001Heat. Heat. [Music] And good evening everyone. Uh this is the school district of the city of Dearbornne regular meeting for Monday, May 12th, 2025. Uh I call this meeting to order at 7:40. I do truly apologize for starting late. We did have another business to take care of at the other institution that we do serve at Henry Forth College. And I'm happy to report that we did make a decision of an intri uh president uh to appoint Dr. Gonko as the interim president for Henry Ford College. So we appreciate everybody who came to the meeting today and we appreciate your patience. May I have a roll call, please? Yeah. And we were late and I'd just like to say for the record it was Pat's fault. All right. Trustee Eljami here. Trusty Barry here. Treasure
002Drosio here. Trusty Pelichkov here. Vice President Watts. Uh, Secretary Zaher here. President Mos here. Thank you. Next item, please. Next item is the pledge of allegiance to the flag. And today we are blessed to have the presence of the Dearborn Girl Scouts Troop 77989 to lead the pledge of allegiance. make yourselves known as they come up here. I just have to mention since we had some time to fill when you guys were heading over. So, they were over here in your seats. We're kind of running a meeting. They sat in our seats. Okay, they did. We'll have a talk with them. Probably 77989. I know that number. Good evening, President Mos and Dr. Mleco and trustees. So, we do have Girl Scouts Troop 77989. So, we're going to lead you in the pledge. Ready? I
003pledge algiance 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. Good job. I can have all of you come over here. Watch your step. Excited group. Yep. So, I'll have Yara Abduni. Yara. So, the girls have something for you, too. Oh, thank you very much. I am so glad. Oh my goodness. You're so guilty. Who's Nadia? You can win. Oh, thank you. He didn't get one yet. He needs one. Nadia Deep. Thank you very much. Thank you, girls. Tell them to come up here so we take pictures. Come on up, girls. Oh, you're in it. Okay. Thank you. I got one. I got one. Thank you. I got one. Thank you. I do got one. Thank
004you. Thank you. Might be doing some trade in behind the scenes. I like those. If you like what you've got, let let's get the certificates. So, Nadia, where's Nadi? Okay. Narr Okay. And here. All right. Oh, you are perfect. It is okay. Thank you. And there we All right. You should all have your certificates. Perfect. Let's take a picture. Thank you. I did. I did. There's at least 10 people. Thank you guys. Thank you again to the girl scouts. Next item, please. Next item is a superintendent's update. Good evening everyone. I'm going to start with our traditional uh retirements that are on the agenda. Uh both uh thank them for their years of service and congratulate them on their retirement. Last month we had a large uh list because of the deadline for the incentive,
005but this time we don't have as many. But again, congratulations to all. Camille Elum over 18 years. Alyssa Coleman 26 years. Lisa Demarco 25 years. Katherine Keebler years. Ashar McTar is an update of 31 years of service. And Jacqueline Stazzel is over 32 years of service. Congratulations and thank you for all of your I'll just keep going down the list. I know we have a lot of teachers in the crowd. Uh last week was teacher appreciation week. We truly appreciate the hard work and dedication of our teachers. I think one of the events that kicks off a lot of positive is um not only the student choice awards that was a few months a few weeks back, but last week we had our student superintendent honors night and we have students that came up and
006honored a staff member that made a difference in their lives and you could tell it was really about the relationship and so appreciate the great work the teachers do. It was great. I think we had four kindergarten teachers of uh that came up which is fantastic. So I always have kind of a special place for those elementaryaries teachers when the students remember. But we thank the teachers at all level elementary, high school, middle school and all the members uh for the great work they do each and every day. I also want to do a shout out for mental health awareness month. Uh we take it very serious in the district with social workers. I think one of the highest number um on average per uh student. Uh is nodding because we've added over the last
007several years. We also have support programs like care solus for our students and teachers if needed. But we also have our u alliance that we provide for staff if uh mental health support is necessary. Um last Monday we had an excellent meeting uh about the potential bond potential bond that we're working towards with our infrastructure. We had Kit Quinn Evans who presented. It was a very very good meeting. I think we got a lot accomplished. We still got a lot of work to do. Um but if you'd like to watch that, it is on the YouTube. You can go. It was last Monday and it was very very good meeting. Uh we all know that we need to do some up in infrastructure upgrades and it's just a matter of getting that plan together and
