So, if you're part of the Higgley Leadership Academy, please come forward. I think Mr. Walker wants to brag on you guys. [Applause] Yeah, tonight we're here just to acknowledge and celebrate uh the completion of the Higgley Leadership Academy for this year. So, this is the majority of our our class. We had over 32 participants um pretty much divided between classified and certified staff members. And so throughout the year, uh, they had a chance to be exposed to different areas of the school district, uh, and and acquire some leadership and and, uh, basically discover and explore some of the parts of the school district that they don't necessarily get a chance to see. Um, we do have a couple people that just wanted to say some words. And so I'm just going to pass the mic around if you guys wouldn't mind introducing yourself. And then where you going?
Hall first because he's on that already. He is on it and see what he at least ask. Yeah, I did. Have you heard anything? I have not said commitment. No, maybe ask him have a conversation before we decide. Yeah, but I see and I believe it I would not make that sure thing uh but if is there anybody else want to be on that position so at least we have you you would like to I would anybody else take a shot Bill yeah I mean I did it before I I thought it was great okay all right you guys don't make my job easy do lots of engagement so we got Bill we got Alex and possibly possibly so we hold off a little bit and see Thank you. All right. We hold off on that. All right. Yeah. Okay. My job is over. Next to you next year.
All right. All in favor? I Okay, thank you. And yes, next is consider resolution for transfer of funds. Can we skip back up to the stone's resolution first? Switch pages here. Sorry. That's okay. Consider a resolution for scholarship awards. Yes. So, this is a standard annual resolution that we have to do for our corporation. Uh, this resolution just gives the business office permission to make payments to the scholarship recipients school of choice on their behalf. And so, I would recommend that the board approve this resolution.
Money again is collected for them to pay to play. The boosters ended up giving them $600 to rent the court so that they could have the opportunity to practice on a real tennis court before their first match. Um so I echo Brenda. This really is unacceptable. The town is responsible for upkeep, repair, and the equipment that the kids should use. um let's give them the opportunities that they need to be successful in their athletic endeavors. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you for your comments. Anybody else in the audience who like to speak for public comment on any subject topic?
Mrs. Davlin Edgit, assistant principal. Dr. Mr. Abby Graham, assistant principal. Mr. Andy Parks, assistant principal and director of athletics, who is unable to be with us tonight because he is supporting our girls soccer team playing in the state quarterfinals. And kickoff just happened. And Mr. Brian her Herman, Dean of Students. [Applause] At this time, I want to take a minute to talk to the seniors. Seniors today or graduates today is a celebration. A celebration of your hard work, your resilience, your growth, and the incredible community you have built here at Rampart. For most of our lives, you and your classmates have moved through the world in sync. You've walked the same hallways, sat in the same classrooms, taken the same tests, and shared the same snow days and spring breaks. From elementary school to middle school to high school, you've been on the same track, following a rhythm that was set long before you understood how to measure time.
I want to thank Miss Don and Miss Onlicker for helping me through these four years, especially the last two years I've got to have them as student council adviserss. They have made a huge positive impact on my life, as have many other teachers over the past years. To our coaches, thank you for teaching us to grow and persevere, not only in our sports, but in our lives. Thank you to coach Babett and coach Hario for helping me through senior season with recovery and including me in the team even without being able to play. To my family, thank you for your constant love and support even on the hard days. To my friends, consider this your shout out. Thank you for the laughs, pep talks, and being there through it all. As we look ahead to whatever comes next, college, trade schools, the military, a gap year, or anything else, I truly believe in every single one of you.
So stay curious, be resilient, and dream big. I'm confident that you will shape our world in remarkable ways. And as a D20 graduate, we welcome you back to share about your future adventures. So let's give it up again for the class of 2025. [Applause] Thank you, Miss Habber, and thank you again to you and to the board of education for your support for our school. At each graduation, members of the senior class are asked if any of them wish to speak. This year, we have three students that wanted to share their thoughts with you. First, I would like to introduce Gabby Molina. All right. Good morning, everybody. Um, I'm going to start off. This isn't in my speech, but we're just all going to take a deep breath with me. Ready? Let's do it. Okay. to our esteemed board of education, superintendent Habberer, district directors, principal Lindsay, staff, family, and friends, and lastly, my classmates, the class of 2025.
