HCS Board Meeting - 11/18/2024

001e e e you so you do know e e e [Music] he [Music] w standing for the Pledge of Allegiance flag unit States Indy and justice for all thank you you prior to moving on to item 1B I would like to welcome Mr Jeff Scott to the board table um this is Mr Scott's first meeting all righty item 1B approval of agenda items for discussion I move that the agenda for the November 18th 2024 regular meeting be approved support motion by Mrs Coleman supported by Mr Costa any discussion yeah so a couple items um I'd like to first of all since we have to I think vote for secretary since we lost Mrs Shaw so I assume we need to add nominations for secretary we don't have to quite yet if we choose not to

002it's totally up to us okay the vacancy is only the 30-day rule okay I guess I'll I'll move then that we do add those to the agenda uh secondly I did send a list of policy IES today uh for the board's review that I'd like to uh add to the agenda if you'd like I can read each policy separately or if you want I can capture it all as one one motion so I guess with no feedback then I will move to add the policies that I submitted this morning to the agenda second polies oh sorry will you list the policies sure yep so the policies in question are it's 01642 uh 7542 0167 do3 01427 1241 and [Music] 1220 and again those would be to add to the discussion are you amending the current

003motion on the table from the original motion to a new motion okay would you like me to amend the motion you need me to read those again I think it's going to be easiest to just work through process that way as opposed to voting on one moving to the other because then we would have to come back either way you get what I'm saying no so we can vote on the original motion but then he's going to have to make a secondary motion so we can do that or he can amend said motion yeah you get what I'm saying so you wanting me to amend it to add to the discussion is that what you're asking yes okay so I will amend my motion to add the previously stated policies to the discussion okay do

004he need a second oh okay Glenn's got that y I had two that I had sent very late in the day that I wanted to add for discussion as well I don't know if you want to talk about that now or we're this motion's on the table and we're I think it would have to be a separate Amendment current motion I'll amend it separately then okay okay so there's an amendment on the table by Mr Keller to add 10 policies to the discussion item for today's meeting supported by Mr goleski discussion did we miss the secretary nomination did you put that on the table too can we take that separately yeah yes so it was a separate motion okay do you want to start with the policies or the secretary motion we can start with

005secretary since I said that first okay are you taking them all together or separate on once again what's your question two separate amendments correct the first motion was to take nominations for secretary the second motion was to add the policies n for secretary okay we're going to start with item one Mr Keller moved to amend the agenda to add taking nominations for secretary is there was there support for that amendment I saw a supp second my second seconded by Mr goleski discussion on that item I guess just in the spirit of uh continuation of operations I know in the past we've always felt the need to have acting uh members of the board in all the officer positions so want to continue our tradition I agree when we came on there was a a vacant

006spot and we were told that it needed to be filled immediately so we feel the urgc as well actually in 2022 the spot was not even vacant yet when uh when the board swapped out secretaries in advance of the new board taking office any additional discussion on the motion to amend the addition of nominations for secretary hearing none Mr goleski and the question can you state it as a question please so this is we're doing a roll call vote to amend the current agenda to add taking nominations for secretary to the agenda items which would be [Music] item I think it's 2B 2B yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman no Mr Culler yes Mr Costa no Mrs vondal yes and I'm a no but that motion does pass okay I'm going to move back up

007Mr Ker can you please restate your motion just for the record so that everyone's aware of what they're voting on do you need all 10 numbers I got them written down okay all right so I move to add to tonight's agenda to discussion items so three B the addition of the 10 policies previously listed and Mr Goki supported that correct Mr goleski Goki okay discussion well I guess before we before I vote on it I I know Greg that you sent this out like this morning at 10 and quite frankly I haven't even had a chance to thumb through all 10 let alone look at what you're changing or not changing or adding so I struggle with putting this on as a discussion item when we literally have had less than what 10 hours to

008even decide so I'm just why I'm wondering did did Mrs gach did you offer this up to her last week or was this something that just came about like this morning no I wasn't able to get them in prior to Thursday's packet going out um so I did try to send them out as soon as possible so that way they would not be uh displayed here in today's meeting but again these are just discussion items they're not I'm not proposing we add these as action items or that we vote on them today but um do want to get them out so that there would be an opportunity to again take the next four weeks to review them and then officially vote in December's meeting I think a lot of or many I should say policies

009that are here I think we've seen some version of in the past so I don't think you'll find a lot of um issues where you need to ask too many questions but obviously I'm available to take any questions or have meetings individually over the next four weeks so that you have any questions that you may have answered um personally I have not been able to read any of the policies in today and Greg I was very upfront with you about that um and furthermore I don't know that I've been able to give Mr Scott any of these policies because I just received them today as well we do have a active bylaw 0144 point2 that recognizes that we as board members should Endeavor to make policy decisions only after a full discussion at publicly held

010board meetings I'm not sure how I can have a discussion on something I haven't read well we can review the whole policy and then talk about some of the changes but don't you think it's prudent that we read them and and come prepared like I came prepared with my curriculum question and we'll we'll read them and we'll go over them we'll go over the changes and then we can ask questions and then throughout the month other questions can be asked did you bring copies no I did not bring copies that's why I sent them to you in advance I don't know if Renee or Chuck made them but okay any further discussion just a comment that and I shared this with Greg via email that it's I just I find it poor form to to

011send out 10 policy changes the morning of a meeting and not give anyone time to prepare so I I appreciate that you that you sent them out as quickly as you could once you got them completed you said you tried to meet the Thursday deadline I get that it's just it I just I think it's poor form to do it last minute like that just wanted to say that I think um that gives plenty of time to review over the next month before any action items are are voted on I find it as a new member of the board I find it kind of surprising that there's members of the board who for years through Co refused to share any policies with parents or the public until after they were passed I mean that's pretty

012rich um the first time I asked to view policies prior to them being voted on I was told I could fo it after it was approved so in this case Mr Keller is offering up at least 30 days notice to the board and plenty of time uh to get this published for parents community members so they can speak to it and the call to the public in the December meeting which is I think more than we've offered over over the past so I I I would be prepared to enter discussion today we've also had uh more important documents rush to us um with far less than 30 days [Music] so any further discussion hearing none Mr go keski to amend the agenda and and discuss yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman no Mr Keller yes

013Mrs Mr Costa no Mrs bondal yes and I'm a no that motion passes I motion to to add um I know I'll get reprimanded two policies they're new that I sent today um if we need to have a a special meeting on it we can call a special meeting but I think it's as as I said in my email it's preemptive um to submit these policies uh before the January inauguration and and president Trump coming in because he had made the statement the public statement that school that pushes CRT or Dei will be he will pull funding and I don't want us to be in that position so that's why I submitted them today so that we can you please indicate the policies there's no numbers yet I didn't I don't know how to pull

014a number I don't think I pull numbers for that the policies there's do you have a title of the policy because we need to C yeah there's an there's a Dei CRT optin policy and I realize nobody's had a chance to review them because I did send them late um and then there is a formal uh bathroom policy which right now they're just in the handbook a bathroom and locker room can you restate your motion but I just want I'd like to amend the agenda to add pardon just include the include the two titles oh okay yeah I want to make sure it's clear for people listening and for our minutes sure my motion is to add two more policies to the agenda the first being an uh CRT Dei opt-in form for parents policy

015and then the second one would be a um bathroom and locker room policy which neither of we we don't have either right now so they're not being amended okay thank you is there support from Mrs support thanks this Renee have those policies by chance Renee I didn't send them to her but I will okay okay we have a motion on the table by Mrs blond deal to add two new policies to the agenda one being a de CRT opt inform policy and one being a formal bathroom locker room policy motion by Mrs blondal supported by Mr Keller any discussion just to clarify this is going on as a discussion item so it would be item 2 C is that it 3 thank you so again I guess my my only concern here is I'm just

016wondering why we this didn't come out prior that Mrs gach didn't get this last week is it just something that you were working on and yeah for me I'm yes I have I wanted to get it in earlier but I was not able to okay I agree that it was late so I apologize to the the board for that I um I personally am not familiar with the policy that Trump has stated he's going to roll out I feel that this may be premature to roll something out like this before a policy like that even ex exists at the federal level um so I don't I don't know that it's it's warranted to put on as a discussion item and then an action item when there's nothing in place to substantiate it I think that

017you know that was the preemptive portion of it but I think it's important to understand that the parents should have full visibility to everything and and opting out of Dei CRT may not may not be the way to go it may be an opt-in policy you know that's all it is it's an opt-in policy I'm not doing away with it I'm just ask asking for a form to be uh formally submitted to parents so they can opt in their student if they want them to have Dei CRT orl training that's all that is and since it's currently an idea I think it should be discussed can you also send whatever you're referencing to the rest of the board I did did and maybe I oh I haven't seen it was late yeah it and I

018apologize for that yeah so I did and I'll forward it to Renee I would love to see the discussion especially as it relates to the Dei I mean that's obviously you've heard me from the other side of the table talk about this repeatedly I think this Board needs to have an open discussion about how it plans to address this obviously there's been some movement to uh uh to start training Dei to every single student in the district and we need to talk about what that looks like and what the policy is and this board has really failed over the last 2 or 3 years to write any policies as it relates to your agreements or our agreements with the Department of Justice and um there has been outcry from the community from the parents um

019from citizens that they want more accountability and I think that that this is exactly what the people of this community are looking for is accountability when it comes to our relationship with the doj and uh teaching Dei to all Heartland students so I would definitely support having this discussion tonight I did get a chance I know it was late but I did have an opportunity to quickly read through I didn't find there would be too much uh language to go through so um appreciate you sending that out in advance um in general I find you know I agree with Mr Scott I'd like to see the Sport have discussions out in the open and and therefore the fact that we're again not voting on anything it gives an opportunity for the community to then also

020provide more input that maybe wouldn't be had if this if everything had been discussed you know privately and and and then we come and vote so I know personally I I will always welcome discussion even if it's something that maybe I'm not thrilled about but I think we owe it to the community to to have those discussions in uh in an open Forum so like I'm I'm all for discussion um I just struggle with how do I have discussion on some policy or something I haven't seen so like like I don't I'm I'm open to discussing whatever we want to discuss and I think you're right the community should hear our discussions but I'm just wondering how we how do we do that with a policy or a Crea a policy that's I haven't I

021haven't seen yet so in full transparency I just have to be honest about something that I think is going to need to be at the Forefront front of our minds I think often times when we have um when we don't have thorough discussion and we make it to the action item component and we have a bunch of edits that we're trying to push through in the action item it makes it very hard to articulate a final policy or a final whatever it is in that respect I think we've gotten caught up a couple of times where we've tried to make changes of the action and it's either not clearly articulated and so I think um while I'm all for robust discussion and certainly came from with my questions on the discussion items that were at

022hand I think we need to think about the changes or any perspective changes being part of that initial discussion so that once we get to action item hopefully it's something that's actually a clean version and not necessarily something we're editing at the board table unless it's warranted you get what I'm saying so can I change my motion and maybe motion to put as a discussion item um a special meeting to review the policies we could do that instead of trying to you know rush through them we could we could have a special meeting invite the community and discuss them at length and give everybody a time to to review the the changes or ask questions and then we can have a a meaningful discussion in front of the community I wouldn't be if anybody was

023opposed to that or can can I change my motion you can I think that Mr Keller would also have to change his and it would have to a changed Mo motion would just need a two-thirds vote just want to after an agenda has item has been added so well I think you know president GL like you kind of highlighted the whole point and why we need to have this discussion today because I think you know we can all kind of talk individually and we you know make edits and tweaks but then we try to culminate that into one policy but there's not the the larger group having conversation and this is really our only opportunity to do that and while it may be a little bit clunky to do it like that but I I

024think at the end it results in more efficiency from the board because we can then incorporate everyone's thoughts versus kind of offline trying to interpret what we think somebody might like so to me we're kind of proven the point on why we need to have these discussions sure I I I agree that having the discussions that's great but how I don't feel equipped or prepared to have a thorough decent discussion to be able to present whatever my feelings or opinions are on the on the issues or on the proposed changes since I've barely looked at yours I've printed some of them until my printer ran out of ink and then I haven't looked at yours so it's like how how can I even have a discussion to put it on the it on the agenda

025as a discussion item today if I haven't even seen the material or been able to absorb it or to look for precedence for the changes that want to be made or anything like that so it's I I get it I get adding it as a discussion item I get having the discussion but if I'm not prepared to have to have that discussion and I don't think at least a few of us at the table we're not prepared we aren't so and we weren't given the opportunity to be prepared so it can can we have the discussion at the next meeting and then vote on them because I I need time to prepare Madam president I I believe the frustration some board members are feeling is the exact same frustration that every single member in the

026audience and of this community has felt over the last four years so um I I think we should be a comfortable moving forward with discussion and being able to maybe publish these policies not you know to the community tomorrow or sometime this week so that every member of the community has a chance to review them and come prepared for our next meeting uh at the call to the public to share their opinion I also think too this kind of points out um a couple of bigger problems one I whenever we have a policy change whenever um I don't understand why we don't take advantage of our technology and display it for the entire crowd to see um secondly um much like other districts who do have more than one meeting per month I think this

027kind of shows um perhaps the need for that as well I I think I can um I can agree with you when there's a vast majority of policy for instance say we're 10 policies that's a lot perhaps there needs to be a meeting Focus focused just on policy and not everything else I mean I know we have a school presenting today we have other things happening I would also be interested in and this isn't part of this discussion so I don't want to couple it with this discussion but other boards also have policy committees and is that something that we want to consider um whether that's current existing policy and how we navigate changes or how we navigate changes with new policy and so on and so forth I I think the policy committee idea

