001call the meeting order everyone rise for the Pledge of Allegiance I pled alce 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 all right can get a roll call Wonder J here fine here stus here Gardine here Palmer here danan here H here Full House thank you all right and please note as a courtesy to members of the audience and the Board of Education please silence your cell phone um public will only be able to speak during public comment if you have signed up and I have two items or two forms perfect thank you um first off uh get an approval the agenda so move support all right all those in favor yes yes opposed all
002right and then quickly uh um as we move forward here we do have a quick report out uh from couple of the high school players and coaches does anybody have an objection to that we allow them to talk real quick please coach steagle and a couple of his players are here want to speak real [Laughter] quick it's good they took that initiative uh we want to say thank you guys for the new Turf we greatly appreciate it it's a you'd be surprised it makes a big difference when we're playing every time we get tackled last year it felt like you're getting hit on concrete Turf Burns were really bad especially those post-practice showers they stung where now it just feels a lot better A lot better on our knees too like I've had some knee
003issues in the past like you can tell it makes a difference and we really appreciate it I know it was a lot of money and had to push that was last minute thing so we appreciate that a lot thank you guys a lot thank you so much we really appreciate you're wel thank you all right a good night next item to consent action agenda can I get a motion so move support all those in favor yes yes opposed all right on the regular action agenda 3A the thr board policy for Title Nine sorry get that here there's recommended the board of of Education approve the title 9 policy 3155 series provided by th thrun Law Firm to replace the old Title 9 policy these policies include uh policy 3155 non-discrimination anti-harassment and retaliation uh policy
0043155 grievance procedure and Ries uh policy 3155 a definitions policy 355b designation of coordinators policy 3155 F complaint dismissals and appeals three policy 3155 C supportive measures and policy 3155 D in formal resolution can I get a motion s support so we're here today to uh have these approved the um law was uh redone and therefore we have new title 9 policies as you can see um there's a lot happening with these and we anticipate and so to trune the the fact that these more than likely will change as we move forward so um I'm sure we'll be coming back to you with um a lot of changes as time moves on but for now um this is a law and we need to pass this uh here in August uh before we start school
005so that's why we're coming before you um John is here and John will give you a little bit of background as well on the title n policy uh so difference between this one and the ne side in the Neola side our title line policy was embedded into three or four different sections with the TR policy it puts it all in one place so whether that title 9 is involved with any one of the people in our districts it's all in one place it makes it easy to see I think the thing that I appreciate about us shifting our way toward trun is over the course of from the time that uh early July when the court case kind of was really starting to ramp up and decisions were being made even through um after I
006sent you the email that said here are the nine school or there are nine schools in Michigan there's a list now that's about two and a half pages long um so they're sending us those updates as they come um in those lists of schools essentially indicate that you're not required to enforce this Title 9 policy but from a district standpoint let's say that we have a school Elementary ends up being identified that picked it because whatever reason um we could choose to not enforce the current Title 9 policy at Cummings but we would still be required to enforce the title 9 policy at our other 11 buildings so it's a building by building judgment or ruling that occurred um but like I said trun sending us about once a week an update on what's going
007on there so if there's an update that would impact any one of our schools we'll be able to bring that to you at the very next board meeting for dialogue discussion or whatever that might look like so I'm really appreciative that that tr's keeping a really close pulse on what that is um and then we have to Archive our old policy in the event that we have a claim that's a title 9 claim that's dated before August 1 of 2024 could you speak to some of the things that keep you or that wave you as having to follow these I like Cummings you said doesn't have to do so under the court case under the court case there are a couple of states and Michigan's not one of them so I didn't memorize them um
008but there are five or six states where this new title n policy is not enforcable and then in addition to that there are two organizations that if they identify them that they are a part of that school or that they have children that are in that school that the new title 9 policy is not enforcable there but it's a school by school situation and not a district by District situation so if in the future one of our schools is identified as having people from either of those organizations in the school as a board we'll have to make you'll have to make a decision on are we're going to use two separate Title 9 policies one for this building and one for the other 11 that we have have or do you stay with one policy
