001we'll call the regular meeting of the calonia Board of Education to meeting let's honor our country with the pledge to the flag of the United States of America to the repblic for it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice please call the role r Garcia here Rando here Collins here eich here con here Morris here Nichols here item number four is our student representative welcome step up to the pod and you're interested in hearing what they got going on so for student council updates we held a successful pep assembly that had many different games to get the school excited for the basketball game and our Winterfest dance on Friday and the Winterfest dance was held in La building cafeteria from 7:30 to 10 p.m. also successful more than 500 students attended this
002dance on Saturday for the theme a night in Vegas and then our basketball game that same night was Cal slam's cancer and student council gathered enough sponsors to pay for specialized American Cancer jerseys for last Friday's game and we raised $4,595 that was all donated to the American Cancer Society and FFA had two teams Advanced to States this week um the junior high conduct of meetings team placed second in got a Gold Award advancing to State and the Parliamentary procedure team also second place got a silver award also advancing to State um our Calia High School orchestras and choirs um in February on February 6th had the opportunity to perform alongside the Grand Rapids chamber choir and that was February 6th and then Mack Tri competed in Oakland County this past Saturday and one of
003their teams is advancing to the state finals and that wraps it up so thank you thank you for the great report next we have public comment I believe we have one card just one well then that would be me first of all I have to say thank you for technology because I had my report printed off and everyone knows life and crazy and so it's on my cell phone I apologize for looking down good evening I am Katie aell and I here tonight on behalf of the calonia Education Association I was unable to attend last month's meeting as it was our family's turn for one of the many illnesses that seems to be revolving around many families lately but I want to thank my fellow member Melissa for stepping in and representing the cea I
004also want to take this opportunity to personally welcome our new board members and to thank them for the vast amount of time that you will be dedicating to our children and the future of our town for those of the board members that are new our goal is to have a representative here to be able to share with you and the public about some of the ongoings happening with our assoc association please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions um and I'm happy to leave our contact info with you tonight our teachers are feeling extra extra thankful for the extra two days of rest provided by the midwinter break um having the break come right after a full week of conferences and Valentine's Day Celebrations was was perfect timing we heard
005feedback from our members that conferen has went very well across our buildings it was a bit of awkward timing we were reviewing report cards that were were over a month old at that point um but I know that teachers and parents both appreciated being able to connect to celebrate our students growth um and to brainstorm ideas for their growth opportunities we also want to give a special shout out to all of our pto's um they all provided warm meals for us to eat those nights um when we were all at school until 8 um at em Lake I know we set it up in one of our spare classrooms and our entire staff was able to get together even for just 15 minutes before conferences and um able to have some good conversations with staff
006we don't get to see every day that's across the building from us um so thank you to all our pto's um some other highlights to share across the district there has been great teamwork between teachers other classroom staff um slps speech language Pathologists they're pretty awesome if I say so myself um and parents as we meet the needs of our multimodal communicators um and if you don't know what that is I've brought an example because that's what I do um in the last two months multiple trainings and brainstorming and planning meetings have occurred and successful multimodal communication is being supported and taught in new ways both at school and at home and this is your demonstration here tonight hi I am so happy to be here tonight so you know that calonia is here for
007all students and we have to remember that and so thank you to anybody that's set a part in um financing some of those new trainings and new devices for our students um craft Meadow staff have been stepping up big time to help cover for other um teachers that are absent due to uh a lack of substitutes in that building um I know it takes a lot of flexibility quick thinking quick planning and we're very proud that those teachers were able to help step in in such a quick pinch of time our um our other members are involved in so much more than just classroom instruction from organizing after school crochet clubs advocating developing and running a new debate class coordinating staff in student morale boo in activities to spending extra time building relationships with students
