2023 08 21 Board Meeting

001thank you happy Monday everyone first board meeting the new school year item 1B approval of agenda and items for December I moved the agenda for the August 21st 2023 regular meeting be approved and that policy to set aside allowing item one e of the public we move to item one f support motion diagnosis foreign yes Mr Keller yes this is yes all right and I'm gonna yes smoking passes item 1C approval of minutes from the July 17th 2023 organizational meeting I move that the minutes of the July 17th 2023 organizational meeting be supported motion by Mrs Coleman supported by Mr Costa any discussion yeah so I wanted to make a comment so last month I noted Our concern over the superintendent contract without being included in the board packet that was published to the community

002and I did not see that get added so I would I guess just following up on that request ready any further discussion hearing none Mr goldless me yes Mr shop yes is it a woman yes Mr Costa yes Mr Keller yes Juan Neil yes and I'm a yes that motion has this I have one knee superintendent report yes welcome to a new school year I can tell you that uh four days in and knock on wood like everything's going great um lots of Happy Kids lots of happy staff we're moving along um transporting kids um all right we still have openings for bus drivers including substitute bus drivers anybody interested it's not as terrible as you think so uh take a look at that um so all is well and so other than that Matt

003if you come up and do a bond update report please all right good evening uh board I don't know where the summer went but here we are we got through about 15 million dollars of the projects in a roughly 60-day window and the buildings are looking fabulous so far we have the Farms collaboration Center um farms and or creek are not open yet but the the media staff are working to reach shelf all the books and get everything going over there but a few pictures of that area um the staff are enjoying it and uh getting to use it soon the kids are looking on the windows and excited about using it which is super exciting um so there's those pictures those seats in the middle everyone seems to love so if you get a

004chance hop over there and sit in those um with those projects and with all the projects I say that they are completed because we are able to use them however there's going to be a few weeks of punch list items that we're gonna be going through um with the Architects and the principals uh making lists of you know touch-up painting uh areas that um you know are missing off your screws or ceiling tiles getting put back or things like that so there's gonna be a few weeks of that moving forward or creek same thing with the collaboration Center over there punch list is ongoing Commons lighting replacement um actually I forgot to put that on there uh end of September there we've had a slight hiccup with the bracket that mounts those in the current

005trust that goes in the um uh Commons area that over there so we're working on that and that contractor will be working on second shift after the kids get out and my disclaimer for the chiller is still December we're having long lead times on those right now but it still says December foreign this building Chiller replacement also in December I'm waiting on that one um exciting for the auditorium however the lighting has been replaced and upgraded LED uh for the Performing Arts and then we've replaced a bunch of seats in the auditorium uh which is actually just used this past weekend for an event um super comfortable and nice uh to get replaced there we did save some of the old seats to use as replacement parts for the existing seats which is helpful and

006then the stage curtain will be replaced in September uh High School collaboration Center is complete punch list is ongoing Commons lighting is replaced uh the HVAC system uh the 30 units have been replaced and they are functional right now uh controls commissioning is ongoing we are going through on second shift and uh making adjustments over the next two weeks we have a few rooms out of whack which we're we're adjusting um we're running reports every day to make sure that uh students are as comfortable as possible um especially with the the heat coming up on Thursday the temperatures are increasing um the auditorium lighting was replaced over there to LED also and then we're waiting on the stage curtain uh in September uh High School Paving is done um replace the Bus Loop which was

007definitely needed the pool lot the staff lot and reconfigured the high school drop-off Lanes um the sidewalk is complete also and the rest are restoring the uh dirt and grass around the sidewalk which is a collaboration with Heartland Township um and then the front waterproofing and brick repair is completed uh the stadium uh we'll see its first uh people this Thursday so the scoreboard is done and functional and sound system I was updating that on Friday the track uh is laid and will be striped tomorrow and um Wednesday we're also going to do some parking lot repairs just because we had to use the Creekside High School parking lot for uh kind of a lay down area for the turf so we have to do some repairs over there um tomorrow and uh Thursday Mr

008Fitzgerald send an email out to all the students and parents um and then the baseball softball complex is underway we're putting in the restrooms we're putting we put in the storage buildings and that will be over the next probably a month and a half getting that done um the soccer Press Box was delayed so we're actually waiting until after the soccer season to uh put that in just so that soccer can perform their games and and use their field um that's all I have uh last thing is just kudos to um Ryan Madden and Kelly and uh John our two State superintendents from Mark mallow and uh honestly my staff um Becky Wallace and uh the maintenance staff and the custodians in the buildings um for you that walk the buildings a week or two

009prior to school it was kind of a mess and we turned around and really cleaned things up so that we could start school so kudos to everybody involved so any questions all right good deal as Matt said I do have to thank everybody for all the work and it if you didn't hear what he said we did 15 million dollars from the projects all this and basically less than 60 days right I think the actual number was 54. so when you look at that and you go wow we really did a lot accomplished a lot and we couldn't do it with all the great people working on those projects and everybody having a little flexibility going into the summer what we said to barmello was we simply want our buildings functional come day one and

010our buildings are functional and kids are there staff is there and we're moving forward so again thanks to everybody so when's the superintendent's report thank you Mr gios item 1e new hires I move that the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent offers a two-year administrative contract to Jessica Gus dean of students starting with the 23-24 school year at the step one salary tracks any verification of credentials and public acts 9983 and 189 requirements all right motion by Mrs fullins supported by Mrs Shaw any discussion hearing none of Mr Google Plus people yes yes yes Mr Kelly yes yes and I am a yes all right all right good evening I'm uh super excited to introduce you to Jessica Gus as our new Deena students at the high school uh she's been a

011great addition we uh uh stole her from Brighton and uh we are so excited to have her with us um one thing that stood out when we were doing the interview process is uh her instructional leadership she really is a top top-notch educator teacher um she got experience teaching Ela science and uh math which is outstanding and she has hit the ground run and she's also going to be in charge of all of our state testing which uh she's already super organized and doing a great job setting our kids up for Success so um pleased to introduce you to miss Jessica Gus I just wanted to say thank you for the opportunity to be here and I'm very excited about joining the team at the high school I'm looking forward to a great year thank

012you I moved at the board of education at my recommendation on the superintendent offers a probationary teaching contractor Shelby Lindsay for the 2023-24 school year at the step five and a salary track Penny verification of credentials and public acts 9983 and 189 requirements if applicable support Solution by Mrs Shaw supported by Mr Costa any discussion yes Mr shot yes Mrs Coleman yeah yes Mr Keller yes yes all right promise this is my last Tire it is seeing me a lot this is Shelby Lindsay we keep coming and Lindsay Shelby so if I mess up I apologize but um Lynn Shelby is taking over our extended resource room program um Emily Russell moved into a resource room position and we had this opening and again all these interviews I'm just amazed by the talent we have

013coming to Heartland we are super impressed um there's a calmness so you walk in a room it's just a calmness about her and she's great with these kiddos and she's also going to help us to run the peer-to-peer program so welcome to Farms thank you so much for the opportunity I'm very excited to be part of the Heartland School District congratulations thank you I moved at the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the superintendent offers a probation or teaching contract with Sarah Rubin for the 2023-24 school year at step two VA salary track any verifications of the credential public acts 9983 and 189 requirements if applicable motion by Mr Acosta support by Mrs Coleman any discussion yes yes congratulations good evening I'd like to introduce you to miss Sarah rudbeck um Sarah is a

0142016 Heartland grad so we're excited to welcome her back um she attended Grand Valley State University and then actually taught for a year down in South Carolina um did an outstanding job I talked to her principal down there and she had nothing but outstanding things to say about Sarah in her first year of teaching uh down there she moved back here to uh to be with family and she actually reached out to us before we even had an opening and she said I want to teach at Harlan I want to be at Harlan and uh so we actually talked to her about some long-term sub opportunities and a position opened up um and so she interviewed and did a great job and she started for us teaching Ela 9 and 10 um and just doing

