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Okay. All right, everyone. If you're going to remain, we can get started again. Thank you. Use your clap, boy. as they use your teacher. Just wait for everybody to take their seats, please. That's a lovely dress. I love the pants. My so Thank you. This is cool. You're watching me. Okay, we're going to start go back on the record here and we are going to go to item C in public session which is uh board member comments and we start at the left two with Anita. You're up. Good evening. Tonight we come together to recognize and celebrate the dedication and hard work of our retirees. after doing the math and I have different math than than um Dustin and he's a math teacher so I don't know what that says but I found that among our 83 retirees we have a combined total of 2009 years of service in education and that's over two millennia dedicated to supporting students and families in our community and that's an extraordinary legacy I tried to figure out how many students lives are retirees have touched.
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This is not a legal document. It doesn't have to stand uh muster with the attorneys. Um but the fact of the matter is that in the instances over all these years where uh replacement trees for example could not be fit upon a site in the quantity that was required by the standards of the natural features provisions in the UDC. There is a fee paid based on a tree canopy fee um that would be paid uh to the city. All of those funds over the years, as I understand, have gone into the general fund. They haven't gone to support natural features work in the city or for heaven's sakes, our natur program in state parks, in the city parks. They should be going there. One of the things we're trying to do here is to get into code the idea that every project that goes forward from this point has to result in a net increase in the biodiversity of the city.
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Thank you, Commissioner Bassford. Okay. Next, I'm looking for a motion under B, Education Administration, uh, to approve items number one through nine. Motion second. Motion by Commissioner Suarez, seconded by Commissioner Brunak.
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I'd like to take a moment to recognize and express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Bland, director of special education, and Dr. Clayton, supervisor of special education, for their responsiveness and collaboration with parents through the special education parent advisory group. or CPAC. Their efforts to incorporate parent feedback from the CPAG survey into the planning of meeting topics have made a meaningful meaningful difference. I had the privilege of presenting at Monday's CPAC meeting on the topic of emotional regulation and I commend their willingness to foster open communication and build genuine partnerships with parents. I share this example in the spirit of collaboration and in the hope that similar engagement can be established between our parent advocacy group, parents for improved literacy outcomes and the curriculum department. Specifically, we would welcome the opportunity to work collaboratively with Miss McGullik, director of curriculum and Miss Mindy Coffer, supervisor of literacy to enhance our district's literacy curriculum for the 2025 2026 school year.
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Any discussion? All those in favor? 7. Asking for approval from Michael Kelly, Jennings County Middle School 8th grade head football coach. Entertain a motion to approve. Motion by Cheryl. Do I have a second? Second by Pat.
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Um, and because of a lack of a planner, um, the new member of the board who mentioned he's currently in a planning role, I'm very curious if you would be interested in that particular seat because frankly, we need someone like you right now to help wrap up the comprehensive plan process. Um, so I'm I'm curious from both of you what your reaction is to all this before I I officially u confirm my interest in the in the the vice chair position. Yeah, I guess it depends on on the extent of the involvement. I mean, I've done master plans myself, other communities and I work for the one for law, so I'll be comfortable with navigating the world of the our master plan. Um I guess I would need to understand more you know what's the involvement what's left and and what will be the the the extent of the needs for that planner on the comprehensive plan and and for the metro west regional collaborative I'm also reading more about what that entails and what that means before I commit but I'm I'm happy to help but I just want to make sure that I don't overcommit to stuff.
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That was too much math, but suffice it to say, it numbers in the thousands. We are deeply grateful for the impact each of you has had in shaping young lives. Your service has enriched our schools in countless ways. Thank you for your years of commitment and care. You will be deeply missed and we wish you all the best as you begin this exciting new chapter. This week we also celebrate classified school employee week from May 19th to May 23rd. I be began my own journey in education as a classified employee working as a clerk typist, a vice principal secretary and later a principal secretary. I know firsthand the dedication, skill, and heart it takes to fulfill these roles. Our classified staff are the backbone of our schools, providing critical support to students, families, and colleagues every single day. We see you. We value you. And we thank you sincerely for all you do.
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if not the property that mostly especially for big buildings will require a fee be paid um in order to reach a 10% increase on that property and biodiversity that fee should go to natural areas work in Ann Arbor not to the general fund so I you know I have no objection to your language change but this is something to be worked out in code um to change exactly where these funds go and what they should be used for. Thanks, Chris. I'll say, yeah, I don't object to the suggested change. Um, I'm not really sure why it's needed because as as Commissioner Graham said, we've been doing or the city's been collecting money for canopy loss fees for a long time on larger projects, but maybe there is something on the legal side for the smaller side. And I'm not a lawyer. I I don't have didn't even try and look any of it up.