008I think Quinn Evans has a lot of good data just for the board. They're probably going to be reaching out uh president for either individual or small meetings before the next board meeting. They felt like they needed to get some information in your hands especially because we didn't have some of the committee meetings today. I want to mention to my role um I'm rotating off the MASA superintendent uh board uh next month. I spent six years and I think it's served us well also in Dearborn. It's given me direct line to lobbyist connection to the legislators and to advocate for Dearborn students. I'm now on the AASA the national superintendent Midwest regional uh board and uh and another positive is they pay for all the expenses but it gets us in the know. gives us
009influence and a lot of stuff going on at the federal level that's very important. So it gets me right in direct ability to advocate for students to build relationships with legislators, superintendents from across the state and it was a privilege and honor for me to serve two last year as the president of the Michigan Superintendent Association. So just wanted to say I think it pays some dividends for our district and I know president you have mentioned that to me as well. So thank you for the board support and the community and again we're advocating for students um in those roles. One thing most recently that I was able to use lobbyists is our English language learner committee that I formed uh a year and a half ago, Mr. Sy and Miss Rosel Bailey, but it's
010superintendent across the state, the Michigan Association of Bilingual Education, and we uh formed a group to advocate for English language learners. Uh we were pleased to see um an increase in the budget at the state level from the Senate. So, we're hoping we're going to get more funding that way. So, it's a positive and it's sharing in best practice. On the federal level, the news is a little different. Uh, we So, to date, we have been cut uh $5.8 million from the federal government by the Trump Musk federal cuts. Um, they announced a week and a little bit over a week ago on Friday that title 2, three, and four were eliminated. I believe title six as well. Um, and I'll mention what they're what they are. There will be a transition period. So, we
011don't know exactly when that implementation will happen, but um we also had the H health resources advocate um uh eliminated about two months ago and it was retroactive. That's about $1.4 million between the two years. Title two is staff development for teachers and others. Title Title three, I just said we got an increase potentially at the state, but a decrease now uh of English language learner funding uh at the federal level. And then title four is for multiple types of programs. Um you know it could be for technology. Uh it's for the arts, social emotional learning techn uh health and uh services uh for students. So that title four funding was also eliminated. Um so far title one and IDA which is the special ed have not been reduced. We're monitoring that very closely and
012um I know there's a resolution today about fully funding IDA. Um so to show that right now special ed funding is not fully funded by the federal government even though it's a federal mandate. So we still don't get full funding but you know we want to maintain and not have any reductions at least to that because if there were reductions we'd have to pick it up with the general fund and therefore it would impact all students. Can can you just let everybody know how much if we lost those two title Sure programs would be in total? So the the ones that I just mentioned I had the 5.8 million the title one is 15 million and the idea special ed is5 million approximately. So that would be another $20 million correct? So we're talking closing
013in on almost $30 million at the end of the day with a lot of this will most likely in talking not that it's happening. Sure. Thank you for mentioning that, Trusty Pkov. We believe that a lot of this will end up in the courts uh and a fight with Congress at the federal level. Um you know, and there was an injunction put in about districts having to certify about eliminations of DEI programs. And so we have attorneys involved with that, not just our attorneys, but on the state and national level, which is again why it's advantageous for me to be in these associations directly involved advocating for our students. Um, in fact, I'll be in Washington this summer, um, with the AS Aasa group. Um, but I also have to mention, so we now go
014into the state budget. So, the state budget is our bigger portion of our budget. Uh, and I want to say this, I'm not doing it to scare anything anybody. We have the reality is we deal with it and we will um we'll move forward and we'll maintain, we'll protect our students, but these are the realities we're facing in the state budget. We probably will not get Tom's talking about it tonight, but we do not anticipate getting it resolved at the state level until September. It's going to be one of those years where we have to estimate the board has to approve it in June by law. We have to approve our budget by June 30th and then we may not know exactly what h what is going to happen. Uh Senator Cameilli and then the