Thank you. Thank you. Hi, my name is Garov Kulcarnney. I'm at 139 Ashley Muse Drive. Um, I want to speak today in uh excited about the draft comprehensive land use plan. Um, and excited about the process so far. Um, I've also not been paid by any developers to come here. I'm speaking as a resident and homeowner who just loves Ann Arbor. I first found out about the comprehensive plan a little over a year ago. There was a series of open houses at the libraries and I attended one. I got to hear about how the planning department was thinking about the future of Ann Arbor and share my thoughts about where I'd like to live and how I'd like to get around town. I thought they were very very well done and staff did a great job of laying out information and setting up exercises for us to do as a way to share targeted feedback.
Thank you, Miss Lily. Before you start, just raise your right hand, please. Do you swear to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth? I do. All right. Thank you. Please proceed. Thanks. Oh, I have a person. Great. Thank you. Thank you all for um joining us tonight. uh part of this presentation I had given a couple weeks ago. You're going to see some uh recurring information, but there is some new information. Um and I felt like a PowerPoint presentation to help just walk through the housing element and fair share plan. So, a housing element and fair share plan is a plan is a part of your master plan. The planning board is the entity that's responsible for adopting a housing element in fair share plan and is it is one of two elements in part of your master plan that's absolutely required not only per the fair ha fair housing act but per municipal land use law in order to have zoning in your municipality you must have a housing element and fair share plan.
They had um on the bottom you can see flowers. They had floral arrangements from every country. This particular lunch was representative of the United States but there had to have been over one not every but at least over 100 different countries were represented by flowers from that country and it was absolutely beautiful. Um we also went to the Holocaust Museum and pictures is just you know um it was really eye opening for a lot of our students who just you know just yeah just feeling the feelings of that time and just really understanding it and visually seeing it. And so I think when we talked to the students that part of the trip really stood out to them and really made an impact on their heart. So all the fundraising and hard work the thing about this trip is we fundra for like eight months leading up to it.
Oh, she had prepared. Okay, you ready? I've got another one if you want to. My name is Jen Miller and um coming from my own hidden corner of community ed. Each meeting filled me with new ideas and excitement. I would regularly shoot a text off to my boss Kim before even leaving the parking lot. Her immediate response was always, "Great. I can't wait to hear about it tomorrow." The leadership academy has opened my eyes to the endless opportunities that Higgley has to offer. the amazing people that I've met and shared with and allowed me to learn about what is done behind the scenes. With the book study, reading radical cander, I've learned the importance of effective and open communication with sharing my goals with my co-workers and supervisors. It has allowed me to share my thoughts with another perspective. It's given me the opportunity to offer input on ways to not only grow our program, but introduce all that community has to offer to all of our district families as a whole.
So, we've got three other they're they're called the superintendent committees um that we have. We have the educational foundation, we have the insurance committee, and we have the safety committee. So, um do I have anyone interested in just showing up and and being partners with our educational foundation? Why didn't I think Excellent. Yeah, Janie had had an opportunity to meet with u uh Reverend Hunt and myself uh last week and um she got a chance to hear a little bit about what they were doing. So, and now she's officially the face of the ad committee representing the board. Thank you. And they meet five times a week. Insurance. Who's on the insurance now? I'm out of now. Okay. Are you on there? No. No. I think Doc uh maybe Dr. Hall. Yeah. Wait. I think maybe. Yeah. All right. So, who's interested? Did you want to continue?
Any discussion? Second. All in favor? I move on to the transfer funds. Yes. So, normally you only see this transfer at the end of the calendar year. Uh we've decided to make this a semianual event. So, we would recommend that the board approve this resolution to make a transfer of 100 $850,000 from the education fund to the rainy day fund.
Okay, hearing none, we'll go online. Anybody online? So, if you're joining us online, you can use that raised hand feature of Zoom and I'll call on you by your Zoom name and you can make public comment. All right. Okay. With that, we'll close out public comment. Thank you for those comments tonight. We appreciate it. Okay. Um, chairman's coin. So, I have several things for the board tonight. Number one is, uh, the Memorial Day parade is coming up on Monday and, uh, Jordan was going to lead the march, but, uh, but now he'll be doing it from a car. Yes. Um, unfortunately, no. Jordan, uh, broke her. Um, but board members, we typically march and pray. Um, we have a banner and we're in front of the band. So, board members coming. Cindy. Okay. I bought stuff to throw. Well, count on. Okay. And Russell's not here.