009and allow that one policy to to override or oversee everything that's there and that ends up just being a decision that that you need to to consider so in that place why wouldn't we do districtwide and simplify your going crazy trying to manage this I mean we could could we not in in the instance where we are right now we don't have any schools that are identified but if we were to have a school identified I want to make sure that I'm communicating with you if we have a school that's identified and giving you information that says if we have one that's identified you have some CH potential to have one identified I guess that's what I'm asking what are those things I'm under the impression we do because I'm under the impression that if
010there is a member of moms for Liberty that has students within this District that are exempt mhm we have I've gotten a lot of texts on this in the last two hours what are what are the and but what what we're looking what we were looking at is coming out of trun is which which schools have been identified and and thus identified named in that case and knowing that we have students that are in that place that would be exempt what what kind of penal go ahead I just wonder who identifies is it the government that identifies schools it's it's it's within that it's within the court in Kansas within the Circuit Court of Kansas where that where this particular case is being heard coming hypothetically would say hey that school fits so that could
011corre yep okay yep that's correct so it could be coming Central the high school the middle school could be any of them mhm but just right now based on what I know based on the last communication I had none of our schools have been formally identified yet in that case there's a process there and then we would have a duty to report that to you and determine which way you wanted to go y so it's so all these uh if there is an exemption it's got to come out of the federal court in Missouri yep okay John I I you know I'm trying to understand this policy yeah Raj John um I was trying to find out what the what the definition is of unlawful discrimination in this policy and for the life of me
012I couldn't find it so I'm trying to there's a couple things and I talked to Raj before the meeting as I'm going down this path it is uh we're not going to get to readings here and apparently going from two to one is a thr thing I I'm going to tell you I'm not going to be in favor of that in the long run um and I could be in the minority but it it seems ambiguous this seems ambiguous cuz I would think something from a federal government piece other than the supporting numbers at the back of this for the legal Authority piece M that we would actually do a better definition or thrun would give us I'm not dinging thr okay right y it's just a new process what unlawful discrimination is defined as
013what does an unlawful point back to the state and federal laws and so then they would use the guidance of the state and federal laws to determine that within our own policy so we create law is it's saying unlawful so then it deflects back to the state and federal laws so then we would follow our state and federal law so that we have to look up that code and follow that code as a district why wouldn't that be in the policy so that it's clear and defined because if we put every state and federal law into our policies our policies that are already huge would be exponentially large so they can Define back to us following the state and federal law in order to prevent that I I understand that but if you're referring to
014for me to be comfortable MH approving any kind of policy I want to understand the constraints within that policy so I understand that there's state and federal law but I don't know what that is so how can I feel comfortable because they're could be a law that you know how many laws do we all break in a day we probably break some federal law because there's so many federal laws you know know you know who knows so that's where I'm trying to get at and and and maybe it's a thr thing but I it seems like we got more definition with niola at this particular time that's that's where I'm coming from I just want to understand in the policy what that means instead of saying oh refer back to this well then I have
015to have that information you're looking for the actual codes yes I'm looking for that constraint so it looks like we want to make sure we're being fair yeah and just yep and we're not putting our staff or our students or our families in some precarious position that they're unaware of mhm that's my issue yeah and we can reach out to Katie and see if she can send us the clarity around which of those uh find that definition so that we can get that to you is this something we can pass clarify and then amend sound like you need it before school starts we could we could come back to you with um an amendment that um could include what unlawful discrimination is under this law is there enough my guess is they would add it
016in as another letter yeah understand the defition I get it yep how I mean how do you clarify this to the like the staff in most I don't know what the changes you know yeah it it's it's not significantly different um in terms of what actions they might see that they would feel like they need to report um and many the things that are there we're looking at anyway what Title 9 requires us to do is like anytime that there's a harassment claim that comes in if we believe that that harassment claim is based on any one of the protected classes defined in Title 9 it triggers the title 9 process which is a much more lengthy and thorough process uh than what our anti-harassment policy is in some cases you go into the title