008and seeing that payoff even in subjects like high school math our Educators continue to go the extra mile to try to provide the best for all calonia students and as we look forward to the spring we look forward to those positive and productive discussions with our Administration and our board as we begin negotiations between our CA and Board of Education contract we are anxious to connect and to continue Building A Better calonia Community Schools for all thank you thank you okay on to item six consent agenda consent agenda contains a January 27 2025 organizational regular board meeting minutes February 17th Committee of the whole minutes January 2025 payables and February 2025 Personnel report I will also note that there was a update to the minutes today um in an earlier email if you have any
009questions about that we can talk about that now if not I'll entertain a motion I move that the board approve the consent agenda as presented a second is there any discussion or questions okay call roll Robert Garcia yes Rand yes Collins yes eich yes con yes Morris votes yes Nicholls yes passes on to item seven superintendent report all right thank you we have uh there are quite a few things on the list tonight here uh for me and uh some of these were already touched upon by our student representative but all just uh add on to a couple things that mock trial team uh was actually one of four of our teams two of them competed at Oakland County two more will be competing uh a week from Saturday I believe it is at the
010Kent County um Regional and so uh it's possible we may have another uh Team also qualifying uh for states in mock trial uh Heather Tores at the high school uh has received uh really outstanding award uh titled the Distinguished Citizen Award by the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for her service on behalf of veterans and Veterans issues and so she will be uh traveling to New York City to receive that award on March the 5th so congratulations to Heather and for all the work she does uh also in uh our academic area we had uh our high school creative writing team uh ended up being Regional Champs and uh they will be moving on to state competition in uh you may wonder what creative writing uh competition is like uh They will receive prompts and
011then they have 15 minutes to write on a prompt they have three different uh prompts that they write on and so congratulations our high school team as a team moving on and we also had a number of uh students both at the middle school teams and the high school teams who receive numerous other Awards um also coming up this weekend we've have we have some uh activity on Athletics uh where we've got folks in state competition as well so our bowling team our girls bowling team are Regional Champs and they're moving on to States this weekend and um Maddie Hayden one of our uh girls wrestling team members uh is back at States this weekend looking to defend her state championship from a year ago Maddie uh won the Regionals again uh we just today
012had a couple of skiers involved in state competition and DJ pot jutter hot getter ended up 23rd in the slalom in the state and uh Tiara Marta uh finished 13th in the giant slum so that makes her second team All State uh in skiing and then uh finally on the hardwood our boys basketball team right now is in action at Wyoming uh in the first round of District uh play and our girls basketball team will enter districts a week from now the boys go first this year girls are uh a week behind on that but the girls basketball team wrapped up the OK green Championship last week so congratulations to them all right then a couple of other updates our uh Cal Community Center Grand Opening is of course taking place this Thursday and I
013hope that uh everyone can be there it's going to be a great night um Kelly Clark is doing a ton of work uh coordinating this and Matt has to and just really appreciate everyone's efforts in bringing uh This Night to fruition uh so it's going to be a full weekend and uh all Cal residents should have received a mailer uh detailing everything but uh at 4:00 on Thursday we will have our ribbon cutting and then uh there will be the first Splash in the pool happening uh on Thursday there at 5:30 p.m. and then open house after that and throughout the weekend so um really super happy and I am particularly glad that this thing is opening so uh we'll be uh looking forward to the community using this for a long long time to
014come it's really a wonderful facility and uh just very appreciative of the community support for our students and our um our members of community who will be able to use that uh and then finally uh Food Service audit update alluded at our committee of the whole meeting uh that last week we were in the middle of food service update I uh anticipated today would be a preliminary report but uh earlier this afternoon did receive uh the final findings report on that so just wanted to update you on that we had uh I think a very good report uh there were no findings are all cited for things like meal components uh dietary specifications wellness policy and those sorts of things we did have a few um other items that were uh cited most of which