028is just an extra step for taking up time I think um there's seven of us I I uh I don't think a committee is necessary um but I do think that time given would be a good idea agree and I think that personally I'm I'm many of you might not be but I'm a visual person I need to see it I need to read it more than once I need to write down my questions um and I like to be prepared uh and well we're we're just having a discussion we're not making any decisions and we still have a month to contact each other ask questions ask all kinds of questions and uh I'm I'm kind of surprised that one month isn't enough well I think I don't think it's a matter of a month

029I think it's a matter of tonight we're supposed to discuss something and and this board has preached transparency and the public doesn't even know what we're talking about cuz it's not in the packet cuz it was delivered at like 10:00 or something this this morning and I'm not sure when yours came in Miss blond deal it must have been after 3 because I didn't get a chance to look at my Heartland email after that so I I don't think it's a matter of people not wanting to discuss things it's a matter of us being prepared to have a conversation like I I honestly don't I don't know what I'm going to be talking about here in a moment and the public again has no idea what these 10 policy changes are like they so I

030just again like we can have discussion but it would be beneficial for the public to know that we have an idea of what we're talking about I also just want to pose a question to the board and you know should our call to the public feedback on policy be when it's a discussion item or when it's an action item before us to actually take action and Implement policy ideally it would be on discussion so that we can incorporate if there if there are changes sometimes there might not be but if we're giving them the opportunity to talk when it's an action item how are we taking that feedback into consideration we it's impossible there's other examples of us not being given we we've been in situations where I've been in a situation where I haven't

031been provided all of the paperwork that we were meant to vote on or or have discussions with so it's nothing new um I think that if we do want to present some of the changes we can talk about it I think we're all smart enough to have a discussion about it that's what it is it's not necessarily just you know back and forth but I think that you know there there's not that many changes it's you know and Greg's got some logic behind it um I I don't see why this would be any different than some of the other opportunity times I've been lacking information or being told like well you can call each other right I mean that's what we've been I've been told a lot is well repeatedly we've been told that yeah

032yeah if you have any questions just call each other so I don't feel yeah yeah many times trustee blondal would you be willing to read your policies aloud during the discussion well I could absolutely all right thank I mean you know we haven't voted on it yet but I mean we're still in discussion points about this um I don't see um again I've been in a situation where I haven't had all the details either okay well and you know just one last thing you know with all due respect there have been times where I've submitted things prior to the packet being sent out and it was refused to be added to the agenda so I mean it it seems as the yeah there's legitimate concern that you didn't get it on Thursday which is you

033know okay I would have liked to get it but there's no guarantee that it would have been added so that's absolutely true I've had the same experience any further discussion on Mrs blondel's motion hearing none Mr galeski to amend the agenda and review Mrs blend's policies yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman no Mr Keller yes Mr Costa no Mrs blondal yes and I'm a no that motion passes Madam president I move to added discussion item regarding the disruption of transportation services for Heartland Consolidated Schools uh to discuss the district's plans to address this ongoing concern no policy no action just a discussion at the board thank you I second 3D sorry motion by Mr Scott to add a discussion item of Transportation it was the ongoing disruption in transportation as item 3D to the agenda

034correct yes supported by Mrs blondal any discussion so just to clarify this was only a discussion there's no policy or any other related no policy I'm hoping that as a board we can have a discussion about uh about the district's plans to uh to solve this problem maybe give some directives to the superintendent uh or ideas and but possibly uh ask for some sort of ongoing report back to the uh to the board and to the community as we work through this issue because uh it's it's one of the largest issues facing the community right now especially those who rely on bus services so it's uh it's really important and you know um having been talking to hundreds and hundreds of parents over the past several months this is at the top of almost everyone's

035mind uh and we are experiencing you know again this week further disruptions so I think we need to talk about it so are you Mr Scott are you just looking for a clarification from Mr Hughes as like to what the district is doing at uh no I think we've heard from Mr Hughes I think the board should have a discussion about what we expect the district to do and um maybe talk about how we can uh ask the district for a plan and then find some accountability on that plan moving forward okay any further discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mr Scott yes Mr I'm sorry Mrs Coleman no Mr tell yes Mr Costa yes I'm sure I'm open for some discussion on busing sure yes Mrs bondal yes I'm a yes that motion passes

036guys bear with me because I'm going through with a handwritten agenda so it's going to be a little slow I now need a motion to approve the agenda with the addition amendments I move to approve the agenda as amended support motion by Mr Scott as amended support by Mr Keller any discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman yes uh Mr Keller yes Mr Costa yes Mrs blundel yes and I'm a yes that motion passes okay would it be is it too late to uh to change the order one of my thoughts here is that a lot of people in this room are probably very interested in the transportation component and might get lost as we get into some of the deeper policies would it be possible to move so can I

037make a motion to move transportation to uh to 3A support hold on we just approved the agenda so any changes just full transparency requires a two3 vote would you like to restate your motions motion motion would be to amend the agenda to move transportation to 3A because I think there's a lot of people in the room who would like to hear the board's discussion of Transportation who might have to go before we get all the way to the bottom of the agenda I second that motion by Mr Scott um did somebody already else yeah K already did oh sorry we got two and a half over here motion by Mr Scott to move item 3A to move the transportation item to item 3A which then subsequently makes the high school curriculum guide 3B Mr Keller's

038policies 3 C and Mrs blondel's policies 3D yes any discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Keller yes Mr Costa yes fondal yes and I'm a yes that motion passes okay everyone done with the agenda item 1 C consent agenda I move that the consent agenda agenda for the November 18th 2024 regular meeting be approved support motion by Mrs Coleman supported by Mr Costa any discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Keller yes Mr Costa yes Mrs bondil yes I'm a yes that motion passes item 1D superintendence report thank you board um I'm going to start with uh James if you would uh bring your new higher up and then Melissa when James is done all right good evening uh I'm excited to

039introduce you to our new high school counselor Miss Rebecca peros um Rebecca joins us from she was originally with South Lion East High School when they opened South Lion East as a counselor and then moved to Birmingham seahome schools um after that she took some time to be a mom uh and has recently been working part-time um as an application review specialist with the University of Michigan an arbor which is pretty cool and um doing some tutoring with the Brighton school district um we are extremely fortunate to find Miss perza um she's got a wealth of experience uh she's done a great job starting so far and um when we interviewed her we knew right away she was our top candidate and um reached out to some of her former superintendents and principles and the

040words that stood out from them uh were student centered leader team player great with postsecondary Transitions and everything you'd look for in a counselor so we are super excited to introduce Miss Rebecca [Applause] pric good evening thank you so much for giving me an opportunity to restart my career or continue my career here in Heartland um the team at the high school is wonderful um I couldn't ask for a better place to start to get back in the game um and I'm ready to do that hit the ground running so I would like to thank each and every one of you for allowing me this opportunity to be a part of this wonderful Community thank you so [Applause] much still doing good that's good and Miss Frasier good evening everyone I am thrilled to introduce

041Sarah cedo Sarah is teaching second grade at Lakes um Sarah comes to us with years of teaching experience in the Royal Oak School District and the Brighton school district um she also stayed home uh with her family for a few years uh but got back in the game doing some subbing and Sarah actually filled a long-term substitute position at Lakes last year and did a phenomenal job so she has been working as a substitute since the school year started while she completed some work to renew her teaching certificate that had expired but she is official and we are so happy to have her uh Sarah is an incredibly hard worker she asks the best questions and she really goes above and beyond and she has fit right into the staff at Lakes just seamlessly so

042we are very happy to have her thank you good evening I too would just like to thank each and every one of you for uh this wonderful opportunity to be part of the the Heartland Consolidated School District um I'm very excited to be here and looking forward to the rest of the year and the years to come thank you so much [Applause] happening that round let's go I hear [Applause] it they're going to come up here to um support Mr fluhart and then as soon as we're done they're going home because they're going to be tired Okay just set that stage all right all right so um I'm very excited to talk to you about security at Round Elementary Mr fluer is our SRO and it's more than you might think it is so these

043are some things you might um all of those things that keep us feeling safe and that we appreciate so much and that I could never possibly do and do my job so um we appreciate all those things but here's some things you might not expect Mr fluhart is part of our community and he loves children and he's great with staff and um he builds tons of relationships and in the morning our K Kids welcome students to school with music and pom poms and um this was a particular morning where um they were super excited to have Mr fluhart join in so just thought that was worth seeing Oh I back I got it backstage sorry um here's some unexpected highlights and I'll let him um Talk on the next screen about some things but he

044often gets pulled into things like potty Patrol and quarterbacking and um finding lost sweatshirts so um here's a few things that kids um said have said to him and I'm going to let him talk about this screen because it's great so how wor everybody thanks for the opportunity to uh to speak here I'm excited to do it cuz um you know when you brought us in to do this everybody knows why we're here but we want to talk a little bit about some of these things that you probably didn't expect and it's it it's been an experience for me um so as you can see up here if you can see the board um just some of the things the kids have asked over the the now year and a half I've been there um

045a little boy came up said Mr flu um do you have any other clothes I'm like cuz I wear this every day and he I'm like well yeah brother clo he says well where do you keep them and where do you sleep like there's no bed in the office like they think I live there apparently so things like that are funny um the uh the first day out I came into the school last year first day on the playground I walked out and there was a young man I don't know if I can say first names but say okay if you knew the school you know the young man I'm talking about so I walk out and they're playing soccer and I'm just kind of looking at things this little boy looks at me very

046confident looks at me like get over here like calls me over so I walk over to him and uh he says who are you I said I tell him he tells me his name I'm like okay he goes well I'm the goalie and uh I'm going to need you to be my water guy like okay he goes uh and I'm not exaggerating this is how it went he goes uh this how it's going to go I'm the goalie when the ball goes down that end I yell water you throw me the water bottle I take a drink before the ball comes back I throw you back the water the only thing missing was like capiche you know like the like the like a little mob boss he was funny so the people from round probably

047know who I'm talking about um great kid um another little boy same day first day last year comes up and he's looking at me ask me you know who are you I tell him he gets real inquisitive looking kind of like he's interrogating me he says uh what's your favorite dinosaur so as luck would have it I have one ever since I was a kid so I tell him well Triceratops for sure cuz he's the best he looks at me like oh okay this guy's all right so from then on we've had a great relationship so um just funny things like that have happened my family often asks me tell me something funny that happened my son and my wife um so I thought a few of those stories would be funny for you folks

048um it's it's been an amazing experience the relationships built with the kids with the staff um the things I've seen at the school like in law enforcement you know I'm retired I did 27 years Farmington Hills um great career worked with staff or teaching staff administrators over the years on different things many many times and you you know everybody knows teachers are great everybody knows that but until you work inside and see how a school works from the inside and you see what goes on every single day and what um the teachers do the amount of time and effort you know of course that's their job but the way they do it with the love and compassion and I don't know how they don't show frustration because there's times where I'm frustrated but you watch

049them the kids will never know the kids have no idea they're frustrated and I've seen that so many times I'm sure they talk with their friends in the lunchroom afterwards but the kids never know um so it's been it's been an honor to do this um I was going to go through and tell my whole bio and things I've done in my military career my police career but um without saying all that I did want to say though that this job has been probably the most rewarding job I've ever done and I truly mean that to come there and and watch over these kids um help the staff I've had several staff members come to me in the last year and a half thanking me for being there saying how it was a con concern

050for them safety and you know what could happen um and I was surprised at that a little bit in Heartland a community like Heartland I wouldn't think that would be a major concern but it is um so to be able to look up for the kids help the staff let them focus on teaching and do what they do has been a a great experience So and I've seen it with this this staff here look they're all here for me this is amazing but i' I've seen what they do and it's incredible just each each and every one of them are just incredible people and amazing teachers so um thank you for the opportunity to do this and like I said it's been uh one of the most rewarding things you know I had somebody ask

051me one time is it aren't you going to be bored they were they actually teacher told me like we're afraid you would be bored and quit and I'm like you know boring is good I'll take boring any day because if it's not boring it's a bad day so that's how I look at it but thank you again for everything if if any of you had any questions for me please feel free and uh we would we would entertain that um I I just I before you stop I want them to read some things kids have said about you um I think they're super fun um probably um my favorite is I like when Mr flu heart directs the kiss and go traffic it's way faster when he's out there think that's so funny Wonder many

052parents have said that so I thought that was yeah if you're wondering about the name tag I have a retractable lanyard and they love to pull it and let it snap back and I always pretend like it hurts so that's what that's about but yeah so thank you again for for this opportunity and like said it's it's been amazing for me um he's also a veteran so um This was um some signs some kids made for him for Veterans Day um I'm going to let you ask questions and I have one more thing for Mr fizar so well I don't have questions I just want to say thank you so much for everything you do and obviously you're here to keep our kids safe but you said it a number of times and the kids

053even said it about how you you make relationships with our kids and you make them feel special and that's that's what's really cool and I know the staff obviously appreciates that so thank you for going above and beyond thank you it's like I said it is my pleasure truly and being from Heartland my son goes to Heartland um high school he's a junior there now so it just feels right feels natural to be here so I'm I'm very glad so Mr flu were you one of the security team that came over from Oxford Schools yes so I yeah I I had a three-hour conversation with Jim yes and um he couldn't have said I mean that's one of the reasons why I brought you guys to the board because he knew he was going to

054lose some of you and he was sad about it because I don't know if a lot of people know that this Oxford Schools he was there and um so are a couple other of the security team that are here now and he couldn't say anything higher about you guys and the the your your bios I speak volumes about you guys and I for one appreciate it very much I wish you guys would have been here when my kids were in the school um but I guarantee that all the parents love you and love the their security guard at their school so thank you so much oh thank you it it we have not had that I know of a single um negative comment from any parent um for us being there I was actually a