0179 process and you go this doesn't qualify under Title 9 and then you continue your investigation under the anti-harassment just a General anti-harassment inside of uh your policy so it doesn't necessarily reduce the need for us to do the investigations it just means that in some cases we may need to to heighten that to a title 9 investigation um which again is more thorough John again I'm not trying to beat a dead horse here but in reading this to me this is a procedural policy yep strictly procedure there's no content to understand okay how does staff navigate how do how do they navigate I just don't know yeah and that all other than call you yeah so we uh what trun also gives us is just regular they give us the training modules that we
018share out with our staff and that becomes secondary to what we're doing here we've passed out Title 9 policy trainings on our old policies a number of times when the 2020 regs came through and those were different we made sure that everyone was trained and then every new person that we brought in we assured that they were trained we do follow-up training on those things um it's just part of of what we we need to make sure that we take care of so that our staff are aware of where their responsibilities lie okay so the one thing again the only part of this policy I understand is what's in front of me but in watching and following up with social media news media the changes in Title 9 that came from the Biden Administration from
019a federal level dealt with lgtbq plus whatever else the alphabet was right so are we training our staff on that piece of it so that they understand it what do you mean are we training them about what lgbtq is or are we training them about whatevered whatever the title 9 rule is that we're going to abide by yeah yep and that's where we use those those TR policy training pieces to ensure that we're getting it right will the new law be in like the students handbook by now or is that too late title n policy will all of our all of our student handbooks are now uh like on a Google doc like an uneditable Google doc okay um and so we're able to put in updates as they come um inside any one of
020those areas so yeah this will end up being as a part of it's at the bottom of the student handbook the new because trun also gives us a model student handbook that aligns with their board policies so we put all of our all of our schools and underneath that same student handbook and so then these will be included at the bottom of that um so that we have those in place as well do we go over the policies with the students or do we just have them read it and sign it is it like a software license John yeah it really is it's here you go sign that you have read it um but we're asking them to be good citizens yeah yet we're telling them just read it because it's just like every other
021piece of software that you've seen well along with their parents right yeah yeah yeah you parents I understand that I understand that so one of the things that in many districts right so the idea about how we train each other is is that they're every year teachers pray professionals Librarians whatever they all go through that like is it safe schools in Granville where they have okay here's how you get rid of you know blood spills here's how you deal with kids on the bus here's how you deal with line issues of harassment and discrimination and so that particular training happens yearly so that update will be reflected yep in those yearly trainings that they have to do and it's long and we give our administrators a more intensive training because inevitably those are the those
022are the leaders that are hearing the hear something that happened and more often than not will trigger for them a phone call to Roger and I that says hey we had this coming on we think it might align this way what are your thoughts based on the policy and then we work through it sometimes we'll call our attorney and and say here's what we have where do you think we need to go um but they're trained much more thoroughly than our staff are our staff are given kind of the overview of how do you report when are you required to report what ought you be looking for so we have to take this policy now and if one of our school buildings is exempt M at that time we have to decide if we want
023to juggle two policies if we want to convert to just one yeah you're yeah you're either maintaining the one that you if you approve today would be approved or you're juggling a second the second policy which was is the archived policy at this CA at this point um for for claims that come out of that school what's the fundamental difference when you line them both up the the big the big critical difference is the identification of LG lgbtq Plus in the new title 9 regs that's a way big I keep waving my hands it's a huge overgeneralization but that's one of that's really the biggest difference in the current policy compared to the old policy and reflecting updated laws yep yep all right so summon up the options are we do this and basically this
024is our option right because we can not do we can't not do something right you could but then you wouldn't have a policy based on current law and if happen you'd be exposed big time so yeah you could all right and again we do anticipate this will change you do a lot yeah I do I think I think there will be I think there'll be tweaks and changes over time it really doesn't make I mean we I mean in essence we have the old policy if something happened before August one we have the new policy for August one moving forward but I do think I mean you know weekly there are things happening there are updates and and I think you'll see some changes okay okay all right any more discussion all right all those
025in favor yes yes opposed no motion passes all right next item on the agenda the district emergency operation I'm sorry Emergency Operations plan approval uh is recommended the Board of Education approve the district emergency the operations plan in accordance with PA 436 of 2018 can I get a motion so move support so we are required to come back to you and we've had this Emergency Operations plan and obviously with Mark coming on board has strengthened that plan a great deal provided more detail um through his trainings and and work and uh you know we'll be bringing this back to you annually for review and approval so that's what we're doing now is um bringing it to you it is um we do have it in places it's on our website it's uh you know um
