001Call meeting order. You all rise and pledge, please. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Could you do a roll call, please? >> Oh, yes. Sorry. Wonder >> here. >> Van >> here. Stephis >> Here. Campbell >> here. >> Dehan absent. Hey, >> hi. Sorry. >> All right. Thank you. Uh, please note as a courtesy of members of the audience, the board of education, please silence your cell phone. Uh, public will only be able to speak during public comment if signed up. Mr. Merkel, I have one. All right. Thank you very much. Uh item number one, approval of agenda. Can I get a motion? >> So move. >> Support.
002>> All those in favor? Yes. Opposed? >> Motion passes. Uh reports agenda on number two. Board members. Um Bob, let's start with you. >> Um my subject today is specific to something that I brought up last year and I believe I brought it up last month. The state board of education has approved new guidelines on sexed curriculum. Um they did it very quickly. There was a great deal of contested comment on it. Um and again real quickly just the highlights. um they now started at um second grade and then they ramp it up from there. So the fact that we're talking about this in second grade is incredibly concerning to me. Um they talk about gender identity and sexual orientation now. Um they do more with regard to uh safe sex and reproduction. They talk
003about LGTBQ. The one thing that they do have and that's mainly because of um the Supreme Court's ruling is they have to have uh uh parent consent in order to do this. Now, it's interesting why this was pushed through. last fall failed in the legislature because of the end of the year stuff and they didn't have the proper quorum on the Democratic side to get this passed. But they decided to pick this up and I do not understand why. There's a couple executive orders that President Trump initiated this year that should negate this. So I do expect there to be lawsuits on this to nullify it. um specifically the title nine and also the restriction of federal funds um uh when it comes to the indoctrination because this is considered indoctrination from the executive orders
004perspective. The one thing that they that they did do is they kept it up to the local districts to maintain or adopt any portion of it. Um, as you can tell, I'm greatly not in favor of it. Um, and I do have a request, and that is should Granville Public Schools decide to adopt any of this stuff that the board as usual understands the curriculum changes. And then my other ask is should we do that parents receive in writing a copy of the full syllabus the course syllabus and the opt out form because I don't understand we've had sexed passed that has been active since 2000 and it has worked fine we have had no concerns with it. But this I'm going to say part of it is woke. There's a left agenda and they
005definitely do not have um the best for families and parents in this. So that's all I have. >> Thank you. Amy, >> this Amy? >> Yes. >> Okay. All right. Um, I would love to talk about all the amazing things going on here at Granville. Um, just went and saw the play, um, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. It was fantastic. They blow my mind with the sets. I just, it is just amazing. And this year they decided to do thematic food. So, they had cookies that were in all the different house system things. And then they had butterbeer, which was really, really good. It was just, you know, delicious. Um, and uh, what's really great is that every year, every play, they get a there are two awards that are given. One is called
006the Nuts and Bolts Award, and the other one is the copper penny. So, the Nuts and Bolts Award went to Drake Porter, um, because he did a lot with the dementors and all that stuff. So, he did a really great job. His dad's this sound guy, too. It's really It's very fun to have him in that in that play. And then Will Zahar, is that how that is how you say his name, right? Zahoric. And what's really cool is that you can only get the copper penny once in your entire career. So like if you've gotten it once, you don't get it again. Well, this was also Will's very first play and he was the lead in the play and he got that award and it was just spectacular. Just it was it was so
007fun to see them. Just the nicest kids up there. Um water polo. Uh I was really proud of them going to state. Unfortunately, they lost but just by one. It was 1213. They man they worked so hard and um too bad they didn't get that but it was a very close game. Um hockey has had a couple of games so far. Both were Mercy's. I don't know if you know what a mercy is but that means you stop the play once you get eight points in the third period and we did that twice. So that was kind of fun. Um um and if you want to come to a hockey game, our first two home hockey games are this Friday and Saturday and those are all up on the website and you can follow Granville
008Varsity Hockey that way. Um unfortunately we will not be here because the band also every four years goes to Florida where they play at Disney Springs and they get to do a recording session at the um Disney Studios. So, they're going to be doing that. Plus, they'll probably get to go on some fun rides and go to some of the parks. So, um band, choir, and orchestra also had amazing Halloween concerts. They are my favorite. These are my very favorite concerts of the year because they dress up and it's it's super cute to see Mr. Bridges and Mr. Huber and Mr. Garcia and, you know, all these all these music folks dressing up in costumes. Um, Oakstown took their sixth grade students to city hall where they presented ideas on how to serve the community.
009So, they came up with ideas, they were voted on, and then the kids came and presented it to city council, which is really, really cool. And it was the same night where they got to see um the induction of Jason Flanigan and Tim uh Sullivan, who are our new city council members for Granville. So, welcome them to the city. But it was really cool to see um what real civic political engagement looks like and meaningful ways. So it was really great for them. Um uh let's see. The Amazing Shake going back to Oakstown. The Amazing Shake had 200 students make it past and now they're going to the Gauntlet on December 3rd. If you have not experienced that, you need to go. It is a really cool experience. If you have a business, you need
010to get involved. it it it it is really really working on our students on their on those soft skills and how to be just engaging with adults and other kids. So, um let's see, mentoring. Um I am lucky enough that I get to mentor at uh Century Park and it is an amazing opportunity and if anyone else is interested in mentoring, we have seven elementaryaries that really we have students that I remember when we first moved here I was in that building all the time and um I think that after co we're starting to kind of get back into how we can volunteer and help but that is a really tangible way to help. And I would I would encourage anybody. You just you have one-on-one time with a student and it's it's really great.
