December 8, 2025, P 12 Board of Education Meeting

001Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Good evening everyone. Welcome to the school district of the city of Durborn official regular meeting. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025. It is 7:13. I call this meeting to order. Roll call, please. The roll call. Jamal Ajabi >> here. >> Ali K. Bazzy >> here. >> Patrick Damrosio here. Mary Petrickoff >> here. >> Nazar Zab >> here. >> Amar Zar not here. President Mos >> here. Thank you. Next item. >> Pledge of Allegiance to the flag. Miss Bonnie Lewis, principal of Long School Elementary School, will introduce students that will lead the pledge allegiance. >> Good evening everyone. Miss Lewis is not here yet. So, I'm going to introduce the students. We have four wonderful students from Long Elementary Schools. We have Riley, fifth grade. Riley, where are you? Uh, we have

002Ree, fourth grade. Logan, first grade. and and the fifth page. >> They're gonna lead us with a pledge and then you're going to walk to Presidentip and get >> start. I pledge >> I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Great job. >> Got a comedian. >> So, we have Riley Sans first. >> Riley's in the back. >> Good job, >> Logan. Yes. >> And Andy, thank you so much for coming. Thank you. All right. >> Next item, please. >> Intram superintendent update. Uh, agenda items. >> Thank you. So, happy to introduce Miss Lamese Sor and the chair of the interim superintendent. >> Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Thank you. I'll

003start with retirements. We have eight retirements this month. Hassan Barry, 25 years of service. Reita Brantley, 12 years of service. Kadata Echrage, 25 years of service. Jennifer Hatfield, 28 and a half years of service. Betty Lepo, 32 years of service. Elizabeth McGrevy, 18 and 23 years of service. Shane Shaki, 25 and three4ers of a year years of service. And Danielle Wgner, 41 and 3/4 years of service. >> Yes. [Applause] Move on to non-aggenda items. Okay. Um I wanted I hope everyone had a restful Thanksgiving break. This is also our last meeting prior to winter break. I so I'd like to wish everyone an upcoming happy new year's and for those who celebrate merry Christmas, happy Hanukkah and Quanza. You're welcome. Uh last week was the start of snow day request emails from students and all

004I have to say is we have very persuasive writers in Dearborn public school so we're doing something right. Um Mr. Tom W will update us on 31A. >> Good evening, President Moser and members of the board. Uh 31A is a grant from the state of Michigan this year for mental health and safety. Uh they did add a new caveat that you haven't done before in the history of the state that requires some additional legal restrictions if you accept this money. Um there has been a court case that has been proposed in two different courts to remove that legal clause. Um right now we have opted in. Uh the board approved that at their college board meeting last month. Uh, so we have opted in and we have until December 31st to opt out depending on

005how how the legal cases go. Both court cases are scheduled for December 19th and I'm sure there'll be a press release right after that and we'll probably discuss it at the administrative level and inform the board of what those consequences are and determine if we want to continue down that path. That's the quick update. >> Thank you. So, you're telling us there might be a meeting during Christmas time, but just I hope not. Uh, next item. >> Okay. Athletic celebrations. We'd like to continue with the spirit of celebrating our exceptional athletes like we did with the Soul soccer team last month. So, we're working on a systemic way to do that at every board meeting. And potential bond, Mr. Mustin was going to approach the podium and update us on that. Good evening board members,

006interim superintendent Miss Harris. Um so uh again uh as we've been updating the board um we are continuing the process. We're actually in our final phase starting this week of gathering some further community input. So uh as this week a uh statistically accurate survey will be conducted by a third party uh both it will be a phone survey done in English and in Arabic uh and it will go out uh to a wide cross-section of our community again to solicit this will be the third part of the of a of a process to solicit information and solicit some information from from our community. So that will be going on. Um that information will be just as all the other information has been shared with the board. uh we will share that with you before you

007leave for uh the break and then in January uh we'll be meeting with the board uh in small groups to kind of review all of that information uh answer any questions that you may have in hopes of then preparing uh for the board to hold perhaps some type of board study session late in February or late in January, early February so that we can share all of this information with our community as we continue to move forward in a process that would help us develop some type of uh opportunity but that we would be able to place on a ballot as a ballot initiative in November of 2026. So that's kind of where we are at right now. Good. >> Nope. >> Thank you, Mr. Mstone. >> And Mr. Addie has a short presentation uh

008regarding AI. Ladies and gentlemen from the board of education, thank you for your time here today. I'll tell you a little bit about where we're going with AI. We've had a steering committee that's met fairly recently, and what we're looking at doing is developing a district-wide vision for where we plan on going with using AI tools, developing a policy and guidelines on the tools that are available. And so what we're looking at doing is if I can actually just go back to this picture. This is where we kind of see the future of Dearborn Public Schools. Now the one thing I didn't put in this part of the presentation is when you look at this class with these students, it's AI gen. So AI is already a pretty good tool right there for helping us

009make some of the visuals that we want to have. But moving forward with everything like that, that was a little surprise in there I had to throw in there. Uh what we're looking at doing is using Aaron Bauman who's a facilitator from Michigan Virtual to help us come up with our vision, working with our technology advisory committee to get input on the mission vision and policy before we're able to bring that to the board of education. As we're looking at developing the policy and guidelines, we want to look at standardizing our artificial intelligence resource tools so that we're able to use items that are in a closed environment so that we own the data. We control the data and working with staff to know that we want to protect student personal identifiable information in all

010uh rules according to FURPA, SIPA and Kappa so that we're compliant. Part of that is providing the professional development so that all staff know that it's not okay to put in personal identifiable information in there and we want to kind of gear in that direction and providing the professional development so that we know how to ethically use AI site resources and be able to kind of share our work and AI is also instrumental in this right there. It helped me to create the graphic even though the words are all my own in there. No copyright violation. Our next steps where we're going with the committee is to come up with those policies and guidelines, share that with the board, get board approval, and then once everything is approved by the board of education, share that

011information with staff through newsletters and provide guidance and also developing um some resources that we're able to pilot in some of the classes as well too with tools that we'd want to use that are standardized with our current cyber security required course. We want to update that so that it provides guidance for all staff on using the uh AI tools, how to stay safe from fishing emails and provide technology use guidelines. And so that's where we're really looking at going over the next uh year with AI resources. Uh that's all I have for the presentation. Any questions? >> Yeah, you know, I'm always going to have a question. Um, couple things today. I saw on the news that President Trump is looking at making an executive order again. Um, because individual states are creating their

012own regulation and rules for AI. And President Trump felt that was too overburdenome for the AI vendors, so to speak. um for them to have to get permission from 50 different states with 50 different rules. And he wanted one blank and generic um regulation, I I'm assuming, is what he's talking about. When we talk about it for a school system, do we have any way of ensuring and vetting the probably multitudinous uh or vendors who will be out there? um hawking their wares, so to speak, um and trying to get business so that whatever policies and and safeguards we attempt to put into place aren't um lost wi with state and federal regulation uh oversight or lack of oversight. >> So, uh what we want to be able to do is really look at the

013types of tools that are out there. We want to use tools that integrate with our current LMS. And so as we look at them, a lot of tools are kind of one-offs. It does this, it does that. And those are things that it's nice, but how do we get the biggest bang for our buck? And that's what we want to kind of look at. What integrates with our Google system? And so right now as we're looking at this, we're evaluating those tools that integrate with Google are able to be crosscurricular and uh be able to reach students at different levels like that. Be part of a closed system so that we own the data. We control what what's in there like that and really have good uh development plans for the uh foreseeable future like

014that. like we know it's not just going to be you purchase this, this is all you get and everything like that. We want to see expansion with everything as well too. What I was going to also say is that other districts uh like Kent County has started an evaluation tool on AI resources. We're also actively looking at that as we look at our list of resources that we want to be able to use so that we can look at what works best with our our students, our staff, and our system. My my bigger concern is how are we going to control I mean are we going to be utilizing um known resources to begin with so that we have some kind of established relationship with them to know that they are strictly looking out for

015the welfare of our students educational environment as opposed to just trying to get in there and you know um find find uh a larger audience to uh buy into. I I just I I worry that there's not if if there's such confusion in the state and federal regulations, how are we as a district going to be able to um provide the best guidance uh when I I don't know if we're really sure what's out there and how who's developing it. Well, what we want to look at with everything is how well it integrates with our current LMS. We want to look at the data privacy protections that they have in place. Kent County has really done a lot of the leg work with this. And we also want to kind of examine the cost with

016everything as well too because like you're saying, we are the third largest district in the state and that's very attractive for AI vendors to say, "Hey, Dearburn Public Schools uh is using this tool." And so what we want to do is be be very meticulous and slow with how we're moving forward with everything so that we evaluate what's out there. We look at how well it integrates with our system, data privacy controls like that and really gives us the biggest bang for our buck. Is it able to go across platforms like that? What is their research and development? Where are they going in the next 5 years with what they're able to do? so that we know we're starting small with one or two things and then we can look at expansion if that's a

