cleared the building there was an announcement that everyone could go home and be released to their parents there was no protocol for how that release happened kids were running into the hallway parents were rushing into the door people were crying throwing up it was one of the scariest experiences of my life and the perception in those circumstances is a real experience regardless of the actual threat and the reason that parents would have been calling 911 during this circumstance is because the communication we received was that the active shooter was present and the parents who were hiding under the dashes of their cars arriving kids running hiding under benches in the parking or in the Prospect Park just next door because they didn't make it inside the doors in time we're hearing the same announcements we were inside the building but not seeing police present to address it so the communication breakdown did not only happen between police which arguably I would hope with their resource and capability they could be Discerning of a shooting threat in MacArthur Boulevard which on your sign here it says understanding and using data I work with so many young people and families in MacArthur and shootings there unfortunately per capita are happening every week if not every day there is a dramatic percentage of violence just three miles away but the understanding that young people who were involved adolescence young adults who were involved in a shooting three miles from Wise school where the public library the Superior Township Public Library was not alerted of this circumstance did not go into lockdown despite their proximity Closer by a mile and a half and the Assumption was that this adolescent or young adults had a motive to run five minute miles toward a school to shoot it was not an accurate assessment of a threat and what happened in that school was so deeply traumatic that we have a lot of kids to pour into and I'm not here only naming the problem I'm here and prepared to be a big part of the solution and I will offer all my skills and talents and everything I know about trauma and the practices that can help heal these kids I am here to be a part of that solution but this is a communication breakdown that has now resulted in a consequential culture change at the school where now threats happen in schools and I want to tell you something these young people I don't know about you all I have to turn off the morning news in my house because my second grader can't see it because there is so much violence happening right now in this world and it is so available to our young people this is the reflection these threats these trying to understand developmentally what this all means for their young minds and their lives to express threat to talk about guns to talk about violence is a developmentally natural thing to do and it can't be surveilled or monitored or police presen out of young people needs to be expressed talked about held inquired about and and try to gain some understanding and so sorry so all we have is now and the response now of the school board and the district needs to be a dramatic and transparent statement of how things will go so differently because at WISE we didn't get any remind communication we didn't get an we got your very nice letter on that Friday evening which was also somewhat neutral given the information you didn't have at the time from what I'm hearing right and I feel I feel the district and I feel the board perhaps and maybe all of these stakeholders I feel this fear that you'll somehow be in big trouble you know that will protect liability or lawsuit or whatever it may be and I have to tell you that I think it will be a very important task for us to talk transparently and to gather as a community of folks who went through a lot together I mean truly it's as a parent this is one of your nightmares I went into that school with a lot of bravery and um to find a locked door that my son was behind and then to hear an active threat without being able to get to him these are the nightmares that mothers have and um and I had the unfortunate experience of living it but also the fortunate experience of being here to tell you about it so that we can do better together and since this incident my son's um classroom teacher who just started at WISE has quit with 3 days notice there's a a deep culture shift in the support of staff and teachers in this school because of how this incident was handled and um and I'm really disappointed to see that and there is nothing in Alice protocol nothing in rapid response nothing in decisiveness and quick movement that translates into education and that's why these Partnerships matter the police department will have their perspective in intervention but I can promise you that the police department is not your only partner in safety our community is abundant in resources and experts in child development in healing in clinical intervention and support group sessions those will also be your partners in safety and I and I I volunte here first to be a part of a parent team to help make sure this never happens again and a communication plan that allows developmentally appropriate communication for kids during a traumatic event and a crisis developmentally appropriate response and conversation and I amum am afraid that I have um broken um one of your rules by going over time but please know I am grateful for you and these are problems that we never imagined but we've been able to do unimaginable things together and I'm I'm so looking forward to Healing this this very terrible incident and ensuring that the only that that the police is not the only folks um who's a part of um the