011And then my most grateful thing is to the um citizens of this school district who passed our millages and maintained really high quality education and those people who understand what it means to have a fully funded, fully operational school district. And I am so so grateful for those people who who saw the importance. So thanks. >> Thank you. >> Yeah, >> it's a lot. Sorry Joe for >> staying on this side of the table. >> Yeah. >> Uh yes, I will echo that Amy and I'm sure Roger wants to talk about that too. But thank you very much to the people of this community for for passing those very important. Um the second short thing is again thank you to all of the fall coaches. um win or lose uh seasons, incredible life lessons being
012taught. So, very awesome to see. That's all I have. >> Great. Thank you. Thanks, Sally. >> Um yeah, I am also looking forward to participating in amazing shape. We have a next session tomorrow actually. So, if you're free tomorrow, stop on by and see these kids hard at work. It's incredible. Um, I also was able to go see the uh Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. And kudos to Eric Tower and his crew for putting on an amazing play. The only thing I have to say to the kids is okay, you gave your parents fodder because if you can memorize all those lines, you can certainly remember to pick up your socks because man oh man, they had a lot to memorize there. That was incredible. >> I also had a um opportunity Oh, let
013me back up. I loved the storyline of that that play because sure it was about, you know, magical people but stuff, but it's really about the the issues of relationships in our families, especially in our friendships. And um they just happen to have magic magical powers. Um and it it kind of became a theme with me this week. I met a girl who goes to our middle school who's a very um quiet person except in church. she likes to talk a lot and it was kind of like bugging me and so I thought but I'm going to find out what her story is and I had a chance to talk with her and come to find out she lost her dad or yeah no her mom about a year and a half or two ago
014lost her dad recently and is now living with a 25year-old sister who's her guardian >> and this girl has just got the weight of her the rolled on her and luckily um our organist at our church took her under her wing and is helping her cope through a lot of this stuff. My point being is we don't know what kids bring to our schools. Sometimes we as educators um parapros, bus drivers, janitors, when you encounter these kids sometime you just don't know what they are carrying on their shoulders. And um in spite of all the stuff that we have to deal with here on the board, we need to remember that this is who we are working for, these kids who carry these sometimes terrible burdens that they have in their lives. And we need
015to be sensitive to that. You know, um Bob, I'm sure it's no surprise you and I stand probably differently on on this the issue with um the adoption of the um sexed curriculum by the state. Um, I guess I would just want to say is just my story as a teacher. You know, I was a sixth grade teacher for a lot of years and um, way before 2007. So, I saw some changes occur over the time. And just so you know, parents have had the chance to opt out every single time that I had to teach my curriculum to my sixth grade kids. And I think I maybe had one child the entire time that opted out, one. and it was based on their religious beliefs which was fine and we made no big deal
016out of it and that was entirely their their right and their prerogative to do so. Um but let me tell you what changed over the years is what kids again came to my class really wanting to talk about some of which I could not talk about it because it was not age appropriate with sixth grade girls. my partner would teach the boys and I would teach the girls. Um, I gave them a chance to anonymously ask me questions and by the time that I ended up teaching in 2015, I could not answer probably 80% or even address them because these kids come to school knowing far more than any of us on this board ever knew as sixth graders. And I'm not saying that that's good. It was alarming to me to be honest, but
017that's the reality of what kids deal with today. And we as educators either have an opportunity to help kids deal with things in a healthy scientific factual way or we have unfortunately a way of again telling them that what they're thinking and feeling whether you agree with it or not is just wrong and dismissing them. My fear of that is the repercussions of kids who are dealing with rejection like that because I've I've had kids I've said this before. I've had far too many students who further down the line took their own lives because of hopelessness of not feeling like they fit in of not knowing where they get to put their feet. We as a school district, as educators, have a chance to help them put their feet down in a place that's safe.
018You don't have to agree with it. I don't have to agree with it. That's not our job. That's not what teachers sign up to do when they sign their contract is to agree that every student that walks through their door is going to be exactly what they are and fit their moral compass. That's not what it is. Our job is to take kids in to love them, accept them, and help them as best as we can. You use the word indoctrination. Oh my gosh, that is like the furthest thing that occurs in classrooms. And that is offensive because as a teacher, I certainly never indoctrinated into my kids an idea of what I thought was right in their sexual development or not. I helped them understand the changes that were occurring in their bodies and
019where to go to talk about things if they had further questions. And it was not necessarily me or anyone else in the school unless it was Sally Weiner who was at the time the school nurse or our social worker or first and foremost their families. There's not indoctrination. And if I was going to indoctrinate my students, it would have been to remember their homework from home, to write their name on their papers, and to, I don't know, whatever else, come to school with clean clothes on. That would have been what I would have indoctrinated kids with. But it's certainly not their sexual development and and trying to encourage them to be one thing or the other. It's me trying to help them find facts, be healthy, make wise choices for their physical and mental well-being.