015a really phenomenal job she's a go-getter and I think you're going to really enjoy her here at Arlington High School again Sarah it's time to thank you guys for the opportunity to be here and I'm so excited to be an eagle again I move that board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent offers a probationary teaching contract to Mike Michael zielinski for the 2023-24 school year at the step 10 at the a plus 30 salary tracks Penny verification of credentials and public acts 9983 and 189 requirements if applicable for motion by Mrs John supported by Mrs Pullman any discussion hearing none Mr Global Essie yes Mrs Trump yes Mrs Coleman yeah Mr Casa yes Mr Kelly yes yes and I am a yes congrats all right that's one um excited to welcome Mike zielinski

016to Harlan high school we have the construction trades position open and we uh we searched high and low and we actually found Mike right in our backyard he was uh uh coaching baseball baseball for us uh has a son that's a junior and a daughter that's a freshman both at the high school and uh he had mentioned to some parents that he was maybe interested and uh so we we brought him in we met and we actually took a walk down to the uh to the classroom and Mike was like a kid in a candy store and uh all the ideas and just I knew it was the right fit I knew it was going to be if we could get him uh we could land on this is going to be the perfect fit

017so thanks to some hard work by Mr Hughes and Mrs Gregory uh we have Mike here with us and uh he's doing a phenomenal job and we are so lucky for our kids to be able to keep this program uh because they need it and they want it so Mike zielinski uh thanks for uh having me I'm super excited I have big plans hopefully dreams come true we need to get these kids into the trades and uh I just I just can't wait to get it going foreign Mike thank you for being with us I do want to give a shout out to our AGA and working with us as we we wanted to fill this spot and we had to do some creative solution problem solving and without the the Teachers Association working with

018us at what now and so again thank you to the APA for for coming on board understanding how important this program is to our students and certainly the trades and I remember uh and I when I first met Mike he said here's the deal I am in the trades and I and I really know what kids need and I know that it's important that they have these skills so that we prepare them to go out and be ready to work so again Mike thanks for being here alrighty moving on item one up all to the public just a couple of comments before we get started um I want to remind everyone that um we ask that you please be respectful be mindful of others in the room knowing your fault the public I also want

019to request that moving forward and Renee maybe we can know this in the minutes um that you fill out your form um with your first and last name and the pertinent information I don't need a novel about what you're planning to talk about but it's going to have all that information as we're going into the call to the public um uh you will each have three minutes I will hold up the card at a little um visual at two minutes and 30 seconds so you know you have 30 seconds left um and then after three minutes I will kindly ask that you step away um other than that we will go ahead and get started have we added anything yet that will allow anybody that needs special assistance to note that on the card because

020I've been handed we have that but I do have one individual that I know of that today put that one out there all right first up we have Holly Austin foreign I was hoping not to have to be here so quickly as we begin another school year but it appears we must continue to be reappointed a situation was shared with me from a concerned parent there is a child last year in eighth grade at orc Creek Middle School who made verbal statements that he was going to shoot up the school the next day there were several students who heard him say this he verbally and individually addressed four to five students and indicated paraphrase you better not show up to school tomorrow or I will kill you these students reported it to the principal in

021each of their statements were taken separately these students did the right thing and deserved to be protected from these types of threats the police did get involved but I do not have evidence of the police report when parents questioned the police they were assured paraphrased the threat has been neutralized apparently the child did not return to school fast forward a few months and a new school year later and this student is now walking around our children's high school not one of the aforementioned students who were threatened with their life or notified no parent was notified that the issuer of death threats against their children was free to roam the halls of Heartland High School HCS in their abundance of concern for the safety of our children has allowed the perpetrator of death threats back into

022our school to re-victimize students who did the right thing by speaking up what type of message does this send to the students at HDs don't worry you can threaten your fellow classmates and we will welcome you back or thanks for sharing these threats but though your security and safety have been threatened and you feel your life is in danger his rights are more important than yours now I am sure there are issues with the student who threatened to shoot up War Creek Middle School perhaps the issues are cognitive behavioral social emotional mental health related Etc it does not matter this is a serious and Grave concern that should have been met with the absolute expulsion from our school district this is a zero tolerance issue end of story as stated in your handbook a local

023school district shall develop and Implement a code of student conduct it will be administered fairly without partiality or discrimination Heartland students must be educated in a safe and supportive environment HCS is dedicated to creating and maintaining a positive learning environment for all students it is expected that students will never do never appropriate things this student violated six of your stated never appropriate behaviors yet he was allowed back into our schools this board the superintendent and the administrators are failing at ensuring the Safety and Security of all students teachers and staff with their lack of resolve and follow-through when blatant violations of the student handbook thank you for your time next up we have Jason ringette I've been following Jesus name with your Holy Spirit fill this room soften everyone's Hearts bless the school board with

024wisdom discernment give them eyes to see and ears to hear Heartland schools need to return to God prayer and academics into our schools open up the school board meetings with prayer the world is not caught up in offends everyone when we should worry about what a friend's got we're in the fight of our silver Nation we're in the fight of their children and their innocence look at what the kids are learning and what's being shoved down their throats twisting the truth manipulating them to believe that lies scl has been hijacked by the radical left make it a children horse riddle The sexualization Grooming tactics pushed by the groomers to exploiterate children by invitance changes the Title IX everyone knows a left-wing liberal walk extremists are the party of evil look at what they're doing to

025our children so their education destroying their morals and their innocence it's so beyond evil they support castering children mutilate student perverts children Grooms children Brothers children and Dr Nate's children while education is being neglected we send our kids to school to get an education to be indoctrinated all LGBT LGBT propaganda needs to be eliminated out of Heartland schools it violates Article 1 Section two 26 the Michigan Constitution it's not a constitutional school to have discrimination to prevalence or treatment over one group of people or another how many hate crime shootings have been committed by Trans extremists in the past year the U.S Department of Justice website discussed with obscenity in it it states the following a federal law strictly prohibits distribution of the scene matters as minors anyone complaining about banning any books of public

026schools just calm down this is what federal law says about Affinity any transfer to minor under the ages of 16 including over the Internet is punishable under federal law I counted 33 obscene books in Heartland High School library in the year 2022. I also have photos of these books God's rainbow was a covenant to never Flow the Earth again the seven colors in the rainbow represents Divine completion fullness for us and Perfection the lgbtq rainbow third colors represents mankind the flesh sin bondage and Satan congratulations to the groomers pedophiles appropriate to keep pushing the sick twisted sexual version crap answer kids within the schools do any of you do your research before promoting the satana crap onto our kids there radical left keeps shoving tolerance down everyone's throats Jesus said in Mark 9 42 well

027whoever causes one of these little ones who believes in need to stumble it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he was thrown into the sea Isaiah 5 says well for those who call evil good and good evil you think you're loving people well well you have to turn it back on God's word to affirm their sin the greatest commandment of gods is love God first love people second but you're seeing this affirmation that comes from the affirmation because people have replaced their pets with tolerance nowhere in the Bible does it tell you to tolerate sin tolerance is a virtue in fact Revelation chapter two he had to tolerated this woman Jezebel who takes my people to such perversion the Bible says not to tolerate sexual sin anywhere

028you seek tolerance preach you will see sexual Persians celebrate 31 000 scriptures do not firm homosexuality you want scripture that affirms homosexual and practice goes your Holy Bible no about the Satanic Bible reference at the reference that will prove your sexual desire we have two lives underneath life and an afterlife absence of the body you're in the presence of the god getting judged trying to intercept the heaven or hell for God bless you all next up we have Laurie oh that's good hi I just wanted to say um the last board meeting in June I waited to happen before we talked to a couple of little board members which was shown when Glenn seemed to get a lot all the time so I went to approach him and um ended up he had called me

