001all right good evening it is 6:30 if everyone could please rise for the Pledge of Allegiance thank you all righty um before moving on to item 1B I would like to remind the public that um guests are expect expected to act with Civility and not interrupt this meeting um any being anyone being disruptive not necessarily just during the call to the public but throughout the meeting will be asked to leave um we will not be handing out warnings I think we're all adults here and so I appreciate everyone following suit item 1 B consent agenda I move that the consent agenda for the December 18th 2023 regular meeting be approved motion by Mrs Coleman support by Mrs Shaw any discussion hearing none Mr goleski yes Mrs Shaw yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr CA yes Mr
002K yes Mrs Lil yes and I'm a yes that motion passes moving on to item one C superintendent report Mr Hughes yes thank you um couple of things um I do want to recognize all of our parents and our students for um supporting adoptive family I think at last C Megan there was 85 families has that risen from 85 there's more okay so the families uh 85 Plus families that we'll take care of through the um efforts of this community at the Holiday Time lots of cereal and canned goods and food Goods uh some time last week sorting through that make sure it's all um non-expired stuff and then our students raised $2 23548 through uh paying a dollar to wear a hat and also the high school had a a drawing where the big
003draw was parking spots up closer to the high school so thank you Mr fitgerald for reserving those spots hopefully next year we can reserve them again for this particular event so we do appreciate that I also want to recognize our coaches and students that were our first ever Esports team at Harland High School our first ever try at it um they play second in the state um two weekends ago at Oakland University they beat Detroit Country or Detroit Catholic Central in the semifinals and then unfortunately lost to Lyndon High School uh our neighbor here lynon was last year St champ and we were runner up for our first ever try at it so congratulations to our students on the high school Esports team what a great opportunity for them why I'm going to get to
004the parent perception survey last I'll go through that but um just a update to the board and we have Matt here if there's any questions a reminder that we needed to do an emergency repair over Christmas break on the main water line that feeds the whole High School uh last June I believe we found two cracks in the pipe we did a clamp them we thought great this will hold for a while um by October we had four more clamps and so the pipe is deter deteriorating from in the inside of the pipe about 370 ft of pipe that has to be replaced and they're going to do that over Christmas break with minimal effect on on campus we felt that we needed to do this because if the pipe were to break and crumble
005during the school year being two weeks out of school or longer would not be a good thing so if we can get the company in there now to do it it just made sense so uh we'll get that taken care of we're also in the process of um revamping the high school weight room as you remember you approved that project I believe they'll be done painting it this week start working on the new floor uh the equipment is arriving as we speak and being put into the hallway outside of the W room so they're ready to put that together as we get into the new school year so or the second semester of the school year so lots of work uh being done there we also have a new hire to introduce uh Mr Howton
006uh it was p in the consent agenda why don't you bring Mike up is he here yet or why don't I come back to it I understand he's on us23 coming south and left early but is not moving very fast so if he comes I'll I'll ask if I could have Mr aren come up so um the last piece of the superintendent report is I've been putting information out to the community my community updates um on the parent perception survey for the 2223 school year and I'm going to go through some of this information and um I would ask you to try to remember the first number I give you will be this year's um feedback from parents the second number I give you will be the number we got two years ago from parents
007so after two years um we have this new survey data and the way we use this data is each of the buildings gets their own data then I compile all that data into the district report the buildings use that data to have conversations on staff with their teachers to say here are the positives here are the things that we probably need to be addressing and then we're going to move forward and address those issues on campus and and build a plan around that so that's how we use the data and then from a diff District perspective we look at the data and we have conversations with our buildings to make sure we're addressing the areas that we're concerned about right so I see Mr fitzgeral shaking his head yes that's how it's done so thank
008you so this year we have in this District 3,167 families that send students to our school district of those 3,167 families 1,2 52 responded that's about 39.5% 39.5% is a pretty good number anytime in a survey if you get 30% you're doing really well uh I talked with the township today Harland Township just got done doing their survey and they're going to send the results along soon uh they got 28% and they're super happy with their 28% of respondents for the township on the questions they they ask so if you live in Harland Township you may have taken that survey as well for the township so getting 39.5% of our families to respond tells us that's a great number people are engaged and they're responding and I always say this if people don't respond we