020That's what this is about. I know we disagree and how this occurs and I'm not saying that this curriculum is going to be perfect, but I do know that as a parent and as now a grandparent, I am glad that kids are all going have a chance have a chance to hear this curriculum because there are far too many kids in our district that will not have those important conversations at home like you probably did with your kids, like I did with my kids. You know, I had those conversations because I wanted them to hear it from me first and foremost. And then what they got from school was supplemental. And then we also talked about that if I disagreed with anything morally, I had a chance to do that in my home. But there
021are kids in our district who don't hear anything about their sexual development. Not one thing at home. And all they get from now for now is where technology. Do we want that to be the only voice in how they understand how their body is changing, what it means to be a person that can reproduce? I don't want that. I want all kids to have the opportunity to hear facts and good knowledge. And I know some of this the wording that's used in there might feel offensive to you, but that the reality is we do have kids who are in the LGBTQ community. We do have kids who have um gender identity struggles or they're just working through things. I can't judge that. Again, that's not my job. Our job is to love these kids and
022to provide the safest place that we can for them to find out who they are and support them as best we can and their families. and their families cuz that's where this needs to rest definitely. But the provisions here do not take that away. In fact, they support that and they have for a long long time. So that's what I'd like to say and I just I guess that my hope is that we as a board are going to look at this curriculum that's being adopted with a filter of what's the best thing that we can do for all of our kids. Not the just the ones that we agree with their families, but all of our kids because our our student population is not homogeneous. It's not it's it's very diverse and we've got
023to accept that and deal with it in a healthy way. Thank you. >> Thank you, Amy. >> Yeah. Um couple of things. So, um first I did want to acknowledge that it was school psychologist awareness week a few weeks ago. Um so I wanted to say thank you to the school psychologists in the district. um they are a profession um that is dear to my heart for no specific reason. Um but oftentimes they're invisible in the district and so I'm really happy to see that the district sent out some nice messages on social media. Um but we appreciate you. Um so thank you for that. Um I attended the Michigan MTSS conference this week or last week. Uh this is a conference the state puts on about all things related to MTSS. So instruction, social
024emotional behaviors, school discipline. Um it was great. I attended some great sessions on instruction specifically. So how do we provide good quality instruction um in just general? So it doesn't matter if it's reading, math, social studies, what does that generic sort of instruction look like? And it worked really well with your goal of kind of enhancing clarity with instruction in the district. Um I also attended a great session on how do we engage kids um in this digital world as anybody experiences this. It's harder and harder to get kids attention for things academically when they are entertained so much by their technology. So this session was actually pretty good showing data on here are some specific things we can do in classrooms to support that. um and also one on meaningful school and family collaboration.
025So, um I learned a lot from those and I'm excited to share that information out. Um other thing I wanted to make note of was to say thank you for our coaches in community education for providing athletic opportunities for our youngest kids. Um all three of my kids have participated in little dogs. Um and it's great. Uh it gives them an opportunity to play a sport. Um as a person who has three children, I'm not thrilled about having to pay for travel uh athletic experiences. And I think most families that's just out of reach for them. And so I really appreciate the opportunity that the district provides to get kids playing sports at an affordable rate. They also get to meet kids from other teams. It's just been very positive. And I know it's a
026lot of work to pull off for our coaches who are oftentimes busy coaching their own teams. So, I just greatly appreciate it. And if anybody hasn't had their kids participate in some of these activities, they're they're really fun. Um it's a good time. Kids get to know each other. It's fun. So, >> that is all. But thank you. >> Thank you. All right. Um I'll keep mine brief here. Uh so um again just want to echo uh one more time to thank you for the passing of the millillage, right? I mean it's huge for us. Um we obviously talked a lot about it leading up to us. Uh I think the district did a nice job of uh educating u our our our residents about what it is and what it isn't, right? And and
027the importance of it. So thank you for that trust and that faith uh um in in the school uh uh with passing those millages. So appreciate that. Um, again, good luck to the the the parents and the uh the students who are going down to Disney here next week uh for that band trip. That's a big event. They had so many kids. They're actually having to do two sessions of it uh um of their performance at uh Disney Springs. So, that's kind of cool. I mean, just a great program that continues to grow. Um congrats uh to the athletes that signed their early letters here. I I saw I'm sure there was many more. Um, but I did see four of the lacrosse players who are uh near and dear to my heart. Um, because
028I coached a lot of those kids growing up coming up. Uh, so that was fun to see. Uh, um, so so congrats to all those kids and their families and as they continue on their academic and athletic journey here into college. Um, did get to see the play. Um, and it was it was really cool. I I I really enjoyed it. Um, I just real quick story on that. I for some reason I was just fascinated by how Mooney Myrtle was able to just just kind of waving and I'm like how how is she doing that? I'm like is there something hydraulic in there? And Brian you I always talk to Brian whenever he's whenever we go to the place I sit right next to the the booth there. He came out um he came
029out and intermission. He's like, "Hey, you want to see something cool?" And he showed me how he built that little lever. It's just a counterbalance lever with some uh cement blocks in the back and some 2x4s and stuff like that. But it was really I mean, the way she just kind of floated up and down so smooth. I don't know. I just kind of was blown away by it. But anyway, u so that was really cool. And then Amazing Shake. I don't know. I'm going to have to check my calendar because I hear you say that the third. You said tomorrow. I thought I was on a Wednesday. So, I don't know. We got to get this figured out. So, anyway, you're on Wednesday. So, there's a couple of Okay. All right. Good. All right.