029a liar on both right up to the meeting I called in a wooden hammer and it's called the gavel but I called it a wooden hammer she came up and smacked it down on there and told me to stop when I was talking to Cindy but Cindy gave me permission to talk to her and I looked at her and I said you have no idea over me these people do not allow you to talk to them when I go to confront them they totally walk away when I tried to go up there they'll just run right out the door but when even gray and Michelle will stay behind and at least talk to the people well the last time I was here so I had confronted Chris about what happened and I said Chris excuse

030me I don't know what you're saying no no uh someone I'm doing this someone on Zoom is talking so Lori just have a whole per second foreign thank you next up we have Jeff Scott foreign good evening as most you know I spent the last several months researching student safety and District transparency one disturbing Trend I quickly identified was that criminal incidents in the schools were not being reported to the Michigan State Police or to the board of directors of the trustees as required by Michigan law Michigan law requires all potential crimes in schools to be immediately reported to Michigan State Police failing to do so jeopardizes State funding I submitted a series of foia requests to see what was actually being done as you remember Mr Hughes tried to charge me a thousand dollars

031on one of my foia requests to print out a couple emails an obvious attempt to shut me down it didn't work I was finally able to submit a subsequent foia request for these reports and after being publicly embarrassed by the thousand dollar charge the district reduced it to about 70 bucks I paid for the foia request on the morning of July 5th of this year guess when the district submitted all their Michigan State Police reports the afternoon of July 5th and the morning of July 6th the administration waited until I actually paid for the foia requests to do their job and what's required by Michigan law as part of that investigation I came across allegations of sexual impropriety between a district employee and a student which was very disturbing but what was even more disturbing

032was that Mr Hughes and Mr Van Epps decided to play detective before submitting the criminal allegation to law enforcement that's right they spent two days doing their own interviews and even notified the employee of the allegations before contacting police I want to be extremely clear with what I'm about to say neither of you have any authority to conduct criminal investigations furthermore there is not a there is not a parent in this room or in this District that trusts you to investigate allegations of sexual impropriety against their students by one of your employees I'm no attorney but I would venture to guess you have violated multiple state and federal mandatory reporting laws speaking of not being an attorney when I submitted my Freedom of Information Act requests for the communication between detective Hughes and detective Van

033Epps I received highly redacted emails I questioned why all the information has been redacted I was told because of attorney-client privilege so I guess I'd like to know which of you two detectives he's also an attorney because there is there is no such thing as superintendent privilege you are both employees of this District your public employees and your communication is subject to review by the taxpayers this is just another way that you try to hide your actions I urge the board to keep these actions in mind as you eventually discuss Mr Hughes contract extension thank you thank you I'd like to thank the board for the decision to hire the Fortis group to protect our students and staff on May 8 2023 Julio Sashi came before this board making a serious claim as a victim

034of hate crime she managed to spread her lies through various types of media creating stories that reflect poorly on our district and our community law enforcement agencies made their conclusions that there was no evidence of hate crime a month before she spoke to you she lied about being an HCS teacher she lied about her husband being black two separate officers she lied about the swastika being on her property she along with others from Livingston Integrity marched into Mr Hughes office and demanded a FERPA violation investigation which caused this District yes a person that lies in a police report a non-livingston County resident let that resonate what is fascinating is that the Integrity group has openly supported Mr Costa and Mrs Shaw for reelection they have not denied affiliation with this group and it is very

035clear that they have supported it so is it proper for two board members to support a group that spews lies and is headed by members from outside the district the Livingston Integrity group has also continued to trash me in my reputation still to this day amber fry was quoted as stating she took a six-week paid vacation many members of this Integrity group including Casey Hilton were calling for my job stating she should be fired before any investigation was conducted people from outside our district thirty thousand dollars zero violations to this day many in this District are sympathetic to these groups including the Heartland schools parents Group which supposedly supports HCS but allows lies in innuendo to spread I have worked with many of you in many various situations over my 17 years I have volunteered

036for the PTO I was instrumental with my husband for HP 4K bringing programs to the entire District worked with Lawrence Tech to offer the first summer robotics camp to HCS coach Science Olympiad for two years when a teacher could not I was a reaching higher mentor along with other volunteer efforts what have these Liars done for our district I am shocked that these types of individuals come into our district cost us thousands spread division our proven liars and you allow them to further influence our district what say you next up I have Jace Arledge it's a long walk good evening um well you said my name but I wanted to tell you that uh I'm the bearded lady Trans Bus Driver from Fowlerville let me give you a little background about myself I'm a retired

037history government economics world history teacher with a master's degree in history and curriculum and instruction I taught grades seven through nine in South Carolina and 9th through 12th in Detroit where I was also the history department head I attended Sacred Heart Seminary have a degree in theological studies was a youth Minister for the Earth Archdiocese of Detroit for five years and then I was the CE director for First Presbyterian of Howell and the Presbytery of Detroit until coven why am I telling you this I want you to understand that I am not an uneducated person I research I form views and opinions by hearing both sides and doing my homework many parents speak about teachers need to teach read and write an arithmetic we will teach our kids at home the other stuff I can

038agree what I don't agree with though is if the things being posted on social media is what is being taught one can see why kids act the way they do there is no way to stop the bullying or harassment if our kids see us do the same thing it's the pot calling the kettle black I have reached out to a few of you here to ask to sit down and have conversation only one person ever responded but they never followed through I requested these meetings because it is important if we are to understand we need to be understood this is the beauty of creation we aren't all alike and that is what makes the world turn it's unfortunate that we can't come together for the common good instead of individual gratification I will State for

039the record I don't talk excuse my language about people from behind the keyboard or on a podcast if I have something to say to you I will speak to you face to face let's hope that I get the same respect in return in conclusion if you want to know something about me or truths about what actually happens when someone transitions contact me just like none of you like to have misinformation spread about you I and others like me don't appreciate it either I thank you so much for this opportunity to speak thank you very much folks next I have a Sally frog shaper and back at the public speaking not my favorite but I'm Sally crook Schaefer I have a mom of three students who've gone through Heartland from preschool through graduation I'm in the

040home stretch right now um I appreciate the support and the knowledge and the care that the teachers and all of the staff have shown to my kids they have grown into capable compassionate adults who are able to use their moral compass to guide them and their knowledge to find their paths and lives and that's what they're doing they're moving forward because of the things they learned here of course I was their primary teacher but I trust Heartland schools and they've done a beautiful job with all of my girls um I appreciate the time and concern of the board members I know you guys put a ton of work into this I especially love it when you can have a mature discussion without being defensive or yelling or name calling because those aren't the kind of

041things I want my kids to go forward with there's always a way to talk about it um even if we don't agree um we are more alike than different that is the one thing that I think we're not realizing I want a safe school I want my kids educated to be able to go and follow their dreams and that's pretty much it that's that's what I want so in closing um I support Heartland schools and their teachers and the the quieter voices in this room are still voices in this room it's not just the loud ones next I have Dawn Smith okay I'll try to keep this short I could talk about this for a long time because it annoys me a lot um I want to talk about the Dei goals that I saw

042in the handout per day today for 2023 first of all people might not realize because they have tunnel vision that Dei is not something that everybody believes in Dei is a partisan ideology and schools should be balanced in instruction and not used for indoctrination by the political party that's currently in power I'm especially concerned about a couple of bullet points that I saw on the PowerPoint slide bullet number four talks about we Endeavor to diversify HCS with high quality staff does it mean that we're going to look at racial issues for hiring and promotion it seems like the Supreme Court just shot that down for colleges so we want to use this in hiring another thing that I was especially concerned about was bullet number six student and staff training regarding bullying including the differences

043when it involves someone from a protected class what is the definition of a protected class isn't everybody who's a student protected why do we have to single people out isn't that a form of discrimination I want to keep this short so I'm just going to conclude with a quote from from a mesh taker who's the former assistant Secretary General of the United Nations it is not the mission of public policy to produce equality of outcome when human beings are inherently unequal in talents skills aptitude and application when public policy shifts from equal opportunity to equality of outcomes individual and national interests are subordinated to the claims of special interest groups thank you foreign thank you for letting me speak in 64 A.D Nero burned Rome in order to rebuild but placed the blame on Christians