017direction we decide to go. Again, we want to use standardized tools where it's consistent so we have equity across the district. >> Okay, >> Trusty Bzy, >> um are we I have a few questions. Are we also looking at this, you know, AI changes very very fast? You know, tools are coming up every day. Um, are we are you guys looking at guidelines or or potential policies to bring to us about um what teachers can do if they say, "Hey, here's this great new AI tool. I want to use it. What's the process here?" Um, are you guys considering what what to do in that regard? >> And and that's the best part where we have a technology advisory committee and what the technology advisory committee does is really kind of evaluate what tools are

018out there. So, as we're putting together our current policy and guidelines, the technology advisory committee will be making recommendations on the tools that we are looking at. But if new future tools come out there that really look like it's something worthwhile and exploring, members from the technology advisory committee, which represent each of the different buildings, can bring that to the committee and we can take a look at it and possibly pilot if it's something that we kind of see again being worthwhile protecting student data going crosscurricular. And if it's something that is able to give our students a leverage, we definitely want to explore that as an option. And do we have guidance um as it relates to when these tools are are introduced to to students? Um again we got tools from chat bots

019that can talk about anything to you know agents that can help you program to things that can help you develop image creation. You know what when are those tools when what is what guidance is being put together to when those tools are introduced to students >> at grade level you're saying? Yeah. >> At what grade level? So, that's a great two-part question right there. What we've started to do this year is to establish technology use guidelines that help to guide teachers with when technology would be appropriate. So, we use the SAM model to look at when paper and pencil would be appropriate, when uh technology uh adoption would be appropriate for certain items as well too. With AI, we're looking at both of those factors as well as developmentally like using chat bots with kindergarteners

020would probably not be appropriate. So, that's something that we want to hold off on with the current guidelines that we're establishing with TAC directions. What we're looking at is sharing that direction with teachers like that and administrators so that they're able to see a little bit about, yeah, this looks like this would be appropriate here. we would use this resource when paper and pencil you know are you know not able to be as leveraged as much as the technology like that. So uh and that information we will share with the board as those guidelines become available for review. >> Trust Jeremy. So when when we started talking about AI, there is um you know a lot of concerns about using AI and kids utilizing AI to do the work. So when I heard you say

021um selecting an AI that could integrate with the LMS, I'm still trying to figure out how the kids would utilize AI. Um, and you mentioned you're going to have to figure out paper versus AI and things like that. So, are we selecting a tool before we figure out how the kids are going to use it? I just want to make sure we do things in in in the order that um that's needed because I use AI all the time and I love it. Uh, but also in my age, I've used paper. you know, where the newer generations, you know, they're becoming too accustomed to it to where it's thinking for them versus them doing the work. So, I I would think that the decision would be made on how AI will be used then selecting

022the AI that's needed. >> So, that that's what we're looking at with the guidelines that we were establishing with the steering committee that we recently had. Part of that was putting together a matrix of what we're kind of looking for at what levels with everything and then how it would be used. So some of the ideas that students would be able to use AI responsibly and ethically would be to brainstorm ideas for a project, taking their writing and looking for feedback, how they're able to get that information uh and correct any writing uh that they've done like that. also being able to generate an image to go with their story as long as they are properly citing that the image that they generated was used from AI as well too. So working and refining with

023those guidelines right there like Gemini is a tool that we are able to use that meets that criteria. It integrates with Google. It can provide the feedback for students. It can generate ideas and images as well too. So that's a tool that we currently have in our suite. It's a closed system. So we own the data. Looking at others that would be like that is where we want to kind of move next. So that we're starting slow then moving along. >> So the final question for me and it goes to um Mr. and and the other executives is so when we choose an AI, we're going to have a decision on how it's going to be used. Um we're not going to just select AI and how it integrates and the features. uh we we

024want to make sure it's there's guidelines on how it's going to be utilized because one of the issues that some parents have is us relying too much on uh technology even though I'm you know I work in technology um I think at a certain age you don't want to rely on technology to the point of it's doing the work for you so it's really really important to make sure that we know how it's going to be used and then we determine the tool that we're going to choose for that purpose Okay, definitely. >> Trusty Bzi, >> I just want to kind of go along with what Trusty Aljah is saying there. You know, I think that we live in a time right now where um as adults we've, you know, straddled, you know, no to

025minimal technology to now this amazing tool, right? But a lot of times you can see what it generates. You can say, well, that ain't quite right or that's not true. we have that background and skill as a younger person that's still trying to learn that. That's one concern that's there that I hear from parents and I have myself. We need to keep those critical thinking skills. We need to we need to make sure that they understand this is used as a tool, not your answer. Um and so just making sure that when we do introduce those things that are approved, right? Um we have some of that and we have some of that oversight. you know, is do these tools have oversight so we can see how they're being utilized, you know, within our framework.

026That that's a great point right there. So, really part of our professional development that going forward is really teaching our staff and administrators how to utilize the tools, how to responsibly use everything to look at everything critically. like when you look at information that might be hallucinated as output right there. Making sure that students are able to recognize that and not use that information as part of any reports that they're doing or anything like that. As well as part of our digital citizenship curriculum that's taught K through 12 like that. Part of that would be to show students the responsible use and that would come from our technology guidelines that we have showing the ethics right there and then working with them uh through responsible means right there to know when it's good to use

027for brainstorming correcting information and extending it as well. And I know we all received um some letters written by a fortzson class of students talking about the it was an exercise and in um their class to write to us talking about their relationship with AI or their understanding of its benefits or its weaknesses. Um, so the conversation is already being had at the high school level at the very least of um responsibility and not becoming a a a lazy student so to speak of just allowing something else to do all the work. Um, my only concern is is that I think it will be a real challenge for all of us in order to have great oversight because once we let that cat out of the bag kind of thing, um, I'm not certain that

028in a especially a district of this size that we will be able to control all of those nuances of use um, once it's accessible to the students. students who as trusty Bazzy said are are not yet um developed to be critical thinkers and we don't want to lose that ability in these students to generate their own minds moving forward. So I hope that we do move slowly uh to some extent and carefully and with great thought. >> I do think too as as I'm sorry. >> Oh, go ahead. I do think too as um as the technology changes day by day, you know, having uh the ability to, you know, some of these tools will just roll out and say here's this new feature that's available. Here's this new thing that it can do. It's

029so much faster. It it's even easier now to do XYZ. Having the ability to u dictate what gets rolled out and how it gets rolled out and made available. I mean, again, we want to be cautious as we go. It's a very fastmoving train. Um, but we need to make sure that we keep, you know, the our priorities in place. >> Definitely. And that's why one of the major things we want to see is how well it integrates with our Google suite because with our Google suite, we can control features can get toggled on and off like that. So, if there's something that we see that's alarming, concerning like that, we're able to remove that with certain types of updates that are in there. I understand that policy committee has discussed this today and is

030going to be doing more of discussions on developing a board policy and also guidelines as well uh for the administration and the rest of the staff. Thank you Mr. >> Thank you. I appreciate everyone. >> Have one more thing >> uh any any other updates? Go ahead. Just to add on to what Mr. Addie and his steering committee have done, I think they've taken into account the level of expertise our teachers have and have developed a system of guidelines that um is accessible for all teachers with safety protocols and um that AI and any tool should never replace the teacher but is also just to enhance the learning process and the privacy measures. So the starting point is great. The last thing I had was that I wanted to thank the board for your support

031during this interim. I'm thanking you in advance for the next few months so you can't take it back. Uh I also want to acknowledge the team Dr. Mleco thoughtfully built who continue to support and lead from where they each stand and have made this transition as seamless as possible. That's all I have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Sor. Any questions for the superintendent? >> No questions. Making it easier for you. >> That was Yeah, it's the first time, right? >> Let you slide in. >> That's right. I'm going to play the rookie card for a few months. >> All right. Uh, next item. >> Recommendations and acknowledgements. Uh, commendations. Good evening everybody. Uh commendation to Chris Kenn, supervisor of network services and applications for his ongoing positivity and solutionoriented mindset. Chris is a what if we

032can person. One example is his work on our district's student success check-in. By using our technology to seamlessly make it available to students and staff, Chris was able to save the district money and time and improved ease of use. Commendation to Salina principles Iman Ali and Sue Stanley and teachers Emily Wager, Christina Rendazzo, Hanan Hussein, and Amamira Sidi for hosting and sharing experiences with the Southeast Michigan Stewardship Coalition while on their traveling dialogue trip to the campus. During the short visit, the education students learned how the Salena teachers are using classroom lessons and school activities to teach students about climate change and how they can help be a part of creating our creating a healthier environment for all. Commendations to several Dearborn High fall sports for their success last season. The boys tennis team won