030I was say I have to change my calendar. All right. Cool. So, that's coming up. So, that's going to be a lot of fun. I'm excited about my station at the Gauntlet. So, um it'll be cool. But that's all I have. So, thank you very much. >> It is. It is Wednesday. Sorry. >> It is Wednesday. Okay. All right. >> It's not the first Wednesday. >> Just checking if you're gonna come. >> See if I'm paying attention. Right. Yeah. >> All right. Cool. >> Great. >> Well, thanks. And I guess one more thanks again to our community. I mean, this is such an incredible community. Uh your support with the proposals that were there, um, one for, you know, we had one for 5 years and two for 10 years. uh really helps with some
031stability in a lot of lot of those areas. So, just thank you so much for uh the dedication to our kids and uh and supporting us with those. Uh we have uh Mrs. Burns and some amazing students from Century Park here right now and so I'm going to forego u most of my superintendent report for them to share something great. So, we have three really brave kiddos that are here today that are going to read um some opinion writing that they did with Miss Smith in class. Um so, where's it at here? Uh oh, I messed it up. Where Tyler when I need her? >> Yeah, come back up in. So the the standards that she chose were the opinion writing standards for third grade. Um yeah, see if I can mess it up this
032time. There you go. So these were the standards they were looking at. So they looked at um had some brainstorming. Go next one. Brainstorming with the peers in their class. They used some graphic organizers and then they picked three things that they were thankful for and supported those pieces in their writing. So um and then Smith made a wonderful multi to share. So, while they're reading, I'm going to pass around three um for you to take a peek at while they're reading. I'll take them back. Uh we have the first up is going to be Ryan. And Ryan is in third grade in the Smith circle. And fun fact, I talk. >> Okay, that's ready. >> I'm thankful for many things this holiday season. The first thing I'm thankful for is my family. I'm thankful
033for my family because they give me the things I need to survive, like food and water. Another thing I'm thankful for is my home. I'm thankful for my home because I love my bedroom. Also, my room is very warm and trusty. The last thing I'm thankful for is my daughter. I'm thankful for my dog because he loves me and he won't bite me or my family. These are just a few things that I'm thankful for this holiday season. Charlotte, >> I am thankful for many things this holiday season. I am thankful for my parents. I am thankful for my parents because they help me with my math homework. They also make me feel better when I'm mad or sad. Another thing I'm thankful for is my house. I'm thankful for my house because it gives
034me shelter from rain and severe storms. Some people don't have houses and can get hurt. The last thing I'm thankful for is a car. I'm thankful for a car because we can get to places very quickly. Some people don't have cars and they have to walk. These are just a few things I'm thankful for. >> And this is I'm thankful for many things this holiday season. I'm thankful for my baby brother. I'm thankful for my baby brother because I love him and I like to play with him. He really likes it when I play with him. Another thing I'm thankful for is my dog. I'm thankful for my dog because he is a really good dog. He He's fun to play with and he likes to snuggle me. The last thing I'm thankful for is
035my neighbors. I'm thankful for my neighbors because I like to play with them outside and they play with me. These are just these are only a few things I'm thankful for this holiday season. Thank you for listening to our opinion writing over thankful for, but we've done a lot of things in the building other than we did a food drive also and just trying to focus on things that'll thankful for. >> Awesome. >> Very nice job. >> Thank you VERY >> THANKS, MRS. BURNS. THANKS, MRS. SMITH. Thank you. >> All right. I got to work with Carrie at East. >> Oh, did you? >> For a number of years. >> And my grandson is enamored with her. >> All right. >> I know. >> You You must have been a really young student teacher when
036you taught her. That's what I must. >> Thank you. And now I'm going to turn things over to Heather uh and we're going to talk bar out. >> Uh good evening. I have uh with us tonight Michael Eard uh from Yo and Yo, and he will go over our results for the 2425 school year. All right, thanks for having me today. Um, we have a a PowerPoint presentation that highlights all the results of the audit this year. Um, I have a printed copy for everybody in front of you just in case you want to take notes. Um, so first slide. Uh, something I've never had to do before. Um, I don't know if this has ever happened before, but um, this is my 16th year at the firm and it's the first time that's happened
037since I've been there. But, um, so your usually you get a set of three documents. So you get a audited financial statement, a single audit report and then a letter to the board and manage and management. Um as of today we are still not able to release your single audit report. Um and this is not unique to your district or Michigan or uh schools. Um, basically what happened is there's a document that the federal government releases every year and it tells us all kinds of stuff of what we need to audit for your federal grants to release your compliance opinion every year. Um, it normally comes out in May of every year and that gives us some time to develop our audit strategy and what we're going to test and everything. And as of today
038that has still not been released. So this is kind of unprecedented. Um um people have been asking is it due to the government shutdown? Not really. It really should have been out a long time ago. Um so what that means is that any CPA firm in the United States for any client at all that's a June 30 25 or later year end cannot issue a single audit. So I mean our firm alone we have over 100 audits that we're sitting on right now. I mean I don't know what the number is but it's a lot. Um, so you multiply that across, you know, the US and there's lots of lots of single audits sitting out there waiting to be released. So, >> so Michael again, I've never seen this before. So, is this coming from
039the Office of Management Budget or the Department of Ed? Where where is the uh release of this being held at? >> You know, I actually don't know the answer to that. Um, it's the document's called the federal compliance supplement. Um, I'm not sure which department is responsible for issuing it to be honest. Um, it sounds like yes, maybe it might be an OM thing, but um, it's it's not the Department of Education cuz this this would apply to, you know, you figure every federal department that issues a grant. I mean, there's dozens and dozens of them. The compliance supplement covers every single department. So, I don't think it's uh any one particular. >> Okay. I'm I'm going to keep pushing on this just cuz it's new and it's unique. So, um what what kind of
040legislative muscle is behind getting this released? Do you know is are legislators involved in it or we're just you you're just waiting? And then when you do, is it more of a check check check sign it and release? Well, we've done our audit based on, you know, this document comes out every year. We have a pretty good idea of what a lot of it is going to tell us to do. And um a draft was finally released. Um I think it was late September. So um you know, we had gotten a lot of these audits going already. And uh we did all of our testing based on previous years, our experience, and then the draft guidance for 25. So our hope is that once this final document comes out, it's not substantially different from the
041draft. And at that point, it'll be kind of a rubber stamp because we've done all our testing already. So I will give you results today based on everything, but you know, the caveat is it's based on the draft procedures. >> Okay. So you look at the draft, was there like a significant change year-over-year to it? >> Certain things do change every year. Yeah. like there's um every federal grant has I don't want to bore anybody to death but uh every federal grant has like 14 different um areas that could be applicable and um there's a lot of things in the document but certain things they'll say this is not applicable to test this year but this one is those things do change from year to year so we've we've tested the big ones the you