044sounds a lot like Progressive Democrats in their controlled cities around this nation and we've seen it on the news so we can't deny that history does repeat itself until we learn the lesson which we never will until Jesus comes back but there is a solution accepting the gift the gift is Jesus God incarnate and humbly born in a major we all know what Christmas is a Christmas story Jesus our righteousness because we are not righteous ourselves we are not good our goodness is as filthy rags and his example in his Earthly walk Jesus our Salvation from Eternal punishment you can believe it or you don't have to and I would believe it just in case by taking our debt that we deserve it and Jesus our eternal life he's the one who gives eternal life

045Jesus our lord King and judge if this is a poem if and when we lose our freedom as a nation great and Grand and we find ourselves in bondage to some foreign Foe and land it will be because our preachers compromise God's blessed truth and because our modern churches failed to warn and win the youth when we fail as gospel preachers to rebuke a nation's sin and reveal the plans of schemers that come creeping slyly in we can't hope to stand as Guiltless when we meet God at his throne the judgment and be crowned with Saints and sages whom he welcomes as his own plans are being formulated by the foes of Gospel Light who despise our flag and freedom and the principles of right to destroy our schools and churches and our constant Constitution

046great and to bring a soul and body to some Dreadful end and fate if and when we lose our freedom sad o sad will be the day though we call on God for Mercy it will be too late to pray then don't sell to Godless people who would rule our nation wrong Freedom which Our God has given for a vote or for a song this was written by Walter Eisenhower in 1916. but doesn't it sound like today history does repeat itself thank you very much all right next we have Ella nicotin hello I want to say that I am very I want to talk about art because I am very very disappointed with the agenda that is being pushed in our class when I was a child when I was at school we learned an

047art class that there was seven colors and that God created seven colors and that these are the seven colors and now I'm learning that they're coming up with these new made-up colors that don't exist and if they're telling us that they're real colors for example the HTML specifications has 163 different colors which is absolutely ridiculous um you know the the other day a kid came up to me and handed me this beautiful beautiful green plushie and he's helped me what do you think of my beautiful chartreuse plushie and I was absolutely floored because like what the heck is a chartreuse I had never heard of a chartreuse before like can someone please explain to me what that is that's not a real color someone just made up a word and said that that's a color

048and now we're being asked to be believe in these made up colors and they're being taught to us in art class and it's absolutely ridiculous anyways in all seriousness I just wanted to say the very same people or the same group of people that is accusing Julio hashia being an outsider also accused me of being an outsider they said that I don't live in Livingston County they said that I was bussed in and that I was hired in to cause agitation I have lived in Livingston County since 2005. you and you can attest to that and I I don't know I don't like having these lies being spread about where I live I am not an outsider I am from here I went to school here I live here thank you next we have Karen

049Fox good evening first I wanted wanted to congratulate the five new security officers to our school district I'm beyond thrilled to have them here to serve and protect our bundles of Joy our children their safety is number one so I wanted to welcome them second I wanted to express my displeasure of a few staff members a current sitting board member who blatantly showed their rebellion of the recently approved policy 8805 as their actions displayed by wearing their rainbow gear clothing and selected accessories to their first day back to school on Monday August 14th these types of behaviors are exactly what cause an unwelcome uh unwelcome division in our community and they they did it knowingly and regardless shame on them our children would have suffered punishment if they had worn an American flag or a

050trump t-shirt to a football game remember that that one not too far back because I do it was shameful rules for thee but not for me next I wanted to address the Livingston County Commissioner West Necker nakagari's recent published report on an incident that was discussed here in this boardroom back on May 8th if you go back and watch at one hour 37 minutes and 55 seconds Mark a nice non-livingston County resident even though she said she claimed to be born and raised in Livingston County her father's residence resides in Oakland County not within the Heartland School District she spoke about how she found a swastika symbol spray painted on a tree outside the outskirts of her property if you recall during the call to public Miss oh how she claimed that the FBI was

051investigating this incident as a hate prank she also told the police that her husband was black which he is not she was the one who reached out to the FBI when her police investigation and final report did not get the results she so desired the FBI and the Oakland County Sheriff's Office concluded their investigations they found no evidence of a hate crank due to Mr nakagari's spoil request he obtained the full police report body cam footage and found that these applications made by Ms ohashi were Falls I encourage you all to read Mr nakagari's final report please listen to the body cam footage and read the police report in its entirety the only hate crime committed here was Miss ohashi's crime against our free truly elected new board members she named on May 8th here

052in this room who she often refers to as that each sleep on her Facebook group Livingston integrity and stand against extremism she also claimed on that day that the clean State members do not support our kids or their education again another falsehood let me be clear Clean Slate is the majority in this small time just refer back to those tallies back in November of 2020 which thankfully is why we have the three new board members here today she spoke for three minutes and 30 seconds without any Interruption by Mr Casa to wrap it up I must admit or have to ask Mr Costa did you allow her to speak for three minutes in 30 seconds because she's actively endorsing and promoting only you and Miss Shaw only two currents only two current board members sitting

053up here today are being supported and endorsed by this divisive misleading and very political organization thank you good evening thanks for having me speak today this is an exciting time a new school year with new hopes and possibilities I'm a former student and now my child is a student at the high school there is a dark cloud rolling over my pride in our district as I watch what's unfolding in our community and on our school board I knew the tides were turning leading up to the school board election it was clear to me that some of the candidates were running with the wrong intentions many of us saw right through your campaigns were not fools these particular potential members were running for political reasons with social issues at the Forefront they wanted to make Heartland

054schools to pit their agenda not what was in the best interests of the staff and the student body as a whole I see some of the ignorant and hateful posts littering your social media feed and I cannot believe you have been given the ability to make decisions on the behalf of our schools so you were aware the environment you wish to see enforced will not become a reality people are too different and diverse to conform to your world the moment I really my attention was sparked and made me understand that something was amiss was when I showed up to the polls to vote for the school bond I saw signs with suggestions of left-wing agenda tied to the yes vote and other signs stating that boys shouldn't be allowed on girls sports teams I couldn't

055begin to understand how any of that had to do with what I was there to vote for especially after we saw today what good that money has done for our schools after a rather bizarre discussion with someone who was urging a no vote I went home feeling angry and baffled her mission was a total smoke screen a complete distraction to those who agree with her social views it was time for me to truly understand what was going on in our district I'm aware now of the movement that some of the board members and citizens are giving gas to I'm confident that this may not go over as well as you may think it will I urge you to stop alienating vulnerable groups and fighting over harmless stickers I urge you to keep your hands off

056books every book has the ability to touch someone teach them something or open their eyes to a bigger world please do not get in the way of that I urge you to promote real and truthful teachings of current events and past histories not yours your version the version the school board is in place to assure that decisions are made that will keep students and staff safe and supported in their person emotionally and educationally the school's goal is to prepare the students to thrive in whatever path they may take and to understand the world Beyond themselves these kids need to be able to participate in a society that works together not fights each other some of the behaviors I've read seen and witnessed among board members and parents is setting a poor example for the Youth

057in our community if you know anything about kids they're always watching and always listening so where do we go from here with all the conflict we go to the students and staff who run these Halls daily we should be asking them questions and listening to their answers and suggestions we should not be responding to the members of our community adults and the last that are bullying each other the students and staff of these schools as much as you'd like to believe that Heartland schools are your Schools they're not they're not yours Yep they're not yours or mine they're our children's schools their reality struggles and possibilities are different than ours were and are so my wish that we can all act together for a more peaceful and productive year thank you I think next we