015support of Santana and other senators, it's more favorable to public education from the budget coming out. uh from what I saw and I was in a meeting with him and other superintendents um the budget coming out of the house is not they want to eliminate all categoricals. I don't necessarily think it'll end up there but just for an example we have many what we call categorical state grants our at risk categorical grant is approximately $24 million. So just to give you an idea of what now I don't anticipate that getting eliminated but I anticipate in the negotiations we may or may not get this the the kind of budgets we've had the last two years at the state level. So, those are other things that we just have to, you know, deal with. Um, I
016mean, another thing, too, that the state has to deal with is if more federal cuts come, then they may have to find other funding to fill the gap. For example, there's talk of Head Start, uh, which is about 480 million, and then the free and reduced lunch program, which is about 900 million in federal dollars. So, if those were to go or not come to the state, the state would have to make up those somehow. So, eventually the pool would be less for everyone. So, this is the reality of what we're facing with a lot of these Trump Musk uh budget cuts. And again, it's not being political. This is being factual. This is what's happening right now. So, um so I don't know. I'll move on to the next thing. Uh I have a
017positive things now. Uh graduation ceremonies are going. We start at the Henry Ford Early College. I know the college had theirs last uh weekend, I believe, and hope and sounds like it all went well with our trustees and our students that do great over there at the college. Um and so ours are starting up next Saturday and then we have some uh going into the year and we'll be we will not have another meeting before the um the before all the ceremonies. So congratulations to all our graduates. Uh we graduate about 1500 a year. So it's great work that the team does and teachers and all staff to support our students. I have another positive uh mention here. um the Meno Center for Public Policy, which is an independent nonprofit partisan research um educational institute.
018And I'm just going to read the highlight. Dearorn School's top new contacts and performance report card, they were we were at the top in the the headlines. And so um congratulation again. We are always looking to improve, but Dearone was the headline of that article. So great job to staff and students as we continue to look forward and always want to improve. The last thing I have is uh and the board has that in their briefs and it's been also we we also put out a publication through David's department uh communications on that. You could see that. The last two things I have are um first of all, Miss Courtney Pletky uh received her HR certification from MSBO. Uh congratulations to her. And then you know we're sad to see him go, but we have
019Mr. Adam Martin who's the next superintendent of Waterford Public Schools. Congratulations, Adam. Thank you for your hard work. I still remember that interview maybe was it nine 10 years ago over at Dur High when we started over there and you've done great work and we appreciate all that you've done for students and thank you and good luck moving forward and I know we'll be talking a lot as superintendent colleagues. So and that's all I have. Any questions for the superintendent? Trusty Barry, Dr. Malik, when we ask for information, we're not asking employees. were kind of asking you. Sure. So, I did ask for something last month. I still don't have it. So, from now on, I would like for you to follow up. Okay. If there's a reason why information is delayed, what is it
020that you that I asked for? I thought it was simple, but uh I want to see a graph. We already saw a graph of the DFT Yeah. salaries. I want to see a graph of the non-instructional DFT and exempt employees. Uh I did talk to Mr. Wall I believe sometime last week but uh this is information that I personally want to is going to need with some kind of decisions moving forward. The other thing I emailed you and copied the president Mos uh on uh regarding some information looking some evaluations and thank you for getting the legal legal opinion on that. Uh I am not I am not ex expecting a vote on this today. Okay. We our colleagues and I have been very very busy the last couple weeks. We didn't I didn't get
021a chance to I don't know how to you know to discuss this with them but I do want to share this list with you uh on uh I did update it from the one I sent you. So then I'll probably put this on the agenda at the next meeting. Okay. Vote on you want to pass this down please. And the last thing I'm going to ask for is uh the last time we did this uh we asked for uh to be able to look at an employees uh file and we did get it approved. Uh I want to add another one more person. Okay. If possible then I'll I'll talk to my colleagues why and why not. This is 42. Thank you. That's all I have. President Mos. Okay. Thank you. Any other questions? Okay.