033the KLAA East Division Championship and boys tennis coach James Carter was named MHSAA regional coach of the year. In girls golf, junior Kalissa Post represented Dearborn High at the MHSA Division 1 state finals, tying for 16th place and earning all state honorable mention honors. In boys cross country, junior Rammy Bazzy competed at the Division 1 MHSA state championships, finishing 141st with an impressive 3.5 mile time of 16 minutes 30 seconds. and girls swimming junior Annette Jacubovich achieved 18th 18th place in the 100 meter backstroke at the division 1 MHSA state championship accommodations to Dearborn High's three EL teachers Rolas Stoa Malak Vardo and Ula Azour the trio hosted a United by food connected by culture lunchon on November 24th to honor and celebrate their 100 newcomer students and the English language learner teachers at Dearborn

034High as part of the celebration students wrote heartfelt thank you cards to their teachers and friends to express their gratitude and appreciation. >> Any other commendations for middle school and elementary? You didn't introduce yourself when you came in. So, please. >> My name is Zana Ahmed. >> At school, >> Edel. >> My name is Callum Carcettan. I'm a senior at Zel. >> And usually we ask the seniors, what are you planning on doing after high school? >> So, any plans? Um, I'm planning on going into business. >> I'm planning on going into sports broadcasting. >> Amazing. You'll make you'll make a great one in that one. >> All right. Thank you so much. >> Thank you. [Applause] >> Next item, please. >> Employee recognition. Good evening. >> Good evening. >> I'd like to introduce Casey

035Zimmerman. Casey is a school social worker at Nan Elementary Schools. She's been with Dearborn Schools for four years, and she was nominated for transforming school culture with her positive guidance and expertise and her constant willingness to help. And when we surprised K uh Casey right away her her warmth was she just gives off warmth. Um and both her principal Dr. Tinen and uh Micah Saley executive director were were just both saying she's uh praising uh uh giving her a ton of praise. Sorry. Um and express much gratitude for Casey being on our staff. Want to just say >> Hi, I'm Casey. Um, just thank you. Um, thank you to Nalin, the students, the staff, um, and the students families as well in all of Dearborn Public Schools. Thank you. >> Yeah. Thank you. >> We

036surprised her. We separate from HR right away. She she was concerned. So, it was a nice nice surprise. Uh, we'd also like to recognize non-instructional employee Peter Claw. Peter Claw is a custodian at Fortson High School and he's been with Dearborn schools for nine years. He was nominated for being the best. His service to Fort High School ensures the building is ready to serve students each and every day. We surprised him the day right when Thanksgiving uh break was beginning and he was at Forzon working and sports had dismissed. So he was very surprised. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to join us today. We are very thankful for Peter. Also for the administrator of the month, Miriam Alawi. Um Miriam is not able to be here today and she is a special ed coordinator. She serves

037the entire district including the supervision of early childhood special ed programs and elementary autism programs as well. She's been with Dearborn Schools for eight years. I cannot believe she's only been with us for eight years. It feels like she's been here forever and we are absolutely blessed to have Miriam as one of our leaders in the district. She is nominated for leading with exceptional skill and compassion. Her dedication to supporting our students with the most significant needs sets a high standard for all. And if you know Miriam, you know that she's always got a a smile on her face and presents herself uh with with the utmost compassion in all her interactions. So, we're thankful for Miam. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Ali. >> Uh, next item, please. >> Acknowledgements of donations. >> Donate.

038A donation of 50,000 has been offered to Dearborn Schools by the Dearborn Ed Foundation in partnership with PNC to be used for Salina Green Schoolyards. A donation of 50,000 has been offered to Dearborn Schools by the Dearborn Ed Foundation in partnership with Cleveland Cliffs to be used for Salina Green Schoolyards. A donation of $2,627.30 has been offered to Fortson High School by the Dearborn Ed Foundation through crowdfunding to be used for kitchen upgrades. A donation of $1,410 has been offered to adult education by the Dearborn Education Foundation through crowdfunding to be used for citizenship classes. A donation of $500 has been offered to Zel Ford High School by the Dearborn Education Foundation to be used for banding wheels, banding wheels for ceramics. A donation of $950 has been offered to McCulla Ununis School by the

039Dearborn Education Foundation to be used for a music class piano lab. A donation of $700 has been offered to River Oaks Elementary School by the Dearborn Ed Foundation to be used for art and design club. Sorry, 3D. Oh, and 3D printing. A donation of $1,377 has been offered to Dearborn High School by Data Image to cover the installation and leveling of two 75 inch televisions that will be used to scroll important information for students, parents, and staff all day long. A donation of 15 boxes that included a turkey, mashed potatoes, vegetables, and vegetables has been offered to McDonald Elementary School by Eternal Light to be given to families in need. A donation of $250 has been offered to Dearborn High School by Discover Islamic Club, DHS, to be used for the newcomers Thanksgiving event, which

040was just part of commenations as well. A donation of $300 has been offered to Debburn High School by Mr. Immad Deca and his anonymous donors to be used for the newcomers Thanksgiving event. Thank you. Thank you to all of the donors as well as the foundation for their support to our schools. Uh, next item, please. >> Approval of the minutes. Approval of the minutes of the following Dearborn Board of Education meeting. Board training, November 3rd, 2025. Board report 2567. Finance Committee meeting November 10th, 2025. Board report 25-68. Regular P12 meeting, November 10th, 2025. Board report 2569. Recommended action. Make any necessary corrections and move approval of these minutes. >> So move. >> Moved by Trusty Pleskov. >> Supported by trustee sub. Any corrections to the minutes mentioned? Seeing none, may I attach a unanimous role

041to this motion? Motion carries. Thank you. Uh, next item. >> Union leadership commentary. This section of the board of education meeting is being added to further enhance the already strong commitment and longtime partnership between the district and administration. and all bargaining units, both instructional and non-instructional union members serve on a wide variety of standing and ad hoc committees that drive the work and decisions making in the Dearborn public schools. In addition, administration meets monthly with the leadership team of all unions as well as a group meeting with union president. These meetings are not required but are an extension of the collaborative partnership that has long existed in the Dearborn public schools. This section will further enhance the commitment to valuing all suggestion, views, and opinions brought forth by all staff members in the district. Uh,

042Association of Dearborn Schools Administration, none. Dearborn Federation of School Employees, none. Uh, Dearborn Federation of Teachers, Miss Kathy Martin. >> Good evening. Due to a series of unfortunate events over the past several days, I need to use my computer to um address you all. Um, welcome. Congratulations, Miss Thor. I'm glad to have you. Um, good evening to all of you. Um there are really two things I wanted to address tonight. Uh and they go hand inand. One is the changing landscape of education and then also how it's impacting our teachers. I've had this conversation with several people here in this room. Um and I've also had to check myself. I've been out of the classroom for almost three years now. And I feel like anyone who has not been face tof face with students over

043the past four or five years has no idea what it's like in those classrooms and in those buildings. Um, including principles because principles, they have the closest look, but they're dealing with it on a broader level. And I feel like you as school board trustees need to also understand how education has changed. It's not the same school you all were in. It's not the same school some of your kids were in. You still have kids here, but it's still it's very different. Um, and the reason I feel compelled to talk about this is because if I don't say it, I I don't know how clear it's going to become to people. So, if you don't work directly with students, um, I really encourage everyone not to spend a couple hours, not to sp to spend

044several days in a classroom. I know there are districts out there where, you know, administrators and district level employees um do two, three days a month in a classroom. So, I really would like to see the district move in that direction because that's going to create much more understanding for our staff and for what they're dealing with. Um, in classrooms, the teachers have absorbed um all kinds of expectations, differentiating instruction, which didn't exist, you know, when I was in school, to be honest with you. Um, it's a great thing and I'm not saying anything negative about it. We need it. It's necessary. But not everyone has was taught some of these skills. Differentiating instruction, tracking data, implementing new initiatives, some of which come and go with little notice. It's getting better though, I will say

045that. Um, providing social emotional support, communicating constantly with families, and managing increasingly complex needs. Um, the demands have multiplied, but the time and the support has not. um not at the same rate. I understand we have added more social workers. We have added some things, some extra supports, but it's not increased at the rate that the demands of our students have increased. Um and at the same time, our kids are changing. They're brilliant, they're resilient, they're curious, and they also come to school with all kinds of emotional and academic challenges. Um there's anxiety, there's isolation, there's learning gaps, trauma, there's instability. uh we saw it get worse during the pandemic and honestly it hasn't disappeared. I personally think it's it's increased. Um our students need strong relationships. They need consistent support and they need time

046to grow. Um and I'm saying this I understand this isn't just a Dearborn issue. This is a national issue. This is a state issue and I'm not okay with the fact that because it's a national issue that we're going to be okay with it. Uh, I've said this millions of times, Dearbornne likes to be the front runner in things. Let's pick stuff like this to to really get ahead on. Just because these kids are coming to us this way doesn't mean we have to just accept it. Um, so when you all don't know exactly what's happening on the ground, it's easy to misinterpret situations. Um, so right now we are seeing personally I'm seeing in Dearborn increasingly like increased amounts of like reprimands for teachers uh for con things that do not negatively impact students.