015were corrected on site immediately um there were some approvals for um free and reduced lunch applications that had not been correctly verified it did not meet the 3% threshold where is cited as a problem it was it was less than 3% so I think he said two of them uh had a little bit of an issue with how they looked it up one was like they looked at um the net income instead of gross income so things like that so those were corrected um we had a uh a finding a couple of findings having to do with a preschool uh lunch meals uh and breakfast meals so um like at Dutton the gsrp classroom uh was counting their meals from the attendance sheet from the morning instead of having a separate the requirement I get
016apparently is a separate checklist so um that is going to be fixed and um at the preschool lunches at um the ECC they were reporting those separately under the ECC and actually because they are within the Duncan Lake building they have to report under Duncan lake so those will have to be a combined uh report on meals uh moving forward so you can see these are not earth shattering things um at Dutton Christian so they did on-site review of three of three three schools in particular calonia High School Dutton Elementary and Dutton Christian uh there was a finding at Dutton Christian where one employee was not putting fruit and veggie on every tray for every kid um so that's being corrected um we've fixed another one there was uh our the non-discrimination statement that's on
017our website uh had been as a drop down like an expandable box instead of it can't be expandable box it has to be readily visible right from the start and so that's been fixed so um and that's pretty much it there was a training Citation for the preschool program based on that other thing I said um and then oh there were a couple of cases where some foods that uh like fruits from uh outside of the United States um didn't have a signed off sheet which Sarah gets to sign all these sheets so but other than that uh everything came through clean so uh it was I think a fairly good finding and um appreciate the work the guy was here all week uh looking into things and um Sarah was deeply involved with that
018the Chartwell staff and our kitchen staff and a whole bunch of people require some extra time on so appreciate all their work on it so that's that update and that's all for my report of this time any questions for Mr wheel drer I have one who performed the audit is this done by the USDA or is it uh Michigan Department of Education um through their role as the fiduciary uh distributor of uh US federal funds so um gentleman's name is Dan Carlson from from the state so um yeah he's a longtime guy known I've actually personally known him for quite a while so um he's he does a nice job he's very thorough and very detailed and I am looking forward to the community center Grand Opening on Thursday hope we can all make it
019um I'm interested to seeing who the first Splash is I I heard it was Matt hus but not sure only if he gets thrown in not going anywhere near it okay on the action items action item a school bus purchase is there a motion I move that the board approve the 2023 Bond purchase of 3 2025 77 passenger school buses one 47 passenger specialized bus and two 10 passenger vans as presented at a total cost of $744,900 bond and we were not uh carrying it that way were we sorry we were one bus we were but the rest we were not right correct so I am sorry for that uh we need to take a look at that so I think we should just say the purchase of these um buses and we should strike
020the word 2023 Bond if that could be an amendment to the motion yes okay I will amend my motion um to reflect I move that the board approve the bond purchase no just the purchase I say sorry I move that the board approve the purchase of three 2025 77 passenger school buses 147 passenger specialized bus and two 10 passenger vans as presented at a total cost of 744 $744,900 that my apologies it happens any further discussion or questions than eich yes Collins yes Randal yes home yes Nicholls yes Barbera Garcia yes Morris yes School Bus purchase passes on to Item B the bond 2023 Paris Ridge playground is there a motion I move that the board of the district to enter into a purchase agreement with Sinclair Recreation for the supply installation and renovation of
021playground elements and surfacing at Paris Ridge Elementary School for $389,962 I second is there any discussion or questions went through this I think one and a half times already so I pretty on board out with the details M secretary please call the RO Collins yes eich yes con yes brandow yes Barbara Garcia yes Nichols yes moris yes thereis Ridge playground passes item C 2025 technology Bond projects is there a motion I move that the board approve the following vendors to initiate contracts for the following bid categories and amounts districtwide copy or purchase from applied Innovation at an amount of $541,500 Town and Country group at a cost of [Music] $175,500 145 is there any discussion I'm sorry thank you now is there any discussion or questions about the motion see none will you please call
022the R Bar Garcia yes Nichols yes Allin yes eich yes con yes brand yes Morris yes okay on to item D School of Choice resolution we talked about this uh on Wednesday the um the way we have the resolution is set up for the way that we walked away with the feeling we were going to go so this is a thre level um thre level motion where board members state your name Caledonia and you have to read the entire document is there a motion for the School of Choice question so when you say here to stay your name when you do the motion is that what you said if you read it word for word which I think might be the easiest I'll go ahead with the motion um I'm move that the board approve