042know the ones that we know are going to get picked and um >> if anything if any changes happen we hope they're minor Um, so >> you know how I knew it was important? Cuz the font was like 18 point versus 14 point. >> So what is the result of not being able to issue these audits for 2025? What does that prevent or what does that mean for us? >> Um, right now really nothing. Um, so your reporting for the state of Michigan, um, your financial statements, that due date has not changed. So that's already been filed and you're good to go there. the state knows what's going on obviously and um they've given us um they say once that guidance comes out um we'd like the final reporting within 30 days of that. So
043um this is not really holding you up like as far as uh your current funding getting grants or anything like that. It's it's not holding that up at all. Um the main users of the single audit report for you is the Michigan Department of Education. So, you know, they're looking to see did you comply? Um, do you have any findings? And then if you did have findings, they would have, you know, follow-up actions. So, it would really just as far as what's being held up, it would be that reporting to them and then any potential follow-up that they would have with you. >> Um, and you know, uh, you've had several years in a row of having clean single audits. um your your what's called a lowrisk audit because of that. So um you know
044it would be one thing if there were like um habitual findings every year but um you know we we haven't had any kind of problems in ever I don't think so. >> Good to hear. >> Yeah. >> All right. So with that being said I'll go into my normal presentation. Um so uh just want to hit on responsibilities at the beginning here. Um as always um um the business office is responsible for your financial statements. As your auditor, we don't come in and do any kind of bookkeeping or anything like that. Um from time to time we help out with certain things. Uh there are um extra services that we're allowed to do, but for the most part for you, we are an independent third party coming in performing your audit. um give a quick
045overview of what the audit is. Um I always say that that word is means different things to different people. Um so um your audit has two main objectives. Uh number one, we want to say whether all the numbers in your financial statements are free of material misstatement and we want to give you an opinion as to whether you've complied with the material terms of all your federal grants. Um, so what an audit is not is it's not a best practice evaluation and it's not um, you know, we don't come in and say we want to do an efficiency test or something like that. Um, you know, if we find those things, of course, we'll give any recommendations we have, but that's not what we're mainly here to do. Um so the standards say that um
046in order to know where to spend our time um because we have a lot of latitude with um procedures that we select um that uh we have to have a good understanding of your internal controls or else we can't we can't plan our audit very well unless we do that. So we um you know obtain an understanding of those controls but it's not to give you an opinion on your internal control structure. So, uh, we start with reviewing your policies and procedures. We make sure those look good. Uh, we make sure that your, um, procedures in practice are operating, um, similarly to how they're written down, hopefully. Um, we look at the skills, knowledge, and experience of the people in your business office. Um, for us, that's one of our maybe the number one risk
047assessment tool that we have. we say, you know, um if you've never been a business manager before and now all of a sudden you're the business manager at a school district, you know, there's some things that we're going to want to check. Payroll is another one. Um you know, it's over 80% of the funds that you spend every year related to payroll. So that's a huge area. Um and then we design our um procedures according to that risk assessment. um for you uh or for any school district, we do a lot of substantive procedures, which means we're looking at um hard evidence like confirmations and statements and invoices. Um the state of Michigan gives us a lot of um resources that we can look certain things up and we don't have to wonder, oh, what
048should this number be? Well, we can just run a report and know exactly to the dollar how much money they sent you. Um we also do some analytical procedures which are more ratiooriented and um comparing expectations of what we think should happen against what actually happened. Um about in the middle of the page um there's a bullet called unpredictability. This is very important to an audit because um you know if you've been through some audits you have a pretty good idea of what anybody is going to test. And the unpredictability element is designed to, you know, tell management that, well, you don't know everything that we're going to do and you never know what we might look at. So, um, so every year we brainstorm and we come up with something that we think that
049the business office will not expect us to do. Uh, we do your audit in accordance with government auditing standards. um those are more stringent than you know the non-government standards and we have to pay attention um be very cognizant of fraud, waste or abuse. Um next couple bullet points I'll skip but I'll just say there are extra procedures that we do that um you know like MDE wants us to complete. Um and toward the end we help prepare your financial statements. Um there's a series of reporting. Uh data collection form is something that goes to the federal government. That's also something that can't be filed until that single audit is done. Um and we take care of your submissions for you to both the state, federal, and local levels. Um I do want to mention
050there's some significant bond activity that's been happening at the district for the past several years obviously and we audit that every year as well. So um as the bond dollars are being spent, we are, you know, performing our testing to make sure that everything is um in accordance with what you said that the bonds would be used for. Um so we'll get into the results now. Um you received an unmodified opinion which means there were no restrictions on our opinion. We we can say that there were no except fors or anything like that. Uh no limitations. All the numbers in your financial statements we attest are free from material misstatement. Some additional results. Um so the internal control evaluation we did um did not find any kind of serious deficiencies. So no material weaknesses, no
051significant deficiencies noted. Again, you don't technically get an opinion on your internal controls, but we did not find anything that we felt um needed to be brought to your attention. Um the single audit uh again this is not officially issued until that final document comes out but um we did perform our testing in accordance with the draft guidance and that testing was completely clean as well. No internal control deficiencies to report no non-compliance to report. Um for the past several years you've been hearing us tell you that we've been testing the um education stabilization funds. That's all the, you know, the newer money that came as a result of COVID. And those are those are all gone now. All fully spent. And um so this is the first year since maybe 2019 that we did
052not test that. Um your so we'll be back to the big three programs, which is title one, the nutrition cluster, and special ed. So um special education was the major program this year, and everything looked uh very good with that. Uh we had no disagreements with management. We had no difficulties performing the audit. Um an example of that would be you know that documentation went missing or you know we had questions that couldn't be answered something like that. Um none nothing like that at all. We had no material audit adjustments and no matters for management's consideration. So um just uh do a quick financial overview with you. So, this is a summary. Um, if if you were looking at an actual hard copy of your financial statements, um, it's probably about 70 pages, maybe more.