058have Mike O'Boyle good evening good evening promise not to yell at you I'd like to address the board about this actions made by Julie ohashi we here in Livingston County know who she is we know she's a liar we know she lied about her husband being black she lied about being a teacher in Heartland she lied about living in Livingston County which is not true she lied to the Oakland Sheriff's Office which is a crime she lied to the FBI which is also a crime really the FBI she's a liar and a fraud and so is Livingston integrity they're good people that live in this community and they don't need the likes of her or Livingston integrity and I want to ask something to the good people in Heartland to stand up against people like

059this otherwise they'll be teaching your kids one day thank you next I have Jamie Peterson hello I am a mother of three high school students uh my daughter was involved in the shooting incident or the threat of the shooting incident that happened at Orr Creek uh I'm extremely upset disappointed and angry with how that was handled um the students did the right thing this student in a classroom threatened to shoot up the school told my daughter and two other students do not come to school on Tuesday I'm going to shoot the school up and I'm going to be bringing a gun to school every day after this point the students did the right thing they talked to their teacher they talked to their principal and the child was her the phone call from the principal

060that I received removed from the situation safely however uh he was held in the office as the students were ushered one by one in to give reports and statements as to how this unfolded this child was glaring through a glass at the students so he's aware of who made these uh who tattled uh fast forward to this year this student is now currently in Heartland High School in my daughter's twins classroom uh my daughter has anxiety about going to school this child knows who she is um if this child were to act out she feels that she would definitely be targeted because the student is aware of her aware of uh her telling on him I'm disgusted that she's even put in the situation uh we we preach and we put signs up and we

061tell kids it's okay to say see something say something and they do it and what we do with that information is Cuddle it for a minute and then re-induce a threat into their schools so that they do not feel safe children are not going to say something if nothing comes of it and people who are having thoughts of threatening the school are not going to voice it to anybody if they know it gets stopped and then they're reintroduced to act on that threat without seeing anything so there's no warning next time because he's this person has learned their lesson they're not going to speak out they're just going to act um I I cannot for the life of me understand how this student ended up back in the public setting um I'm extremely upset by

062this and there's other ways that the student can be educated that does not allow him access to thousands of students and teachers it can be safe for everybody I'm disappointed that in the due diligence and the investigation into this situation nobody reached out to the family members of the students that were directly threatened nobody talked to the students that were directly threatened nobody asked what our opinions were or how we felt about this child being put back into the system yet now he's back in the system um I'm asking the school board should you write by everybody and remove this threat from the school system it's wrong it goes against everything that you tell students it goes against everything um that you should have in you to provide a safe environment for my children thank

063you next I have pride so I had a speech prepared tonight but uh I guess I'm gonna throw that away because I'm gonna have to spend my time defending us yawn all right so all these allegations that Julio Hashi is now from Livingston County she has a graduate of Howell High School lived in Howell all of those years she just happened to move away for a little while the house or family currently lives in was her grandparents and it's kind of funny to me because everybody wanted to defend Brooke because she lived in Sherwood and she was right on the boundary line so she got to come because it was school of choice but Julie's the exact same situation she lives in the exact same neighborhood as uh George scandi and uh oh let's see

064who else is in there Wes nakagiri you know does that make them not Livingston County people you know boundaries are kind of weird especially in like neighborhoods so let's also talk about this tree huh let's talk about all of this right she never once said she was a Heartland teacher she said she was a teacher she said that she thought it or the threat was coming from Heartland the report from the officer saying that she said was she was a Heartland teacher was his supposition and not actually what was said yes she did refer to her husband as being black but that's because she was scared for her family and the officer was not taking her seriously and if you've met James you know that he is darker than most black people that I know

065so you know what I don't want to hear you guys hey you know what can you please address us so and everyone just Bieber told me so and also Angeline's part too she wants to say that outside people came in for a meeting with Chuck well as Chuck knows I recorded that meeting and I have Pro of proof that I never asked for her job I in fact quoted the movie Office Space and asked her to be moved to the basement across the hall from the boxes I actually asked her not to be fired and that I would feel sorry for her if she lost her job over her husband quit giggling Glenn we see be serious come on so with all of the online harassment I've been dealing with and um you know a

066lot of these people that are acting like ostriches and putting their heads in the sand and saying no no racism ever happens in Livingston County and people don't get harassed I graduated from pygmy I used to pick up fluorescent pieces of paper off the floor every day that had the phone number for the racist joke hotline on it half of my senior Sports graduating class drove red pickup trucks with Confederate flags hanging off the back of it I remember when they spray painted the word Knitter on Joanna toes Locker she was Indian what this is all truth this is all truth you're saying that this stuff doesn't exist around here and I know that it's existed this entire time and people need to start either owning up to it and acting better yeah I was

067the next person oh no I was told to sit down okay stop come on no you gotta go thank you foreign next up we have Alex yarber I am speaking to express my dismay and disapproval of board actions being taken to consider renewing superintendent use contract for another five-year term this is an egregious concession at the expense of the taxpayer he has not proven that he deserves it and he is in the process for conducting the evaluation for use in assessing his performances a gross disenfranchisement of board members who do not caucus the majority in more than 30 years of business experience I have never seen an executive's contract be extended five years into the future when only 20 percent of the original term has been executed don't the taxpayers deserve to see what the

068next 36 24 or even just the next 12 months brings in the terms of the quality of leadership of Heartland schools whether or not his performance even warrants any extension of his contract as a totally separate matter Mr Garber can you just pause for a second I'll most definitely give you your 10 back all right go ahead Mr Grabber I apologize all right it was for a good reason whether or not his performance even warrants an extension of his contract as a totally separate matter in an amazing display of irony at the last board meeting he complained about not knowing how he was going to implement a new board policy one which was about simply removing all but a specified number of sticker spanners and flags from a taxpayer perspective there is no evidence of

069any extraordinary performance above and beyond what is normally expected of this position and what I recall in just the last six or nine months the district has been named a defendant in at least two serious cases involving civil rights and lawful termination of employment and after what we heard tonight I wouldn't be surprised if there was more the best evidence that Mr Hughes does not deserve a contract reset is that he contributed to Lasting division within the community when he botched the handling of a community complaint about a board member who was simply exercising free speech on a local podcast handled this like an amateur in addition to costing taxpayers thirty thousand dollars for a frivolous investigation Mr Hughes defamed the board member in a very public manner by misquoting the board member but he

070only conceded that the investigation was fruitless in a one sentence paragraph period in the middle of the shortest weekly update letter ever no public apology for dragging the board member and his wife through the mud that's low class an Unbecoming of a high performing executive and I look forward to the board's discussion on this matter that horse a good evening board on Scott Horst I'm the proud father and a senior at Arlington High School and two recent graduates also attended at least 10 years straight of football games and I wanted to thank the administration for descending what I perceive to be kind of a wrong and premature program that the athletic department was considering called the Council of Champions or chairs of Champions and was would have set a different tiered pricing rate to sit

071at football games and watch I think all in their own way whether they're Palm athletes band kids or just that kids in general looking for a good Friday night that the family's coming to watch all the vet shouldn't be placed into tears uh of different different amounts so I do want to thank the administration for quickly uh addressing that uh early Mistake by sending it and if it was done for budgetary reasons I would ask that the administration look for other ways to raise that revenue and not separate the families and the students that do come to enjoy those events thank you very much the public item one G word reports and requests Mr casa um I appreciate her on the thankful that we're coming out or anyone who spoke I think it's great that

072we have such a community that is involved and clears about our kids um I do I just want to read one thing I just wrote um down and I guess part of that and it was already mentioned to the football game uh super exciting this Thursday I know it's gonna be super hot but I look forward to seeing that out there on our wheelchair um with that said I just want to state that I continue to stand by the belief that is important to respect and inherent Dignity of every human is to be accomplished by creating an environment that is safe and welcoming which everyone feels represented I will not waiver labor to create a school culture that supports a diverse Equitable and inclusive educational activity that's it thank you Mr Costa Mr Keller and