055little surprised I thought there'd be some somebody but I haven't heard one so if you have please let me know I have to agree with you and I think that while we certainly you know had safety at the Forefront from bringing the team and what occurred the relationships that occurred after you know the first days on the job are some of the lasting relationships that these kids are remembering I mean you ask a kid you know what what was your favorite part of the day and half of the time it's interacting with you all and just oh so and so played softball with or basketball or whatever it might be and so um thank you for all that you do and for taking the relationships with the children seriously because I think that these kiddos

056look up to you they come to you with things that they might not come to anyone else with and those pinpoints for us and changing a trajectory of a child or changing the trajectory of of where they might go in life or have a mentor in life I think is very important so early on so thank you than so thank you and I'd like to say too um thank you very much for establishing those relationships in a time where sometimes authority figures like police and such maybe aren't given the do that they should have but it's great that you're establishing that right now with kids that young so thank you thank you again um I have two kids at Round right now and Flu from from being there for the dogs program and I can

057say I mean first of all the round family is absolutely amazing and I have I have pulled people aside and said do you guys really get along this well or I mean because I mean it is spectacular how everybody works together uh the administrators the teachers the staff security and um getting to see Mr flu with the kids and I I was there for the second Halloween in a row and uh you know he even dressed up and got some got some Giggles out of kids but just an amazing Testament to how everybody can work together for a common goal and and just um uh produce one of the best educational experiences I think for elementary school kids so thank you to all of you thank you yeah actually I was going to you stole

058my thunder a little bit but um in terms of I can't think of one single person that I've talked to whether it's staff member parent grandparent board member not one that has had anything but you know positive things to say about you know your entire team so really appreciate everything that you guys do every day to keep our kids safe to keep our staff safe and you know everyone else you interact with so thank you very much thank you okay so I have one last thing um Mrs Mitchell common deared this for um Mr fluhart and it's our appreciation guft for not only his service to our country but his service to us us and we all sign the back so oh my gosh it will be easy reading oh my gosh that beautiful thank

059you thank you so much also um just so you know I just finished tabulating the parent uh perception surveys uh JK through fourth grade 97% 340 something families that responded to their survey 97% said they feel safe at school and you're a big reason why that is true so thank you that is amazing you know before I go I had to add this one thing um I brought this just because it kind of sums it up last year one of the teachers got a gift for everybody made these little notebooks customized it personalized it for everybody and mine if you can read it actually says potty police and other job titles I didn't ask for so I thought that kind of summed it up that's why I brought it thank you so much [Applause] folks

060thank you all all right uh next we have Mr Hassler our athletic director to give us a recount of the Fall Sports season so Brian thank you for being here tonight sorry thank you guys I guess I guess it's appropriate for me to follow such a really good team so uh fall Athletics by the Numbers uh we had 388 participants uh 256 of those were 10th through 12th graders uh ninth was 132 uh for Middle School participants uh through three Sports cross country boys cross country girls volleyball uh total Varsity programs were 12 middle school programs three total teams were 27 uh started tabulating this in the last two years of just kind of the numbers of our rostered athletes to kind of show you the demographics as we go across um cheer cross country

061field hockey football numbers girls golf uh this obviously doesn't take into the total enrollment numbers um I just did the percentage just today and it's actually even as the enrollment goes through the years the number of athletes in the fall has stayed the same consistently 22.6% of our students are playing sports in the fall uh Palm boys soccer girl swim Boys Tennis volleyball uh excellence in the classroom uh Heartland scholar athlete Award winners which is a 3.0 GPA or higher uh we had 189 and that's on 10th through 12th grade the freshmen do not have a GPA yet that's 74% that's up 1% from last year's uh fall numbers The klaa Scholar athlete Award winners which is a 3.25 GPA or higher is 171 of those 10th through 12th graders which is 67 also up

0621% uh just this past Wednesday we did our national Signing Day it's the first signing day that they can have uh so far 10 members of the class of 2025 have signed their NL to play athletics at the Collegian level uh the nli is actually going away but we still uh provide a kind of a signing day for them um we are expecting many more as the school year continues we will have a spring Signing Day in the first week of March um we'll go through the students here so max catalus he's going to the University of Massachusetts for lacrosse uh Michael zalinsky is going to Wright State University for baseball Addie cira Sienna Heights University for soccer uh Abigail burner is going to Rochester Christian University for volleyball Grace Cooney Oakland University for volleyball

063Elana pora Grove City College for volleyball Addy Canton is going to St Clair Community College for softball Skyler spizz Madonna University for softball Roman Foria Alma College for baseball and Robert Griffin Northwood University for baseball and we will have a lot more probably in the spring just as the like I said this year they change from an nli to it's more of a Financial commitment so you're not set on those certain dates uh unified soccer this year had a very successful season uh coach Lauren dep pestel assisted by Taylor Wagner uh they played Four regular season games uh schedule including a home game under the oxfield under the lights they went three in one during the regular season uh they had a unified tournament in Brighton this year uh they got to play two games

064there the special education athletes receive a Heartland Varsity letters their Partners receive a special unified patch for their varsity jacket um exciting news for the unified program uh as their basketball season starts uh we're going to January 25th versus Brighton we're going to have a varsity triple header where we'll have girls at 4: uh unified game at 5:45 and then the Varsity Boys at uh 7:30 so I think it's going to be a great opportunity for all of our student athletes to compete and uh enjoy that experience student achievements Student Success for fall of 2024 uh girls swim and dive one swimmer and one relay team qualifi for the MHS a state finals they're actually the only sport uh still competing coming up this weekend first time since 2021 that a girl swimmers have qualified

065uh to compete at the M state finals uh boys soccer had the most wins 10 since uh 2018 they made a great run in the district finals the first time in program history to beat Brighton twice in a season and bring home the Battle of US 23 traveling trophy uh boys tennis the updates to the tennis facility were enjoyed by both players and spectators uh Ben Krauss was first team All County that's the only All County that's been actually uh put out so far so more Sports will be receiving those but I want to get Ben his honor cross country had a great season this year girls team qualified for the state finals for the first time in 13 years uh special acknowledgement to coach Matt gut and his staff for hosting the Kaa Conference

066Championship at Manley Bennett Park the difference for them making the state finals this year was one point uh Zoe Howard at the very end pass in front of a girl to move them up by one point so the last Runner uh was able to to get them to that next level uh Middle School cross country girls cross country team were the KMSL League champions uh they received that trophy for the third year in the row uh shout out to Mr bliznik as this is his last year coaching cross country um he's a phenomenal Mentor for these uh student athletes and has done a great job in his time uh events this year gold out fireworks uh we had band cheer football and palm that met with our honorary captains haa night was another successful night

067which included performances by palm and cheer with our high uh student athletes multiple teacher appreciation nights Spar our teams which I think is a great tribute to those uh teachers that are in our building that are making impact with our student athletes uh State Bank athletes we had 14 athletes recognized for their performance this fall uh stud student leadership we had opportunities uh our Eagles reader assembly over at Village uh the football team reading to the elementary schools and the captain's leadership meeting uh which we just started this fall where we're meeting with all of our captains not just Athletics but in the school and we're going to do that each season to kind of build the culture in the school chasing titles here's a picture of our girls cross country team after the uh

068Regional meet that they finished third and qualified for the states a staff focus on student achievement Student Success here's our boys soccer team holding up the US 23 trophy uh when they beat uh Brighton here uh obviously we have two of our uh teachers our coaches in our building uh Mike Jane and Andrew cunis uh roll the credits fall 2024 uh Frank wasney was the assistant ad this year uh stepped into that role he covers middle schools done a phenomenal job uh helping us to provide a lot more coverage for our student athletes both at the middle school and the high school uh Jennifer do is the new Administrative Assistant uh she's again taken on that role with gusto she's done a phenomenal job she's a former uh parent from the district had two kids

069that have gone through Athletics one that's playing currently at the Collegian level so she understands athletic can really speak to those parents uh Mary rashell I can't ever say enough about her she does a phenomenal job um Melanie call uh website coordinator Cal actually I said that Deb cman concession stand coordinator Rachel Wright this year sponsorships Game Day meals coaches Wade Foster gutteridge Taylor Wagner all coaches that help out at our football games to make them run smooth teachers uh Aaron Bell and Chris Foster the voices at the football games and run the clock uh staff Carrie reei over at the middle school another phenomenal addition to the staff obviously custodial facilities and transportation for all they do and I can't say enough about the admin staff at um the high school and all the

070games that they cover and come support their student athletes Mr Fitzgerald getting out to his he got to every single team this year to show his support for them so across the board uh one thing I didn't that I didn't speak to about here that I wanted to speak to was the gold out event um I think one of the biggest things on that is this year we included and we incorporated pal band cheer and football with our honorary captains getting to meet all of them and I think one of the biggest things the takeaway it's a great opportunity it's a fundraiser for Pediatric cancer but empathy the first thing in the Eagles that we talk about for these student athletes to meet those um their fellow students people in their District that are that

071are going through you know the trials and tribulations that cancer has on families I think is super important for our kids and I I think that's one of the most important things that we've done this fall questions not a question just a comment uh for for being at a lot of these events cross country to soccer to football I've been a ton quite a bit and and you're there and I the parents recognize that and the coaches truly appreciate it so thank you for doing that thank you yeah thank you appreciate it Brian you got a difficult job um you know every parent has as a student athlete that they want the best out of their student athlete they want uh High aspirations for their athletes and how you preach academics first student athletes right

072scholar athletes is really important to the culture of Harland schools it always has been um and and I wanted the board to know when Brian says we meet with all the captains we have an upcoming meeting for the winter sports captains and and other school captains within the building but we also met with all the captains at the at the beginning of the Fall season and we talk about the culture in the district and what our expectations are and how we lead and how we make sure that others know that if they're messing around as captains their job is to say we don't do that here not in Heartland and building a legacy program and having coaches that build those programs um they subscribe to that and we look to you to continue to to

073do the work that you do to support our coaches and our student athletes but also to know that we do it the right way and we build Legacy by doing it the right way so thank you appreciate [Applause] it so and the superintendent report thank you Mr H moving on to item 1e call to the public this is just a reminder that this um speakers are asked to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of others who may be affected by your comments each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes and no participant may speak more than once at your 302 um morning I will give I will hold up this yellow folder just so that you are aware we are working on an upgraded uh little uh

074shot clock here like in basketball um the correct shot um to make sure everyone is aware but for now this is what we have Zachary Barrett just start go right ahead cool good evening uh members of school board parents and community members my name is Zachary Barrett I lived in I have lived here since 2022 clearly we can hear that with my voice originally from Texas I am here to address serious issues racism in our schools and the steps we are taking to confront it in recent years our school has face incidents of racial discrimination the Department of Justice involved leading uh involvement leading to an agreement to our school to address these issues underscores the severity of the problem uh the adoption of the map program is necessary steps towards education and reform yet

075some some in our community resist this change many parents Express frustration not at the acts of racism but at the measures taken to address them uh they Overlook the reality of racism in our schools focusing instead on their discomfort with the solutions this is not just about acknowledging a problem it's about committing to change in September a black female September 2024 a black female was subject to racial slurs and actions by her peers a stark reminder that racism is not a relic of the past but it is here in the future is here in the present excuse me this happened the female was in line at lunch she had her earphones in the kid was standing behind her the other kid got in and all she heard was the n-word three times and then she

076turned around and looked at him and she heard Supreme race or something like that she immediately walked away and went and told the school officials with that being said I have the police report that is redacted and everything that happened but I want to read it I want to read you what the child said after he got to come in a week later there's a lot of blanks so blank and blank are the two kids let's see after discussion with the principal AP Gus was uh blank was allowed to re-watch the videos after watching the video I returned to the conference room where his parents are waiting this is the officer stating what happened blank stated he got in the lunch line blank walks up and Joints a line blank stated the two St started

077talking and then he blank did a whipping gesture as in whipping a slave not a child with a belt but whipping as like this that's how I take it blank stated blank chuckled and said I bet I can be more racist than you uh blank and blank stated the nword about 10 times said he also said the n-word about five times quietly stated that he blank and blank fist bumped and that he and then that was when the female student left the line that is a direct quote from the student himself this disturbing account illustrates how some people feel um I'm not going to be able to finish all this the basis of this is that black student is my child in the back of that room that is my child and I'm the parent

078put yourself in my shoes and put yourself shoes I have to ask you to conclude thank you [Music] yep Jeff Campbell uh good evening congratulations Jeff Scott Cindy Shaw on being elected to the uh School Board uh being elected myself I just want to speak a little bit about that tonight and thank those who voted for me um the support was overwhelming and I'll do my best to make you proud of your vote in years to come I'd also like to address those that not did not vote for me and it's with those individuals in mind uh that I'll serve on the board uh and make an effort to to uh represent their interests as well finally i' like to address Heartland as a whole is that's who we all are regardless of who we

079voted for uh we must come together in order for the district to move forward in the direction we all want it to go and communication is key needs to be done respectfully and in the appropriate Manner and I'd ask that uh if you have questions or input to to provide them to me um and just make contact just reach out i' love to hear from you uh uh is what you have to say uh may have help me with a better understanding I feel very fortunate to be elected to the school board and look forward to serving the district that's it thank you for your time tonight Sher Saras good evening I read my statement as always uh I'm Sher zakaris this is Mary Paulson um both retired staff members of Harland Kirk Taylor who