009assume they have no issues that everything's going well and they have no reason to fill out the the survey so here are the numbers for this year's survey districtwide based on your experience with this school School the school that their children attend what letter grade would you give it this year 95.4% of our parents gave their school an A or B two years ago it was 91% so definitely an improvement on what parents are saying about their school is your child a resident of the district we do have 21% of the respondents are School of Choice which is about right about 20% of our student body is School of Choice students so that's that makes sense that number came out where it should be does your school promote academic success for your student 94.3% strongly
010agree or agree versus 93% two years ago so a slight update there the school treats my student with respect 95.9% of parents say that the school treats their child with respect agree or strongly agree versus 95% two years ago the school keeps me well informed about school activities and my child's progress 89.6% strongly agree or agree versus 85% two years ago the school is an inviting and welcoming place for my student to learn 94.1% strongly agree or agree versus 90% two years ago the school communicates the importance of respecting all cultural beliefs and practices 79.8% 72% 2 years ago so it's it's good for us as a school district as we work through some of the issues we've been working through that we continue to work on you know students have to see themselves in
011the curriculum students have to see themselves in what they're learning and that means that we have to be sensitive to have materials and resources that they see themselves in and so that's the importance of that question the school provides instruction materials that reflect my child's culture ethnicity and identity going a little deep deeper 72.1% strongly agree or agree versus 66% 2 years ago again it's good to see that we're seeing some improvement in that area the big one um and I do um appreciate the board's work on this and certainly appreciate Megan uh president uh glay Box's work on all the homework you did on this you bring uh safety officers to our schools the school is a safe place for my child 9 4.1% strongly agree or agree versus 87% two years ago I
012value my school's effort at teaching my students social emotional skills 90.4% strongly agree or agree versus 81% two years ago the school encourages me to be an active partner with the school in educating my child 87.5% versus 81% two years ago strongly agree or agree agree the school has adults that care about my student 93.8% strongly agree or agree versus 92% two years ago the school clearly teaches Behavior expectations to students 88.1% strongly agree or agree versus 84% two years ago that's something we're always working on the child has experienced my child has experienced bullying 26.9% of parents par responded that they agree or strongly agree that their child has experienced bullying in schools let's not you know this is this is one that we all have to continue to work on 26.9% strongly agree
013that their child has been bullied versus 34.3% two years ago and one of the things that we talk about this one this is one of the things that we're all working on in the district one of the things we have to do is educate people on what bullying really is right there can be mean Behavior some people people would say that's bullying there can be rude Behavior Billy said this to my son that's rude but not necessarily bullying what is bullying we have to do a better job of making sure we're educating everybody uh all parents all students on what bullying is and what that looks like and to make sure of course that they report it because if we don't know about it we can't do anything about it right we have to know
014about it and sometimes that's the biggest detriment my student has experienced racial or ethnic conflict among students in this school 5.7% of parents believe strongly or um agree or or agree that their student has experienced some racial and ethnic conflict in school versus 8% two years ago so we're seeing we're seeing some movement in that direction to make sure that we're addressing the issues in our school district uh for those students that again um might feel like they're they they're um they're treated with disrespect and discrimination and whatnot in our school buildings which should never happen you can find these results on the Harland school's website by going to the bottom of the website page under the superintendent update and at the bottom of that when you click on it you'll see additional resources and
015this whole report is sitting there for anybody to look at and and certainly we welcome you to look at it so I think at the end of the day what a great report from our parents on their um how they view our school how they perceive our school and what we're doing for their children and so I was very happy to see these numbers come out the way they did and like I said each of the building principles has their own survey in their building and they're working on to that as well so it was really nice to see this report come out with a strong consideration from parents Tony why don't you come up with Mike so then we'll finish out the superintendent report good evening everybody again I want to Echo what superintendent