047Um, examples are things that could have been a quick conversation are ending up in HR. Uh, putting in an absence incorrectly is not being just communicated one-on-one. And things like this are very demoralizing to our staff because they're there trying to serve our students and now they're being reprimanded for things not regarding their job but a a mistake that could have been an honest mistake that they made. Um I again I understand education's under attack at a national level but we can decide to address these obstacles with understanding, collaboration and compassion. It's disheartening to look at the weekly management report and see that we're losing teachers to resignations and retirements when I know very well that these resignations would not have happened and these retire people were not planning on retiring this early necessarily. They

048were planning on working longer. They just couldn't do it anymore. Um this last management report I was so excited because um we have a department that's been understaffed and they just hired someone for this department and then on the management report I see someone from this department just quit. So, it was understaffed. They hired someone to help. Someone quit. Guess what? We're still understaffed. People are struggling and we're going to keep losing people because they're not being treated with the respect that they need. I know I'm all over the place. I I hope you guys are following me, but it's really frustrating when I'm getting phone calls from people who want to stay in the district. They love the students. They love their job. But it's become emotionally and physically impossible for them to stay.

049And there are things that we can do as a district, like compassion and understanding, like having simple conversations that could alleviate some of that. We We're paying well. It's not the money anymore. I'm going to be honest with you. The money is bringing people in. We're paying well. It's those intangibles that that people are struggling with. Um, and you know, in order to get the best out of people, you need to treat them with respect and compassion. And that's free. We don't have to pay them. We can support them without vilifying them. We can correct errors without making educators feel feel like criminals. And we can help them grow without nitpicking and belittling. Uh moving forward, I really hope that people choose wisely to evaluate the voices of the people that you know that know

050the classrooms the best, to make decisions grounded in learning and humanity, uh and to treat educators like people, and remember that the system can't function without them. We see what's happening when with this shortage, and it doesn't have to be that. Our community is strong. Our schools are filled with talented, caring professionals. Our students are extraordinary. But we can't do more with less forever. and we must do better with what we have. Um, please, we need to invest where it matters and it's the people who are face to face with our kids. Thank you, Miss Martin. We truly appreciate your your address to us. I can tell you that this board, and I can speak for everybody, emphasizes respect among everybody from the top down. Uh, that we model that respect to our students. Um,

051so if any actions that you see is outside of that, please let us know. As always, we always have an open door policy and two-way communication about when things arise. And um there are instances unfortunately where we're humans where people uh tend to get out of their character and uh but that should be addressed and that should be in a place where mutual respect is uh the norm. So I'll I'll keep it at that. But um we will have our conversations moving forward and um again respect is one of our core values that we need to model to to our students. >> Great. >> Thank you Mr. >> Thank you. >> Uh next item please. >> Uh Dearborn Schools operating engineers association none. >> We can go to special >> special reports. P12 audit report

052by Mr. Jeff Higgins, Plant Moran. >> Good evening again. Um, as part of one of our requirements for a public school district, we're required to have an annual audit every year at end of our fiscal year, June 30th. Uh, those audit reports get sent out to the federal agencies and the state. And I'm pleased to announce that Jeff Higgins, our auditor for Plant Moran, is going to give you an update. There's no action required. Just has to be received by the board. >> Thank you and good evening board members and superintendent. As Tom mentioned, my name is Jeff Higgins. I'm with Plantaran. I'm the district's represent Plantaran. I'm the partner in charge of the overall audit for the district's financial statements for its year ended June 30th, 2025. There's two documents that you have uh

053this evening that come out of our audit process. There's a financial report with supplemental information which contains the district's audit financial statements. There's a separate report to the board of education which provides in information on the audit process and results. The financial statements do include both the P12 school district, Henry Ford College, and also the Henry Ford College Foundation because they're all one comi combined entity. But our presentation tonight is really just going to focus on the the P12 school district. So on this first slide here, as the district's independent auditors, it's our responsibility to express an opinion on the financial statements based on the audit conducted in accordance with auditing standards generally accepted in the United States of America. I'm pleased to report here tonight that based on the results of our audit procedures,

054we've rendered what's referred to as an unmodified or a clean opinion on the district's financial statements. This would be the highest level of assurance that auditors can provide on a set of financial statements. So again, an overall clean opinion touching upon just a few of the financial highlights for the year. And again, we're going to focus on the the general fund because the general fund is the primary operating fund for the district. This is the district's balance sheet. As of June 30th, 2025 and 2024, you can see at June 30th, 2025, total assets were approximately 92.5 million. that's primarily comprised of cash is of of about 28.3 million and then receivables of about 55.7 million and then included within those receivables of 55.7 million. That's primarily made up of 46.2 million of July and August

055state aid payments. So again, the district is significantly funded through the annual foundation allowance paid by the state of Michigan. Those payments are paid in 11 installments to school districts, the first of which you get in October and those continued through the following August. So, it's just important to keep in mind that the districts actually receives 18% of its state aid after the close of the district's fiscal year end. Just creates some cash management uh juggling and uh challenges for for local school districts. On the liability side of the ledger, you can see total liabilities are about 59 million and that's primarily comprised of payroll related liabilities of about $30 million and then inner fund amounts due to other funds within the district. The difference between your assets of 92 million and your uh liabilities

056about 58.9 million would be your fund balance. The fund balance at June 30th, 2025 is about 33 and a.5 million. It's about two and a 2.1% increase from last year. This next slide, the statement of revenue, expenditures, and changes in fund balance, it's effectively the income statement for the general fund. You can see total revenue for the year was just around 277 million. The largest component of that is state funding. That makes about 75% of your revenues. And the primary source of that would be state aid payments and other state level categoricals. Then there's local funding of about 18% that's about 47 million that's primarily made up of property tax revenue. And then finally interd district revenue is about 18 million and the largest portion of that would be the county enhancement mill funds which

057are received by the district. On the expenditure side, you can see total expenditures for the year were about 270 million. And these expenditures are then further broken down by the primary functional areas of the expend of the expenditure. You can see instructional expenditures are the largest expenditure of the school district at about 167 million there making about 62% of the total district expenditures and those would really just represent direct classroom and classroom related activities. You can see support services are about 37% and other about 1%. Just as a point of context for the year ended June 30th 2023 2024 which is the last period from which full year information is available for districts with students between 20 or 10 and 20,000. So that that group that Dearborn would fall into. The average instructional expenditures were

058about 60%. Like I said district Dearborn's about 62%. So in terms of instructional expenditures, you know, dollars being cl spent in the classroom, Dearbornne would be a little bit ahead of its uh of its peer districts. The last slide looks at the general fund balance. This really brings those last two slides together. Like I said, fund balance effectively, it's the assets minus the liabilities of the general fund. and the annual difference between revenue and expenditures adds to or subtracts from that fund balance. As we just saw in the last slide, the P12 district had an increase in fund balance for the year ended June 30th of about 695,000. Fund balance is an important metric because it represents essentially the financial reserves of the district. It allows districts to deal with unplanned expenses and insulates the

059district from unexpected revenue losses and funding instability that we might have within the state. Fund balance is often then assessed as a percentage of your expenditures. It's just a way to measure how much fund balance do you have and within the size of the overall operations of the district. So, for example, if you take your fund balance of about 33.5 million divided by your expenditures about 270.5 million, that gives you that 12.37% as of June 30th, 2025. And so, we on this slide have a couple different data points to compare that to. That red line will represent the state average as of the end of the year. And again, the last year for which complete data was available is June 30th, 2024. The state average at June 30th, 2024 was just under 25%. And then

060as a as a goal, the Michigan school business officials would recommend fund balance percentages of about 15%. So you can see in 2021, you're right at that state average level. Last few years, you've declined below that state average, and at the moment, you're right below the MSBO recommended level. But one important point of context as you do review this chart is it's important to keep in mind that since 2021, so since this data is presented on this chart here, the general fund has transferred approximately 47 million into the building and site projects fund. So essentially the general fund is funding the district's capital improvement and capital needs. So again, that 47 million has gone to capital needs of the district. If the general fund did not have to bear the burden of those general fund

061or those capital improvement funds, your fund balance would be right above the actual state average level. So again, just as a point of context as you're reviewing this slide, there's different factors that impact state uh fund balance. Um that the capital improvement needs of the districts have really impacted state uh the fund balance over here at the district for the last few years. That's a quick summary of the financial results for the year ended June 30th, 2025. I'd be happy to address any questions anybody the board might have tonight. >> Questions for Mr. Higgins, Trusty Petishbach, >> just real quick, um where the state average ended in uh 2024, did that still include any leftover >> unspent COVID funds or any of the um to make it that great a difference? Uh I mean, most