080now lives in Georgia and a retired Harland teacher contacted me in September and suggested that we organize a first ever Hartland staff retiree reunion the difficult part was trying to contact Heartland retirees we worked hard and we were able to contact many people our reunion was held October 30th with 110 people attending among them were Pete Carelli and his wife steveen Kathy Asam marer who traveled from Missouri Jo and Frank delvero Ron Weston Steve livingway and many other teachers administrators and support staff we had a wonderful dinner catered by Brett and Lisa Hall who are Heartland graduates we decided to accept donations so we would be able to give the dis give a gift to the district that we all love so much we fortunately ended up with a donor who paid all reunion expenses

081and we were therefore able to use 100% of our donations toward our gifts we raised $4,035 we contacted all of the Heartland schools and have already delivered their requests to their food pantries except or creek which will be delivered tomorrow tonight we're presenting $150 to the high school food pantry and $150 to the Legacy High School food pantry we're also presenting $1,000 to the Heartland Optimus club for their adopted family fundraiser after we learned of Gabby Golden's accident we eliminated the planned teacher scholarship so we could give more to Gabby and her family then a few days ago a former Heartland student maybe you some of you know him Carrie Sue sent us $500 for the teacher scholarship Carrie is a doctor in Houston Texas and heard about our reunion through his former teacher and

082friend Kirk Taylor so we again plan to give a scholarship to a Heartland Senior pursuing a teaching career we're also able to give $2,000 to Gabby Golden's family unless you have worked for Heartland Consolidated Schools you may never know how much this District means to us retirees we remember the hard work the ups and downs all that it took to offer our students the latest and greatest Innovations and education some of us have moved far away some of us remain right here in Heartland and continue to support our children and grandchildren in the district of which we are so proud whether near or far we all continue to care about our district take pride in having been a part of its success and hope it will always remain the premier District that so many people

083have worked so hard for please continue to put the welfare of all students at the Forefront of your mind during the hours we had your children they became our children we took their problems home with us every day and contined to try and plan the best way to help them no matter the issue M car can you wrap up you to do this and I hope they know how much they are appreciated sorry I thank you thank [Applause] you Denise oconnell good evening Denise Connell Hartland first off you're all arguing about the policies they're on your website every policy well most of them not all of them um I just wanted to say a few things here um you know a lot has been spoken about democracy lately um America is not a democracy a

084democracy is two wolves and a lamb we are a constitutional republic and I really hope that our children are understanding the difference between democracy and what America is um that said I think it's high time that we allowed all the board members to have their board reports it was taken away for whatever reason it's time that it comes back these are our Representatives the taxpayers the parents want to hear from the the members that are elected and that are representing the school district that we are all supporting please consider that I think it's very important um and I would would really ask could you get better video for the people that can't attend the video quality is atrocious when you're watching it on YouTube atrocious the technology is in the school can you bring it

085into the boardroom please thank you very much and congratulations Jeff congratulations have a wonderful evening [Applause] Janine goleski long walk I'm Janine galeski from Harland Michigan I'd like to congratulate Jeff Scott and Jeff Campbell by their election to this board and I'd like to invite all of you and all of you to the 95 first annual handles Messiah on December 14th this is performed at the historic Heartland Music Hall this will be presented by the Heartland Messiah chorus last year was a sellout I personally invited every member of the board and got respons is from some of you um like you ought to come I'd be happy to even to buy you all ticket uh Kelly Foss will be the director of this spectacular show and Richard HRA will be playing on the historic pipe

086organ tickets are available at the chomain library you don't want to miss this historical event I'd also like to give a shout out to chomain library for donating many like new books to Farms due to the mination of our school elementary libraries uh due to the wonderful stem centers but the libraries were eliminated these books are being well used at farms our wonderful media parah Galina Rogers teaches children how to check out books the only way that children in our district now know how to check out books is either through chomain library or through Farms Intermediate School um it's a huge thank you to cromaine for donating these books it's awesome to see the kids checking out the books and see their smiles so just a shout out have a great [Applause] night all right

087moving on to item item 1 F committee and building reports I did meet with Mr Scott so he will be added to some committees here shortly um but Mr goleski do you want to go ahead and kick us off for committee and building okay thank you um Megan um one thing that I know uh has been brought up or or touched on is the uh the pantry situation and we just had a very generous donation for uh some of the pantries and uh I thank you Hartland retirees um along with that um please do not forget um Legacy in that um they are a a fair good user of the pantry and uh sometimes we don't give them as much attention as maybe some of the other schools also um unfortunately I have not met

088with Carol Hayes yet but I do plan on doing that this month because I want to brag about the great job that she's doing with continuing ed Community Ed I'm sorry and uh some of the great offerings that uh they have so I want to make sure that uh we can brag about that a little bit more and um by all means if you have a chance please take a look at some of their offerings and I think you're going to be pretty impressed with the program that Heartland has thank you thanks Mr goleski Mr Scott I don't want to forget you but you have no committees and no buildings um we know you're present at Round I yeah I'm I'm was very excited that my first night on the board was the night that

089round got to present um because I I I said when they were up here it's a spectacular amazing team uh I'm so fortunate to have kids there and be able to spend some time in the school with the teachers the staff the administrators and and the safety team so um I I will use this time to promote um the dogs program which helps get positive male role models into the elementary schools and it's a fantastic program I mean we just get a sliver of what what Mr flu gets because he's there uh every single day and gets to build relationships but even just coming into the school every few months kids remember you they want to play games go like he said be the play soccer play uh play football um play games in the

090cafeteria play the third graders all have math games that they will fight fight to uh to play with you in the hallway so it's a great experience I I would highly recommend that some of the other elementary schools look at it and obviously any fathers uh or or um grandfathers or or males uh that have students at the school definitely take a look at the program so thank you thank you Mr Scott Mrs Coleman um let's see just a couple things um first of all thank you to everybody in the community that got up to vote um I think it's obviously very important to to make your statement in that way um I look forward to welcoming our two full-term board members or welcoming them back to the board and welcome to Mr Scott I

091appreciate your passion and your enthusiasm as you jumped right in after just getting certified today uh to be able to join the meeting uh let's see I had the pleasure of visiting visiting Creekside twice since our last board meeting um once was just our usual monthly check-in and um a second time on Halloween to act as a costume judge for the teacher costume contest um it's been a minute since I've been in an elementary school on Halloween so Props to all the teachers out there especially Elementary School teachers um it was fun um but it was it was great to see the students enjoying the teachers getting involved with the costumes with the costume contest um the fourth grade teachers I had a Ghostbusters theme and they were using their prep time to go from

092class to class basically disrupting classes but um but having a great time you know busting the ghost ghosts and all that so it was a lot of fun um and uh so thank you to Mrs gun for your hospitality and including me on those fun events too um I also visited Brown and was able to take a sneak peek at tonight's presentation so I was anxious to see how that would all come together Mr flu is a great Sport and obviously a great asset to that team uh let's see oh and I think Mrs hadam already left but I have oh is she there oh there she is um I have um I have a donation that I need need to make to they're collecting plastic caps plastic like bottle or container caps for an

093art installation that they're going to be doing in the courtyard so if you have some get them over to round they need lots of them um and then finally the senior center team of course is hard at work uh lots of successful events earlier this fall more to come uh later this fallen into the holiday season um at our last advisory council meeting there was a discussion around a transportation feet increase that will probably take place in or take effect in January um and that's for the Local transportation that they provide for the center members um there's also a potential fundraiser a local fundraiser that may happen to cover the remaining costs for the installation of the second pool table that's been in place just a couple weeks and um and also how best to

094manage the mailing of the monthly newsletters which is fairly costly and I know that something that um that's been discussed before at a on a bigger level say with community life but everybody likes to have that paper um that paper in their hands to be able to read it so that's something that they're addressing to try to keep costs down for that um so please stop by the activity center um and get the latest uh class and activity schedule they always have a ton of great stuff going on that's all I've got thank you Mrs Coleman Mr Keller all right thank you president gach just a note to Mr Scott and also Mr Campbell out in the audience I did reach out to both both of you so I know we've got some kind of

095building assignments in flux currently right but we will definitely make sure you guys both get added to the uh to the list and I'm sure staff looks forward to working with both of you um for the middle school I did have an opportunity to meet with Mr Howton this past week couple of congratulations to our students of the month uh for from Team 8B we had Gwen Bloss and from team 7B it was Finn and I hope I don't pronounce this too poorly but it's man lagati or man legat so great job to both of those students uh we had a a nice visit on Veterans Day from Mr Brittain who is actually a parent of one of the students in the school who actually served as a US Marine he came and spoke to

096a lot of the students during uh during the school day and we want to thank him for his appearance and thank you for his service um quiz Bowl we did have um their first comp competition was on November 11th they won five of the six matches that they participated in so great performance by that team uh with respect to the choir teams and the band team we had uh Mrs Reed and Mrs Li they had some great performances that they had put on uh this past month and the seventh and eighth grade basketball teams both kicked off their Seasons last uh week against Nova I was actually able to see those live and also uh saw the uh the Palm team put on a great performance uh last but not least want to just give

097a shout out to the 25 fantastic students who had a reaching higher uh graduation on the 14th that concludes my report thank you Mr Keller Mr Costa yeah I didn't have any committees uh I did get a chance to talk with Mr Fitzgerald again and uh a couple things he thought were going really well again he appreciates his staff kind of going above and beyond to make those connections with his kids he really he really sees that and he appreciates that um he also mentioned the link program um is teaming up with the Freshman to prepare for those exams because before you know it it's going to be here and they're doing a little cocoa and cram so apparently they prepare for their exams that way so I think that was great um and then

098one final thing on the high school note I know it was already mentioned but congratulations to our girls cross country team for making it to States it's an incredible accomplishment um and things are looking bright for the girls cross country team that's it thank you Mr Costa Mrs blondal um so I uh didn't attend the curriculum meeting I was going to try to but I couldn't um I'm not on the committee but I had submitted um a a Prager University Prager kids um University information to Mr minsker and I'm hoping that um we can review that and and implement it for um a a resource for um the teachers so I'm looking forward to hearing back from you if you've done anything with that um also I reached out to Dy Mrs hadam and and

099last board meeting I had mentioned that you know I I feel that there are a lot of things that um in society right now that when I was a kid we had Mothers Against drug driving we had say no to drugs we had you know other other things floating around the high school that you know had it in the front of our mind to help us fight these things and I don't see that we really have that yet so um I reached out to Mrs hadam who got me in contact with a casa who's now getting me in contact with somebody in the Flint area there's really not uh uh anything major like that anymore I don't know what happened to Mothers Against strength driving or what happened you know to the say no pardon

100the Dare like yeah the Dare like things like that um so I'm still looking into that um but there is nothing you know I would like to see some posters I would like to see you know bringing the kids together to understand the things to look out for um especially for human trafficking that would be more for the parents I think that you know there's a lot of um a lot of things going on in our society right now and human trafficking is one of them that I feel like we need to educate families on right Online safety things like that and and then help the kids age appropriate um help the kids understand that any every everybody's at risk I mean if we all recall the the hotel right over here was running a

101prostitution ring I don't know if you guys saw that a couple months back you know and there's things that in this in this District that we really need to address so I'm really trying to to figure that out I only have you know another month and a half left but you know hopefully I can get something started that you know you guys can continue because that really is my goal um and um let me see what else um you know I I I want to address one of the speakers real quick you know he came up here and and his daughter had um suffered some um you know racial slurs and and I'm really sorry for that um we don't agree with that in this District you know it is something that you know we

102we take very seriously so hopefully he you know and I'm sure that the administration is is handling his um his complaints and hopefully you guys are in contact with him um and that's it thank you two things to consider um for your previous notion I wonder if um leesa could help us with a larger parental discussion you know they do a lot of those larger and then you might want to consider an assembly for the other one for the student driven might be able to consider what an assembly like yeah I'll connect with you offline I know what you're talking about yeah but it's just like where did all those resources go you know what I mean they're not easily attained so okay thank you I'll get with you on that all right um village

103I'm there multiple days a week um one thing that Mr Hassler had uh highlighted is the village eag Eagles reader assembly um which is so so highly appreciated at Village and engages the kids on a whole another level I think it gives them a level of um you know they look up to these kids they look up to kids that are older than them they look up and and are looking for that connection and so to see them as positive role models is really important and I think is really important for the younger kids um and then to see them reading on top of it they think reading's cool right so um it certainly engages them in a different level um I do want to make everyone aware that December 5th is the Village um

104holiday craft show the majority of the tables at Village are actually um student driven crafts and so the students make their own crafts and sell them at this holiday craft show um and then sub quently have um you know they uh some of them will tell you what they're raising money for um and others are just doing it as a as a side hobby so please come it's open to the public um and um it'll be a lot of fun December 5th from 5: to 7:00 in the village gym and that ends my report I'm going to move on to item two 2 a high school cooling tower SL exterior door Replacements syncing funds I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and the director of operations approves the high

105school cooling tower exterior doors replacement as presented support motion by Mrs Coleman supported by Mr Costa any discussion I just want to thank Mr Marino for answering the questions uh I know I had quite a few of them so again appreciate your time and thanks for thanks for all your du any further discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Keller yes Mr Costa yes Mrs blondal yes and I'm a yes that motion passes item 2B nominations for secretary I move to nominate Glenn goleski for secretary a second any further nominations I guess I should ask do you accept that nomination before we proceed yes all right nominations for secretary for Glenn goleski uh a nominated a nomination made by Mr Keller Keller supported by Mrs blondal on a roll

106call vote Mr galeski yes Mr Scott yes Mrs Coleman no Mr Keller yes Mr Costa no Mrs bondil yes and I am a no that motion passes may I just ask I didn't hear any other nominations was there any particular reason to V personally haven't had a conversation with Glenn about his desire to be secretary and I would have loved to have one about anyone's desire to be secretary moving on I it 3B sorry 3 a transportation discussion item so I I've prepared a little something here because obviously this is a a big issue and uh as I as I mentioned being the the newly elected person here and being out talking to lots of parents it's something that has come up at almost every door you knock on or every parent you talk to