016Hugh said about uh uh thanking you for providing our SRO at at Lakes at or creek we uh love having Deputy Ken in the building it's a great part of our building and our and our or Creek community so thank you for that uh it's my pleasure to introduce Mike sh Mike is going to be taking over for an amazing teacher an amazing teacher himself Mrs Karen con's retirement so I wanted to thank her um for all the work she's done over the years here in Heartland and we're going to miss her but Mike is is an outstanding candidate uh this is a a special education position and in Mrs kjra at this time teaches a number of co- talk team talk classes uh Mr shley has eight years of experience uh he spent three
017years in Southfield as a resource room teacher the last five years he has been at uh Kingsbury Country Day School in Oxford teaching sixth seventh and eth grade co-taught classes in ela and math and in addition to a CI special at endorsement he has a math endorsement as well so I think he's a great fit and talking to folks that have worked with him and those that know him uh the biggest uh kudos for Mike was the fact that he connects with kids and and that's what we need that's what we look for here in Harland those relationships those connections in addition to his background with teaching I think he told us he has 32 in your case load right now I think uh so he's got quite a quite a load where he's at
018and uh uh we're really excited to have him here though thank you so much thank you guys I'm looking forward to it looking forward to starting awesome so Mike you can leave and start that drive back lucky you all right thank you very much so ends the superintendent report thank you Mr Hughes item 1D call to the public I would like to remind folks that speakers are asked to express themselves in a civil manner with due respect for the dignity and privacy of who may be affected by your comments each speaker will be limited to 3 minutes at 2 minutes and 30 seconds I will raise my yellow folder um just so that you are aware uh and can finish up your thoughts first up I have Jason Clinton good evening um my name is
019Jason Clinton and I am a very proud uh trans man and I am here um despite the fact that I am not actually a part of this community I actually live about an hour away from here but I came here because I wanted to voice my perspective as a trans person here um because I know that that is an issue that is on the books right now um for those of you who don't know what a trans man is a trans man is a person who was born with the body of a woman and now has a body that reflects how they feel how they act who they are I began my transition at the age of 22 as a full-grown adult but even as an adult I was harassed by my co-workers by my
020boss to the point where I no longer felt comfortable using the bathroom at my work I would dehydrate myself until my lunch break so that I wouldn't have to use the bathroom um because I was afraid of being attacked in the bath bathroom either in the men's bathroom or the women's bathroom it didn't matter which one I went into I was afraid of either and so I would wait until my lunch break and I would make an hour a half hour long drive back to my house to use the bathroom I wouldn't even eat anything and then I would take the half hour drive back to my work so that I could get back to work and I wouldn't eat anything I wouldn't I would barely drink anything throughout the day um this is how
021I my experience as a full grown adult now I can't imagine what that must have been like for a 14-year-old for a 15-year-old for a child because you don't have the opportunity to go home you have you have to stay in the confines of that school and you have to worry about the harassment that you might get from your fellow students or even worse your teachers um I've heard some people say that the quote unquote bath issue is um regarding protecting kids um but one of the things that I always ask is what are you protecting kids from are you protecting kids from the health issues that might come from not using the bathroom for days on end or the issues that might come from being denied your identity by your fellow students by your
022your teachers by people who are supposed to be respecting you those are things that trans people have to actually deal with with not just people in who are in school but just people in their everyday lives thank you and I just want to say that I am not the only person who wanted to come out here today I asked my friends to come out here today as well but many of them were afraid to come to Howell because of Howell's reputation because of Howell's reputation and its history and its association with hate groups and if you want to change that reputation and I don't believe that your community I don't believe that everyone in your community is a hateful person if you want to change that reputation you have the opportunity to change that reputation
023now but you have to make the effort Jason thank you next I have hell gandan I'm so sorry I butcher that one hi everyone my name is Kel this is Zoe and we're here today to share with you our perspectives as healthcare workers workers who support queer and transgender youth as the Board of Education your job is to maintain a safe and enriching learning environment for all of your students an environment that polies students gender down to speculating about their genitals which I heard at the meeting last time is inherently unsafe for students meanwhile trans kids are the ones who are accused of making bathrooms unsafe as a nurse someone who works within the trans Community I'd like to speak about student safety trans and gender non-conforming youth disproportionately experience violence discrimination and bullying over