062districts that I know of in the past have never held 25% of a uh fund balance in reserve. Yeah, certainly the state average did increase significantly. If you go back to pre-COVID times, the state average was usually in the upper teens. >> Yeah, >> with CO there were significant dollars injected into the educational system. And so a lot of districts did experience pretty significant increases in their fund balance as a result of that. So now that that fund the CO funding has essentially all been exhausted, you know, districts were required to have expended it all last year. I would expect those state averages to start to decline because yes, these last five years certainly >> above the traditional norms of where districts would be for >> I just wanted to make sure that people understood

063that that this is not generally how it looks. >> That is correct. >> Um and and so we aren't doing something wrong as much as it it it was the times we were in financially. That makes it look different. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you, >> Trusty. Jamie So just just to follow um on the fund balance it is low and I I understand there's times when er funds make the uh fund balance higher uh but you should always have you know based on the guidelines um we need to be where we're above the guidelines but that's not my question. Um, I know you did the audit for the operating um, u budget and I asked the same question before when we met on the special revenue funds. What do we do when we look

064at it? Do we audit it? Do we make sure that um, and and for those that don't want know what the special fund uh, revenue fund is, it's really the grants and everything else, it's approximately 160 million. Do we look at that and how come we don't see it as a part of the audit to show us how things are going? >> So you are correct. So there are multiple funds that are maintained by the district and the the funds special revenue funds there's separate special revenue funds established to account for resources that are used for specific purposes. So there's a you know the food service uh special revenue fund for example. There is the funded project fund which is where all the federal programs are then accounted for also and those are recorded in

065that fund. So we do audit all the funds of the district. So all those are incorporated as part of the audit from both a financial statement perspective and respect to federal programs. There is actually then a separate federal program audit that is also conducted. So the federal programs are administered by the district are subject to an audit in accordance with you know OM rules effectively. And so that audit is now in the process of being finalized. We weren't able to finalize that audit because we can't finalize it till the office of management and budget would had issued their compliance supplement. That's sort of the the rules that the federal government puts out for districts to manage the fund. So they it was delayed this year as there's been lots of to say uncertainty and uh

066upheaval in Washington. So that compliance supplement was delayed this year and getting issued. It was issued on November 25th. So now districts have 30 days to get that federal program audit submitted. So, we're in the process now of finalizing that. But the results of our federal program audit for the district also would have unqualified opinions. So, clean opinions on those audit programs that are administered. The reason we only talk about the general fund here is because again that is the primary operating fund of the district. That's where the majority of the funds are expended. And if you think of federal programs, you really can't add fund balance. You they're basically reimbursement type grants. So, you can't recognize the revenue until you've incurred the expenditures. And so, it is sort of an in and out. So

067it's not necessarily district funds the districts can manage to maintain long-term financial stability. All that really comes through the general fund is why we would focus on the general fund for our presentation. >> Yeah. In in my um understanding of an audit is to make sure that any funds um and maybe there's a separate audit like you said is utilized the right way. Um, so when we talk about 160 million versus 277 or 280 like I I just like So are you saying uh Jeff that you guys don't do that or somebody else does it? >> No, we do that audit also. So absolutely all those funds all those programs are audited as part of our audit. So if you go through the full financial report so those are incorporated in our financial statement audit

068and those are part of our audit opinion. So those are absolutely part of our audit process. They're reviewed. We do a pine on those. And again, all those separate funds, you get into the sort of the nitty-gritty of auditing. So there are separate audit opinions for the different funds also. Uh there's the what are called major funds, non- major funds, and not too much details, but again all of those funds we have on qualified opinion. Uh and those are part of our audit. They are part of our audit procedures. We do look at the underlying supporting records documentation. and all the required audit steps are are conducted on those funds also. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Any other questions for Mr. Higgins? >> Thank you. Um and congratulations to the administration on a clean unmodified

069opinion. Thank you. >> All right. Thank you. I should uh thank Tom Wall, Sonia Dixon, the entire business office staff. because we just got into a little bit. The audit is a very rigorous, thorough process and we do appreciate their cooperation, their preparedness and helping us get through the audit. >> Thank you so much. Next item, please. >> MASB annual leadership conference, President Mosup and Trusty Bas. >> Yes. I'm not sure if we want to get up there. I guess we do have some slides to show. So, um, uh, visit to, um, Traverse City was really nice, uh, during the fall. You see all of the colors driving up there. And uh this year for the MASB annual leadership conference, I had the pleasure of representing the district along with Trustee Bazzy as well as

070Trusty Petishkov. um where we uh I and Trusty Bazzy attended at least I attended Saturday and um also Sunday and the delegate assembly on Thursday and we were able to network with a lot of um trustees from all over the the state and their theme this year was beyond the uh the horizon. Um so briefly and you have this in the presentation but it just to show what MASB does and um something that they present is definitely the CVAS the courses that they teach those are three-hour courses except for like one-on-one which might be a full day of uh training the those uh are very essential for us board members. So, I encourage everybody to register. Uh, just get in touch with Joanna and get you registered for the class. Um, if you take all

071of the 100s from 101 to 109, then you become level one certified. And then there are different levels for level two, three, and four. For context, I believe I am at level three right now. Um, so those are the things that they do. And by the way, we do also get reimbursed from the state at least $100 per course. I don't know what's the maximum amount, but we do have some kind of reimbursement that we do get for taking those classes. So on Thursday, and feel free to jump in whenever you were at the delegate assembly. Um, usually this is where all of the school member school board members get in the ballroom and they debate and talk about resolutions that MASB will stand by and try to advocate and lobby legislatures based on those

072uh resolutions. And there were a lot of uh resolutions uh that were already pre pre-prepared by their committees and were presented. Uh there were some floor resolutions too, but they didn't make the make it to to be voted on. Um so uh they they did vote on a lot of issues uh education issues again that influence advocacy, governance and policy direction across the state. So anything to add on delegate assembly? >> We have to you have to have nine delegates. >> Yes. and we were we were the assigned delegates for that one. Uh this was kind of the agenda for the delegate assembly where uh they started first with reports there similar to the reports that I showed. Then they went to the legislative update which I do have a slide on and then they

073went into the resolutions that they debated and then voted on. So on Saturday, one of the kind of the main uh session was from Matt Leerman uh social prosperity partners and he talked about leaders such as uh schoolboard members, city council as far as local government and um you we think that national politics is difficult but he did say that you know even on the local level. It is very very complex and usually uh residents sometimes engage when there is a hot topic when there is an opposition to something and they want to resist something that is coming through. Um and he even mentioned about organized efforts to weaken local governments or school boards by just undermining them and their authority. Um and that brings destru distrusting of the uh growth when there is deficiencies.

074Um and then he mentioned that leaders face a dual challenge for example engaging that skeptic audience as well as building a culture of trust when there was a mistrust. Um so it recommended some of those notes that I took down was to make participation the norm that we treat civic engagement as a core infrastructure. And this is I feel very very important for our upcoming bond proposal is how do we present it and also gain feedback and create that ongoing engagement with the residents uh where they feel the trust is there. um and ensuring that that engagement is continuous um for the even after uh the bond uh campaign. Um again we shift from just reaching out to a two-way dialogue dialogue. We are reframing the public meetings from battlegrounds to being collaborative exchanges. um

075facilitate horizontal uh discussions among neighbors and we also use small groups which we have been doing with our uh bond activity but we should be also doing that with other things as well. Uh last thing he said which was very impactful is you need to restore that kind of sense of shared purpose. you go back to the basics. Um, and then you you govern from a sense of this is all of us together as a collective effort. uh for the legislative update. Uh Jennifer Lawrence, I believe, and her assistant were very very helpful in addressing all of the issues that are coming through and uh telling us where MASB stands as far as these issues. Uh she did mention 4922, which eliminated the requirement that a school librarian needs to be certified. Now you have

076people opposing this and some people bore it. Uh but because of the shortage of school librarians uh this was helpful in in in having school librarians who would serve in that capacity. Um they also said uh there's a harmful um bill that might be coming through this year of making school board our races partisan and that is totally not liked by MASB and they're advocating against it which is a good thing. I I don't think that is that is good for anyone to keep bring in more politics into school boards. There's also a concern with this particular one. Um, you know, from the audience as we were discussing it, there are people that are in particular jobs that typically do serve on a board. So, if they're uh in the armed services and such, there's

077rules against them >> being being political and this would disqualify them from participating in a school board. And there was quite a few people that raised their hand and were mentioning different positions where, you know, this becomes a problem. Um so I think you know there was there was a lot of talk around there and a lot of concern. They also said some um bills that unfortunately will decrease the school aid fund which is 4375 and 4376 and those would exempt trade in value for personal electronics from sales tax. So the state would not be able to collect that sales tax. So that's kind of around $9 million uh because it includes more things than than electronics. Um they also one good thing that the house did was eliminating the acceptance of forms. Um after