053Um, this kind of summarizes everything, uh, best I could on one page. So, each column represents your funds in your financial statement, and it just shows their performance. So, um, you can see the general fund had a had a decline of close to $900,000 this year. Uh, the next fund is your capital project fund. So, those are your bonded dollars. Um, uh, that fund had a decrease of $9 million. And of course, that's what it's supposed to do because the first year you get all the money and then you spend it until it's gone. So, um, you can see started the year at about 13 million and you've got 3.7 left to spend as of year end. Um, I'll kind of skip over the debt fund. Um, food service fund had a slight increase for
054the year. Um, student school activity fund is always about a wash because you're basically collecting money for those student groups and spending it in accordance with uh the reasons of why it was collected. Uh, small increase for the sinking fund. Um, ended the year at about $680,000 of fund balance in that fund. Um, budget to actual comparison. So there is a schedule required to be presented in your financial statements and it shows um you know your original budget, your final budget and then where you actually came in at. And any kind of material variances um would need to be reported as a non-compliance finding. Um you can see on your $85 million budget, your variance of actual to final is $50,000. That's pretty pretty incredible. Um, so you ended the year right where you thought
055you would got a series of graphs for you. These are justformational in nature. Um, general fund revenue shows where that comes from. So um, obviously dominated by state funding. Your federal funding um, you know, dropped a lot this year as a result of the loss of those um, COVID type of grants. This shows how you spend your general fund money. So the two huge slices there are payroll salaries and benefits that adds up to 82%. So that's you know far and away your number one expenditure and um you know extra services are at 10% and everything else is pretty minor. Um this shows your general fund balance. It's um I present this to all the boards that I do audits for. It's something that everybody expects to see. Um if you take your fund balance
056and divide it into your expenditures, you get a ratio. Um your ratio for the current year was 8.3%. Um and as you can see for 2024, we're able to benchmark you against the state average and then your peer group, which is school districts between 5 and 10,000 kids. That data is not, you know, complete yet for 2025. So not able to um benchmark you there but um you can see it's you know uh your fund balance percentage is quite low um compared to both the state average and your peer group. Um you know while we're talking about benchmarking um there you know your reporting is online you know uh available for anybody to see and there's a document that kind of ranks you you know lots of different ways. Um I took a brief look
057at it and one more stat I wanted to mention here is um Granville is in the 90th percentile when it comes to average teacher salaries. So um that uh you know helps explain the story at least a little bit I would think. Um but um you know uh data is however you take it. There's lots of different explanations for lots of different things. Um so I just wanted to mention that as well. You know, one of the things just real quick, I know uh these numbers are not available for 25. It'd be nice if we could get them when they're available just to see how um with regard to funding, specifically CO funds going away, right? You've got everything kind of coming back to normal finally with regard to that. So, it'd be nice to
058see even though our fund balance is significantly less and it's beginning to drop even more than I'm comfortable with. Um, just to see how the peer group and the state average does as well to kind of help. You know what I'm saying? Just to >> Mhm. >> I can tell you from 23 to 24 the the percentages were very close. Um, they didn't really change by a whole lot. >> Um, my expectations I would probably be the same for next year. Um, I don't know off the top of my head when that data comes out. I want to say it's like February, so it's quite quite a ways away. >> Okay. All right. I'm going to guess the peer group and the state average uh are going to go down um for a couple different
059reasons. Um, one of them being I think we spent the federal dollars we received on our greatest resource, people. And we did that piece. And I think right now what's happening is people um other districts are now spending chunks of that money on their greatest resource, people, maybe in a different way. Um, so I I think I think that will be going down over time would be my prediction. That's just one humble man. >> We're about 6 months away from all those announcements coming out that oh these all these districts are having to make huge cuts because those go >> that's sort of why it'd be nice to see that because we made significant cuts >> right >> in our area made significant cuts. It'd be interesting to see what's going on statewide, >> right?
060If this comes back to, >> you know, much less than 15% or something like that, who know it's going to be, right? Yeah. >> I mean, yeah. So, let's say it, let's say it drops to 18, >> it's still significant, >> right? >> Mhm. >> And every district handled that CO money differently. Everybody chose how they spent it and some districts are became very reliant on that money that's now going away and others went a little bit of a different route. So, yeah, it it will be interesting to see. Um this this next graph I think is just kind of neat. Um it goes uh we fit as many years as we can on here. Um um showing your enrollment and then that's the bottom graph and then the top graph shows what the state
061as a whole is doing. So it's just interesting to see how you're doing compared to the state. And you can see the state has dropped enrollment every single year since 2014. >> Significant number. Do you guys look at it all like is that I know it's a combination of probably people moving but it's also a combination of smaller family sizes. I mean that's you know demographic drought right is is something that's real and it's coming and continues to >> Yep. both. I'm uh a little bit of a trivia nerd and I uh had a trivia night one time and one of the questions was the last census in 2010 there was one state in the United States to lose population. What was it? It was Michigan. Pretty sure. Don't quote me, but uh >> um
062yeah, combination of both, I think. >> Um this graph shows your general fund balance and what that's been doing over time. So, um everybody knows what happened in 2020 and 2021 there. Um influx of CO dollars and then, um you can see what's been happening since then. Um the blue line represents your total general fund balance. The orange line represents the unassigned portion. So at year end you assign your fund balance for various things um uh whatever whatever that may be. Maybe funds to cover next year's projected deficit or something like that. So that's why we included that orange line in there too. Uh this is another graph I like to show. And um uh the the line looks much flatter than it should. Uh it's a little bit distorting I think. But um this
063shows the retirement rate. So um all of your employees that are employed at the district um are covered by MYIPERS uh the state retirement system. And this shows the percentage of salaries that must get remitted to the retirement system. So back in 2010 the rate was 16.9% and for the current year that rate was 48.4%. So this kind of illustrates um you know some of the challenges that um school districts face. Um the orange line represents the unsubsidized rate. So you can see the blue line started at 2014. That's when you started getting that that section 147C money from the state of Michigan to uh help subsidize and and pay down that unfunded liability. Um so for the current year for 25 the rate was basically what it was last year. Um went up by.1%.