022Thank you. Okay, next item please. Next item is recognition and acknowledgement. Good evening. My name is Vivoon Wisnooki and I'm a senior at Zel Ford. And uh good evening. My name is Zin Salam and I'm also a senior at Ford High School. Uh commendations. to the student winners in the PTA art reflections contest. The students will be recognized during an event on May 16 at Woodworth Middle School. Congratulations to first place winner Nad Mahi in fourth grade at Howard. Second place winner Read in seventh grade at Woodworth and third place winner um Karia Ali in eighth grade at Woodworth. Honorable mentions were given to Lama Al Shahi, fourth grade at Oakman Elementary. Kellen Cruz, 10th grade at Ford High School. Lana Hazelle, seventh grade at Woodworth Middle School. Selena Sage, seventh grade at Woodworth Middle
023School. Huda um Almansu fourth grade at Oakman Elementary. Uh Ayah Hammud, third grade at Duval Elementary. Um, Gama Al Sabahi, seventh grade at Salina Intermediate. And uh, Lei Ali, seventh grade at Woodworth. For the high school, accommodations to Dearborn High students involved in the video program. Students won best of show this year at the Michigan Student Film Festival for their public service of announcement, Speak Up, Stay Together, Stay Safe. The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences awarded the students four regional student production awards. The school's third year in a row winning best sound. These movies will continue on to the national competition. The winning projects include Best of Show winner, Speak Up, Stay Together, Stay Safe, Amina Tumi, producer, Jesse Good, editor, Diara Fuller, camera, Maria Foley, talent. Evelyn Traverse, producer. Best fiction long
024form winner, Death in the Family, Jacob Head, executive producer, Noah Almashurker, producer. Best music video winner, Feeling Good, Jesse Good, producer, Evelyn Traverse, talent, Maria Foley, talent, Colton Abbott, talent, and Amina Tumi, talent best winner. Best editor winner WDHS festival trailer Muhammad Al Mccle editor best ed a audio/ound winner the silent assassin colton Abbott sound podel aljabber sound guests can see all the submitted videos during the WDHS film festival on May 16th and 17th accommodations to the students involved with the pioneer press the students submitted 20 or 36 entries and took home 27 individual awards from the Michigan Interscolastic Press Association annual spring awards. The awards include two first place, two third place, and 23 honorable mentions. First place winners were Muhammad Ali for first page new front page news magazine and Ash Watson for
025an opinion article. Third place winners include Ash Watson and Hussein Hammud for editorial opinion and Wilson and Yang for advertising layout. Accommodations to senior Jenna Jenna Dakala from Dearborn High and Rafi Kurri from Henry Ford Early College representing the district on the state superintendent advisory committee. Both students recent recently received a special Michigan Department of Education cord in appreciation of their service. Accommodation to Forton High School teacher Miriam Abui who recently completed her PhD in STEM educational studies at Wayne State University. Accommodation to fortson autoshop teacher Tariq Algabri. He completed his ASSENTF accreditation during his first year of teaching is listed as a reviewer for the fifth edi edition of the modern automotive technology textbook and was nominated as automotive teacher of the year. He also oversaw a record number of forts students who took
026and pass student certification this year. Accommodations to Sarah Brookisen, etsel Ford band orchestra and piano teacher and Jeffrey Kelm, etford music teacher, for their efforts to bring several different learning uh experiences to ille students who are involved in both vocal and instrumental music. The visits included guest lectures, specialized clinics, and professional woodwin quintet to discuss the experience of being a professional musician. Accommodations at Zel Ford for hosting the annual evening of jazz featuring jazz bands from Lowi Lowry Middle School, Bryant Middle School, STEM Middle School, Dearborn High School, and Zel Ford High School. This is a collaborative event by Sarah Brookisen, Nicole Hartrick, Brian McCloskkey, Marwin Nash, and Matthew Ketwin. Accommodations to Ford students involved an innovative vehicle technology design competition at Ketering University. The team took second place in overall performance for their vehicle
027which was designed and built by students. Senior Jeremy Paddock served as the team chief. The team is led by auto and welding teacher Marissa Reno. Commendations to Lori Middle School students who performed the National Arab Orchestra on April 26th and to their music teacher Marwan Nashef. The concert was held at Ford Community and Performing Arts Center. Commendations to various student groups helping raise money for Smith Middle School student battling cancer. The National Honor Societies at Zel Ford and Dearborn High each raised $150 for the student. The O Smith National Junior Honor Society in collaboration with Dearborn Education Foundation's crowdfunding support raised $7,500 for the students family. Commendations to elementary instructional coaches Nicole Bush and Angela Zigar and early childhood specialist Sarah Burkeholder for their outstanding dedication and leadership and development of the 2526 reading assessment