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Any discussion? Hearing none. Roll call. Mr. Shahana. Miss Bassford. Yes. Mr. Brunier. Yes. Mr. Kenova. Yes. Dr. Danny. Yes. Mr. Mia. Yes. Abstain on P68. My name only. We're on E. Brother. P. You have no absence on that one. Oh yes. Mr. Iano. Yes. Miss Suarez. Yes. Vice President Santiago. Yes. President Paris. Yes. Motion carries. Okay. Next is uh sorry it's a long one. Under C personnel. Uh a motion to approve items number one through 71. Motion. Motion by Commissioner Bassford. Second second by vice president Santiago.
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One suggestion we would like to propose is the creation of a district-wide curriculum survey to gather meaningful community feedback on the current literacy curriculum and instructional practices. This would help ensure that the perspectives of families and educators are considered as the district plans for future improvements. On May 8th, our advocacy group sent a detailed email to Dr. Smith, Miss McGullik, and the board of education outlining our concerns and questions regarding how the district plans to meet the requirements outlined in PL 2024 C52, a law signed by Governor Murphy that reaffirms the state's commitment to improving literacy outcomes. Unfortunately, we have not yet received a response or acknowledgement to support districts in meeting these new requirements. NJ doe has announced the funding is available through the focus grant. Esham Township School District has been awarded $17,960. I'm excited to see that item 9.5 on the agenda was to approve Eastam Township School District's grant application to the NJ DOE for this amount.
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Any discussion? All those in favor? 70. Asking for the following recommendations to be approved. Pending hir hiring requirements. That would be Tyler Moore, Jennings County School Corporation, summer tech support, and Seth Shepard also as tech support. Entertain a motion. Motion by Pat. Do I have a second? Second by Mayor Lynn.
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Yeah, I myself uh cover the council meetings in in law that has me working Tuesday nights. I already have our bi-weekly Thursday nights. Um so it's it's it's sitting quite a few of of the hours which is fine. So I don't want to answer it now. If I have time if I can get time to read more about what this means, I'll be more than happy to get back to you with either or or category. I'd be happy to chat with you outside of the meeting about the comprehensive plan work. I can tell you I would consider that to be very more urgent if you will in my opinion than the other thing. Um just because we're we're understaffed on this on the town side and in this metro west regional collaborate does it need to be filled now? No. Because to Anna's point I would argue the comprehensive plan is at it later stages.
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Last week, I had the privilege of attending the Apple Valley High School Senior Awards Night where we honored the hard work and achievements of our graduating students. And I also had the pleasure of attending the Granite Hills High School Spring Showcase, a vibrant and inspiring display of student talent and creativity. My heartfelt thanks goes out go out to the teachers and staff who made these events possible. It's because of your dedication that our students continue to thrive. I was also really honored to attend the SAI senior lunchon at Apple Valley High School, a beautiful event celebrating the accomplishments of our senior students. Thank you to Miss Shannon Spiny and her incredible team for organizing such a meaningful celebration. Another highlight this month was the certificated employee of the year celebration where we recognized outstanding educators including teachers, counselors, speech p speech pathologists and coaches who go above and beyond every day for our students.
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So, if this is what the recommendation is, I would support the wording that's there. Yeah, Chair Curtis, that's my understanding as well. It's not that the collection of fees would not withstand. It's the requirement of all projects on private land that don't require a site plan requiring them to pay a fee into the into the um fund based on tree change or natural features change on their property. Uh gets into some gray area, which is why I say it's not totally impossible to achieve this, but it's definitely something worth exploring. And I think, you know, softening the language to say that it's clear that we're exploring this route rather than it must or require or whatever, you know, I guess should require was the previous language, uh, is kind of where that's coming from. Okay. Commissioner Mitchell, thanks. I um have a little hesitation on this in that the word explorer can be soft and I worry that someone might just ask one question and say, "Well, I explored and stop." Um, and so I'm concerned about um proceeding in a solid investigative way that um, Council Member Malik indicated that um, that results in the kind of thing that we want, which is to make improvements as opposed to having an an overall decrease in um, tree canopy and the other um, natural features that associated.