064But for next year that unsubsidized rate um is actually going down about 1 and a.5%. So that's that's a really big number on your total payroll. Um I won't spend very much time on these next two slides, but um every year um new accounting rules get released and they're called like Gatsby 87 and Gatsby 96 and you probably hear these terms a lot. Um the big one for this year was Gatsby 101. And um as as a board, you probably don't really care a whole lot about this because uh this reporting does not affect the fund statements that we looked at. Doesn't really affect your general fund at all. But um this was one of the biggest accounting rule changes that I've seen. Um it changes the way we account for compensated absences. So um
065similar to in the past how we had the if you remember a couple years ago, we had the subscriptionbased IT arrangement standard. Um it's it's these rules that end up being a lot of work for your business office and then a lot more work for the audit and um what it did was change the way that you account for your compensated absence liability. Um so I won't say a whole lot more about it um unless anybody's interested and feel free to ask a question, but um it just changes the elements that go into that calculation and the number that goes in your district statements. And for next year we have Gazsby 103. Um, this is not nearly as big of a change as 101. Um, pretty minor really. Um, but, um, it's going to have
066a couple changes. Number one, um, that budgetary comparison schedule that I mentioned that where you had the the $50,000 difference, uh, going forward, there will have to be notes and explanations in your financial statements for any variances. So, um, your note for this year would probably say something like, uh, actual performance was very consistent with with final budget or something like that. But if you're like millions of dollars off and you've got a lot of variances, you're going to have to explain why in those in those footnotes. Um, currently where you do that is in the management discussion and analysis section. So, really that's just getting moved forward um into a different section. And then it'll change some of the elements in in that MDNA section as well. um it encourages charts and graphs and
067um different different items in there. So that's what I had. I want to say thank you to the board. Um thank you very much to Heather and Jason and their staff for um all their help during the audit and um again I think everything went really well. No findings to report or anything like that. So um any questions I can answer for anybody? I just want to say every year this presentation gets better. The way you describe it, the content that you place in it gives us a little bit more detail all the time. So, thank you for that. >> Thank you very much. >> How many years you been doing this for us now? uh four or five say cuz I think I remember your first year you were I say a little nervous
068but you were just you know you was a little it's just gotten like to pop just gotten better and better every year since you've been doing it. So I appreciate that. Yeah >> and thank you to Heather and Jason and your teams too because obviously you've had a lot of changes or some big changes I should say over the last 12 months and and nice job pulling it all together. So >> and I want to thank Michael too because um their firm did help us out a lot during that time with all those changes. um very patient with us ended up pushing the holiday back and so it was it was very helpful. >> Yeah, we just like to say thanks. We love our relationship with you guys and you do such a good job
069at taking what it could be very complex and making it sound very simple and easy to understand for people. So, we just really appreciate that. And and of course, kudos to the greatest assistant superintendent business in the in the world, uh, Heather. And, uh, Jason has been great since his beginning here, too. So, just thanks to our entire business office for a job well done. >> True. Excellent. >> Great. Anything comments? >> All right. Wonderful. Thank you. >> You're welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> And I have Oh, I'm sorry. And I have one more. Uh I just want to talk a little bit about 31A with you and and where things are at. So uh sent you some information in the board update. So there is a uh lawsuit out there. They're trying
070to uh get an injunction on the uh the date and trying to extend that out and trying to make sure that um ma make sure that those funds don't go, you know, aren't processed and and done until this is figured out. Um the ISDs uh took that role with Miller Canfield uh and they are hoping to be heard this week either Tuesday and Wednesday. Um if for some reason we need to get together to uh look at a resolution and make a decision. What I would like to recommend tonight is that we take a look at next Monday. We could meet at say 4:00 if that works. If it has to be later, we can do that. But I think it gives us enough time to see where this lawsuit's going and whether we need
071to um make a decision or not on the 31A and whether this board would choose to accept that or not. Uh so I I would just like to throw that out there and see what you guys think about potentially meeting. If we did that, we'd have a resolution and the resolution might still say if we choose to accept the funds because some things could change between then, but we have to do it. You know, we only have a few days of school next week. We get into the Thanksgiving holiday and if they in fact make a decision at the 11th hour, um it would be good to have that decision down. and what happens should we uh choose or not choose to take those funds. So, um just want to throw that out there. >>
072Does it have any plans that they're going to be going? >> I will be >> I may not be here in the afternoon. So, my preference would be keep it at 7 Raj. >> Okay. >> I won't be here either. I'll be in Chile. So, >> okay. >> I I can be here. >> Okay. >> I can be here. >> Okay. Great. Do you know of any districts accepted it as is? >> Um, and there is one that uh we went uh around the room with the Kent County people um last week and there was one that said they probably would based on what they know just because they need the money. >> Um and then not that no one else doesn't need the money. I know we sure do. But at the same time,
073it's um most of them said they were waiting and if they had to based on what they knew right now, many said they would not >> just because it's too >> uh number one is yeah, it's it's too big for the future and there's no clarity on, >> you know, is this just this year's funding? Is it way into the future? you know, uh what really are the um you know, the the events that are defined under that. Um there's just too much and and so, you know, it is um the understanding or the belief of the legal firm representing us that this truly is unconstitutional. And uh >> is there any chance the state would claw this back, this part of it? and >> we would hope um and we have there are they're
074quite aware we've made them quite aware u matter of fact I even got another uh communication today where um superintendents from around the state were once again saying that the problem is they have a very few amount of times they meet and so if they don't make it an urgent thing uh then they're going to have a hard time you know cuz they two are I mean I think very maybe once maybe twice um before that actual date happens that they get together. So >> do we know who we could contact to lend our voice? >> It's important to contact our our local legislators. Um I do believe like I said most pro most of our legislators weren't aware of this language. I'm thoroughly convinced of that. Uh it was a small group of people