024a third of trans youth report that they have personally been physically threatened or harmed due to their gender identity entering any public space including a bathroom as a trans kid is a risk not because they're trans but because our communities can be cruel giving these kids the ability to make a simple choice for themselves where to pee it's not a threat to anyone it's a basic human dignity cisgender students who are uncomfortable with sharing a bathroom they're not the ones under threat they're experiencing something that we should all learn at school which is how to get along with people who are different from us and how to show them respect trans kids are not a political prop they're kids they want to learn and be supported the same as their peers and they deserve to
025do so without being called Predators by adults give them that respect Focus your efforts on creating a welcoming and nurturing environment for all your students to thrive and you'll be doing your job thank you next I have Angela yber good evening I'm Angela yber I'd like to remind the board and the superintendent that clarification of Mr hughes's weekly update from November the 8th regarding the Department of Justice is still needed the public has a right to clarity about the department of Justice's role in the school district I would also like to ask the board to create a bathroom and locker room policy when I looked online to find one I could not if there is no policy then the school board is acting without Authority and letting opposite biological Sexes use the same bathroom in
026locker rooms this is unsafe and unsustainable and in fact is the subject of a lawsuit in Vicksburg Michigan I want to know what is the school doing to protect students safety in the bathrooms and locker rooms it's a question I hope you can answer next I have Sydney Hobart good evening as a former student athlete I understand the trepidation that students have regarding the scrutiny and vulnerability they feel amongst their peers being in high school to be blunt sucks fears and insecurities pervade the lives of students and it is a time during which they are discovering what it means to be a member of society this is as true of students who do not identify as trans as those who do it is however a matter of fact the transgender students are not fundamentally more
027dangerous to their peers than the average trans transgender students are four times more likely than non-transgender students to experience harassment 43% of transgender students on average have experienced bullying where the average amongst all students here in the school district was indicated as 26.9% 22% of lgbtq students have reported suicidal ideation as a result of bullying a statistic that decreases precipitously when students report having supportive parents friends and community this issue in fact does not only affect transgender students in many cases non-transgender students in places which have heavily restrictive anti-tr policies have reported being harassed for merely being suspected of being trans either due to typical high school immaturity or based on face and body structure this has led to students regardless of gender being made to prove their gender to teachers or coaches or what
028have you sometimes without their parents consent often even when they themselves are not even transgendered this regardless of pretense is unacceptable to me and should in fact be unacceptable to any parent student or member of the community uh thank you and if anyone has any questions I will uh be happy to ask uh answer them after adjournment Ellen nickon all right good afternoon everyone well I guess it's way past that um thank you for letting me speak I wanted to talk about this whole bathroom issue that for some reason certain people have decided to make an issue uh as others earlier have said this will cause harm to many people uh not just trans people it'll cause harm to CIS kids in fact one thing I've learned recently is that you know some of this
029harm has come from people such as the wife of one of the school board members um I know that there is one kid who is not trans who keeps getting misgendered repeatedly by uh Mr goal's wife which is not acceptable and we expect people like that to be able to police bathrooms point of order sorry I did okay um right we expect people like that to be able to police bathrooms do you really think you can be able to clock anyone you really think so because okay maybe you can look at me and say oh I can obviously tell but you know you look at a kid my mom used to get mistaken for a boy all the time how do you think she would feel if when she walked into the bathroom there were
030kids accusing her of being in the wrong bathroom how do you think she would feel about that like this is this policy that you're trying to put in it's not a good idea it is a terrible terrible idea and not only that we have one person out there who spoke last month and afterwards she I don't want to I don't even like using the term spread misinformation here I I think we need to stop sugarcoating it she lied she lied and caused a teacher to be to have to go on me on Mental Health leave this is not okay this is not okay what you're doing thank you excuse me I'd like to say if somebody wants to address me that's fine but to address a family member of mine no not happy Aaron members