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Any discussion hearing? None. Roll call. Mr. Shashad. Miss Bassford. Yes. Mr. Brunc. Yes. Mr. Kenova. Yes. Dr. Danny. Yes. Mr. Mia. Yes. Abstain on P68. My name only. Mr. Ciano. Yes. Miss Suarez. Yes. It's abstain on P69. Vice President Santiago. Yes. Abstain on 28 44 46 47. Let me just 68. I'm just looking that up. My name only and 69. Thank you, President Paris. Uh, yes, but abstain on 33 476. My name only on 68 and 69. You said 33. I said P33 to start with. Yes. Thank you, sir. Motion carries. Thank you, Mr. Shahada. Um, we're up to board member comments. Finance. I'm sorry, we are not up to board members comments. Oh, yes. Item D, finance and facilities. Um, looking for a motion to approve items number one through 13. Motion. Second. Motion by Commissioner Bunchc. Seconded by Commissioner Bassford.
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And our advocacy group applauds the district for this important step. We hope this grant will help support the curriculum department in taking a proactive road toward improving literacy instruction and outcomes for all students in ESHAM. We hope to hear more about the district's plans and would welcome the opportunity to schedule a collaborative meeting to continue this important conversation. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. My name is Emily Jervisy. I live at 40 Paddock Road. In the meeting minutes tonight, it states that the lease agreement for Demacy Elementary and Marlton Middle School is pending final legal approval. Let me be perfectly clear. The parents at Deacy have no problem sharing facilities with Yale. A representative came to our PTA meeting and walked through logistics and answered our questions. Our school would be open to any student. Diversity and inclusion is what makes our community stronger and helps grow our children into empathetic and kind adults.
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Any discussion? All those in favor 70. So next we're down under finances and we have lots of donations. So it's the Philip Marsh show. We have a lot of donations. All right. I'm asking board for approval to accept the following donations. Brushk Elementary expert I care $60 for the sixth grade celebration at Hayden. The JCCF essay contest winner, $100 to Miss Aaron Stoner's class. NBIC, $250 for the schoolwide Hayden 500 project. And the SC $1,000 for the 2526 art club, which is 3 through sixth grade at JCEC, Dollar General Literacy Foundation, $10,000 grant for adult literacy to grow indivi individualized instruction at the high school. Black Cat Black Cat Racing Team in memory of Bob Watts. We got the following. Karen Lannon $10. Phil and Kathy Gosser $20. Nancy Smith $20. Ron and K Bloomer and Lawson and Elise Allen $20. Brian Jen and Paxton Liot $20.
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It probably needs the person now versus this. if this is something that we can go back as Ash done and say here we have a a member of the planning board but in I don't know two or three months whenever we can offset some of the the the tasks here. Yeah, absolutely. And I'm I'm even just thinking that um now that we're having this that we we're having this discussion and then I I don't think really there's any um need to assign necessarily positions tonight. If if someone's interested in a position, they can certainly say if we want to all give it some thought and come back on the 12th, we can we can do that and um um and see I mean if like I said if someone has an im you know an interest that's fine we can talk about that now but if not we can we can certainly wait until I was bringing it up because it it it gives context for the the vice chair position or the secretary position so that if if our new members are interested in a particular item you gives them a sense of capacity and time.
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It was a true privilege to celebrate alongside them. I also want to thank Karen Sabers for inviting me to join her in recognizing our certificated staff this week. I had the opportunity to visit Granite Hills High School, Apple Valley High School, Vanguard Preparatory, and Sycamore Rocks. It was wonderful to personally thank so many of our staff for their continued dedication and the meaningful meaningful impact they have on our school communities. I'd also like to thank Mrs. Nelson and Mr. Schulenberg for inviting me to attend the school services May Revision Workshop. I truly appreciate the opportunity to learn alongside you and our association presidents and to stay informed on the important financial matters affecting our district. This morning I had the opportunity to visit Desert Nulls Elementary where I witnessed the outstanding work Mrs. Hobbs is doing as a reading specialist and her team. Her her dedication to supporting students was really inspiring.
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So, I'm just saying I'm hesitant about that term and I don't know if there's another one, but um explore feels like it could be easily a one and done. Council member Cornell, thank you. And thanks. I want to echo um Council Member Malik's gratitude for all the work that's gone into this. Um I'm comfortable with the wording um as proposed on the screen right now. I think my concern in some of this is um we know that Ann Arbor is an incredibly expensive place to live. We know that um basically property values and housing prices have doubled um within the last 10 years. that already creates a barrier to folks who want to be our neighbors and live in our community. And so the idea that we would continue to place burdens on you know people just wanting to live in our community to to have a home in our community feels um it doesn't feel right honestly.
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