107and this issue affects not only the the daily lives of our students but it also affects the trust and confidence that families put in this district and the ongoing issues with the transportation department have led to unacceptable and frequent bus route disruptions as most parents know as a newly elected board member I see it as one of my primary responsibilities to ensure that every student in this district has access to a safe and reliable education and that includes getting to them to and from school on time it's not lost on me and I actually see it as a sign that my first day on the job here today is also the first day that my own children are affected uh this month with route disruptions so I can assure every parent in the room that

108I empathize with you unfortunately for too long our transportation system has failed to meet basic expectations parents have been forced to adjust their schedules students arrive late or misclass and teachers and building staff have been left scrambling to accommodate these disruptions these issues are not just inconveniences they're barriers to learning in Heartland our students educational experience Begins the moment they arrive at the bus stop not when they arrive at school and when their experience is disrupted it impacts their ability to thrive in the classroom for parents it adds an undue burden of uncertainty especially those with tight work schedules or children at multiple schools the situation has become untenable in the community demands immediate attention and corrective action it is clear that the shortcomings in this department are not simply about operational failures it reflects

109a deeper issue of oversight accountability communication transparency and planning we must ask ourselves as a board why are we repeatedly facing these issues why is there a lack of communication why has the district failed to adapt its planning to meet market conditions and perhaps most critically why has there been no clear solution to this consistent systemic problem over the past several years I have been elected not just to find problems as they exist but to offer Solutions so first and foremost I believe the district must conduct a thorough audit of the transportation department to identify areas where we are falling short we need to understand where the breakdowns are happening including why we cannot attract and retrain ret attract and retain bus drivers like our surrounding districts do additionally I believe we need a comprehensive

110strategy that includes clear contingency plans for when disruptions do occur a reliable backup plan for bus routes a better system for notifying parents in advance of delays and I would say more transparency and how issues are being addressed would go a long way towards restoring confidence in this system but perhaps most importantly we need to prioritize accountability it's not enough to Simply point out the problem we must take the action necessary to resolve it Ure and ensure it does not continue tonight I ask the administration to take a hard look at the structure of the transportation department and consider what changes or additional resources may be necessary to address what has really become a crisis in this community finally we must engage with the community parents teachers and staff need to be partners in the

111process as we look to solve this issue we need to hear their concerns their suggestions their feedback and work collaboratively towards lasting Solutions communication needs to be transparent timely and responsive so as a newly elected Schoolboard member I am committed to working with everyone at this table in our community teacher staff to bring meaningful change our students deserve better than this our community deserves better than this and we need to ensure that the transport disruptions that have plagued this community for over 3 years now or maybe longer are addressed once and for all and I'm glad that everyone at this table has agreed to discuss this tonight I think there's a couple of Parts here Mr Scott that I'm hearing you on um the first is an update of where we are today and perhaps

112Mr Marino can give that update and some of the things that are that are occurring as we speak or this week or so on and so forth the second thing I think is um what I'm hearing you say and I correct me if I'm understanding you correctly is uh a is creating essentially a small group that that develops the strategy alongside parents or whoever that looks like to implement a strategy um I'm not sure that the strategy is going to De be developed here today at this um particularly if we're going to extend a suggestion box or something similar for parents teachers students those types of things yeah I mean we've heard the updates um from administrators I mean Mr Marino or or Mr Hughes is welcome to to chime in but I don't think

113that's really the goal of what I'm looking for we've heard the updates for years and yet you still walk out the front door and no Bus shows up so I think we're beyond the point of listening to updates or reading updates Ates I think this body needs to take some action um I think we need to demand that the administration put together a comprehensive plan that we can review and approve and put benchmarks on and hold them accountable to so that when our students walk out the front door a bus arrives to pick them up Mr Scott I I appreciate you coming here prepared obviously with your your report on the the transportation ISS isue obviously it's it's not it's not pleasant for anybody uh I just struggle with how like I mean again we

114can we can talk about the transportation issue I didn't know it was going to be on the on the the agenda here till this evening so I I don't come with all of the facts I do just I do look back to what we and the public have been told about how the fact of the matter is you can't retain bus drivers it's not just a Heartland issue it's it's a it's a Livingston County issue it's quite frankly it's an issue everywhere um and I know that Mr Hughes was and again I don't want to speak for him or Mr Marino but I know they they did try to get creative with some other routes prior to this year either making them slightly longer but in a sense making it so there would be a

115need for Less drivers um I thought they attempted to try to do that clearly again when we're in this type of situation where we just can't find the drivers I don't know I don't know what more to do I don't know more incentives to more money insurance I'm open to discussion I just don't know like right now like what we as a board collectively can do I mean obviously we want to keep our bus drivers and we want more um I I don't know the answer quite frankly I think that's what I'm looking for is let's put together maybe a list of questions for Mr Hughes that he can go back and and um and investigate work on his strategy and then come back to this board maybe in December with a plan you know

116you mentioned retention how does our retention compare to our neighboring districts do we know that answer which neighboring districts please identify well for the county we belong to uh the Consortium so our wages and benefits and every piece of our package is the exact same package retention well you you asked what is it that we offer and no I said how is our retention okay so I I'd like to know how how our retention is it compares um I don't think that other districts have the same issues we do um from a technology perspective we are way behind other districts in just having the ability to notify parents I know a lot of people at table don't have little kids that ride the bus I have three kids that get on the bus um so

117I know how the parents of this community feel and it it there has to be communication Howell has great communication with their with their parents real-time notification uh we don't have that my my student was missing for 3 hours once and I didn't get a phone call so you can't tell me that we're doing everything we can so if if we want to I think we need to get together and figure out how we can get these questions answered how we can find a solution hearing updates every month is has got us back to where we in October of 2021 so Mr oh go ahead oh I just had a couple questions clarifying questions so are the bus drivers Union they belong to a Consortium so they belong to the linston county Consortium okay rules

118that apply to all the drivers within the Consortium oh okay um and what are their hours like what what hours do they work not clear on that there's split well once he tells me if they are split so I know in some of the other districts they take those same bus drivers and they distribute them through the school district and they can continue to work you have a couple do we do that couple a couple just a couple is that is it offered to everybody it's offered to everyone as long as they're willing to pick up those shifts um we have a few individuals that have uh taken advantage of that we have one that works security at the high school um we have a few that have applied in food service for example to

119um work those hours sometimes they work with their schedule sometimes they don't um so when your question in terms of hours uh a bus driver job is a very specialized job it truly is it's a split shift um uh drivers can select between a 4-Hour package or it goes all the way up to probably about a 6.3 hour package here in Heartland we have a lot of incentives for bus drivers that other County Schools do not have we offer a 4-Hour minimum package that other County Schools do not offer so we do have the ability to make some except to the rule working with the RTC um to make sure our drivers are taken care of so is the is the 4 hours is that like a morning shift 4 hours so that's a 2our

120morning 2 hour afternoon so they come in for 2 hours then they go somewhere for eight or seven wherever they want they may go grocery shopping they may run their errands they may how long is that it depends on what they pick so usually those 2-hour package or say a Farm's run um so they will just take a Farms run so oh so they don't do other schools they only may not no and some some drivers we have roughly 36 positions we have 27 28 drivers right now um it works for their schedule we have certain individuals that are retirees um that will not take more than a 4-Hour package and we better not offer that to them because they want they like their time in between to go do their things some of them

121go swimming at the high school pool that type of thing so they'll come in they they take two hours to deliver to the kids to whichever District they're in yep to Farms then they park the bus they get in their car they leave and then they're to be back at this whatever time in the afternoon for that second route so how long are the routes are they an hour route two hour routes exactly what that is yep so they have roughly 15 minutes to pre-trip pre-trip their bus and then they'll go out to Farms they'll do do the pickup take all the kids home roughly an hour don't quote me exactly but an hour and 20 minutes hour and 10 minutes depending on the route so do you have like is there like what's the

122biggest complaint is it the hours that they can't get in I mean do we know you don't have to tell me now I'm just asking like we know this we survey our drivers every year you know last year we survey our drivers and we met with our drivers working with the RTC and actually our meeting at the beginning of the year the drivers were super happy that we met all all the things that they really wanted there's not a one-size fits-all in this day and age 10 15 years ago it was a completely different labor pool when it comes to that a lot of um moms dads um uh kids in the district that type of thing we didn't really have a lot of retirees like we have today so if they work their 4

123hour if somebody chooses the 4 hour shift what does that look like for pay like what is their pay uh it really depends on what level they are so we start at I believe 2037 and it goes all the way up to 22 $23 an hour it depends on where they're at in that um package okay I can't remember off the top of my head so it's really not meant for some somebody to to have that as a full-time job or to be a job it's really is mostly just people that want we have some people that yes this is their full-time job okay um we do um we have some people that have been with us since uh oh gosh 2002 2003 we have some people that have taken this on because it's a

124good fit and and they have a spouse at home or another individual at home that just fits in their schedule they like the hours they like um the schedule that they can be home uh on holidays and on no school days type thing because they do have kids in the district M um so again it's not a one-size fits all that's why we do look at our drivers we look at the market um we look at other districts around us because ultimately we're buying for the same candidate uh we look at market conditions throughout Michigan and look at what that happy medium is looking like um to attract and retain drivers um as to your question about you know where we compare to retaining drivers that's a very hard question because um we're a differ

125Siz District than a pikney or a howl or a Brighton uh for example one of the things that uh has come up is we actually lost three drivers in the last year because they have taken dispatcher roles within our department we've had retirees that have um moved on Linda for example who's been here for 30 years finally retired Chris who finally retired um so we pulled from that driver pool so kind of a double-edged sword right we want to promote within but then we lose a driver on the back end of that um that type of situation let me let me say too is um I did talk to Mr Scott the other day about this issue and he recommended that I talk to Mr Hubert about um what our retiring or leaving drivers are

126saying so Mr Hubert shared with me a report of the last four drivers who left us one retired one left because they uh they moved up north and so he said he was reading it to me he was reading the report from this organization that Mr Scott asked me to ask him about he said wow this is different than the other reports you can really tell you guys have been working on the culture in your bus transportation department so I was pleased to see that when Mr Scott had asked me to contact Mr Hubert and and look at what this information is saying so uh that's a good thing because we have been working besides salary and benefits is how do we build a culture within our transportation department Department to ensure that our drivers

127love coming to work every day because the only way we're going to retain them is that they really love the work they're doing and one of the things that did help us you know we were a little nervous about it but the CBS report when Matt and one of our drivers got on and talked about how this is the best job I ever had and I've been doing it for a month and uh so we I think as I sent a report to you guys today that Matt had put together that we've got quite a few people lined up right now that are interested but again we got to get people through the door and one of the things that really keeps things from moving forward when we get people interested in being drivers unfortunately

128is their substance use because they cannot use recreational and be able to drive and that takes that whole a large number of people right out of the pool and that hurts us yeah we have to be somewhat selective we are transporting students and my student included um obviously your students also but we have to be a little selective and who we pick are they able to drive do they have a good driving record are they good working with students I mean truly this is a bus driving down the road at 55 miles an hour um with 60 students on board you know that type of thing I mean most of you have driven in your car with your one student behind you um and we have some wonderful wonderful drivers we do and we have

129some wonderful people coming in I was actually dispatching after that CBS news story and I'm getting phone calls my phone the phone's blowing up as I'm trying to dispatch which is awesome and people um wanting to return back and even ex-employees you know one one saw the CBS News article and said hey I didn't know you guys were still having issues I want to come back I moved back from Florida I want to start again he's already C uh CDL credential which is awesome doesn't require a ton of training we can get them in the bus like probably next week which is wonderful so what is the CDL oh I'm sorry I keep I'm dominating I don't no how long does that training take like the CDL training the way I look at it it's

130very user centered if they're a very proactive individual it could take about six weeks um here's the reason for that it's not our issue it's not a Heartland issue it's a federal government issue um I sit on the legislative committee for the Michigan school Pupil Transportation it's something we're having a conversation about to see how we can start Expediting this process because again this is a national problem we're trying to get bus drivers nationally can the federal government help work on that with us type situation a quick question the uh the kind of program that you U outlined Mrs blondel in terms of working and and hours and such is that in alignment with the rest of the districts in Livingston County or on the RTC so we are on the same pay scale we

131are on the same benefit package we are on the same um days off all that jazz we put it together we work together every year we meet with the business officials we meet with the superintendent uh the transportation supervisor meet to go okay what is the what are we seeing in the industry and what can we do to improve that and so we work together with rgc and leesa to try to make that uh collaborative okay yep so how many other districts in Livingston County are pausing bus routes on the scale that we are here in Heartland so at this moment I don't know that answer that question I will tell you in years past Howell was doing it quite fre frequently because I live in Howell and so I was seeing that from Howell

132very often so can we add that to the list Mr use for next meeting and then uh Mr Marino as far as the CDL goes what is the cost and who bears that cost right now so we pay for that so uh we are actually so the sign on bonus we have the highest in the county we just started out a few years ago the $2,000 sign on bonus some of that money comes out of basically that and then um they get the rest of the money so it's basically don't quote me exactly but maybe 3 400 bucks for the CDL yep so they're getting a bonus of6 00 plus the CDL cost so and then your other question about technology um something that we embarked upon gosh January of last year is upgrading our

133routing software um we are actually working diligently to get that uh underway because um we heard from the community hey you know be responsive with uh roll out and so we are upgrading our routing software currently I know that was going to be Mr hughes's roll out uh probably in December but I'm going to say that now just to clear the but um it's going to allow us to send mass notification right out of the software so if there is one person dispatching at a time it can be pushed out very quickly to notify parents an active tracking system so it's not a tracking system uh yet that is the next phase of something that we're going to look at um some of the drivers have expressed GPS and tracking and and that type of