073I connect all right well thanks Megan uh first of all I just want to welcome everybody back to school I got the glowing and reviews from my daughter said everything positive she's already gonna read reviews about her new teachers and I just personally want to thank all the staff for all of your efforts to make it a successful start of school so congratulations to everyone involved uh next thing I want to talk about is uh something that I mentioned in the previous board meeting regarding an effort to try to uh improve the board admin relationship Dynamics and so having some conversations with Megan uh we were able to I guess put some Wheels on the Bus pun intended and get a task force adopted and so essentially what this task force will do is we

074take one board member and one principal and we'll pair them up in the entire year and the intent is to have sitcoms with each other it doesn't have to be at the school I think kind of laid out some framework which hopefully everyone received in an email but again the attendants that have a kind of a positive relationship with with you and um I think you know the intent with six-year terms on the board will try to have a different School each year so everybody should get most schools and if you're fortunate enough to get to schools then maybe by the time you're through a six-year term you can you can have been paired with each School want to get some periodic check-ins to kind of get feedback from both sides whether it's working for

075the admin and it's also working for the board so want to do like a 90-day pulse check on that yeah and I think that's probably it for that so the guy you know if anybody has any questions on the board or on the admin team please don't hesitate to reach out to me the the safe space stickers I just wanted to make a just a quick comment I want to thank the board for coming up with a new design to replace the some of the previous ones that was something that was was needed based on some concerns folks had with with stickers so hopefully we have something that will work for everyone I think the important thing is that it applies to every Eagle staff and students so a slightly less positive here I guess

076I have some concerns um with some of the call the public that was touched on today is specific with the siege group I do appreciate the hard work that commissioner nakagiri did and to try and unearth you know anytime there's a story right we need to hear both sides of it and so he I guess took it by himself to kind of dig into some of these claims of racism from folks that may or may not live in this community and that they're allegedly leading an organization so I would hope that they would kind of get those facts in order first I think it's extremely disappointing for someone to try and paint anybody in this room you know in a racist light without having our own facts and so I hope this kind of serves

077everybody you know we need to make sure that we know the full story before we're passing judgment and then because I'm just happy overall that it there was some Vindication I guess I personally felt um as though it needed to come out because there were some insinuations that folks that maybe voted for me and others that ran with me that we somehow had something to do with a Despicable act like that so I'm glad to see that the truth has come out on that particular issue and then the last thing I want to talk about is that I am aware that a member of the board took an opportunity to publicly support a social cause while on school property the attire he was wearing as upset parents and staff in the district clearly it is

078my opinion that he did not think through the possible negative consequences or impacts this would have on our educational community so to be Clarity he does not speak for the board as a whole and then lastly I want to just say to everyone that I I want to reinforce my commitment to the safety of everyone in this room your kids your grandkids the staff the teachers being part of the the health and safety committee is something that I hold in very high regard and so I'm going to continue to pursue all areas where we may you know just get a little bit better with safety we're just going to keep kind of moving that forward into positive light so that's that's my commitment to all of you thank you I don't think I've read for

079like an hour okay so um I want to welcome everybody back the students of the faculty and I'm glad this one this week went well I know it was a lot of work um you know as far as the Mr Marino talking about the renovations and everything that everybody's done I had a bathroom renovation it's taken four months like I can't imagine what it's like to do the level of work that everybody has put into these districts into the school district and how how much work has gone into that so we appreciate it we do see that I can't imagine so um and also I'm super excited about Mike zielinski and thank you to the hea for allowing uh Mr Hughes and team to you know uh Fast Track him because it was so important

080not only did we do the bathroom Renovations really hard to find somebody to do it and so you know we know that trades is suffering um I hesitate to say that a lot of the Tradesmen um you know we're not practicing uh mentorship or you know teaching people they were just working because there was a lot of business and you know they were they just wanted more runs work than than to teach somebody to take their spot and Mr zolinsky stepping up really says a lot about his character that he knows how important it is as well and I wish him all the log in if he needs any support at all you know contact me because you know I've Got Friends that also want to help so there's that um I also I want

081to um talk about we had a diversity equity and inclusion committee meeting so um racism in any form is wrong we all believe that wholeheartedly for the record I am not in support of having a Dei committee I request to be part of this Committee in an effort to steer the committee away from discrimination against students which Canon does result from Dei committee's objectives being left unchecked or implemented without verifying how it impacts all students but a very good discussion Mr Hughes provided us with DEA goals for the school year the list is thorough and the objective is clear but there are no first fifth or 14th constitutional Protections in place so I'll be asking for more information and I'll keep the board informed I'm all glad that Mr Hughes sent out a letter that

082parents inviting them of much reports that are given the Department of Justice to see how their child might end up on the list I strongly suggest that parents pay attention and is captured as it is captured in the Dei committee meeting notes the line item says the doj wants more focus on race in the upcoming year so you know we need parents to pay attention um we did get some we did get some uh um requests to understand or well they weren't requests they were complaints about Mr Casper's attire they all right we can't point out um Roberts was an order you can um find out an individual number okay I apologize um we did get some complaints about a board member wearing a comment Rainbow on a shirt I can't answer any of the

083questions I don't I can't I apologize I can't provide you with any details of that if you have questions please ask the individual that you had a problem with um we voted to remove the rainbows not as a means to to not support a community of kids but we did it because we understand that there are all kinds of kids in this statistic that need protection and help so I'm really glad that the majority of the board understood that and that we we went with that um the other reason that we did that is because you know teachers aren't trained or you know it's not within the law of the them discussing sexuality with students outside of the Set Side plans because a parent needs to sign off on it you know so this could

084result in lawsuits and we kind of want to take that burden off of them as well um you know uh finally the other thing I want to address which is controversial is the what's nappy Gary's reporter Julia and this was because she claimed was a result of her involvement with the millage I want to thank the police and the FBI for the six visits they had with Mrs ohashi they were very thorough in their investigation very clear with their findings I am bringing this up because it is very personal as it should be for any Heartland residents as you may know Mrs ohashi sorry did it again and then no I can do that this individual apologize to this individual spoken our May 8th board meeting and told the sympathetic audience a tall tale and

085she was born and raised in Livingston County she may have been but according to her and where she lives now she doesn't live in Livingston County um she claims that she was a parent of Heartland student which um I confirmed she's not then went on to State better involvement with the village vote that she claims that none of us supported which is that is not true um we never said we didn't support the millage we said that we had our rights to our vote to keep it private that's all we said and we do have the right to keep our vote private but we also said in passing in several meetings that we support the village because we know how important that money is for the students so um there's other things um she claimed

086that I uh that I support conversion therapy I've never ever talked about conversion therapy she brought something up and I think that you know versus a child um um mutilating their body maybe they should go and pray because she said should they go to church I answered her question um so she quits to my word so that's why it's personal um she went on to say that her cohorts were docs to rent and that they were all threatened all because she cares and she will take the arrows for the cons um in Her speech she did allude to the fact that Glenn Gregg and I were part of this so and she was essentially blaming us I take it very personally um she's trying to dispirish Heartland so thankfully Wes who lives in Heartland it

087did his due diligence and choir acquired the police report body cam footage and the police reports and what he found he shared on his website you can go and see it what's not be here um he doesn't provide any any uh opinion he just allows you to make your own judgment and the final determination of the police report was there was no evidence that this person was a victim of a hate crime I deserve an apology everybody deserves an apology because she was not a victim um I might have Let It Go however you will see the case was closed for two days after she came to the board meeting so she knows she knows that after the sixth uh visit that it was not true so she did not stop there she went to

088the newspapers and local news channels and gave them her story in a recorded video where she continued to claim that she was a victim of Heartland extremists she said that she knows there's white supremities and all this other stuff about Heartland meanwhile at that time the case was closed [Music] this aired on Fox News I was going to play it for you but I would like you to go on in and watch it for yourself so that you can see and please keep in mind the FBI met with her and the FBI and police met with our combined six times and they closed the case with no evidence of a hate crime a month before she put out the statements could have been three weeks Sarah I'm bringing this to communities attention because not only