023the resolution to opt out of Section 105 I move that the board approved the resolution to opt out of Section 105 C and I move that the board approve the resolution to participate in the Kent ISD collaborative schools of choice program for the 2025 2026 school year is there a second second is there any discussion or questions just for the Public's uh understanding this is the same exact setup that we've had for the last few years so no changes in our process um I do actually have a question uh since I wasn't here for the committee of the whole um I didn't hear the discussion involving it and I tried reaching out to you Tim but um I didn't hear back my question is I don't necessarily have an issue with us keeping it at
024status quo but I know that we were concerned about enrollment numbers going forward for our district and I guess it how are we going to justify leaving money on the table as far as like our Paris Ridge building which butts up right to like Wayland and has a lot of empty spots where I don't even know if that was discussed and I'm bringing up for the first time I don't know how to answer that question I can speak to it a little bit uh we did talk about it uh last Wednesday I think it's something that um we had quite a bit of discussion about um and might be uh an important thing for us to look at moving forward I think um through the discussion the other night it was just felt that uh
025while there was maybe some interest in do looking at that it was was just felt like this year we needed to move forward as we are right now and then U have a little more discussion about that as we look to do this again next year uh some of the issues uh that were discussed include uh how uh special education students are treated under Section 105c um and the process by which uh districts our district would have to come into an agreement with whatever other District uh the student is a resident of and how that can sometimes be problematic and um so that was part of the discussion uh but I think there was also discussion that it might behoove us to be looking at this because a few years ago we did go as
026high I don't for remember the exact numbers but as high as maybe in mid-60s of students who were entered here under 105c and uh so that number has dwindled but the vast majority of those were from W and most likely because of that proximity of Paris Ridge so yeah I think it's an important issue for us to continue to look at particularly as we um look forward um give the quick overview of Wednesday night we talked about the fact that it used to be that calonia was uh paid one of the higher amounts per pupil in the state of Michigan for many many many many years and uh we are now at the bottom because everything is is kind of caught up to us uh everybody is getting the paid the same on a straight
027up for people basis and then on some of the other things that have to do with uh poverty level and so on we are um we are obviously with our low relatively low poverty level we don't get uh that kind of benefit so we've actually gone from being one of the higher paid per pupil districts to one of the lowest paid per pup districts so we're going to have to be in a position where we look at all sorts of different ways that we can to uh have the revenue for the kind of programming that we've come to expect and that we want our students to have is there a plan for how we would be able to like plan to mitigate any of the problems with special ed coming into like that we can
028if we have more time or is it more like it's a systemic kind of problem that like it is a systemic problem yeah great question it's a systemic problem if it's um it's an issue within the state law because um uh the way that state law reads is if uh the district that is the resident district and the district like ours that would be receiving if they can't come to an agreement on the special education cost then the student must remain in their resident District where any other student who is not on an IEP is able to fully transfer and there's no issues at all so there's a bit of a problem there and but the difficulty becomes um there are taxation issues wrapped into that there's a whole host of multi-layers and so quite
029honestly the state has just never taken this issue on and here we sit and so um that's that's a difficult one it's one that uh in my past life in a different District had to deal with all the time and it's um it's it's sad uh that that's the case um because you could have for instance children within the same family one who could easily come on 105c and then another who there would be an issue with so um I think that's where I don't know that that will change by next year but I think it was felt that here we had to make this action tonight and so we just needed more time for the board to learn more about it understand more and then could maybe make another decision next year and correct
030me if I'm wrong we were given the date of February 28th right to make we had to commit by so that was giving all that Dirk just said we were on a time crunch so it was easier to just we figur we didn't want have another meeting yeah and just to add to that um you had also mentioned JK that just because we're opting out of 105c does not mean that a student who lives in Wayland can't come to calonia they just can't come through 105c they would come through a different protocol correct there is still that exists the older um yes the older protocol which is a resident District release that's not been something that while this is going on too we've been really um looking to pursue but uh we can do it