134thing um this software will allow for that um if we Cho choose to move to that system um it's something that we're actually going to beta test in a couple weeks maybe I was actually on the phone with them talking about what that would look like uh for turn BYT directions for like a substitute and and that was something that came up in conversation also if we're going to ATT trct substitutes how do we make them feel comfortable driving a bus one of those things can we just um and perhaps this is a paranoid Megan but um I would just like to make sure that there's security um guardrails that are very tight around something like that I don't need someone who doesn't know my kid tracking my kid 100% like outside of the school

135and so if that's something that can be but what it is is with the software it is actually linked to you as a parent within the software so no other parent can actually see what's going on with your student so and just to remind the board it was a year and a half ago I believe that we had to make a decision based on the funding um radio upgrades or GPS system $80,000 I think it was at the time for the GPS system versus is Radio upgrades we're having trouble getting to the outreaches of our district so we've upgraded our radio system which was quite a price tag as well to do that work yep we can't get good transmission up to like the lake Shannon area yep so so in in the conversation with

136maybe it was Mr hubber or if we have sorry data inhouse but in the update today I looked like you know the other districts are having issues for example Brighton has one short driver Pinkney one Fenton one excuse me how five but it it seems to be more prominent here in har so is there something different that we I guess I think maybe that's kind of Mr Scott's and that's something question is right what can we look at that's definitely making the situation worse here in Heartland versus some of the other surrounding districts who have it but to a smaller degree correct I mean in years past we have struggled since Co honestly uh before Co we were pretty much fully staffed I had probably 10 Subs um you know which was wonderful we could

137FL float that around we were in good shape and the other districts were not and so it seems to be a moving pendulum right now that we have to get under control yep so Mr Marino would you um volunteer to meet with Mr Scott and perhaps I don't know Mr Keller if you'd like to be a part of that well I was going to ask would this fall under building and site committee so I and I guess I don't know who's in that committee yeah we could I mean that's not that I won't help I'm just proposing since we have a committee structure maybe we start start there why don't Matt and I schedule a building and sight committee meeting will you just add Mr Scott to that and so we'll look at who's on

138there and then we can't have four so no I we're going to um I'll ask one of the members who might be circling off in January to maybe consider um allowing uh looks like Miss Shaw was so temporarily you should be okay okay I don't have it in front of me all right sounds good thank you mat are we good yep I see Sue back there too she stayed while the discussion was going on Sue is our director of Transportation uh Sue is working with Matt and I as well on how do we ensure that our drivers feel comfortable working for us um just so you guys know and I think I shared this with Mr Scott last week at ad staff uh we went back to um building culture 101 in our school district

139and what that looks like in every dep Department across the district so again sometimes we forget to revisit that culture building what does it look like how do we respond how do we treat people and so we again coming back to the basic because a a a lack of drivers we have a lack of filling our um maintenance crew we just finally filled our maintenance crew and we've been down to for about a year and a half uh trying to find people to fill our food uh service lines you know you're coming in for three hours a day I mean those aren't easy and yet that's a really big job to feed all those kids especially when we're feeding basically 100% of them for you lunch and breakfast every day so there's there's a lot

140going on and so we know that culture is a big part of it so just so the board knows we are working on that thank thank you yeah I would I I would just like to see as a you know as a board member and as a parent I would like to see some measurable metrics that we can start tracking and working towards um because being down nine drivers when Mr Keller just read uh what some of the other districts it just seems way out of proportion and uh we need to make sure we're moving towards a goal and making progress and it can't just be more ads for drivers as I stated in my opening remarks I think we need to do an audit of the entire transportation department not just not just sit

141and brainstorm how do we attract more drivers uh we need to figure out where the problems lie are there efficiencies we missing etc etc so I hope it can be more than just brainstorming on job postings that there's more to this and the community is beyond their limit on uh on on patience when it comes to this I I did a quick search this morning and we started I think pausing routes in October of 21 and and and maybe before then but that was the first time that it was put on Facebook um that I could see and so three years over three years and we're still down nine drivers and in those three years I've heard several times we almost got it we almost got it we almost got it and obviously we don't

142almost got it so we got to get there thank you Mr Scott moving on to item 3B 20 excuse me oh sorry I thought there was something wrong my order because there very well could be 3B 2526 High School curriculum guide for discussion James do you want to come up um so the board can ask any questions that they have every year board just so you know every year we bring it to you now so that we can adopt it in December because January kids come back and they already start meeting with their counselors sign up for classes so we can schedule the high school sure questions for James he's here to answer anything um yes I have just a couple of questions um and I hope my colleagues can give me just a moment

143um honor cords yes does that cover both the high school and legacy and our hva that might not be a question to you Mr fitra there do you know yes does it cover the whole Continuum yes oh perfect yep and then I did notice that we did um increase our art fees do we have a means for those kiddos or students that might not be able to pay those art fees to apply for some type of scholarship or get those covered yeah we can help them out we've done so in the past okay um and then I noted just some language arts updates and just making sure that we have a means to um follow the newly designed policy around some of those um books and I know that the policy in which they the

144the parents essentially read what options their child has can self- select their child can self- select or the parent selects for them so that would apply across the board correct to any of these changes yes in language arts in ela yes all of our ELA teachers um share those with parents and send those out awesome it would be the same the same policy for that that one too um my last thing is I just wanted to say Kudos because I was impressed that for PE we're actually teaching CPR and some of the AED work which is really important in the community because I think not enough people know that and so I really liked that quick question Mr F Fitzgerald um there's one thing in here language arts update popular literature course description M um

145along with that like is there a list of recommended reading materials and where does that come in what kind of books are going to be discussed in popular literature MH some some of it is student Choice um and the ones that that aren't that are selected those will be sent out for families uh Mrs Hamilton currently teaches that and um she could share those with us okay those books are run through my office uh with our instructional coach for secondary and myself to make sure that they all check out okay so you could provide me with a list of some of those books and such right yep okay great yeah most of the changes you see here are just um updates to the course description course name course prerequisites um no major changes this year

146so again sorry to keep harping on this but I I think several of us have kind of looked at that the the the the language art and that said the books were chosen by the student I just wanted to clarify how the parents are sort of fed into that Lube in terms of what books the children may choose can you expand on yeah it's same as what we do in the other in English 9 10 11 where we have um the CH children pick the books but the letter has to go home to the parents and the parents have to sign off on that book okay for the student to get the book got it with a description of the book and and all of that so okay thank you and then um president gach

147touched on the art fee I guess I had a slightly different question on that and just trying to understand as a district if we if we didn't charge the students what maybe you can't answer Rachel but do we know what that would cost the district to uh include that fee so the kids didn't have to pay I guess I have no I don't have no idea how many kids take the class yeah okay but the thing to remember is that the fees pay for the reason we charge it is because they take that home they make all those things and they keep them so that's the reason why they're charged yeah again just trying to understand if it if it was something the district could potentially pay for how much is it as opposed to

148charging famili so maybe as a followup item the other question I had a Ceramics teacher has 165 kids each semester multiply that times the fee that's what it would cost for that one art teacher if we were looking at the second art teacher we'd look at how many jewelry classes or so forth where kids are taking actually home their projects those consumables and and so that's the difference there but we could we could probably do the quick math just based on those courses yeah I mean for the record I'm not advocating that the teachers pay that in case anyone's wondering but again just looking at it just so we have awareness of what it cover the pieces that go home with the understood okay um business technology I just wondered I didn't see in the

149description but it does it talk about kind of like best P practices with virtual meetings I know we're kind of we touch them on Microsoft site know all the different Office Products but kind of as we continue to evolve in the business World a lot of things are conducted virtually Zoom calls things like that I don't know if if that course kind of covers or touches on anything like that or if we could consider getting our kids ready for that I think it would yeah the Google meet and all those different uh virtual things that they do I think would be covered in in that that's already covered I would think it would I could double check and make sure that would but all those all those Google um platforms that that's going to be

150part of that to teach students I would assume that would be part of it yeah it was my assumption as well but I I didn't see it listed so I was just curious to know if it's something that we did Cover so it it should I think it should under the Computer Applications piece inside of things there yeah and then I guess lastly although she left I was going to ask if if it's something Michelle wanted to include for her the Dei optin if it would makes sense to consider something like that in if it goes in the curriculum manual or if if the policy is an additional item to cover I know we talked about I I don't know what that is or what she's talking about yeah M she's not here so we'll

151table that for now okay I would say I would say if that comes to fruition then we would look at enrollment packets uh that everybody has to fill out every year for their child and there'd be something in the enrollment packet they'd have to mark that would probably be the easiest way to do it okay any further questions for Mr fitr thank you thank you very much I want to thank James for putting it together he did it in a really easy to understand way so thank you James go home James all right now we are on to item 3C Mr color I don't know how you want to go about discussing these we don't have I don't have them in front of me so if you want to start yeah I me I think

152maybe if it's if board doesn't object I can just kind of give a high level overview and then you can if you want to ask questions happy to ask them I don't know if we want to put them on the projector I I know I send them to Mr Hughes but I can send them to Renee if I'll have to post them tomorrow for sure okay um I mean my questions will likely come after I've had a chance to look y okay so so I'll start with a kind of a higher level overview and we can expand expand from there so uh the first two uh were evolving special meetings and that's policy 01642 and then there was a second policy that existed that I found that was also called special meetings number 1653 uh

153one of the things I wanted to do was kind of merge those two policies into one so you'll see that uh in the markup that I shared with you and then also previous board practice had in the past included the ability for the board to call a special meeting if two members asked for it and it would had previously or more recently changed to all four members we we tried to call a a special meeting but sort of thinking through how that would occur I don't know that it's really appropriate to how can we have sort of four members call for a special meeting if you are not in a meeting to have a quorum to call a special meeting so I think that there's some kind of concerns that we have a quorum you

154know so we don't violate the me open meetings act essentially in order to to request a special meeting I don't think in the past couple years years I've heard too many requests for special meetings so I don't know how often this would uh come into play but I think you know want to make it an opportunity for all voices to get heard in the event that there is a request for a special meeting uh next policy is 01423 which is entitled term and what I'm proposing is that we would add term limits to to our school board terms currently there is no term limit and I think just as a general um rule of thumb for members of the public to be able to hold you know the members of the uh of the public

155or excuse me the the governing bodies to term limits so I'm proposing that we include statement that would only allow us to serve two terms I didn't change it but one consideration would also be to change the length of our term from 6 to 4 in talking with some members of the community about potentially running first school board there's been a lot of concern expressed that six years is just too long of a period of time to run and I think you know just again looking at other examples of you know government officials six-year terms is not usual I mean president's four we've got Commissioners that previously were two now they're four so again I think there's a lot of precedents for that but I think most importantly for me was to limit it to

156to two terms for that one um Thinking Out Loud because my first question is going to be how do we align with a state statute like how do we make that change through the state and so we're going to have to understand that so there is uh I talked to the elections Department prior to you know marking this up and and really it's up to the board to decide side so that's where your individual bylaws come into play so you can set either four or six year it's it's I think called out in that specific policy what statutes apply so I I mean again feel free to check with with thrun if we need to but from my independent research with the elections Bureau we we don't we can determine how how long the uh

157the terms can be did they say we could limit people from running or did they just say we set the terms like the years or did they cuz I just I struggle with Community wants I don't know someone to be around and they vote like how do we I don't I don't know because like I said I'm just now I'm pulling up your email to try to read these but they're all individual so I just I mean did the elections officials say we can set the amount of times a candidate can run so the statute doesn't say that you can or cannot so I think again it comes back to the individual bylaws they don't dictate everything but again it's it's just something I'm asking the board to consider I think we'll just have to

158look at the state statute just to while I respect the elections office I just want to make sure there's no State something that we have to file to you know what I mean I just want to make sure that that process is complete before we think it's just a policy change um but I'm happy to well and it's I'm sorry um it's also worth considering I think um there was something in here including time served from appointment so I I'm I mean logistically I I don't know how the how that would be coordinated with the elections office to say well she was you know she was appointed and held the position for two months 3 weeks in and one day so we need to take that away from you know it's like so now do

159you have to reset the term end date so that it's some wonky date on you know August 3rd because they've served time before but they can't serve more than so many years and whatever I think there's a whole lot to unpack with that yeah they they currently are tracking that today right so they were whereare based on actually Mr Scott is you know that's why he's here right because they they keep track of right but that's whether somebody's resigned and been appointed so that's kind of already an item that they track right right but but what I'm saying is is The Next Step Beyond that because say I was appointed I was appointed in like June of 2018 or something so if I were to run again and get another 6 years let's say that

160puts me over this 12year cap so now my term ends what April 13th of 2000 whatever so it's like how do you how the county manag that so in that situation you know you would not be able to run again I think is how that would so I would interpred to meet the 12 years then correct yeah that's crap okay I don't like I said I again this this the first time had to look over this today I don't I I don't again I don't know but it sounds to me like I don't think that we even if we set a policy can do that I mean like who's to stop someone from wanting to run again like if I go and get the enough signatures or pay the fee I can get my name

161on the ballot I mean I get that we can set the terms like we can set four and six-year terms but we can't set how many times a person wants to run I mean thinking back good old Charlie arry and I miss you Charlie um he seemed like he was a fixture here forever I I don't to be honest I don't know how long he was here but he seemed like he was here forever and I if the community wanted to continue to vote him on who are we to say that he can't run I don't know just again I mean we've got presidents that can't run right so I think we can manage it at the school board level I guess I was going to say term limits are fair Fairly common in almost