028resources and professional development. This work was done in partnership with the group included administrators, curriculum leaders and the assessment department. Their collaborative efforts have ensured a smooth and wellsupported roll out for the upcoming school. You're empowering educators with tools needed to strengthen literacy instruction and student achievement across the district. Thank you so much. Um before you leave, any questions for the students? I I know you mentioned your names in the beginning. I I couldn't get them. So, if you state your name again and since you're seniors, where are you planning to go for uh after high school? Uh my name is Zen Salam and I am a senior at Sephford High School and I plan on attending Wayne State uh for cyber security. Amazing. My name is Vivvenki. I plan on attending uh Michigan State
029for political science and a double major in economics. Best wishious. All right. All right. Thank you so much. Good job. Dr. Mico, you mentioned something. Probably you missed something in your update. Yeah, just I had to mention that the board calendar for next year, the draft is there for the board. It would go to the board um in the board briefs and then it will go to the board uh next month for potential approval. And Trusty Barry, I just spoke to Mr. Wall. We'll get you that report ASAP. He had some clarifying questions which is why he contacted you, but he'll discuss it and we'll get it to you as soon as possible. Sure. Thank you. I mean that's I mean that's I didn't want to like put that out there but there was one
030report where it just took forever. I'm talking about like over a year. I know when I first returned to the board uh I was told by colleagues that uh from now on when you ask for information you have to get uh at least three approval like four like a quorum and that didn't make any sense. We need information. Uh then there was another colleague that came on board later on. He was asking a lot of you know a lot of requests for information and we know how that worked out for that trustee. So, this is a board that's hungry for data, hungry for information. So, let's just get on track. That's all. Thank you very much. Thank you, Tom. Mr. Wall, thank you. Next item, please. Next item is teacher of the year, right? Yes.
031Okay. Good evening, board members, superintendent, Miss Harris. So, uh just a couple quick followups. Uh I just wanted to uh while we were giving commendations uh wanted to take this opportunity to uh once again uh give commendations to all of those who took part in superintendent honors night but uh at the event I failed to acknowledge my staff who uh put on that event. And so I wanted to acknowledge Mr. Jacob Farah, uh, Eric Chig Fry, uh, Titus, uh, in Young in graphics, Joanna, uh, Machinsky, and of course, the person who really does everything for Superintendent's honors tonight is Miss Katie Hetrick. So I want to give her a big commendations for all her efforts in organizing 180 students and uh 20 teachers and getting them all there getting them on stage organizing them. Uh
032so without her efforts that event would not go as smoothly as it does. So commendations to all of them. Thank you for giving me that moment. Also following up uh then anyone who wants to view the Dearborn High videos, they're having a film festival at Dearborn High this uh Friday and Saturday, the May 16th uh and uh uh 17th. Great opportunity. We were going to show a couple clips here, but uh given uh the full agenda for tonight, we opted not to show those uh those video clips here, but I encourage everyone to go and support the Dearborn High video department. They do a great job over there. Thank you uh for allowing me that little uh sidetrack there. So, every year the Dearbornne Chamber of Commerce sponsors the teacher of the year awards. This
033is a great partnership between our business community and the Dearbornne public schools. We're very proud and that uh we are able to work with them in organizing this event to honor our teachers. And it really is an event that honors the teachers from the student perspective. All of the nominations that we received uh close to 2,000 this year were from students and they acknowledge the great work that their teachers are doing and we appreciate both the students for their efforts and the teachers uh for taking part in that event. We have our winners. This was your cue to come up. This was your queue. So, um we have um three four we have four of our five winners uh who are here this evening. I'm going to let each of them introduce themselves uh and