safety so thank you thank you heather next we have Eric next we have Eric Nicholson good even y uh thanks for having me um and I don't have a lot to add uh to what she just said but um I'm also a parent of uh wise a student at WISE my kindergartner I'm a parent of two uh wise alumni um I I I had a bit of a different perspective um I was on the outside um I got a call for my wife who had gotten a call from someone inside the school um similar uh to to what Heather said there was uh the communication was there was an active shooter things were not okay so um so I I went to the school to figure out what was going on and I was with the you know many parents outside uh trying to you know with without any information about what was going on inside um and so I think I think it a couple of things from my perspective um need to happen that that haven't happened um one is a is a full and transparent explanation of what happened a timeline of what Communications were uh were given from the police to the district um what Communications were given from the district to individual campuses um what what I just heard uh Heather say about what was said in the school that is that is the fullest explanation of what happened inside the school that I've received it's been a month um I I I don't understand why there hasn't been a a fome and uh transparent explanation of what happened um I think that's an important uh and necessary first step to um to identifying what happen and then correcting it um and then the second thing which Echoes what a lot of you have said is that um the the communications with with parents parents um were uh woefully inadequate um the the the first I remember getting an explanation of any sort of explanation was 24 hours later when Dr Sharie sent out a an email or a letter to parents um that that did frankly a very poor job of explaining what happened it came off as defensive I read that letter and I had no I still had no idea of what happened um again here we are almost a month later and um and I I feel like we're still piecing together what happened uh through kind of hearsay um and so I would I would ask you as the school board to um to demand that the school the school district give us a full clear um and transparent explanation of what happened so that we can um address the issues and move forward thank you thank you Eric um Deborah Stevens good evening I failed retirement so I came back so I'm back at board meetings and also in the district but working half time and what I want to tell you is I've noticed some changes in the district and not all good um but one of the big things is obviously we need lots more support at the schools um so I between estherbrook and Perry and one of the problems is we need more pairs I know there's a new contract going to sign but it's not going to be enough I've been in my Funtime retirement working as a cook and making $17 an hour just to start so like they have to go up a lot more to get people to go into it and also I think that you need to know that you need more than just special education Paras we need like teacher assistance and all those classrooms there's so many kids there pandemic babies coming in and it's incredible and so I try to help wherever I can but I have a new function I'm doing ear intervention but I just thought if you go into the classrooms just go see what's going on in some of the buildings though and people are doing their best but they need a lot more help and we need a lot more money allotted but maybe just to think about you know there needs to be more support in the classrooms I just special Paras that are doing it when they're supposed to be targeting especially like kids but extra adults in there to help all kids that are going through lots of drama so that's it I'll be back clot more now thank you uh Leva weathers would you like to okay okay okay okay thank you any other public comment cards or all those all of them thank you next that takes us to item 10 which is a request for a Clos session is there a motion at this time Madame president vice president Lee requests for closed session resort reant to section 8f of the open meetings act to review and consider the content of a application for employment thank you a motion has been made by vice president Lee is there support for this motion support trusty Townson thank you supported by trusty Townsen all those in favor I those oppose that motion carries the board will convene into close session at 8:37 p.m we will leave and go into another room and come back another e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e Miss 855 the board of education is back in Open session at this time is there a motion to go back into Clos session [Music] by state federal thank you a motion has been made by vice president Lee is there a support for this motion supported by trusty Fields thank you all those in favor all those oppose that motion carries uh board members would you like us to go back into the room or stay in this room for the Clos session we have one more Clos session after this one second again okay okay what do yall prefer stay here okay all right we will for e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e the thank you e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e e there okay okay the time is 10:10 the board of education is back in Open Session the next item on our agenda is the consent agenda is there a motion at this time Madam president I moveed that theard of Education approved the 1 September 9 2024 regular board meeting minutes two Personnel matters as per the presented list dated 10224 new hes in resignation thank you a motion has been made by trusty goodr is there support for