162all elected positions from the presid president out I see senators and and there forever yeah again so that's the kind of the idea behind that particular change so take any other questions or feedback if if you want to share that with me before uh next month before we move on can we go back to special meetings you said that was recently amended to go from 2 to 4 correct I believe it was January or February of 23 when we did that did we get a legal opinion as to if that violated the open meetings act to have four people call a special meet could can you call a special meeting outside of a a regularly scheduled meeting I think you wouldn't be able to call a special meeting altogether outside of a regular it would

163have to be an individual but on the flip side of that why they say the president can we're we also need to be cognizant on the flip side of whatever policy changes that we make that you still need a quum so I'll have to read the policy edits that he's I don't have them in front of me but I think we'll have to put verbiage in there around how we reasonably accommodate a schedule or something um to still allow for a quorum meaning if the special meeting was approved correct not outside the special meeting but to answer your point blatantly I don't know if there was a legal way in however it's not like all four of them could be sitting in the community ed office and say hey let's all decide to have a

164special meeting no that could happen right so that would be the reason to make it less than four so that a meeting could be called without violating the OM right or the president could call it and wouldn't violate Oma which is the way it's written any other questions all right jumping on to oh need that again 561 5 I think it was 5611 it's called due process rights okay all right so in this particular policy and the reason I want chose to work on it is you know there's been some concern expressed in the community um in regards to the recent um extension and monitoring agreement that the district signed and just trying to understand notification to parents and kind of what options that the parents may have if they don't agree with you know

165some decision that the an individual or the district May have made so the the intent behind this policy is to try to give give a parent an opportunity to be made aware before this would be reported or start you know we would start tracking it so that way they have a they're made aware and B that if they don't agree with it there's a process by which they can appeal that is this a new policy or is this something that we already have so 5611 in itself was not new but in in the language yeah I added a section c um it's called students subject to tracking and reporting to third party or governmental agencies and I you know I can read it if if you'd like or if you want to no I've got

166like I said I I did not get an opportunity to look at it prior to this since it was sent out today so I'm just looking at it right now so I've got it on my phone here okay so I don't know if anybody has any questions about specifically that but that's the kind of the spirit of the the language there so I think hopefully over the next four weeks everyone can continue to review it and is all of it new beneath that that item so everything after like everything you added is yeah C is all new but then the last I think three paragraphs were existing so I tried to highlight anything that was new in yellow and if it was you know striketh through that means POS eliminating it it's just showing up

167okay well on your yeah I guess on your phone it's not able to be the highlights are missing on your phone to kind of do right here on the on the Fly I think it probably just scratches the surfaces the surface as far as what we need for policy in combination with this recent doj agreement and I've said that multiple times from that Podium uh this board has uh made two agreements with the Department of Justice and passed I don't think any policy internally for how we handle those situations which I think is quite dangerous I think we need to have policies that are followed uh that uh that can coincide with the agreements that we've made so I would definitely support this type of thing and again there's probably several more that could be

168made to go along with the uh the lengthy agreement m Mr Scott I guess my ask of you on 5611 is to review it because I think if you're looking to add to it we should take a look at the policy in totality versus you know what I mean yeah and I'm not saying to this policy particularly but I'm saying there may be additional policies so I will look at that for sure all right moving on to the next one is 75402 since titled web accessibility content apps and services so if you go to the I guess it's the section F of the existing policy um there's some verbiage that I added to kind of reaffirm that on some of the social media sites there would be opportunity for the community to express their opinions

169freely obviously there would still be some guard rails around you know things that you still can't say or shouldn't say so there would we would still include that but you know the airing on the side of protecting First Amendment rights I think was kind of the spirit of what this is intended to capture any questions I haven't read through the policy in detail or the change that you have here but um would there be some type of um recommendation for how that would be managed you know like would there would you envision a someone monitoring that to be able to watch for the stuff that okay you can't say that um because I I honestly don't know how the district may have handled that before when there when commenting was available but I don't know

170if that's something you've considered I think we currently have a social media I don't know official title but I think someone that adds content so I think you know potentially that would be something that could be included in their existing responsibility and it would make it easy enough too to just have um comment approval on there as well not just immediate here's my comment but here's my comment my word gets approved I'm saying Glen my worry with that is what whoever we have in charge what if they deem it well that's not appropriate and now we're now we're not allowing their comment and we're allowing someone else's again I'm well we would have to clearly Define if it involves things like anything uh like um you know whether it's name calling or um profanity or

171um memes or something like that I mean I I think it would be clear easy enough to clearly Define what those parameters are let's let's be honest here okay the Facebook page for this District was open to comments for uh I think 13 or 14 years and it was only shut down after members of the public criticized the people sitting at this table so I don't think we need to block anybody's comment we need to hear what the Community has to say and we need to take their feedback well I think and if they criticize the people at this table would maybe we should listen to that criticism rather than shutting off comments well again I'm all open for people coming up and making comments they they've been doing that for several years it's been

172quite a joy my concern would be if we go and start to say one comment's appropriate and one isn't I think that I think we should definitely avoid that which is why I believe in the first place we decided our social media for the district would be a a communication piece not a discussion forum and if people wanted to have discussion they would come here or seek out a meeting with superintendent Hughes or principle or again that's my understanding of why we went that route I would I would be super hesitant with opening it back up and then saying well that comment's not acceptable well I agree I don't think we should moderate C can I get my first discussion point in um my only uh that I would like everyone to kind of take

173into consideration when we're doing any policy like this is nowadays our students are reading this so whatever guard rails we put in place we have to be comfortable um you know that our students are reading this and so the profanity aspects there's some we all know that there's people from I don't know that they're local they're overseas or that comment on things all the time and and so again in the spirit of I just want to put it out there that nowadays our kids are reading this whether we like it or not so I think the spirit of this uh revision is also to start using the Facebook page and social media page to communicate with the citizens of the district in a meaningful way we used to uh let people know when there was

174a Schoolboard meeting and put it out on Facebook we don't do that anymore we used to announce bus route disruptions on Facebook we don't do that anymore we used to have some meaningful conversations and allow comments that's all been shut down right now we're paying a social media coordinator to post pictures of kids online eight times a day which has really no meaningful two-way conversation with the district so I think the idea is we're opening back up the comments and also using social media as a way to communicate with our constituents with our parents with the community in a meaning ful way and I don't believe you could be wrong social media comments were shut down not because profanity not because of name calling not because of any of those things again they were shut

175down because of criticism against the people that sit at this table and as a person now sitting at this table I'm requesting to open social media comments back up and those people are free to criticize me just like they're free to criticize everyone else but I'm not going to try to shut them down because I don't like what they say with all due respect uh Mr Scott I I do not believe that's why the comments were shut off I don't think anybody up here was taken offense by any comments on social media my understanding was it's something difficult to manage when you have parents expecting a response or an answer to something and the district simply that is not the Forum that our district chose to deliver that that it's more of a communication piece

176now as far as like bus notifications or or some of those other things I don't see why that couldn't be I think that's a great idea but I don't think comments were shut off because one of us couldn't handle a comment or to on social media then why were they shut off Mr Hughes there were a number of reasons and I think one of the reasons was yes people were expecting us to respond to them and we weren't using Facebook as a response we weren't using Facebook as a response so no sense in having comments on if we're not monitoring it and trying to respond to it so just like uh Twitter we know that we're not responding to Twitter unless of course I'm messing around with the kids the night before school day uh

177snow day right so I mean the reality is why have the comments on if we're not going to respond to them anyway because that's not how we're using the the social media platform so why pay for a social media coordinator if we're not going to use social media in a social meaningful way I don't think that individual is a full-time employee so we might looking at you know I guess if I'm expected to monitor Facebook all day I expect to be paid all day I I don't I don't think for 13 years I don't think anybody was monitoring Facebook all day and there weren't any problems I guess my question is though for those for the years prior to when the comments were turned off how is that meaningful communication meaningful two-way communication because the

178district wasn't responding the district wasn't wasn't responding to the issues or the questions that were raised so the two-way communication is the district putting out there whatever the issue is and then parents and commun community members having the ability to comment on that's two way one to us and then back to us not necessitating a response your social media policy can be we don't respond to social media comments that's fine but I don't see why we should disallow the community from engaging in social media because it gave them a voice that's why 100% any other comments on that one all right I'm going to move on then to uh the next one it's 0167 do3 called public participation at board meetings and the only change well there's two changes in section B wanted to address

179a concern that's been brought up several times now is that you know someone shows up they get stuck in traffic and they're 5 minutes late they took the time to come here and they didn't get a chance to fill out the card by 6:30 so they they did not get an opportunity to speak at the call to public and so the intent behind this draft is to change that so that you still fill out the card but as long as you submit your card and and fill it out completely prior to the conclusion of call to public that you will still have an an opportunity to speak so that's the change I proposed for Section B and then also section I I completely eliminate it which essentially says we only allow 45 minutes for call

180to public which we've all sat up here and it's tends to not be our practice anyway so why why call this out as a constraint when we don't truly limit call the public to 45 minutes so those are the two main changes for that policy any questions all right sorry sorry just one question um so if just something else to consider if the card is submitted but it's not filled out completely then are we are we then not obligated to have that person speak because they haven't completely filled out the card cuz you're you're asking for it to speak filled out completely and that is not that is often not the case but we still welcome people to come and speak so is that I it's something to consider with this change because you're you're

181setting up that expectation and if again what are the repercussions those look good I'd say we're we're five for five on these cards here in terms of completion but which is a typical I think we'll have to just be prepared to address that when someone gets lo and behold someone's going to come to a meeting in general I don't want to deny anybody the opportunity to speak but I think again we can try to make sure that they fill them out so if that's that's the spirit of your question my my answer would be we they still get the opportunity to speak but they need to tweak it and fill it out afterwards if they have to so or we can always edit the required um information that should be filled out we've had instances

182in the past where no one has given their right no I want to say no one that's I mean there have been people that have not given their proper name or or used some mock name to just disgrace the board that kind of thing so uh yeah I'm all for having people put their name down and maybe a line item as far as what they want to talk about I would absolutely support giving people as much time as possible to register their intent to speak tonight is a perfect example because we changed the agenda quite significantly after it was published and after the deadline to speak I would have loved to see an opportunity for members of the public to be able to jump in on some of those agenda items we added so I

183think that would be a great addition any further questions all right next one is orientation number and added an F which is an ID badge which clearly we we do that today I got one with me part as part of new board member orientation um added uh letter G which includes access to to District buildings um and and I think you know part of that is and of members of the community sort of expect that the board is able to go into the buildings besides you know having to make a you know a schedule one week out or you know what have you that you would have an opportunity to come in when appropriate and I would would trust that this board would not abuse that uh privilege um the other thing I wanted to

184note in there include is we had the I think was the previous inclusion was the masb course the CBA 101 I just wanted to add you know the terms equivalent so you don't have to necessarily take the masb version but you can take some other equivalent course that is uh through maybe a a a competing uh industry I will have feedback for that one again just because I'm not asking questions doesn't mean I have them I'm a visual person I need to see this stuff but for this one um we're going to want to add the superintendent tool training okay I will note that so I I think we've been down this road again but like I've said I'm just looking at right now I I don't see any reason why a board of education

185member needs an all access card to the district like if I want to visit round I can call up Daddy and say hey Daddy oh she's gone I'm thinking about coming in um and she'd say great what time do you want to meet and I would set up a meeting to go in so I I I don't I don't see the need nor it appropriate for me to have an all access card to a building again if you've had trouble like I guess scheduling a meeting with a principal I guess I guess that's something that you should take to Mr Hughes like if like if you've called out to a principal and said hey I'd like to stop in and they're like no no no I would encourage you to reach out to Mr Hughes

186and say hey I'd love to stop in and check out what's happening at farms or the high school but to have a badge that gives us access I I think is not necessary at all is the intent to use the front door yeah we could that could be something you could add right no one's trying to sneak in but I think the ability to get in yeah every other employee has that ability right to use like a back door to a building agreed you know what I mean like agreed yeah we should go through the same process I mean I go to the high school once a week for reaching higher and I still you know they still scan my driver's license to make sure that I'm you know I and so I just want

187to make sure that this is like Hey we're going to sneak in so we can walk around or um but we have the ability to get in right now we just we we would show our driver's license we would let that principal know I just I don't I don't understand an access card how would that would be appropriate for a board member if I could say that I think that there's some unintended consequences to that um and that is um you put the staff notice that at any given time the board can just show up and visit their classrooms and go in their classrooms and and I'm just saying you have to hear this from a staff perspective it's really nerve-wracking for the superintendent to just show up like I call the principal and say

188hey I'm coming over I'm going to be in your building let your staff know that I'm going to come around they let their staff know that I'm coming in the building and why I'm coming in there it's just it's the nature of the Beast and so if board members just show up and then they start visiting and going around the building that's not a good thing and so that's I'm just throwing it out that the unintended consequence is that you create anxiety I do not think that the intent is to just go in the school and enter a classroom I think one of the uh main focus points would be to go in and observe things like passing time um uh events that are going on with students that type of thing it's not to

189just say hey I have a a badge and I'm entering your classroom I wouldn't be for that either yeah I think the the intent isn't to not schedule but I think as you said right in most cases I think you're going to say hey I'm coming in but there may be times where can't do that or maybe it's not appropriate to do that so I think again this could give the that you know allow that ability when when appropriate just the same way you have that ability today all right moving on to 3132 vacancies there's a very small it's a very short policy this was something that in kind of reviewing previous um board meeting minutes uh this part particular policy we had a member of the board that was absent and I felt that