031so thank you Jennifer there any more questions or comments about the resolution roll phone yes Brando yes Barber Garcia yes Nichols yes Collins yes eich yes Morris yes resolution passes in time for Friday on to discussion items 9A Dutton Elementary Furniture Pack Mr H good evening uh as part of the 2023 Bond program with the construction of new Dutton Elementary um we have included the outfitting of the school with move that up a little bit a package appropriate uh Furnishings for students and staff uh reflecting the diversity of stuff we got going on there and the fact that we have new and expanded uh populations and more rooms and a lot of stuff that's going to look a lot more alike than it has in the past um our architect designer principal Vach myself um
032have worked together um selecting a a pretty good and uh substantial package of furniture the solicitation uh for furniture was planned and shared out by Tower pinkster Architects to vendors uh and associated with all the purchasing agencies and cooperatives that the district is members of um to be clear this was not a a public bid um in the sense that it went out to every vendor possibly on the in under under the sun this was sent out to folks that we are members of the purchasing cooperatives there are quite a few vendors that are covered by that rainbow uh they're covered by that that umbrella so there is quite a few involved um there are three uh purchasing cooperatives to be represented and three purchas uh excuse me three Furniture companies uh that will be
033represented eventually when this is presented next month um and that committee however to be honest um combing through the details and going through the rather weighty response from the uh from the architect and from the companies is taking a little longer so we're not able to produce a perfect number tonight but we will have that certainly for committee and for next month are there any questions for Mr H with pictures oh yeah yeah no we got pictures we got pictures I have a new we question um what do we do with like the old furniture at an elementary L what is that what happens to that spending on condition we do a a little bit of a internal sale first we offer it up to other schools other buildings within the district um we do
034offer it up for sale usually at auction um unfortunately to be very honest that does not net us any great profits or or surprise you know hey this was worth a lot of money no um and then barring that it is disposed disposed of um we've auctioned off some school desks recently um of that generation and we usually can get about 50 cents a desk if that if we're lucky I can add in M there's stuff that's left over a lot of times we'll work with our Christian Schools oh yeah sry and then we'll give them the opportunity to take what we don't need as opposed to just not utilizing so U donating it it was step three there that I missed there yes I I didn't see in the in I didn't hear you
035say it either in the in the summary um if the teachers of Dutton were involved in sorry yes the teachers of duton quite a few of them were involved um Mr Beach had a representational group that he was working with very closely and uh they were all part and parcel of his his reporting and his coming back to the group with the suggestions I know some teachers are a little queasy when it's the architect picking out the furniture a little yeah more than a little some superintendent as well okay thank you uh on to 9B Caledonia Elementary abatement Mr s um it's part of 2023 Bond program the construction of read the wrong one let me go to the right one here it's been that kind of a day as part of the 2020 Bond
036program we are providing Renovations and remodeling of the calonia elementary school scheduled for this summer The renovation work will include flooring ceilings painting and technology um there is a volume of ASB bestus containing material present in the project areas that will require batement Services prior to the renovations these area include flooring tile flooring adhesives um ceiling tile and ceiling tile adhesives uh when I say ceiling tile it is not this style it is what is glued to the ceiling from 1950s above what we show as a drop ceiling so the ceiling tiles are actually a metal product and a painted product that's glued to the ceiling from there all of these products are considered now encapsulated um and non Frable meaning they're not going to become dust and become a problem they are all encapsulated
037I.E the carpeting tile or the carpeting is covering the floor tile that we're removing but in this in this renovation we are going down to the basic concrete floor and we're taking it all out um when you remove carpeting a lot of the tiles going to come with it anyway so um it's a good time to take care of these things um Arch environmental um is the company that the district uses for a number of different um asbest uh bloodborne pathogens and a few other you know um biohazard type things um and testing um they were contracted for the identification testing classification of the materials and they designed an abatement program they presented a request for proposal um for the abatement Services the R FP was published on February 7th and we are opening it