078you take office, you have to submit that form within 10 days. They're saying they have eliminated that. I'm not sure if the Senate has passed that. So to make it a law and and it was signed into law. So I'll have to look back into to see where it fell. And then they also um yeah it's actually the last two point bullet points is the same of of removing that requirement. uh two courses that I took which were very very beneficial was what one building board effectiveness um and it was 248 and uh span 3 hours on a Saturday um and it focused on how boards work together the best. How do you uh make sure that you understand group dynamics and you identify um styles of each board member and how do you use

079this awareness to build teamwork, communication and um you know you you play teamwork and then the other uh course that I took was ethical challenge um and this also brought in a lot of examples of uh boards and governments being thrown into ethical challenges or ethical dilemmas. And um the takeaway for this is when they mentioned it, you know, in the beginning, do you have a code of conduct for your board? And that's something that I believe we do lack. Maybe we need to look into uh adopting one in the future. Um, I was able to take uh the CBA 101 class, fundamentals in schoolboard service. That was a full day. I think it's their their longest one 100 level class. Um, we're able to touch on a lot of different subjects which I think

080was great. Um, was able to be in a room with 15, you know, other schoolboard members that were new. Some taking as kind of a refresher, been on the board for a while and kind of going through some of this. um a lot of questions, a lot of answers were brief and there's a course on that. So there's nine or eight other 100 level courses that kind of dive into a lot more of those uh those points. One thing that really was emphasized was the team of eight, you know, as seven elected and and the superintendent working together and and and emphasizing, you know, how important it is for the team to work together. Uh and then CBA 102, which is a three-hour class uh governing through policy. Uh that one was interesting. We did

081a lot of breakout sessions where uh the sessions that were chosen were uh or the uh topics that were chosen were AI and cell phone policy. And so you would sit with another board member from another uh school district and what do you have? What do we have? Um do we have something? How did you guys come to it? And then kind of just talking through what those policies are um developing policies um um you know checks and balances and some of that. So that that was uh that was enlightening. Um you know you had some school districts that would have policies that were completely written completely different and some that use the same service and verbatim. You know there were someformational sessions that um I also attended. Um one was uh the importance of

082onboarding you know preparing newly elected trustees to take their seats and I thought that might be fitting. Um it was uh it was an interesting uh session. It was um oh I forget the school board that was I think it was Clarkston that came and actually their whole school board came to support the the presenter there was a former board member um and they kind of talked about um you know how important it is to when when new school member new school board members come on board working together as a team. Um they had talked about you know their particular one when when uh when the election was going on got a bit contentious and people were worried about the dynamics. Um but really as with many things breaking down those barriers is just through

083conversation you know um you know one-on-one getting together for lunch things like that uh working together um I attended two sessions about uh AI uh by Michigan virtual that put those together they they were showcasing a tool called uh school AI um and just kind of addressing some of the things that we've talked about earlier which I think we'll continue to work on and develop a policy around um And then uh we were there for the strengthening board and superintendent communications with Dr. Malleo, uh, Trustee Paskov, um, Micah Sale was there as well. Um, and you know, our board briefs, I think, were kind of our Thursday board briefs were highlight, you know, um, people saying, yeah, most asked about how do we do that? >> You know, you know, what's what's the the purpose

084there? Um, and I found that again as a newer board member seeing other board members questioning well how do you know we don't know this or we don't know that and I was I get boards on Thursdays this is how we do it you know um so I think it was great for Dr. Malik to kind of come out and explain how we got there um and how it was a benefit for the board. >> Yeah. So there was a lot of networking talking with other fellow trustees from other districts. One interesting thing uh that I was interested about was the cell phone policy in Northville um school district was in the press talking about a total ban of cell phones but it seems like it's only K through eight where they have a total

085ban but it's still students can keep it in their lockers and I was like this is the same that we do have in Dearbornne so I don't know what ban you're talking about. So, but anyway, um it was it was very insightful to hear from from other school boards. Um and then as Trusty Bezi mentioned, attended the Dearborn's presentation which was done very well by Dr. Mle Co, uh Trusty Petishkov and Mr. And then we I also uh you know during those network times asked about other districts what they're doing about their superintendent search and some are in in the middle of that process and some are toward the end and some have just seated their superintendent. Uh questions also on the late start and early the release and seems like that is kind of

086a mixed bag. Some districts are doing the same thing that we're doing which with early release, but majority of them are still doing late start on certain days of the week. Believe that was it. Any questions? No, but I I I will remind you that uh uh and you brought it up um we have talked um over the years about a code of conduct uh and I have shared it with the past policy committees of what other um districts have used in theirs. So I do have information for that to move that forward again and have that conversation. And I've always felt that it was something we needed to address, but it's kind of because there were so many bylaws and policies that needed to be updated, it kind of got lost every time. So

087maybe we'll be ready again to um make that effort going forward. >> Totally agree. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Everybody was easier on YouTube than anybody else who gets up at the podium. >> Next item, please. >> But no one clapped for you, so I >> go ahead. Next item. >> Citizen participation. Citizens wishing to address the board on agenda and non-aggenda items for action who are signed in by 7:10 p.m. by submitting a blue card to the board secretary may speak at this time. The board may not be in a position to respond to non-aggenda items. Therefore, speakers should not anticipate an immediate response to their comments or questions. For the benefit of all concerned, do not mention the names of students or school district employees. Please keep your comments as brief as

088possible. There is a threeminut time limit on comments made to the board. We have uh one yellow card tonight um from Tracy Davis uh from Henry Ford College and she just wants to make it known to um while we're in our search uh to complete the online survey and to attend the listening session on 1218. Is that correct, Tracy? >> For the Henry Ford College president search. >> Search. >> Yeah. Make sure they know. This isn't for the superintendent search. This is for the Henry Ford College. >> Henry Ford College president search. Yeah. Thank you. Okay. Uh, next item, please. >> Uh, agenda items for action. Action items. Special consideration of an action item. Secretary comments. Are there any agenda items on this agenda which board members or the interim superintendent wishes to discuss and

089vote on separately? If there are, we will exclude these from the motion below. >> Any agenda items that you would like to be singled out? Okay. Uh seeing none, we can uh read the recommended action. >> Um motions to be approved action items. At this time, the secretary will call for a single motion to approve all the action items on this agenda with the exception of any items which have just been excluded from this motion by the board member requested. Recommended action. Move that action items numbered sorry 1 through 13 be approved as recommended in this agenda if necessary with the exception of >> none like none. Yeah. >> So moved >> moved by trustee Petishkov. Support >> support. Support it. >> Okay. support by trustee Al Jahi. Any uh questions on those agenda items?

090>> Yeah, I do. >> Trustee Aljah. >> So, and uh item number seven which talks about uh change in security and I just have one question. >> Oops. >> Sorry. Um, so it does the security set specifically for Michael Berry Career Center, Henry Ford College, and Hype Athletic Campus and other location? I'm trying to see what kind of security we have for Hype Athletics since we're in in what other location? And does that security is that the same security that we have at the high schools or >> Yes. >> Okay. >> Yep. We currently have security at um our three high schools which are Dearborn High, Fortzon, and Edel Ford. We have security at the Michael Berry Career Center. We have a security guard at the Hype Athletics Complex because we have a specialed program

091that has run out of there during the day and because they accept public inside of their buildings, um we felt it would be more secure to have a security guard in the area that we occupy in that building. Also this year we added security for Henry Ford Early College and >> because separate building >> at Henry Ford well because now at Henry Ford Early College we were part of the campus previously. So now because we own the building and it's our building, we secure it >> and at the not not to interrupt us but >> but I just want clarification for what you what you asked about um at hype athletics when you said >> it's they they are instructed they are not to interfere with any other part of hypetics and only for our

092students. They're there solely for our operation, our needs. >> Just to follow up on on on the high school level because this is the right timing. Do we have enough security at the high school levels? Um I guess that's the qu that's the starting question because there's times where in some cases kids are skipping and doing things. Do we have enough security to make sure our kids when they go to the school that they're at the school and they're not leaving the school without proper permission without going to the office just to prevent any risk to the kids and also the parents are entrusting us to um to have the kids in our school. So since we're renewing the contract track do we have the necessary security at the high school level? Yes, we do.