034tell you what school that they are from. My name is No Abuib and I teach Arabic at Deerban High School. Thank you. Congratulations. Good evening. Um, I'm glad Ml and I teach at Lori Middle School sixth grade math. Congrats. Hello, my name is Deianne Jones and I teach fifth grade at Long Elementary. Congratulations. Hi, Kathy Loris, GSRP teacher at Snow Elementary. Congrats. Congratulations. [Laughter] They said we had an opportunity to have a little spiel if I could. Um, so when I was um when asked if I would be interested in sharing my thoughts on this award, I was excited to have this opportunity to share my gratitude, but terrified to speak in front of adults. To be nominated for teacher of the year is truly an honor. And then to win is amazing. First and
035foremost, thank you. Thank you to my student Rosa who took the time to nominate me. And knowing that my work has resonated with her enough to put my name forward means the world to me. It's a powerful reminder of why teachers are in this profession in the first place to make a positive impact on the lives of our students. And of course, a huge thank you to Alberta Mirhead along with the education committee and the board for establishing this teacher of the year award and all of the sponsors. Your dedication to recognizing and celebrating educators is so important and appreciated. This acknowledgement provides such a wonderful boost and encouragement. And this award isn't just about me. It reflects the amazing students who fill my classroom with curiosity and energy, the supportive colleagues who share their
036wisdom and laughter, and the families who entrust us with their precious children. It's a testament to the collaborative spirit that makes Dearborn public schools in Long Elementary so special. I have been fortunate in the last 28 years working under four wonderful principles, George Monroe, Veronica Jacobis, Shannon Peterson, and now Yavon Lewis. They have helped shape me into the teacher I am today, and I'm so appreciative to the many dedicated and talented educators, and I feel humbled that I was considered among them. It's a moment to pause, reflect on my journey, and appreciate the incredible privilege of being a teacher. Thank you again from the bottom of my heart. [Applause] All right. So, good evening, Dr. Mico, members of the board. Um, I'm grateful to be afforded the opportunity tonight to speak as I was truly
037in a state of shock and awe and had no words the evening I was chosen as Dearborn Public Schools teacher of the year for the pre-K to second grade category. Most of you here tonight have heard me speak here before and know it's truly a rare moment for me to be rendered speechless. So, I hope you're ready for my words this evening because here they are. Um, I've been blessed to have been nominated for this prestigious award in recognition for each and every one of my 11 years here teaching in Dearbornne. I'm beyond thankful to have won this year and since then have had many other people ask me what it is I did to have won. This led me to spend quite a bit of time reflecting on what it is I do both
038in and outside of my classroom on a daily basis. The more that I think about it, the answer became more and more clear. And it's really quite simple. And being intent, it's being intentional about practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion in my classroom. As all of you here know, Dearbornne is an extraordinarily diverse city. In fact, of the 195 recognized countries throughout the world, I've had the privilege of working with children and families in my classroom from 13 different countries already. These families have represented the countries of Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Mexico, Morocco, Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Palestine, Libya, Syria, Pakistan, and of course, the United States. I make it a priority daily in my classroom to practice equality. In fact, I'm know I'm known for saying quite often that fair is not always equal. I've had
039families in my classroom who have come from war torn countries coming here with nothing and seeking refuge from what most of us here could not even begin to imagine as being considered as a normal day-to-day life. I've had children in my classroom who come from homes with one parent and also children who come from homes with no parents. Children who are being raised by trusted adults such as grandparents and aunts and uncles and people who love them unconditionally that are doing everything in their power to give these children what they need. I strive to meet each child and each family exactly where they're at at that exact moment as no two families are the same. They are each unique and need different things. This is equality. Ensuring everyone has not the same things but what
040they need in order to be successful. Speaking of needing different things in order to succeed, this year alone in my class of students 25% of them have individualized education plans, one of which also has their one own one-on-one parapro. I've had children in my class with a wide range of what some people refer to as disabilities. But to me, these are labels that make these children unique and allow them to shine. I've had children with visual impairments, speech and language delays, early childhood developmental delays, students who are completely deaf as well as hearing impaired, students with ADHD, yes, at the young age of four. Um, and of course, autism spectrum disorder. It was in fact a parent of a child with ASD who sent in my winning nomination this year. The letter this parent sent