075in a room, which usually it is a small group that come up with that. But then the amount of time that they had to sip through 3 to 400 pages of a budget was very short and I think it it wasn't something that really was well understood um by the legislation. So, uh, all they're asking is delay it, you know, delay the date and they're I mean the lawsuit, um, they're filing it against the Department of Ed, the state superintendent and the state of Michigan, which includes the state of Michigan. So, >> um, the government there. So, um, we'll we'll see, but they're they're just asking them to put it back, to let this be heard. Really the message is you need to change this language. You need to define the you know change the
076language of attorney client priv privilege. Define what you mean by a mass casualty event and what you mean by an investigation and who would do that investigation. Um those things are are very important to what's going on. So, um, >> so yeah. Anyway, >> would they want us to be privy to their attorney client in conversations in dealing with this? >> Well, again, and I don't think anybody's opposed to them doing an investigation, a parallel investigation because everybody learns from those kinds of things. But like I said last time, it's it's really ironic that, you know, uh, heaven forbid like Oxford, somebody has a school shooting and then the school district itself doesn't have attorney client privilege, but the actual shooter does. That just seems >> that I mean, that doesn't even make sense to
077me. So, um, hopes that they have some urgency, they change the things that need to be changed. But I I think from the legal uh perspective of things, I know um I think, you know, everything I hear, we have a a pretty solid case and uh we'll see where it goes. >> So, hopefully get a hearing, hopefully an injunction soon after. >> Yeah, hopefully. I I'm hearing like around Wednesday hopefully. Okay, >> that we'll know more. >> The uh MA MASB released a brief podcast about sort of this issue. It's about 30 minutes long, but it was really helpful explaining, you know, what are the specific concerns. Uh but I I thought it was helpful outlining that be a good resource. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. So, I'm hearing Monday 7. >> Sure. Perfect. >>
078Okay. We will tentatively schedule that and if we don't need to have it, we'll cancel. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Sounds good. >> Okay. And I'm finally done. >> And you're done. All right. >> The longest section two we ever had for question. >> There you go. >> Okay. Uh old business. Nice. >> Four. Consent action agenda. Can you get a motion? >> Support. >> All those in favor? Yes. >> Opposed? >> Motion passes. Regular action agenda. of the adoption of the TRUN policy uh trun board policy update. It is recommended the board of education approve the trun board policy updates as presented and review during the 113 20225 uh board workshop upon adoption these policies replace and or update the current policies. Can I get a motion? So move >> and anything from
079Mr. follow on the >> say we get a support. >> I think so. >> Well, Vanick and Steph has said it at the same time, so I just put Van. >> Fair enough. >> I'm just I talked to a few of you as you came in, Jason. I didn't think I get a chance to connect with Sally with you on the document. That's the administrative guideline that's in front of you. That's the messaging document that we shared out with staff I think two years ago. Bob, in your last last time we met, you said, "Hey, is there a way that we can incorporate that into uh policy book in talking with True, their recommendation was that we put it in as an administrative guideline?" So, under employee speech that 4221, here's an explanation of what
080we mean as it relates to the things that you're placing or saying inside of your classroom. Um so now it will be directly embedded into the board policy as 4221 would explain what the policy is and then 4221 AG would be in board docs. Um just again lending some explanation to um or some clarity around that employee speech piece that's in the 4221. And then we talked about the CTE piece um in it was 5427 y um just put that career and technical education >> the definition of it the name of the acronym >> and then left the acronym afterward. >> Perfect. >> Thank you John. Um I think the value of what you guys are doing so thank you for that. >> Yeah. Um, I think you don't have to keep reminding staff of
081it. If it's in a policy, this when they hear the word policy, >> it's just got a stronger meaning than guideline. >> Yep. >> So, I think, you know, before they decide to go outside the lane, this is um this is perfect. So, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yep. Any questions or comments? >> All right. All those in favor? >> Yes. Opposed? >> Motion passes. >> Thank you very much. All right. Public comment. >> Make sure we >> Yes. >> All right. We have one uh one form uh for Lynn Jansen. You can take this for me. Thank you. Sally will give you a warning in one minute. Thank you. I hope it doesn't come to that. Um first just a little housekeeping. Uh I'm not sure whether Mr. Barup or Mr. Hayworth sets
082the agenda for the meeting. Um one slight suggestion would be any presentations from school age children should maybe be moved up before reports. Sometimes adults are going to have to have adult conversations and reports and they might not always be appropriate for children. Um the sexed conversation that may be coming up is probably going to go deeper than when mommy loves daddy and so forth. Um I want to talk about the proposed now um I guess still proposed because each community gets to make their own decision. our state board of education tried has is trying with this new plan to confuse sex ed and health ed um where where we as parents can adopt can opt our children out of you know 2 hours of instruction on Tuesday and Thursday where we're going to be
083talking about sexed the state board of education wants sex ed throughout the health curriculum um so it's going to be very very difficult for us to as parents parents to keep objectionable m materials away from our children. Um that's one reason I I oppose it. Um also they don't really want to talk about health. So the new curriculum talks about things like vision, nutrition, hygiene um about 151 times real health related things. The new standards talk about sex and gender 253 times. They're obsessed with sex. They're obsess obsessed with a radical view of sex that uh 80% of our population doesn't agree with. They very much want to convince your children that boys can decide to be girls can go into girls locker rooms. That's totally normal. And you know people should learn to accept
084that as a part of normal life. I think as Granville we need to reject that. We need to reject the standards that the state is trying to set for us. Um the 2007 standards have year-over-year reduced teen pregnancy or at least school age pregnancy, reduced uh sexually transmitted diseases. Um they've reduced drug use in the world where drugs seem to be more available to our students. Um the system isn't broken. We don't know what the results of the new system would be, but we've got a system that is working now and it would be a bad idea in my view to change it. Thank you. Thank you. All right. We'll be going into close session for purpose of the conducting the superintendent's midyear review. Can I get a motion? So move. All right. Thank you
085very much.