093Um, could we use more? We could always use more, but that's spending a lot of money on trying to keep kids in the building. So, from a from a security level, I will tell you, um, we're not always worried about who's leaving the building. We're more concerned with who's coming into the building. So, as long as we have enough team in our operation, enough team members in our operation to make sure that our doors are secured and that we're making sure above all else that nobody can just walk into the building. It's really not a security officer's job to stop a kid from skipping. Like, they are not Yes, of course they can ask, "Where are you going? You're not supposed to be here. police come back in, you know, but at the end of

094the day, that's not their main focus. Their main focus is securing the door, securing the doors, the exterior doors to make sure and watch for anybody who shouldn't be entering the building, if that makes any sense. >> But yes, we do have enough guards in our buildings. Well, it it's enlightening and I I agree with you that security should prevent people from coming in and doing any harm to our kids, but also we have to make sure that our kids are in attendance. So, in the past, I thought, you know, kids staying within the uh school system and being able to go to the main office to be able before they leave is the proper proper protocol. So, it's enlightening that, you know, security is not meant to prevent people from going out. So they

095could go out whenever they want. >> Not that they can, they shouldn't, right? But the priority of security security is to watch over who's coming in pri primarily. So I'm not saying that no, they can't do that. They wouldn't challenge a student. No, of course they would. Yes. But the primary the primary job of security is to make sure that nobody who's trying to enter the building um is a person who shouldn't be. Now, with that being said, we're hiring this security company mid year. We're taking over the numbers that we started with into the new position. We could survey at the end of the year to see if we feel that there's any shortfalls or gaps and reassess that over the summer before we come back for the following year. >> Yeah. And I

096I think um it was something that I was going to bring up in the future and I have some future meeting on on security and making sure our kids are safe and I understand you're doing an amazing job with regard to safety and prevention of somebody going in. But I also want to make sure that when parents trust their kids to go to a school that they are at the school unless they go through the proper channel to leave the school. >> I totally agree. I also think what would help with that too is building that relationship with the parents and working them to have those conversations with their kids about leaving the building and consequences not only at the school but consequences at the home for when their kids leave the building without permission.

097>> Well, not to be a devil's advocate. A lot of times they don't know they left. >> I know >> they don't know and and this is where the school uh would contact them and make them aware because what I don't know I don't know. >> Absolutely. We're always open to working with our parents and providing a better place for our students. There's always room for improvement. >> Appreciate it. >> Of course. >> And just for context, we're always letting know parents whenever student leaves >> or is absent for a class. >> Yes, they always get notified. >> An automatic call goes >> right. >> Maybe we need to increase that to some kind of email. >> They do, but our our kids are smart. Um >> I know them blocking numbers. >> They uh

098they're using their parents' cell phones to block the school number. Um, you know, our our kids are smart. So, yes, though, but definitely we want to work with everybody. Any other questions? >> Trusty Bzi. >> So, a question on the communication. I know with uh parent square and some of those updates, if something like that were to happen now, I think there's multi-form almost instantaneously where that could communicate to the parents, right? >> That they don't show up. >> They either they don't show up or >> that they had an absence. >> Yeah. I believe it does. >> Yeah. >> Yes, it does. I've had one >> at some point. Okay. >> So, when they take attendance during the day, I would assume, right, David? Uh there's certain times during the day where the system

099is updated and then the phone call is made. >> I've seen that the text message and phone call. >> Yeah. preventing skipping and absenteeism is definitely of a board goal that we do have >> and that we're expecting all of the staff members to contribute to that effort of mitigating that problem. Thank you, Trusty Jaffy, for raising that issue. Uh any other questions on any other items? If none, can we have a roll call to approve the motion? [Music] >> Jamal Jami, >> yes. >> Ali K. Bazzy, >> yes. >> Patrick Damrosio, yes. Mary Petricov, >> yes. >> Nasarzo, >> yes. >> Amarzar, not here. President Mos, >> yes. Thank you. Uh next item please. Our summary of agenda approved agenda items. >> So if you want to read one through uh on agenda items

100for action. >> No summary of the agenda items on the last page. Approval of warrants per board report 2570. Approval and award to Burlington English Incorporated. An approval of an award to Cammy. Approval of an award to Circulum Associated Per 2571. Approval of an award to educator preparation programs, PEPPS. Approval of an award to Interior Environments. An approval of an award to JAG Zinc Security Company per board report 2572. An approval of a non-instructional and instructional personnel items for P12. Approval of financial statement and approval of donations. Thank you. Uh next item please. Under board of education business. We as we don't have any discussion items. Uh >> let's see here. Um >> board of educational business. Well, um let me step back one to discussions. Um want to make a note that um between

101the city of Dearbornne and the school district, we're in the process of a sale of a piece of property that the smokehouse sits on on Outer Drive. So, um I just wanted everybody to know that that is in um transition right now to be done. >> Thank you for that. Um so we can go to the >> board of board of education business acknowledgement of correspondence. >> Okay. So, uh over the past month received multiple emails. Uh there were a lot of emails specific to uh the recent approved health education standards that were passed by the state board of education. And uh this board has released a statement um on that topic and I have responded to uh the folks who were um inquiring about this uh topic and our press release reads that the

102Michigan Educational Department approved updates to the state's health education standards guidelines on November 13th. This marks the first revision since 2007 preceding to the rise of major current physical and mental health issues such as vaping, cyber bullying, and social media. The updated standards are designed to equip students with information on topics including maintaining a healthy lifestyle, promoting physical and mental well-being, and addressing the dangers of substance abuse. The area that generated the most discussion was the sex education portion of the curriculum, traditionally taught in grades 5, 7, and 9. It is crucial to note that the recent approved state health education standards are recommendations. They're not requirements. local school districts, including Dearbone Public Schools, maintain full control over the content of their health and sex education curriculum. Furthermore, current Michigan law guarantees the parents the

103right to opt out of their their children out of sex education without penalty. While students must complete a health course to graduate, they cannot be penalized for opting out of the sex education component. The uh we do have a process. In the fall of 20 uh 20 2022, the district reconvened the sex education advisory board to review the existing curriculum and recommend changes to the to the board of education. In 2023, the committee voted to continue using the current materials for the next two years covering the 2025 26 and 2026 27 school years. The final report for that committee is available online. The district is committed to utilizing the same thoughtful and transparent legally required process for the next curriculum review and any subsequent updates. By state law and good practice, district parents can opt

104out to have their u children excluded from sexual education. Teachers share the opt out form with parents before covering the material in fifth and seventh and nth grade. That was the end of the press release. We also uh received correspondence from the city. Um and this is regarding the Henry Ford College presidential search committee. The letter was addressed to me and I shared it to all of you asking um to be represented in the presidential search committee. Uh they've contacted trusted emberio at first and um and then chair of that committee trustee ali talked to me about it and I asked that we need something formal from the city to address us on this issue. Now, I would have hoped that they could have utilized the period of time to fill out the form that

105we had for stakeholders to fill out. Um, so they could have some kind of representation on that committee, but that did not happen. And that is something that we need to kind of improve on between as far as the communication between the city and the school district. So, uh, the city is requesting, um, Miss Hussein Hash or I'm sorry, Miss Zanab A. Hussein to serve as the city's representative. And they said her participation will help maintain the strong alignment between our institutions as this significant transition moves forward. So, I'll entertain a motion if we want to include Miss Hussein into that committee, making it a committee of 25 instead of the current number 24. >> I move that we place Zab Hussein as a representative for the city of Dearborn on our recent search committee.

106>> Is there a support for that? supported by trustee demos. Any discussion? >> The only discussion I want to say is following the process and and for those of us that advocate that we have to follow the open meeting act and to follow the bylaw is we we have to stress that you know the reason we're doing it this way is because that's the right process. So I ask everyone that you know when when they see something like this they remind us to follow the process. Uh this is not one of those where we could have after we approved the 24 people we could have just added without bringing it to the board without going to formal process. It's really our formality, our process. And if we do anything um to um I just don't

107want us to start a precedence of of doing things without following our process. So I have no problem with this, but let's let's do it the right way in the future. >> Absolutely. >> Okay. Uh roll call, please. [Music] Jamal Jami, >> yes. >> Ali K. Bazzy, >> yes. >> Patrick Damrosio, yes. Mary Petlov, >> yes. >> Nazare So, >> yes. >> Amazar. President Mosa. >> Yes. Thank you. >> All right. I will be communicating with Mr. So Shane to let her know that the first meeting is tomorrow, December 9th. >> And I just I just want to add something. My comment on following the processes to the board. >> Yes. >> Is when something like this happen and there is a request of anything of such, we have to follow the bylaws and the

108open meeting. Um and you know, I'm always reminded of doing it. So let's do it for everything. >> Absolutely. Thank you, Trusty. Uh, next item if there is any other correspondence. All right. Next item, please. >> Board member committee and organization reports. Um, we had a financial uh meeting tonight and basically it was to uh discuss the RFP uh search um for the new superintendent of Dearborn Public Schools. And the conclusion and the recommendation is um there were five people that um participated in the bid. Yeah. >> And um our recommendation was uh the Michigan Leadership Institute was the um firm that we chose. Um so uh we need a recommendation. Um >> we need the motion to >> motion to go forward. >> Sure. >> Just if I could add to it. >> Sure.