031of the board members of the school board teachers administrators and community members thank you for your time this evening I'm a member of this community with two children in Heartland schools I am here to voice my support for continuing to allow students to utilize restrooms and locker room lock room facilities that align with their gender identity this policy follows state and federal laws prohibiting discrimination based on gender identity um as a district following the law is imperative regardless of personal beliefs I urge this board to consult with lawyers to make lawful informed decisions I've heard arguments that while we must ensure vulnerable students safety it shouldn't come at the expense of others uh Comfort however research uh research clearly shows allowing transgender students to use affirming facilities does not threaten others safeties multiple Studies have
032found no leak between inclusive bathroom policies and increased incidents and banning transgender students from certain bathrooms often severely compromise their health safety and ability to thrive as for the comfort or as for the discomfort research shows this often stems from a lack of understanding rather than safety um principles of equity demand we protect the basic rights and dignity of marginalized students despite monetary discomfort for some with communication and education schools can facilitate greater acceptance over time rather than restricting vital access evidence shows inclusive policies protect all students while upholding the critical needs of transgender and non-binary Youth despite discomfort some may feel protecting the most psychologically vulnerable students should remain our prior sorry should remain our priority priority a priority backed by research and ethics this is not an issue of stirring the pot yet
033those who came forward opposing this policy did precisely that by fabricating controversy around protection that are working well Heartland schools specifically there have been no incidences related to our policies of allowing students to use facilities aligning with their gender identity rather this has provided Fair dignified and equal learning environments where every student feels safe welcomed and affirmed lastly it is deeply concerning to hear of teachers needing FMLA leave due to harassment from those stirring the pot and opposing this policy while I do not have the details around this exact um situations teach deserve support against discrimination backlash and being harassed by community members with strong biased beliefs I hope this Administration is backing our teachers thank you for your time I welcome any questions and discussions moving forward positively together GR evening my daughter became
034a teacher not for money and Glory but because of her love of books which was recognized and encouraged by wonderful Heartland teachers she discovered that through books she could begin to satisfy her Natural Curiosity and thirst for knowledge books opened her up to an amazing world around her and she wanted to share her knowledge and her enthusiasm I believe this is a shared experience by many of our dedicated teachers so you can imagine my dismay when some of my local social media feeds started showing a vicious attack on a Heartland teacher by another Community member over something that had no effect on them or when I attend board meeting meetings where some members partake in name calling and acting in unprofessional manner where political culture wars seem to take presidence over the education of our
035children and retention and recruitment of quality teachers I hear discussion on Solutions in search of a problem where some community members make cruel and judgmental comments about our marginalized students all of this leads me to believe that as an adults we need a reminder that the goal Golden Rule is something that we should be following not just teaching our children and also as a reminder that the children are watching and listening I would like to read the poem by Dorothy law Noti PhD called children live what they learn if children live with criticism they learn to criticize they learn to condemn if children with live with hostility they learn to fight if children live with fear they learn to be apprehensive if children live with pity they learn to feel sorry for themselves if children
036live with ridicule they learn to feel shy if children live with jealousy they learn to feel Envy if children live with shame they learn to feel guilty if children live with encouragement they learn confidence if children live with tolerance they learn patience if children live with praise they learn appreciation if children live with acceptance they learn to love if children live with approval they learn to like themselves if children live with recognition they learn it it's good to have a goal if children live with sharing they learn generosity if children live with honesty they learn truthfulness if children live with fairness they learn Justice if children live with kindness and consideration they learn respect if children live with security they learn to have faith in themselves and those about them if children live with friendly
037they've learned the world is a nice place in which to live the children are watching the children are listening we need to do better for them thank you Nikki bone bit I'm a mom of two transgender children and I love them very much um may ask the board a question how many of you know a transgender individual personally any of you okay I suggest you meet one and then I suggest you meet another because they're not all the same they're just like you and me they're all different um and that's a good thing right um I see words around this room empathy empowerment serve reason respect responsibility and I really hope that this District takes that into account that those are really important strong words and having empathy for these children that are trying to