089did she allude to the fact that myself Reagan Glenn had something to do with this false flag but she's implicating Heartland Community in her story I for one am furious that she has known for several months that this case was quote without any evidence and yet she continues to tell the story as if it is real in fact I went back to listen to Her speech and she outright lies in her very first sentence she has created a fictional life to propel her very uncompatial unpabular agenda of turning Heartland Blue by slandering online about board members in an effort to destroy a wonderful Community I have lived here for 22 years I love my community and she's trying to destroy what I love so I see so I watched pursue legal remedy for slander and

090definition of character for myself and the other board members she planned as well as the community to keep tarnished with our lives because we are the Protectors of this community and we are the ones that she brought this to origin originally and um yes of course every Community has races I denounced it from my first sentence we do not agree we want this this community to um to understand that you know it's not right however uh the level that she took it to and how she has portrayed Heartland Community is disgusting and I want I want to see if we can take legal action again thank you thank you yeah thank you Mickey um just to start off with um there there is this opening week excitement um for the new Academic Year that it's

091kind of hard to even more it's uh kind of exciting to see the new year start out we had such a great year last year academically with sports all kinds of things and I think that that trend is going to continue and it's really exciting to see that also Greg um came up with this idea of having more or less Liaisons for every school with board members I had um the uh ability to chat with Mr James Fitzgerald of the high school and I was very impressed by his enthusiasm and his um excitement for the job and I was very happy with our meeting it was a great meeting and I hope to have more productive ones like that in the future thank you for your time um moving on all of us I think

092all of us or most of us on this border have had tons of emails and messages and private phone calls regarding a couple of topics that were brought up in the call to public the first one is this perceived Zero Tolerance policy that people think that we have um for certain behaviors and what I don't when I'm unable to explain to people that asked me about the incident that happened I don't have a good answer for how this individual can be still in our system after threats not once but twice and I I have no good good explanation for it and I hope someone tonight can explain that to the community and to the board members um because I simply don't have a a good reason for it um next just a word about Livingston

093Integrity in the sage group from what commissioner nakagiri's report found with videotape and police reports and videos that were given to the media if anyone here in administration or uh in the schools align themselves at that group you may want to rethink your strategy you saw from tonight what one of their members are capable of another one the irreparable harm to this community by implicating it in a fake hate crime so think about that next when the board changes policies and we know that we are going to get a certain level of pushback we understand that some people will be happy some people will be upset but the bottom line is is that the board as a whole must work to help Implement that change to have a board member vibrantly take a stance on

094a policy that was approved is appalling and I am blown away that somebody could wear gear that was a direct violation of that policy and I will call by it I really am and I think there should be some action taken on that um next we uh we had a subject come up of the contract for the superintendent now I was earlier this month under the impression that we were going to talk about that and um maybe make a a no vote on it or something to that that matter but it wasn't even on the agenda and I don't know what's going on with that and I'd like maybe somebody up here to explain um what's going to be done with that subject because we just let it float from last month to this month

095and um nothing was said about it and the last thing too I really appreciate any new employees in this District we all know that um The Filling teacher jobs is called White and shorts quite a tasks I have brought all of you that were selected by staff to become Heartland Eagles the one thing that I want the Personnel committee to kind of investigate is sort of this um exercise of approving new hires when we don't really find out how new hires are until the meeting and I'd like to see something change with that but essentially that's all I have to bring this evening and I think all right thank you um I will just do my monthly reminder about the Heartland artwork that's coming to artland to Heartland um we are still accepting students artwork

096we have received a lot of community artwork but we really want our students to participate in this so it is open for another couple weeks go to heartlandliving.com all the information is there I think some principals have sent it out it's fun industry huge weekly update it is a partners of progress um event so it's the township the school district the library and um humanism it's the four Partners in progress right Chamber of Commerce we're all putting this on together um so looking forward to a great event September 23rd is kickoff in Settlers Park um I also want to welcome everyone back and say thank you for all that you do to prepare for our students to come into the building the care that you give them once they're there um we know it's long

097hours you know long days but I appreciate all that you do teachers have custodians everyone I know um it's not something I could do but thank you so much for being there and for doing what you do um last shout out I'm gonna give to the band I know I was kind of a topic with me but uh thank you to the community Saturday we had a fantastic fundraiser for the band at Grandma the car wash um it's always fun to be an observer when you're watching dozens and dozens of high school kids with water and soap what may come up with um so that was a lot of fun thank you for the support and I know Mr loudly I don't think he's here but special shout out to him for continuing to make

098marching band and band class being a welcoming environment for all students everyone that comes into his um family is um welcome and part of the family regardless of who they are what they are or their musical ability so thank you Mr Langley look at the coin um I'll echo my fellow board members and thanking the staff and the administration for all the hard work that you put in to make the start of the year as smooth as possible we all truly appreciate that I hope that you're all able to recharge a little bit over the weekend I know my kids were wiped out on Friday and needed the time so hopefully you guys all were able to recharge um I just wanted to address something that was brought up in last month's meeting my email

099address my Heartland school email address is quite often misspelled by my colleagues here on at the table and also by people in the community um I I don't think my name is too unusually spelled but apparently it's pretty common so what we've done to rectify the situation so that I'm sure to receive all emails is Mr Usher has helped to create an alias an email Alias with the most common misspelling of my name and it will be full supported to me so that I will now receive all emails even if it's misspelled so hopefully that will alleviate that issue but if you do want to email someone on the board I just urge you to use the you to click the link that's on the website or just copy and paste the email that pops

100up so that you don't have to try to retype it and misspell it I'm guilty I'm sorry yeah all right um Glenn with two ends which I have nothing um all right so regarding the agenda um when we motion to approve the agenda I mentioned this that we had to wait for a policy um in the board policy for the agenda it's 166 I think is the number um it actually states that called Republic is item one e so I've been looking at how we can ship things around on the agenda and it might even address some of um Mr gobowleski's concerns about the new hires how we address the new hires how we vote for them in the meeting when we vote for them so I'm looking at a bunch of different options I'm

101actually talking to a couple of board members from neighboring District um I gave Megan a huge brain dump over the weekend which was probably a hot mess to read through so once I circled back with Megan I will connect with all of you guys again with another email following up with what I'm proposing that we do with the agenda going forward and what changes will be required in those policies um so more to come on that soon um and then just a general statement um there's there's a lot of talk about lies and and Miss Truth misunderstandings and all this stuff that everybody has their First Amendment right to speak to communicate as they see fit and I would never stand in the way of any of that but I just want to make sure

102that whatever some of my board members my fellow board members say is not necessarily my opinion and I don't I don't necessarily want you to make the community to make the assumption that we share the same opinions so I'm not going to stand in the way of anybody saying what they want to say but I just ask that that if you want to know my opinion please ask but um don't assume that that the opinions Express loudest are shared by all of us here at the table t thank you right welcome back to school it is um it decided to be full for a little bit now we're back to summer so uh yeah I think it's your appointment that there is working next this week and next um it's a little hot up here

103I don't know if anyone else is sweating um I do want to remind board members that Partners in progress at this Wednesday morning at 10 30 a.m um right here correct um and so for those of you that would like to attend um just for the Public's knowledge I did update committee assignments um and essentially everyone has a pretty equal number of committee assignments um and try to pair folks with committees that they were passionate about impacting um just one example is obviously as Mr Keller is running with the administrative partner program um it made sense for him to be on personnel and so on and so forth there's several examples I'm happy to share that and that will go up on the website I just emailed that to Renee today um so we will