026something that like I said we we've had for some time but uh now officially moving forward we'll have it approved annually I have a question know um I see that you're listed as the command incident command yeah do you all have training on that go through all that we go through yeah we we go is that a year thing we all go through training and refresher trainings and so on for for uh stuff that we do uh this is command Central for us as far as the district okay uh part of the district Communications if something happens the uh law enforcement has their own Command Center um runs everything out of that place yes cool and Roger if I can just add there'll also be a um a reunification process of that will have its
027own Command Center so Al together they have they make up the unified command okay so um that's part of the bigger picture of all that this is also probably going to change in the next month because the office of school safety is uh throwing out a new template for eops trying to standardize them across the state cool um so that'll those will change how do you how much do you think it will change right I think I think the template will be changed but the content will be still there so are they simplifying the layout Joe I think they're trying to bring schools that don't have this content to provide that content so I don't think ours will change much other than the style it's you know distributed in yeah so this is something that
028a lot of you guys are all using this already correct and say it's carbon copy and just change the names y yeah okay got it when it comes to just the roach capability of this plan is it pretty much all leadership knows what to do for the most part Raj down to the we review this um uh you know on a regular basis have discussions about it and so on so um yeah we're all well versed in well we would do I mean every Situation's different but the main things you see in here would be what would be taking place got Mark and I are working on a combined drill to kind of pull all that together for the whole a crisis and then the reunification process afterwards so we're working on that probably January
029or February oh wow of the school year hopefully do is uh MSP do they do they kind of take the lead on this or yeah the office of school safety is part of MSP oh okay all right so when there is a incident and would it be the county that get Ser no who serves as that main Incident Commander uh it will be whoever the first person that shows up there depending on which agency shows up first and then all these agencies yeah and then you can you can move you can change people to you can change Commander yeah so if I take over initially Roger shows up not that you can't handle it dude but I just you know wondered about how or who kind of takes the lead with the law enforcement needed
030so the law enforcement takes care of the crime right the firemen take care of fires Medics take care of medical and we're all still responsible for our kids so that's why this whole reunification accountability for that is taking precent with the state with the state place so does that clarify a little bit mhm I was just going to ask I mean it's a little different I mean but at a former employer we used to have large scale uh uh drills uh with the county and City and everything else right now that was a little bit for a different type of disaster but I mean we would also do it for chemical spills and those types of things right um but they would involve them all I think to your point because it depended upon who
031would show up first right you know type of thing yeah depending go ahead depending on the the type of incident you could have 400 cops here in 20 minutes I it just depends on what what's happening yeah and that's what I was going to say the nice thing about our area is you know whether you're Granville Wyoming Walker they all work together and do such a great job working together on situations such as this and um yeah I I've seen that in action through a drill I was like wow this is amazing so good yeah thanks Joe yeah W has a great person we know really well any other discussion all right all those in favor yes opposed motion passes all right 3C the learning AZ Raz plus licensing Do's recommended the Board of Education
032approve the purchase of a 24-month licensing package of through learning A to Z from Raz plus 110 licenses and Raz plus uh el7 for a total purchase price of $47,900 to support literacy literacy instruction and Gades grades K through three yes and Dr merkel's here to a motion can I get a motion so moved support okay I'll go ahead thank you thank you protocol protocol uh this this is uh something that you typically haven't seen before because it's something that we utilize on an annual basis but this has been a staple for our early uh elementary teachers probably 10 12 years um utilizing Raz kids and then reading a to z uh you're getting it now because we are beyond the threshold because we've shifted the funding for this into 35j which is the early
033literacy Grant so we were able to utilize that Grant to just uh give a little uh room into the curriculum and general fund budget under a 2-year license utilizing that Grant so two components of this those of you with Littles are like I said it's been around I I remember our kids used it when they were in kindergarten um but the the Raz kids component is a digital uh reading site one nice thing about that well a couple of nice things about that number one teachers can have a immediate access to a wide variety of library that fits a student's need based on their reading skill they can access it at school and at home so super easy for parents to uh to utilize at home for at home raing and there's a read-aloud version