038figure these things out and going through such a difficult time and such a difficult thing of getting bullied right every day by people that once were their friends possibly but the moment they came out suddenly they weren't these kids are scared and they just need love and support and respect right they are the minority and we should be here to protect them and that's what I hope that the district will do for these children I would hate to think of someone harming my child because they were different now if my child harmed someone I would be appalled I would be utterly appalled but if my child was harmed I would be so angry and so upset and just because they aren't something that you've ever been exposed to that doesn't seem right so please consider
039that and I think that the other reasons that people have here today are far more powerful I mean there's clearly legal reasons to consider this right you have the law of the state that is telling you you need to respect his children's rights so it's not just my heart that breaks okay so just think of that these children aren't here to harm your kids they just want to get through the day they just want to try and enjoy life just like your kid does that's all they want I'm done thank you yes good evening so first of all I wanted to say thank you to president gach everybody on the board all the members of the community that worked on the adopt a family stuff I know Mr Hughes hit on it but I walked
040by the community ed office last week and it looked like Santa's Workshop I mean just piles and piles and I'm I'm glad to see how generous the community is and how many families can be help this Christmas and how many kids are going to come back to school after the break and be proud of the new clothes of the new shoes and how great of a Christmas they had so thank you to all of you for that um I just want to make one comment you're reviewing some purchasing uh policies this this evening and for the most part I think it looks good I'm going to recommend one addition and that's to make um freedom of speech a protections for your vendors I know there's been a lot of talk about freedom of speech over
041the last year there's people in the this room on both sides of the aisle and everywhere in between and I would hate to think that any one of them uh may lose business with the school district because they come up here and speak on something or they speak in social media about something so I think it would be important for the district to make a stance that um that a person's personal uh Speech would not affect their contract with the school district so that's the only recommendation I'm going to make I'd like you to consider it and and uh I thank you very much for your time and for your service moving on to item 1e committee and building reports I'll start to the right of me do any of you have committee and building
042reports to share yes go ahead all right thanks pres Glock just a couple notes don't see any of my Farms friends here today but I just again appreciate the time that um principal cheni and assistant principal brisy afford um me when I do show up U just to highlight a couple positives with the Heartland Optimus Club two different things there was a over 300 serial boxes that they had raised great also had $500 for the adoptive family on behalf of the Farm's family and students so great job to those folks I I did get a chance to go to the sixth grade choir concert that was actually here in this building um directed by Mrs stolman and I think the sixth grade students did a fantastic job so just want to give my accolades to
043them last week the the kids had the Santa shop I know there lots of kids that got to participate to getting gifts for Mom and Dad and all their family and friends it's it's a good way to teach the kids to be giving so I think it's a great event that that the school does this week we have spirit week There's um upcoming band concert here on the 20th of this week and then last but not least there are some I guess auditions for the high school that have been extended to uh Farms so any Farm students who want to par participate in Mary poppies I think that' be a great opportunity and that ends my report not this month next month I will my no um I will next month um as the senior
044senator only meets every other month and um Mr howon and I had to reschedule our meeting so I'll have updates from the Middle School uh just a big shout out to Jacob Titus who uh did a real good job on the National Geography B and um he has a chance to go the Regionals and possibly State and national championships so that's uh pretty impressive for an eighth grader you know Megan I do have a I do want to talk about the Safety Committee so um because I I think that a statement needs to be made or I want to make a statement because at the Safety Committee this week um I submitted a bathroom and a parental rights policy that we're working on right now and um a lot of passionate people spoke we hear
045you loud and clear and um I just want to set things straight that um all kids are on a journey all kids feel it secure all kids have challenges all kids have problems at home all kids maybe they don't but maybe they have something you know they're not really good at school but all children are on a journey so we do as a board have to address all children and um one of the reasons why I want uh to put a bathroom policy in place it's because many of the people that spoke here said that their family members are loved ones or they themselves have been victims um when using uh restrooms that you know they they identify with um so we need to protect you as as well um my biggest thing is that