104go move forward with those new committee assignments the second thing I want to address is the safe space bigger um I met with Mr Hughes uh and subsequently sent an email to my fellow board members around the new design at every entrance of our building um this doesn't really need a vote actually um it just means Direction in the board but one thing that was pointed out today um was the clearing concise verbiage around it I know that Glenn had proposed um a verbiage around the welcome of all students um if you get a chance just take a look at that and today I get it everyone was at work but take a look at that and then we can Implement that um implement it at um the entrances of the buildings and so if

105you would like to see it I apologize if it's not part of the packet I will leave it up here um you guys are more than welcome to take a look all right uh moving on to the evaluation tool and contract um so as a member of the public have pointed out uh last support meeting um the 2020 uh to 23 evaluate evaluation tool that was utilized um was that approved by the mde despite it being approved for others in the district and so I have worked over the past several weeks with the mde um with their Chief of Staff their Deputy superintendent the mafb and our legal council um to rectify that um and make sure that we are course corrected moving forward um mde has noted our efforts to course correct moving forward

106um so they have this all documented um it was a really good conversation with them um as was with our legal counsel um and one of my fellow board members was able to sit on that call with me as well um we need to fix it moving forward uh I would say 99 of school districts and certainly the top 10 school districts within our state use the masb tool so for those of you who may or may not be um familiar the mde has two pre-approved tools one being the masb tool and then you can submit a tool if you want for consideration um but given that uh I personally like to Benchmark ourselves against others in the state I am going to recommend that we actually use that Mase tool in addition I am

107going to recommend that we not due to the um the 22-23 evaluation tool um not being approved by the mde we will not I would recommend that we not move forward with the contract extension um due to utilizing a tool that was not approved so although we do have a policy that indicates for years of Highly Effective you technically don't need an evaluation um I think that making sure that everyone's feedback is provided in an appropriate tool is very important for the Integrity of our district moving forward um and so um I will make a motion in a moment um but I feel like that should be the end of my board report I do want to address something really quickly before I make that motion put it on the table for everyone to consider

108um I'm not going to tolerate the craziness it's it's not going to happen it doesn't matter who you are you come here you'd be respectful and we conduct business we conduct a very structured meeting um you can't attack other people it's not going to happen you'll be out um a meeting it's not conducive to getting business done it's not conducive to an environment that anyone wants to participate in um and I have no problems throwing this meeting and recess when we have to um and and taking care of things so I just want to make that very clear uh that we won't be you won't be tolerating that um I will finish my board report um I move that we adopt a recommendation of the utilization of the mafb evaluation tool for the 23-24 school

109year and subsequently not consider contract renewal until the completion of that school year and evaluation support um Mr Acosta um any discussion on that motion hearing none Mr Global SP yes Mrs Sean yes Mrs Coleman Mr Costa yes Mr Kelly yes yes and I obviously meant the motion so I am a yes as well not a problem all right moving on um to item two a payment of invoices I move the Board of Education upon the recommendation of the Chief Financial Officer approves the financial report as of July 31st 2023 and the payment of invoice is totally one million 683 000 and 17.55 the payroll obligation is totaling 3 million 335 577.48 okay motion by Mrs Coleman supported by Mrs Shaw any discussion hearing none Mr Gold Lefty yes Mr Shaw yeah Mr Coleman yes

110Mr Casper yes yes and I'm a yes that motion passes item 2B custodial maintenance Association contract extension I move that a board of education upon the recommendation of the superintendent the Chief Financial Officer approves the custodial maintenance Association contract extension as presented important motion by Mr Acosta supported by Mrs Coleman any discussion chuck would you like to give a quick overview of that please yeah just a quick review um obviously we look at our all of our groups and we were finding that our maintenance team we were losing members um and we weren't replacing them we're putting postings out there and getting old applications so we wanted to make sure that we put their salaries in line with other groups in the district which is what we've done here and it allowed for an extension

111of one extra year um I want to thank Rachel Boyce is not here she has some family issues to deal with um she and Matt Marino worked with the team I met with them originally they then sat down with them and I think in a record time of like 20 minutes we had a deal to move forward and take care of this so we think it's a good deal for the district and certainly a good deal for our maintenance utility team any further discussion going on Mr bowleski yes Mr Shaw yes yes Mr custom yes Mr Keller yes yes all right item three a 2023 24 District goals um Jennifer knowledge of the public uh over the past four to six weeks um each committee has been meeting um and that was in the previous

112committee structure have been needing to review and establish goals um this is how we also um Provide support for an Evidence of effort when we're evaluating the success of the superintendent and so um several of us met several different times in groups less than four obviously only groups of three plus our administrative Partners um and gave feedback tweaked a few um and really tried to make sure that they were relevant to the work that was being done in the district um I don't know if anyone has any comments to make on those they are part of the packet if you'd like to take a look at those and anyone have anything in particular I was just going to mention that um and I emailed about this earlier I'd like to Chuck and maybe to gray

113because I think you were in the building inside me I had a question Chuck was able to answer so that's good but um I Chuck knows this I can't help myself but go through and check for grammar and other errors like that punctuation so I've already got a short list going but I'll send all that over for the final versions um but the changes that I'm that I have aren't anything that would change the intent or the meaning of what's on the page is just awesome part of those um part of those goals was to formulate some structure around our news for research officers and how we would get feedback and um Kate and her new role how she would facilitate on change and structure within that group and so really excited for those um

114gentlemen to be a part of our district and um and you know Provide support into each of our buildings any other comments on District goals one thing I would like the board to consider um just a food for thought is as we look to measure our success from an academic standpoint what does that look like um I think the obviously are a very Premier districts that from an academic standpoint has a ton of success and so as we're looking at what academic success looks like our ability to Benchmark has been hindered a little bit with the stage correct too um but I think that we still get really good information we still see really great improvements from our fall to Spring testing scores and so as you guys are looking through those goals putting a

115little bit of objectivity around that I think is really excellent um because then we know what we're trying to Target obviously in several caveats depending on kind of what happens um or please consider that and provide feedback to the team all right item four eight okay sorry about that mission just kind of uh wait my turn here sorry so on these goals is the intent that at the next board meeting we would officially approve these for the year or is there a continual refining process basically where we potentially add or subtract goals that we initially adopted Mr Hughes can give us Insight that if I recall we view both on them and then if we need to course perhaps mid-year or um because this updates kind of a semester one of you do so um

116and then do so through committee meetings yeah you're right basically the way the process has worked as Megan said you know we worked for four to six weeks to meet with all the Committees go over them uh ask for input I think about a month ago I I sent them all out to the board to say hey if there's anything you want to talk about let us know um I think I sent them out a week ago as well just a reminder Post in the bracket so yes the intent is discussion item action so between now and then you probably need to reach out to Megan or reach out to me or whoever you feel comfortable reaching out to and we'll adjust okay yeah I guess with the new assignments obviously I wasn't part of

117it the Personnel committee and I forget what other one I'm on now but I think it's Finance so anyways just wanted to make sure I understood the deadline to give feedback to you by just thank you for that all right yeah and I'd like to just add something to um a couple weeks ago we had a meeting with the diversity equity and inclusion group um it was a uh it was a good meeting um better much better than I anticipated um but I did raise some questions regarding some of these goals some of these things that we have listed on here and there were some changes made um and I do appreciate that uh I think Mr Hughes you were responsible for the one regarding um our uh hiring demographics and I I appreciated that

118change um I do feel like another board member mentioned earlier that much of this is um done for the sake of appearance um that's at least my interpretation maybe nobody else's but I still have some issues with some of these things but as time goes on we are going to look at these we are going to review them and ensure that uh um we're doing things properly not for making it look like we're some I don't know um anti-racist District um I don't feel we are racist so for some of these items I'd like them Revisited more than once a year and that's all I wanted to say moving on to item 4A Mutual meetings um our next Community is Monday September 18th at 6 30 right here um and by then hopefully it'll be

119a little bit cooler and into fall item 4B informational items but then anyone have anything oh item five this meeting is adjourned thank you [Music]