109So one of the thing that we asked for when we chose the Michigan Leadership Institute that a part of the requirement is that it it would be a national search. It would not be um limited to the state of Michigan. That is uh one of the requirement that we want. We want to get the best candidate possible um whether it's from the state of Michigan or from elsewhere. Um and the recommendation for mission leadership institute is pending reference check. So you know this is a little different. We we chose them based on the RFP but there's no reference contact and such. So uh this is contingent on the reference um being acceptable. >> Okay. So let's make that motion and then we can have that discussion. >> One other thing. >> Yeah. Um so the

110base bid uh is 20 20,500 and that would be plus reimbursement expenses. >> Yes. >> Um of travel expenses. Yeah. >> Okay. Let's let's have a motion first and then we can also have further discussions if if there's needs to be. So, a motion to u award Michigan Education Institute. >> I'm alive. Michigan Leadership Institute. >> Thank you for that. >> And the amount of initial what was the amount? >> 20,500 >> 20,000 >> 500 uh plus the national search charge. I think it's a >> Yeah, that was >> additional 2,000. >> So, um I'll entertain that motion. Oh, sorry. Clarification. Can we um leave it as a general reimburseable expenses as they had multiple expenses listed just in case we needed to add travel and or other additional services? >> We can do that.

111It's fine. >> Sorry for uh No, >> that's a good one. >> So, let's have somebody uh move it and and somebody else support it. >> Oh, no. >> I'll move it. >> Okay. Moved by Trusty Drosio. >> I'll support it. supported by trust Jahi. Uh any further discussion? >> Um Mr. President, >> so one of the um questions that was brought up is um will we form a search committee like we did at the college? >> I believe we do the from the training that we had as with MASB is we do it as as a >> we do it as a board. We've never had it had >> so we don't have it as a separate committee. We just do it as a as the full board. So, >> thank you. >> Any

112other question? >> And just just to give you some reference, Michigan Leadership Institute was the uh firm that we used when we hired >> ended up hiring Glenn Mleco and they also stayed on. Mike Wilmont was the one who was um running running the search then. They've been around for years. They're very experienced. They they've had a lot lot of um exposure to Michigan institutions. Um they also helped us because immediately following the hiring of Glenn um Amy Blackburn had to um resign from the board because she had moved out of the area and they also helped us with um the appointment process um as a uh >> kind of a a little extra uh >> facilitator. >> Yeah. >> They were a facilitator. So um we have worked with them in the past. >>

113Yeah. I I think for us the biggest concern was they seem to be very strong Michigan wise. Uh we want to make sure that um obviously we're selfish in the sense of we want the best for our district >> and we want to make sure that the the search does not is not limited to Michigan >> and they seem to be capable of doing that and we want to make sure that we set the expectations so that they're able to do that. I think um also we want to make sure that everyone and this is outside of uh Michigan leadership that everyone in in our uh community know that the position is open for anyone. There's not been any predetermination. There's it's going to be an objective search. It's going to be a fair search

114and we want to make sure that the best person get it. >> Absolutely agree. Okay. Uh any other discussion? Uh, Trusty Bezi, >> just a quick question and maybe for for Tom. Um, I just want to make sure with Michigan leadership, I know there was a document that we needed clarification on. We're we're good with everything that was submitted with them. >> Correct. They actually sent that around um 4:30 today. Okay. >> It should be in your email. So, they they it was a clerical error that they did fix and put it in writing for us. >> Okay. Perfect. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. >> We need a roll. >> Yeah. Let's have a vote. Roll call for the motion to approve it. Pursuant >> Jamal Jami, >> yes. >> Ali K. Bazzy,

115>> yes. >> Patrick Damrosio, yes. >> Mary Petrov, >> yes. >> Nazare, >> yes. >> Amar, not here. President Mos, >> yes. Thank you. >> Uh, continue. Do you did you have anything else that was discussed at the finance committee trusty do you? >> No, we did not. >> Okay. Uh policy committee Matt prior to this meeting as well. I said in place of uh the policy chair for that trust ZAR and uh we discussed title 9 as a separate policy possibly coming to discussion in January and um voting on it in February. And um we had um another firm not Neiola's what was the firm miss >> Miller Johnson as the author of for that policy. So uh the policy committee will review that and uh present it to the board in in in

116January. Uh there will there was also an extensive discussion on possible AI policy as well. That's all I had for policy. Any any other committees that Matt? Don't recall. Okay. Next item, please. >> Board member in superintendent commentary. >> So just one piece. Uh a reminder, we have the bus patrol press conference coming on December 15 at noon. And for our stakeholders who are listening, this is an AI enabled stop, arm, camera, school bus safety program that allows our community partners to make roads safer at no cost. I want to remind everybody that this is a partnership that was initiated by Dearborn Schools with Bus Patrol in Wayne County. Um, and this technology will also allow our administrative teams to efficiently problem solve using this new system of cameras on the bus. >> And that

117system will go live at the beginning of >> January 1st. Um, although we have students January 4th or 3rd, yeah, whatever. >> And there will be anformational campaign first in the state, right? From communications >> as far as how this is going to work. Okay. Thank you. Uh Mr. Shore, any other commentary? >> Yes. Uh Trusty Alami, >> this is more of a request um given that the year is ending and and we had some initiatives that we um we requested mid year, beginning of the year and so on. I would love for the next meeting um to get some updates on some of those items that we talked about just to see if they're they're working. For example, I know Bob Addie, we asked for a network assessment and I would love for u

118an update or presentation to say how things are going and what we end up doing. We also had um a request to handle facilities request. Uh there was a challenge with facilities having issues and um you know sometimes slipping through the cracks and the system was implemented. Great job on that. But we you know I would like to ask that we get an update how things are going with that. Um, also I know we're doing a great job on the SIP um and the dashboard and I I I was going to talk about it today but no need because I know uh Miss Federidge is doing a great job in in the meetings but just to see based on the goals um I know there were goals requested from the different schools uh probably last

119week or this week. Is it last week or this week? So maybe the timing is not the best to request any updates right now, but at the beginning of the year or the next meeting to see did we get all the goals, how where are things going, are we on the right track? Uh because at the end of the day for that particular committee is uh accountability. Um so those are the the things that I would love more updates. It's kind of like to start the year off on things that we worked on throughout the whole year and see how things are going. Are we making progress? Um, I know the dashboard is an uh amazing job and we just need to showcase it, you know, for for our um parents and and for our

120city public to see there's transparency. We're not hiding anything and uh we're working to make sure that everything is visible. Um I do want to thank uh Rosa Daily. I requested some ELL information and still looking at that. Just received it. I want to thank um Miss Sur and Miss Alwayi for providing the ELLO information. So appreciate that. Thank you. >> Any other commentary? Yep. Trusty D. >> I'd just like to thank the community over the weekend for good fellows. No child goes without. Um the community gave us great support this year and again I want to thank everybody in the community for supporting the good fellows. And this is the last meeting before our holidays break. So wishing all of our Dearbornne families happy holidays and that you stay warm during this weather and

121maybe maybe there might be snow days coming through. So but I won't say. >> Uh next item please. >> Uh future meeting dates. uh Monday, December 15th. >> Well, we did before that requests for information are recovered without any other requests besides the ones that Trusty Jamie had asked for. >> Okay, thank you. Go. >> Oh, I I did have one. Um I just remembered and it's kind of timely with talking about the bus patrols. I um with the electric buses especially um somebody asked me a question about because of the um placement of the batteries in the middle of the bus. Have we ever done a um practice um evacuation of those types of And did Danielle leave already? >> She's there. >> Oh, okay. Has there ever been a um >> Mark a

122uh practice drill with evacuating that type of a bus especially so that it doesn't I don't want it to be with students but you know individuals on board that bus drivers could see how it should work and what could be um problems with that kind of a scenario of something happening in in those kinds of situations. Okay. >> All the students evacuate. They basically go off of the bus and then they get back on at for every single bus. >> Okay. Have we done it with the electric buses? And is it Okay. So, we have done it. Is it a little differently handled because of the placement if the battery were to catch on fire? No, the batteries don't cause any. It's the door placement. So, we don't have a door out the back. There's

123a window out the back, but we wouldn't use that during a practice. The door is out the side. And one is required. We take a step further. We do three a year with our buses. Typically, at the beginning of the year, right after the this upcoming break, and then in spring. >> Okay. Well, that answers the question then. We don't need anything else. >> I don't. >> Thank you. >> Trust Jamie. >> One one thing. Um, I want to recognize uh uh Tracy Davis who's here from the college who's helping us with the search for the vice president. She's doing an amazing job. Um, and she's here to make sure we complete some documentation. Uh, she went out of her way. So, I want to thank her and and tell us that she's doing a

124great job. >> Definitely. Thank you, Miss Davis. >> All right. Next uh item with >> future meeting dates. Monday, December 15th, 2025, HFC board of trustee meeting, 700 p.m. at the administration service and conference center in the Rosenal boardroom. Monday, January 12th, 2026, P12 organizational meeting, 6:45 p.m. at the Administration Service Center in the Frank Frenchie boardroom. Monday, January 12th, 2026, P12 Board of Education meeting, 700 p.m. at the Administration Service Center in the Frank Frenchie boardroom. and Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, HFC board of trustee meeting, 700 p.m. at the administration service and conference center in the Rosnol board room. >> Thank you. Have a great night everybody. This meeting is adjourned. 9007