046I feel like it needs to be said that allowing children to use the opposite bathroom is confusing to kids but that's not the worst part about it the worst part about it is not the transgender people or children it's the people that may want to meet meet or may want to cause harm to children um so they will they there's still creeps out there there are creep out there and while you guys are all saying that you know it it's not your transgender child no we're not saying that it's transgender child it's opening up the door for things but my biggest thing that I said at the Safety Committee is girls in bathrooms need to be protected and when a girl is in a stall a boy walks in clears his throat first time she
047hears it she's going to feel shocked she's not going to know what to do she's not going to know what to think because you know know uh it's fearful it's supposed to be a private female space but hearing a boy's voice or you know a d a deeper voice just you know makes them scared then they're told you have to accept that the next time somebody walks in I'm sorry you stick to the Safety Committee report out I would like to get this point out though it's important to me stick to the Safety Committee business I am and I said this in safety committee meeting so I'm repeating what I said in the safety committee meeting and I'd like to get this out to address some things so um we're dismantling the girls ability to
048detect danger and that's my biggest problem we're not allowing our girls to feel danger if a male walks in the bathroom with them and that's what I needed to say thank you item 2A 2425 High School curriculum guide I move at the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction approves the 2024 2025 High School curriculum guide as support motion by Mrs colan support by Mr Costa any discussion just want to thank Mr Fitzgerald for his time uh earlier this week to talk about some of the upcoming changes in the curriculum very helpful thank you for that and then also something that c came up in our discussion that shared with the board is that you know we've got a lot of different honor chords for
049you know um Math Science and even journalism I think one additional chord that we could consider would be to have one for the students that um meet similar credentials for some of the CTE courses I think in addition to their normal certification that they get at the end of completing the courses or graduation I think we should highlight their accomplishments when they actually graduate so I just wanted to share that with the board I don't know what would need to happen necessarily to consider that or if it's something that can Mr Fitzgerald could consider on his own but anyway just wanted to share that with the team thanks thanks great thankss it's okay we'll follow with that any further discussion hearing none Mr goleski what is the question oh voting on the motion yes Mr
050sh yes mrsan yes Mr CA yes Mr ker yes item two the international travel proposal for summer of 2025 I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent approves the international travel proposal as presented moot motion by Mrs Shaw support by Mrs colan any discussion not discussion but I know we mentioned last time I think it's an amazing opportunity that our kids are getting out of this so I'm just so happy that the second I'm assume that we're put this like I said it's just wonderful that the heart kids get this opportunity so can we just remember in summer end of summer 24th to have the team that's going this summer to come back and maybe share during the superintendent update any further discussion hearing none Mr go yes Mr sha
051yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr ker yes Mrs Bond yes M yes that motion passes item 2C bond package approval I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and director of operations approved Bond big packages and 10 D 10 H and number nine as presented motion by Mr Costa support by Mrs wman any discussion hearing done Mr Goki yes Mrs Shaw yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Casta yes Mr K yes Mrs yes a yes that motion passes item 2D Automotive lift purchase I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent and the Chief Financial Officer approves the automotive lift purchase as presented support motion by Mrs Coleman support by Mrs Shaw any discussion yeah very very happy to see this go through this is
052really really important for our U students that go into trains and such so I hope everyone goes along with this I would also like to say as a son who is currently in automotive to um this will be a great addition to what they already have and Mr treyy um you know this will be another Avenue for him to add some of the things that these students can do and my son is a car guy has really enjoyed being in this class I know he you know may not be able to get to use these new items but it's fantastic that we got these extra funds just to add another thing to our student body that they have access to so I'm very excited awesome there was a previous student that noted how much money
053he had saved fixing his own car yeah um through taking that class versus utilizing like a shop any further discussion just have a general question maybe for Rachel so I understand that we're selling one of the existing lifts that's there to make room for the new one does that money just go back into the general fund or how do we yes okay thank you all right Mr Goki yes Mrs Shaw yes Mrs Coleman yes Mr Costa yes Mr Keller yes Mrs Bill yes and may yes that motion passes item 3A we have three uh excuse me item 3A discussion items revised policies number 6320 237 0.01 and 8531 to my understanding two of these are Neola updates and one miss Rachel has some information for us I I said Miss Rachel and didn't realize a