And not only that, you had the class ahead of you to show you what was coming next. You could look at the seniors and say, "That'll be me next year." You were all playing the game from the same playbook page by page, year by year. But that changes now. What comes next is something Mel Robbins calls the great scattering. Suddenly, our lives will no longer move in lock step. You'll be on different paths with different timelines, living in different places. Some of you will go to college. Some will enter the workforce. Some may travel. And some may not be entirely sure what the next step looks like. And that's okay. There's no longer a playbook to follow. There's no longer one pl right place or one predictable next step. This is the first time in your life that you get to write the playbook. It's freeing and it can feel a little disorienting, too.
Just don't forget to live in the moment. Before I close, I want to invite the entire class of 2025 to stand. [Applause] Seniors, please look around and wave to all the people you can find who helped get where you are today. Parents, teachers, friends, and families, please cheer as loud as you can to show these kids how proud you are. Now seniors, as Noah Khan said, you're going to go far. So keep making those memories. Congratulations, class of [Applause] 2025. Hello everyone. Thank you for your attendance and support on this special occasion. My name is Mia Garcia and I would like to take the next few moments to introduce you to our saludiatoran, Rebecca Boswell. When I asked Becky how she wanted people to remember her after graduation, she told me I wanted to be a role model for some. I think I speak for the whole class of 2025 when I say that Becky has not only been a role model for some, but for every single person she has encountered in her last four years at Liberty High School.
Welcome. It is not the mountains we conquer, but ourselves. Sir Edmund Hillary, they say reaching the top of the mountain is not just about the climb. It's about discovering the strength you never knew you had. My name is Gabby Molina and as I stand here today, I see a class full of mountaineers. Each of us have faced our own steep trails, battled through storms of self-doubt, and kept moving forward when turning back seemed easier. We all have our own personal mountains. And let's be real, we've probably tripped on a few rocks along the way. But guess what? We're here. My journey, maybe like many of yours, has had challenging hikes. Has taken us up steep mountains and down rocky trails. One of the tallest peaks I've had to climb has been overcoming dyslexia, discalcula, and disgraphia. At times, the path felt too steep, the obstacles too heavy, and the fog of frustration too thick to see the way forward.
So I was surprised to hear so many people say they had only recently heard about the comprehensive plan and that there were some maybe hidden or nefarious process. I wouldn't say I'm the most plugged into an civic conversations. This is my second time ever giving public comment. But I found that uh but I had found out about these sessions somehow. And so I wanted to figure out how did I discover these sessions? Uh, and here's what I found. The city of Ann Arbor had emailed me with the subject line, quote, "share your ideas at Ann Arbor comprehensive plan open houses on April 19th, 2024." I'm also in W 5 and Council Member Briggs mentioned it in multiple email newsletters at the time. Uh, in fact, many local leaders had included details of these sessions and other opportunities to engage with the process in their newsletters within the last couple years.
Next slide please. I know the date is May 13th not May 12th. Sorry about that. Um so what I'd like to go over I'm not going to reiterate what Mr. Serenian had just talked about as it relates to um the Fair Housing Act. I may get into a little bit, but I'm going to try to move this along. Uh but I do want to go over affordable housing generally, talk about the obligation for the bureau, talk about the housing element, and and specifically what's known as the fair share plan. That's the plan that will address the obligation. Um the the plan was placed on file about I think it was 10 10 days ago, maybe 11 days ago. um sorry nine days ago and um it's going to go through the individual sites that are going to meet the the satisfy the obligation. I'm going to talk about a little bit about the next steps and then it's open for public comment uh as well as questions.
So there's journey that every month. Thank you for sending your kids with dollars on Friday. That really really helps. The trip was awesome. In fact, I believe we were the best eighth graders ever. But um for the for the seventh graders who are playing beyond the best behavior, do not try to do anything horrible. Be respectful especially around the museum and um have have like a fun time with your friends. That's all I have. Well, that's a tough act to follow. Well, Mr. Rico, that's your job. Oh, we have to approve the minutes from last meeting. So, I'll make a motion. Yes. Is it? Yes. Mr. McIn. Yes. Allan. Yes. And now it's our superintendent. All right. Is going to be fun as well. So um good evening president members of the board family members amazing students and great staff members that are here today also and our foundation.