038uh tomorrow look at there um at 11:30 a.m. um so we are going to have that number and we'll be prepared with that as a full motion for the committee meeting and the board meeting any questions for Mr what does the the bid numbers look they're all sealed bids so they're stacked up on my countertop I don't know I I like to hear they're stacked up that's they are stacked uh currently I believe I have six or seven ready to go for tomorrow so that's that's a very good sign there was uh 15 at attendance at the prebid walk through um last week so that was encouraging more than I've seen again we're starting to feel really good about our bidding so more than I've seen at the last you know any of the last
039ones we've done great thank you very much on to 9C technology Network switches Mr V good evening uh we have a bid on the street right now for the purchase of network switches uh that bid was released on February 10 and we will be opening bids on February 28th the end of this week uh these switches will provide uh Network infrastructure support for new classroom technology at Cal L the EC CC emans Lake and Paris Ridge uh it will also go to support the upgraded PA system and mass notification system at the north campus of the high school uh switches will be purchased to equip uh new Dutton Elementary which will support everything within that building um Wi-Fi networks phone system classroom technology uh several thing in Mr hess's wheelhouse the door access control building
040management systems lighting controls Etc um and these switches will be installed by District technology staff um and that will allow us to save 10 to $20,000 um on labor cost by doing that installing configuration ourselves and this is from the 2020 and bonds questions Sir Mr V so I assume we'll be discussing this in March at the committee of the H that is correct we'll have prices then okay great thank you thank you on to board comments other board members comment I actually have a comment um I have personally encountered many exceptional staff members at during my board tenure but also with my daughter going to emans Lake and while I have adored every single staff member I've come into contact with especially her teachers um her teacher is Tara Bernat at um emond's Lake
041and I did want to recognize how exceptional she really is she has gone above and beyond for her students over Christmas break she put together a glow party for kids when if I was her I probably would have sat at home it was freezing cold AA went and she loved it in addition to that in January she did like a hip-hop dance class for all of the students in the school and they put on a show for parents she did that outside of her workday coming up she's planning on taking her students to the movie theaters on a weekend so her parents or not her parents not just me but any of her students parents can enjoy like a date night if if you only have one kid but since I've got two I won't
042be doing that um but I just really want to recognize how she's gone above and beyond and it's not just her but I just wanted to recognize that and have that out there that I really appreciate all of our teachers and our staff but specifically I'm recognizing the things that I'm seeing her do not just for my daughter but for all of her students and she continues to do that thank you Katie I have one item for those of you who are on the board the adopter road Highway pickup program sure we're all excited about this the dates are April 12th through the 20th promise to pick only dates as options where you have nothing going on in perfect perfect this is our way to give them back to the community we pick up uh
043long craft in between 92nd and 100th Street um each year that's designated a board president uh responsibility which I might ask to delegate to somebody else at some point but um I want to get kick this off and I'll be reaching out to you with the email on the dates that work best between those the 12th and the 20th uh we've done it early morning we've done it midafternoon we've done it Saturday so it's really up to us and there are two other now sets of dates I'll just throw out there to July 19th through the 27th we'll have to pick times in there and also September 27th through October 5th and we are [Music] currently committed to this through December 31st 2027 so I look forward to joining my fellow board members in April
044okay on to item 11 which is closed session the board will meet in close session or as per Michigan comply law 15268 H to consider material exempt from discussion or disclosed by state and federal statute motion to adjourn to close session um session sure so a second I believe we need we need roll call E yes Collins yes Randal yes col yes Nichols yes rber Garcia yes Morris yes we will return to the board after boardroom after the closed session and we right now do not have any planned oh yes I did forget one thing uh our committee as the whole is Wednesday March 12 2025 at 6 p.m we are J for close session okay is there motion to leave close session yeah motion to return to open session okay all those in favor
045say I I I think we have to do roll yeah we need a roll call for Collins yes eich yes con yes brand yes bar Garcia yes Nichols yes Morris yes is there a motion to adjourn so moved second all in favor I I uh I wasn't looking up who made first and second motion for Britney Britney and then Jennifer okay we're jour you like