054show called Miss Rachel all good um so the policy updates I provided to or 6320 purchasing really is just to um help clarify our current um purchasing policy the biggest issue with it right now is it doesn't differentiate between procurement for construction um and renovation ofal buildings versus procurement of supplied materials um two separate um standards uh two separate laws apply to both um and so our current policy is kind of confusing mostly because it doesn't necessarily clarify when it's appropriate to use Cooperative bidding um and Cooperative purchasing and that is the main issue here you cannot use Cooperative purchasing when um precuring for construction projects so um you know our policy didn't really clarify that very well and so these um these changes here to to help um make that clarification under um what's
055allowable under current law me talk about the other two real quick so the online Blended learning policy 20 uh 23701 uh this just basically um allows the district to switch to online learning if necessary um for instance if the pipe would have broke at the high school we had to be off for two weeks instead of losing FTE count we could have moved swiftly to online learning for those two weeks if necessary to keep education moving forward and this allows us that 15-day exemption so that's really the heart of this policy is to give us some flexibility in the event of um so that's what that policy is and then the free and reduced price meal policy again it's just making sure that we're statutorily uh correct in this movement um we still you know
056one of the things as you read the policies it's really for the free reduced lunch even though lunches and breakfast lunch is free this year the fact is the state still does require us to try to get the free and reduced lunch forms filled out so that we have an accurate account of who's actually qualifying under the social economic status uh if it goes away next year this policy obviously it even more important so that's what these two policies are just to keep us uh legal have any questions before meeting don't have now excuse me sorry talking this whole time when you're on on Zoom um if anyone has any questions please reach out before the next board meeting on these policies um if you need clarification from Rachel on how we bucket our item
057uh or what this does kind of for our purchasing um anyone have any outstanding questions on the Poli right from now okay moving on to item 4A future meetings January 15 2024 right here 6:30 p.m moving on to item 4 B any informational items does anyone to my right have any informational items to share with your Fe not an informational item but it is end in the first semester so I wish all our HCS employees they will deserve two week break all can I say something about that because I'll remind the public uh in my weekly update this week the teachers and the administrators are on break so please hold your correspondence your reach outs during that two week time let them have some time with their family let them have some time to to
058settle down so the rested and come back for us along second semester thank you I would just like to just say a quick um I know in our consent agenda we did kind of skip over the recognition of tenure but I just wanted to congratulate all of those um teachers and staff that you know are being recognized for tenure without them we can't do what we do um and I think it's important that our actions and words at this EV and outside of the school room make sure that we support the people who make Heartland schools what it is educationally you know emotionally for our students so congratulations to everyone and also enjoy your two we welld deserved break yeah um certainly want to uh give a shout out to those teachers who uh have
059done a remarkably good job um we do appreciate teachers and as long as teachers teach their curriculum I'm all for them so thank you I do want to thank the public um we have over 300 students as part of the adopted family program this year um it would not be possible without the support of our community um whether that be donating a jar of peanut butter to adopting a family to um passing me by and not recognizing me in sweats and Target because this is what I do to shop for kids um I appreciate that um but it it really takes a village and that's what this Village is um we have sports teams we have Academic Teams Boy Scout groups um you name it that that is involved um and if you just need
060a little bit of spirit walk past the Community Education Office Carol Stephanie and Stacy in there are doing an amazing job to keep things straight um for when we need to kind of deliver to our students and so I just want to thank you I want to thank all the administration who took on extra tasks to have drives within your schools um to really promote it uh our National Junior honors Honor Society who really leads kind of the efforts at the high school and does all of our food sorting for us and essentially kind of shops for these families from a food standpoint um and so I really appreciate it it would not be possible with all of that um and it's you know uh for those of you who are looking for a little
061um gratitude this season I think if you if you have on the table a roof over your head and you have your health and your family or your friends or or whatever that is um be grateful because not everyone in this community has that um and so take a look internally and uh I wish everyone a happy holiday get