190it was appropriate to bring that back I think it was a 3 to3 um vote at that particular time and and all it essentially adds is the words documented and approved by the board and it's referring to some procedures that the superintendent would would create all right hearing no questions I'll jump to the last two um this is the non- Reemployment of the superintendent policy that we looked at in the past similar to my previous comment at in that particular meeting where this came to a vote we had only five members of the board president so we have three different members here today so again just wanted to put that one back in front of the board for review and essentially what it was doing was aligning the length of superintendent term from to to

191to match that of the admin team so it would be a three-year contract as opposed to potentially up to five and again as I mentioned at the time that um is something that the state superintendent currently has to um follow again I I know we again we're not I mean we're having discussion but we're not because we're going to have discussion later because we're just now looking at these but I I thought we like you mentioned we talked about this before how State superintendent role is quite different than Mr hughes's role and then if you look at our surrounding districts and again we don't want to compare ourselves to Brighton all the time but it's not out of the norm to offer a superintendent like a four-year contract or Mr Outlaw just got a 5-year

192contract so but this is the same policy like you mentioned you're just bringing it back yes that's correct okay and and I guess one other thing too on the policy 1220 I'm only you know this is one that when the original 1241 was presented you know kind of going back through this I found there was actually a second reference to the five-year term so I wanted to make sure that we encompassed both if this policy were to pass so it's this impacts this is what it is correct any other questions I will follow up with you this week and many of these are things we've visited in the past so it's not like um there's a a big learning curve with a lot of these policies to look at so [Music] okay item three D

193Mrs blond Deal's policy suggestions around Dei CRT opt in form policy and formal bathroom SL loock room policy can't read my already yeah so um the opt-in form for Dei and CRT andal so what this is saying is that currently um parents are asking for opt out forms for Dei and uh CRT and kind of the new trainings that are we're bringing in umcl included um I feel that you know a lot of busy parents may not realize what it is may not look into it I feel that an optin is the best way to handle what we're going to be doing with the students so that you know in the registration packet or you know people are filling out their emergency cards we should include something in there that is a form that says

194you as a parent or Guardian you are opting in so it'll be their choice to opt their child in to the Dei or CRT and including so it's not a you know that's the option so basically all the wording in here is just saying you know anything that um includes uh you know CRT Dei um gender identity IDE or gender IDE ideology sexual identity um racial differences of any kind the parents would opt in to that uh for the administration and any thirdparty trainings that we would be putting in um I haven't read this policy but just a quick question um is are the outlined items specified so the reason I asked this is when you have an elementary kiddo my daughter was taught about kindness and bucket filling and technically that aligns withal and

195so I'm not sure that that like are we wanting them to and that happens like every day right they have buckets on their lockers and you fill everyone's bucket with a little you know thing in almost like a kindness tree kind of thing um like are we are we going that far as to like I mean that's why we're talking about so if that is a little bit further than you know but again when you're starting talking about L it does include racial and sexual differences you know like the ideology of it it does include some of that so if a parent opts in then free reign to do whatever but if a parent opts out you know I mean maybe we could put some guard rails on it right like any kind of any

196kind of seal that goes beyond kindness of of just a general nature or whatever I think it's a parents and Guardians right to um you know really uh be in control of their CH children's experience and what they want them to do versus having them to opt out of something because it's not some of that's not like a educ educational in in the in the traditional way right that's extra it's a training or it's it's something that you're not considering curriculum so so that's what I'm proposing that it would be an opt in I'm just real quick cuz I got you you know we're just just looking at it right now with Mr Miner sitting here does Hartland has Heartland does Hartland teach CRT has they ever taught CRT my definition never never my definition

197now we've had this discussion before so we have but I guess my my concern with this is thatal social skills you name what that's called is integral for students to be able to regulate themselves their behavior their anger the anxiety how to behave in the hallway how to behave in the lunch line how to use the bathrooms correctly like I had to deal with that when I was an elementary principal with kindergarten or first graders on how you use the restroom the boys and things like that I mean these things happen on a constant basis and if we don't teach kids those skills So when you say Seal Seal social skills to me it's all the same that's all part of it some of the stuff you talked about at the very beginning when you

198talked about gender identity and all we don't do those things so that to me that's not the social skills program that we have the things that we have are all in the binder that you looked at and that several people have looked at that's what we teach our kids there's nothing that's in there that's inappropriate so I'm I'm I'm confused on what this is and I'm really worried that if this is a secl social skill ban and teachers or parents have to say opt in only and we miss kids we are doing a disservice to students and teaching them at a young age how to how to learn and set setting up how to learn so it has to be some some guidance or some guard rails or some something in here uh because I'm

199getting worried about what I'm hearing well I understand what you're saying um when I was looking at that book you know that I displayed I I had talked to you about a reoccurring theme which is the young girl in the in the he job right or the whole face covering right I'm I'm not I'm not opposed to teaching kids kindness with all kinds I want a redheaded kid in there I want a kid with acne I want a fat girl I want I want all of it it seems you know and I had talked to you about that and you said you you you disagreed or you you whatever we said we disagree my explanation was students have to see themselves in the curriculum and all those pictures in there represent people say somebody with

200crutches there's somebody that's has a disability in there all these kids if they see themselves in the curriculum they're more apt to learn the curc agree with you and I didn't see all the kids in your but I didn't see all the kids in there and so that's why I only chose the one girl no I flipped through all those pages there was plenty of pictures in there you didn't you you said the reason that you told me the reason you did that too so I mean we had a little bit further discussion so I'm not limiting the ability for the school to say you know everybody should be nice to everybody I am you know I mean I have been a victim of bullying my children have been victim of bullying I am not

201somebody that doesn't think that it happens I'm saying it's the way um that when you say critical race Theory critical race theory is separating people with color you know gender ideology right like all of that stuff actually separates people if you if you look up studies there are more studies proving that those kind of things actually actually bring up bias that weren't Norm that weren't there before and you you I mean have you looked that up have you have you Research into the the opposite effect other than everybody saying that this is such a great thing I understand what you're saying but I don't you need to pin you have to tell me where this is happening where what's happening what you're describing well I'm saying that you guys we're impl you're you're you are

202defining CR going be doing this with the whole department of justice that but that's going to go out we already explained that that's going to be given to parents way ahead of time about what it is and we have we have a committee in place to do all these we have the opt in for the Dei and the CRT that one I'm in agreement with it's it's when you're talking about social skill stuff that we currently do I'm concerned about that yeah we can definitely do something different than that I mean it's it's in the policy what I'm concern yeah I no I agree that's why we're talking about it right I mean that's why we're we're talking about all of this stuff it's just that some of the things that you know that Society

203is is is kind of foisting over to the schools goes a little Beyond just being kind right like it like and that's what I want to avoid yes it gets into the thing of uh the weaponization of empathy too where empathy is the highest goal the highest order and do we teach empathy to the fact where a kid is learning how to disregard maybe parental Authority and accept anything and everything and do we tell kids that any kind of judgment is bad that's a big issue that's where a lot of people have a big concern with seal there's there's there's empathy lessons that are in that binder you can come meet in my office and I'll show you exactly what the kids are saying so uh Mr Miner and I had I think a really

204good conversation about seal uh last week and I think there's a couple things um one as a as a board as a district we have to safeguard the students and the community going forward not just under uh Mr minsker but under future assistant superintendent of curriculum and and so forth so I think the disconnect here may be the fact that Mr Miner I I respect your curriculum Now does not contain some of these things but the concern of a lot of parents in the community is when does that change change when will that change how could that change and so how do we make sure it sounds like setting the parameters and this policy seems an excellent place to do it setting the parameters of what isal I know Mr Miner and I had discussed

205the fact that the termal meant something different in 2010 than it does in 2024 and we very well may be teaching the 2010 version of seal but at some point parents need to know if all the sudden we're teaching the 2024 version of seal and I think that is the big concern of the community so outlining what those parameters are what in that curriculum would not be okay for this board and this community but the other thing too to Simply make the claim that oh we don't have a course in CRT no one's learning CRT give me a break when there are certain terminology uh used in classrooms that may get into inherent bias and um privilege and what have you that's all CRT you don't need a class that says I'm CRT you don't

206a lot of that can weed its way in it really can um has it Glenn I mean had did your I mean well we I I believe that in the past we had a disciplinary issue no I mean you're with a your your children have gone through Heartland schools M did did they they come home stating that they experienced this CRT that you're referencing or I mean I know well my son graduated in 2019 so that may not be the best uh gauge to use so no so I had one son that graduated in 2019 and if he did hear something like that chances are he ignored it okay so I'm just trying to understand like if he's if he's experienced it personally everyone go ahead no I'm uh I I I think I've said

207my piece so no no I was just wanted I if he had like a personal like connection to some of this no I no more comments well you know I think some of what wanted to say has already been said so I won't be labor it but I think the key point is there's members of the community that have a lot of concerns about what will be brought back from the map Center and I think they're very valid concerns and I think you know my gosh we make kids opt in for a field trip I mean this is to me way more important than a field trip and yet you know I think we're taking most of the time we take the opposite approach where you have to opt out and I think to miss

208blondel's Point people get very busy and sometimes you know don't necessarily read through everything that you know they should as a parent so this to me just adds an additional point to where folks have to actually make sure they read and understand what they're agreeing to and and I don't I don't think I've heard anyone say we're Banning anything so I don't think there should be any concerns with any curriculum being banned but again it's just about making sure people are fully aware and it's fully transparent of what potentially you know we may have to bring in as training materials and I hear your concerns it doesn't mean that I'm not unwilling to change this and and remove theal because I know that like we don't want to make it more difficult on the teachers

209at all we just want to give the parents control of what their student students you know what they feel is important to their student that's all I was looking for yeah parental um control and input is a problem for some people on this board so that could be an issue and I think we I think everyone's um like if you ask people their definition of each you're probably going to get different definitions for everything you could probably ask all all members up here and so I think level setting some of that and and the guard rails around that like you said Michelle because what we don't want to happen is a parent misinterpret what something is and then we have a student who doesn't get a bucket on their lock I'm just throwing this example

210out there yeah and so right you know what I mean I just want to make sure that that is fully understood because I think sometimes you're right parents don't take the time to fully understand things and sometimes our definition they see a word or a trigger word and they think it's something else when really it's elementary kids filling each other you know what I mean yeah and so I think we just I think so yeah we can we can look at removing theal from that I think the CRT and Dei I'm pretty that's mine I because I'm reading off of it um but I believe the SR the CRT and the the Dei and we may have I've done a lot of studies on it I've got a lot of information so I can pass

211them along for that okay yeah the Dei stuff I don't know if we spent time talking about the but if we're moving on to the Dei uh I think that is absolutely 100% something parents should opt into and the the um for multiple reasons going back to uh that agreement signed with the doj I know I've asked prior to being a board member I asked for an opt out form three or four times I was told it wasn't available a lot of parents have been told it's not available now those parents are not going to keep emailing every month until it's avail available it's going to fall off their radar and then one day you know their kid sitting through a Dei assembly so we need to make sure that I think 100% of the

212Dei is opt in I think that's what the parents of this community expect um given the situation thank you so then the other one is um again uh president Trump has said that he will he will not fund districts that are uh engaging in CRT Dei um things so I'm looking at um our bathroom policy we don't have one and we've got something in the student handbook and while it's not I mean it may not be prevalent issue it has been an issue with some students um we have gender neutral bathrooms now so I am proposing um this new bathroom policy that says that um that all the students that uh identify with their birth gender go in those bathrooms and then the gender neutral will be used by anybody else that feels that they

213want to use that bathroom but I feel that um the uh the ability to do this um is is what we need to do for the community I've heard a lot of complaints from the community about this um especially since the last policy that there was something added in that you know about not telling parents like that was just always disappoint it's disappointing and I just don't feel you know in hindsight I should have said no I should have said no so I'm admitting that right now and so that's removed out of this that the parents will are are not um excluded from any conversations I think legally we need to just um be cognizant of mandatory reporting understood um we can put that in there you know uh because that is a real thing

214uh I think anyone any of our Educators and our staff I think we're even held to mandatory reporting at the board if you're a nurse you're held to mandatory reporting completely yeah I agree I don't want that to get lost understood there's laws that are already in place for all that so um that's that and you're going to send those to Renee I did yeah while we were talking yeah thank you sorry about that um Renee I think after you get all those policies if we could either just make an addendum to what was posted for tonight's meeting or another link under there um so that the public has access to those that would be very helpful I was just going to say one thing I appreciate everybody's input tonight I think I think it

215was a pretty good you know opportunity to have a conversation as a a team up here so thank you for your participation and again too I don't think there were many surprises over the uh policies that we went over so any further discussion item four informational items future meeting our next board meeting December 16th 2024 at 6:30 last meeting of 2024 um before Christmas and so um any informational items for the group I do have a a quick question Megan I uh earlier did not hear you respond to Greg's question that he asked and it concerned me could you please repeat that Greg asked a question regarding um my candidacy for secretary and there was a there was a comment made and I didn't I didn't hear it in full I didn't well I just

216said I haven't spoken to you nor have I spoken to anyone because I didn't think it was on the agenda so I never spoke to you about your interest in becoming secretary oh okay Mr Scott's interest in becoming secretary obviously I don't think that Mrs blond dealer Mr Costa would have there very good I didn't understand I just wanted to clarify that's all all right this meeting's adjourned Megan Megan sorry I was hoping I as your informational item you might give us some more information on the the board event that you described is that something you can go into today or uh yes it's just a service project and so I'll have to connect with each of you it's was to make special Christmas bags for our pantry kids those Pantry kids are the same

217kids at Legacy and at um at the high school that would get normal Pantry so the the kids that are impacted by food insecurities and so I'll have to send up a sign up um probably sometime this week maybe a Sign Up Genius and each of us can take a thing that we're accountable for you directly and off your vision is yeah that works