034so as students are uh learning to read becoming uh decoders of words they can listen and then follow up and read and teachers like to utilize that the learning or the the reading a toz component are printable decodable so it's a nice our interventionists and our resource teachers really like that because as they're pulling small groups and they need different texts they can just run copies we the the license comes with um uh copyright and and so they can run copies of that they can practice it at school then they can send it home all those book bags that that they'll still send home it's good to have that that paper copy of the book as well that then they can just print so your license included here and like I said that's 35j Grant
035funded nice that you got an mde Grant we're happy to scoop as many of those up as we can I asked a couple teachers their input and they both think the program was awesome so they said they use it a lot and in fact they're here here seeing it now because they're starting to get uh expiration warnings I've started to get some emails Scott you're renewing this right thanks for confirming that those com the nice thing about this program too is um I was a reading teacher and an English right so it's different it's a different skill and um all those parents who are like my child is struggling I'm like have them listen to an audio book while they read it and that's basically what you're doing but you also can poke on a
036words if you don't know it or it's it's a really cool program it's very interactive and yeah good job how long has it been since we considered other programs um it 10 so I'm going to give a wishy-washy answer on that I formally it's been a while but we're always looking at what else is out there um and I well I can tell you that I happen to be eavesdropping our early literacy coach in her spring meetings at the state level and they were uh reviewing all of these and this was mentioned as one that's that's still good so we're kind of always scanning uh to double check um uh but not ready to uproot what teachers are used to yet absolutely we haven't seen one good enough to say you know what it's now
037it's time to take a look when is the right time to do a formal review of that we've used it for so long and know people love it we have as soon as as soon as we get word that there's a better program out there then I think it will piak our interest but right now the literacy experts at the state level are telling us this is still a solid product all right any other questions all right thank you can we get a roll call vote absolutely Wonder yes Palmer yes Klein yes stus yes Gardine yes thean yes IB yes yes all right thank you on to the next section the reports of discussion the back to school update yes and as I mentioned I put this on uh pretty regularly here until school starts
038and it starts in two weeks so uh we'll give you a first day of school update uh that that next time but uh very excited you know today I would say was the first day that um I really noticed the activity pick up everywhere um you know there were parts of it that were happening but now everybody's quite quite busy we had our administrative assistants uh last week had a full day training for them uh that went well uh we have a retreat with our uh administrators tomorrow all of our supervisors and administrators um happening and uh you know next week obviously is quite busy we have an open house uh at oakstown we have a back to school kickoff uh in in the morning at the high school uh on that Thursday and then
039the Monday we start school so it it is coming very fast uh updates uh if you've uh driven down Kena you'll notice a lot of work being done we're we're you know that's part of our our bond piece our last bond with the transportation portion um and and so we are starting that and that's due to be completed uh next year along with the uh Weller Tech piece um we're very excited about that whole component but that's one of the the backend pieces of that Bond so that's happening uh oakstown I walked through oakstown last Thursday and boy it's coming together uh there's some artwork and things they putting up right now which is really going to be cool um there were a lot of lot of uh monitors being put up it was like
040you get a television you get a t but there are you know variety of them there but it's really going to be a neat Place really focused on high engagement high impact strategies and I know Brian's uh you know there's never enough time Brian's quite excited and Stacy is as well so looking forward to that and getting getting kids back everywhere and and teachers back everywhere I mean the the energy like I said today could feel that start to pick up and uh it'll be more and more until we get to school so just very very excited about the school year and yeah it'll be here like I said next time it'll be a first day of school reports it was nice that TMA donated some furniture that for kiddos Brian and Stacy have done
041a nice job to to get some things that are uh maybe not as uh traditional um as far as Furniture goes and and layout of a building because they want to give kids those opportunities and parents who come in opportunities to to have some com comfort and maybe some unique spaces so uh they've done a great job really talking to people about those types of things and yeah tsma came through so kudos to them is community had moved yet uh not quite they're getting there uh we're we're getting close Yep they're getting very close and uh yeah that that's a neat space too I think I sent you guys a picture or two with that you know they're excited that that one particular space that used to be a bunch of lockers that were used