this motion support thank you supported by by vice president Lee all those in favor those oos oh those oppos that motion carries next that takes us to an item under human resources number 17 the approval of the the ycsa collective bargaining agreement is there a motion at this time approve the presented collective bargaining agreement with the ipsan Community Schools educational support professionals Association mea Nea thank you a motion has been made by trusty Fields is there a support for this motion support this is Trusty gainsley thank you supported by trusty gainsley all those in favor those oppose that motion carries next that takes us the potential new hire is there a motion at this time Madame President this is Trusty good I move that the Board of Education approve the district's employment request 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 those oppos that motion carries that takes us to our action item under business and finance which is the acceptance of the renewal of the I observation system is there a motion at this time truste Townson moved that the Board of Education accepts the attached quote for renewing the eye observation systems for the amount of 93,6 6663 thank you a motion has been made by trusty Townson is there a support for this motion trusty G support thank you supported by trusty goodr all those in favor those opposed that motion carries next that takes us to the acceptance of the Eastern Michigan University writing project professional development is there a motion at this time trusty towns moveed that the Board of Education accepts the attached invoice for the Emu writing project for the amount of $3,675 thank you a motion has been made by trusty towns and is there a support for this motion trusty Fields I support thank you supported by trusty Fields all those in favor I those oos motion carries next that takes us to the approval for reveal math instructional materials for the elementary schools is there a motion at this time Madam president this is Trusty G I move that the Board of Education approve the additional mcra Hill reveal math materials for the elementary schools for a purchase amount of $1,734 30 thank you a motion has been made by trusty Goodrich is there support for this motion trusty Townson support thank you supported by trusty Townson any discussion on this item board members seeing none all those in favor those oppos motion carries next that takes us to the donations for the ycs event series is there a motion at this time truste towns and moved that the Board of Education accepts donation from one puffer R for $40,000 worth of backpacks for the back to school bash two McDonald's for $2,500 three iilani housing for $1,000 for the ycs event series thank you a motion has been made by trusty Townsen is there support for this motion support by President Lee thank you supported by vice president Lee all those in favor those opposed that motion carries thank you to our ycs supporters uh for all yes that you do to impact the students and this district with these generous donations um SE no community members in the building we do not have any public comments I me before the board we are at item 20 which is under discussions are there any Board of Education subcommittee reports I have a question M president um so trusty Townson and I attended WSB legislative breakfast on September 23rd um we talked a lot about the importance of the pipeline and grow your own programs uh certainly we appreciate all that in our discussions tonight and the only other thing I just want to celebrate this happened since then but I want to celebrate that host Bill 5803 was signed on October 4th uh putting more money back into our districts and going back to our teachers with their MERS production so that was exciting great thank you trusty goodr any other subcommittee reports I do have one one yes vice president Lee uh September 26 the preschool meeting [Music] uh Mr Young started that meeting at 4:30 he discussed the process of the meeting uh the he also we also voted in a secretary Miss Lewis she has a child at batty we are in also need a chair and a vice chair he um discussed the policy council at the ISD apparent for that position and they are offering $20 diping for that and also he said that the ycs offering a stiping but he's not sure of the amount that would be uh what else he said there was 45 students on the wait list for the Head Start program and that he is also sitting out a survey because we decided Well he asked what would be a good day in time for a meeting we got the weekend we got the mornings and we got evening so he's sending out a survey to parents to see what would be a good time for everybody and when that survey comes in and he analyze it and everything will let us know the time and date for our next meeting and the meeting was adjourned at 5:30 p.m. great thank you vice president Lee any yeah any other subcommittee reports at this time um just for the ipsilon Community Schools Foundation um they recently had their um a big event it was a fundraiser um we will we have pushed our meeting back um it's usually on a Tuesday but it was a Wednesday but it got pushed to Thursday this week so I'm pretty sure they will provide a final report that we will forward to the to the board as well as the um dist the superintendent in regards to the final number received but I believe it was over 32,000 that's um but which is good so I I do want to just thank them for all of their work um that they've been doing and um thank you uh to the president for U being able to do her speech um you did an excellent job um and then I will defer to Maria we did have the wasb um what is it called meeting