042very very little uh as of you know recent years is now a nice space they'll be able to use for some of the classes they have and be right there where the office is at so that's really nice um for them and I know uh they're itching to get some classes rolling there for for some adults so good good that's wonderful when's the ribbon cutting 14th right uh ribbon cutting yes on Wednesday uh the 14th at 5:00 at Oaktown intermediate and that'll be a time for everybody in the community to come in and check the place out food trucks you said food trucks yeah there are food yeah Brian Brian Stacy have food trucks out there yeah so it'll be really really neat great experience so don't eat don't eat dinner before you to go
043cuz you get some from a food truck awesome and sports start next week yes practices start next week right cranking up yes they are we're very excited about that excited about that coach go all right should be great awesome all right good all right all right there anything else for reports or discussion all right we're going to move on to public comment um Mr danan will'll keep uh uh track of the time uh each speaker will I have five minutes and we're going to start with um is it Dan Wagner yes yeah Dan Wagner thank time um I just want to start by saying I apologize for my nervousness I'm not a good public speaker what I'm going to share with you is highly sensitive and it is upsetting okay um I would I would
044first like to say that my identity here could jeopardize some of our students and that they may fear retribution so please understand um this is a sensitive issue um no one is to ask me to come here I'm speaking on my own behalf um I'm here as a father a coach and a friend to many of our students in the community I have a freshman and a senior in the Grandville High School marching band the band held the preamp at Granville High School on the week of July 22 and a full band camp at Western Michigan the week of July 28th earlier in the week early in the week at Western on Tuesday the 30th give or take a date my daughters informed me through text message that a transgender female a biological male at
045Birth identifying as female was using the lady's only restroom they were felt they were uncomfortable with the situation I asked them what they would like me to do um we decided as a family we did not want to cause waves we did not want to be disrup disruptive so the girls continued on through the week um avoiding the situation as best they could when I picked the girls up from school on August 3rd I learned of an incident that occurred at Western on August 2nd that evening my freshman daughter and a friend also a freshman walked into the lady's only room basically Alone um there may have been another student in the room we're not exactly sure my daughter finished her business in her stall and I should note that throughout the course of the
046week several of the girls were having difficulties with the locks on the doors uh they were difficult to manage they appeared locked from the inside when they were not actually locked my daughter finished up she exited the stall and she waited in the bathroom for her friend to come out others came into into the room uh including the previously mentioned transgender female my daughter became uncomfortable left the room waited in the hallway moments later the transgender female came out laughing loudly following her was my daughter's friend crying hysterically she was upset to the point she had difficulty speaking my daughter was able through the tears to understand that the door had not been locked the individual had gained access to her stall and had observed her changing a feminine hygiene product okay not knowing what
047to do the Freshman girls found my senior daughter they then found a chaperon explained what had happened The Chaperone talked to the individual talked to the band director who also talked to the individual I have since learned that this conversation with this indiv idual has happened on an annual basis for the last 4 years and the behavior continues now my comments may sound transphobic and please understand that they are not my understanding of our District's restroom policy is females born female identifying as female or to use the Ladies Room males born male identifying as male to use the men's room and there's a third bathroom undesignated for those ident identifying as other than their birth gender I commend the board if I am understanding that that policy correctly I believe in my opinion that is
048the right answer I also believe everyone has a right to be yes one minute left thank you I understand that everyone has a right to be who they are without fear of persecution until it becomes detrimental to others I think we can all agree irregardless of our political our religious convictions or our stance on CIS and transgender rights this is an upsetting story and it is heartbreaking my challenge to the board is to take whatever steps you have available to you to ensure that this never happens to another 14-year-old girl again thank you for your time thank you than you uh next up Michelle Thomas I actually came prepared to talk about the moms for Liberty lawsuit which thankfully I don't have to go into um I can tell you that Granville has several members
049in moms for Liberty some that have been there for several years so while it might not show up on the list yet I know for a fact that the high school will be on the list as well as some of the other elementary schools so I would just like to prepare you for that thank you uh the next regular uh meeting of the gr Board of education will be Monday August 19th uh 2024 at 7:00 p.m. at the administration building we are adjourned