legislative legislative meeting Maria will get the report on that but just to remind people about the um special education Mills renewal that I know the superintendent will talk about probably in her conversation that is for November 5th and that is a renewal it is not a tax increase so that that is the big push for all of the districts um right now just to make sure that we maintain the that number and then chy goodr can provide any other details from the meeting so I I gave a very very brief uh I was celebrating the myto reduction and I think I had to leave before they talked about the special special education millage so thank you for adding that I meant to uh ask you if there are anything things I had missed I know that um Senator Irwin is also there to talk about the um the reading bill and I had to leave right when that discussion started um yeah I think between the two of us we hit the highlights okay thank you trusty Townsen and trusty goodr any other subcommittee reports I don't have a report but I am waiting to schedule a Communications meeting with Lambert so I'm just waiting okay thank you truste bills any uh board comments at this time I do have a comment um what was that that was Saturday night they had the what is that called the homecoming dance uhuh I had to pick up my grandson those kids was beautiful oh they were beautiful it took me back to my days I was so happy and I they were so well behaved and it just was so beautiful it was a nice it was so nice so I just wanted to say you know I didn't go inside because he didn't want me to but it was just nice and they were beautiful a so I'll piggyback on you so my grandson went to he's a freshman he said he had so much time but it was too short he said he said it was over too fast so and then my niece was there and she said she had fun too and she just started back like a couple weeks ago so they both had fun you know and then we went to the gang man trusty town soon I went I went to the game I took pictures so I sent the link to Dr hugan I sent so you guys could look but it was really nice and stuff I was sad we lost but it was a good game and it was a nice turnout they played hard and they did they did they did they it was a nice game nice turnout it was really nice to see a you know a nice group of people to be honest with you you know what I'm saying but they they look good and it was fun a nice night too planning for next year what he's gonna wear I said okay now Grandma you got to take shpping okay I do want to add a lot of fun shout out to sesa Allen and her group for doing the home alumni tailgate um which continues to grow each year so um that is good and we actually had um a tire not a tire but a y had gear y had spare yeah before the event so um if you all are interested you can go to the grizzly online store I believe with print Giants uh they have um stronger together Gear with all of the high schools and stuff on there so nice other board comments um I'll just add that the the um ipsan Community Schools Foundation fundraiser event was beautiful um kudos to all of those who had a hand in bringing that to fruition um it was a nice time um I know that both trusty uh gutr and gazley and of course trusty Townson were all there so um it was just a beautiful event um and it was an honor to be there um if there are no other board comments I'm going to turn it over to Dr Zachary Ross for her comments thank you Madame President again the homecoming um in spirit week was a huge success um thank you to everyone involved truste towns in with the hotel gate uh beforehand and the alumni um were the out there um having a great on time even to the very end of the game they were out there um just celebrating and bringing in the spirit as they said that all the way to the very end of the game our um Grizzlies really pushed through um with bringing in all the spirit and so our audience did a wonderful job supporting our our Grizzlies and so thank you to a wonderful job with our audience and to the administrators and to all the athletic department uh the even during the week our manufacturing day was wonderful at WCC so thank you to that team who took our students to WCC great job doing that um introducing our students to uh what they can see at WCC um upcoming soon look out for the strategic planning dates October 15th and 16th and 29th and 30th they're going to be onsite and board members are going to be contacting you to be interviewing you so know that and then there's going to be virtual times November 12th and 13th for everybody so if they don't pull different groups it'll be kind of like they did the cognitive review they'll have small groups on the 15th and 16th and 29th and 30th specific groups but the November 12th and 13th anybody can join in on the virtual so we'll be sending out flyers and and Communications and so those invitations will be coming out and then as they said real quickly um November 5th no matter what people are going to do just vote so right just vote everybody should be participating in that as well as there is a special education millage renewal that is on the ballot on Tuesday November F voters in Washington ISD service area will be asked to vote on whether to renew a 12year uh 2826 mil tax to help fund the cost of special education in our local schools and that's for everyone and there's no tax increase it's just a renewal so we just ask for people to just look on there for that information and thank you you're welcome I had one more comment that I forgot about um we have the cube conference and mesv conferences coming up later this month so we will schedule some time to talk about that soon any other business board members okay the time is 10:2