041in spoke of their child having limited speech, said that I made the transition to school smooth and reassuring. They noted the work I did to create a specific schedule for their child and the help I gave them with potty training. And lastly, they highlighted the special attention I gave them and their child to ensure that their child received the necessary services they needed in order to be successful in a general education classroom setting. At the end of the day, this is what true inclusivity looks like. So, as I go on continuing to do what I do daily, when people ask me how you get to win teacher of the year when there are over 2,000 nominations for over 400 amazing teachers in a district, my answer will continue to be to keep being intentional about
042practicing diversity, equity, and inclusion. Thank [Applause] you. Good evening, everyone. As I said before, my name is very weird. No Abuib. And I was given the honor of being this year's high school Alberta Murhead teacher of the year. I would like to express my gratitude to everyone who has supported me as a teacher across these wonderful days, 26 years. Thank you to my school administrators, all of you, my students, especially my students who nominated me and wrote a poem about me, Zined Bessie, the board members, and so many more whose hard work and dedication brought me to this moment. Thank you all. I think they pretty much summarized everything nicely up. So mine is very simple. Um good evening again. I just want to take this opportunity to sincerely thank you so much for the
043incredible honor. Um I'm truly um I'm deeply humbled and grateful for this reward. Um it's a real privilege to be recognized alongside so many outstanding teachers and individuals who work in this in this district. I also would like to thank my students for taking the time to um write and nominate me. Hiba um Hi and Ahmed. They um they did a really nice job obviously which means they truly understand why I challenge them on a daily basis. Um once again thank you for the incredible honor and award. I really really appreciate it. Um but I think they did a phenomenal job summarizing how everybody feels. Thank you. Thank you. I would just like to also mention that Mr. Andrew Wartz was the winner from the adult education category. When the Chamber of Commerce first started
044the uh uh teacher of the year award, there were just three winners, elementary, middle, and high school. And over the years, they've adapted and changed because they've saw the different needs. That's why they've broken up elementary into two groups, and they've added the adult education group. So, I really appreciate the chamber, Miss Kelly Vandenbos, who is the current executive director of the chamber, for all of their work and their efforts. this uh Lefontaine Automotive Group who is the uh sponsor for that for this award ceremony as well. We want to thank them. Again, it's a great partnership between our business community and the Dearborn Public Schools. We want to keep that going. And I think when you hear these uh teachers and these educators speak, you understand why they were selected. So, thank you all
045very much. If you guys would like, you can get a quick picture with your Congratulations. [Applause] Next item, please. Next item is employee recognition. Good evening. This is our last one for the school year. Um I'd like to ask Lena Hammud to join me. She's the only one that's able to attend today. Um so I will start with Lena. Lena is a satellite food service manager at Carter. She's been employed by Dearborn Schools for over five years. But I have to say that Lena has been part of Dearbornne schools for much longer than five years. She was one of the parents that I worked closely with during my time at Woodworth and she gave us so much as a parent as well. She's nominated for her positive attitude and caring for staff members and students.
046Uh Lena, you want to say a few words? Okay. Thank you. Good evening everyone. Good evening. My name is Lena Hammud. First of all, thank you for all of you for taking your time to be here. I just want to say thank you to all of you for your all to work for all the work that you do to make Dearborn public school a safe and well place for our future generation of our kids. And thank you. We will keep them well educated and wellfed together. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. [Applause] Elizabeth Morrison is a teacher at Duval Elementary School. She's got 24 years with Dearborn Schools and she's nominated was nominated for being a great mentor and teacher going above and beyond for all of her learners and even supporting them before and
047after school. So great big thank you to Elizabeth Morrison. Also for the administrator of the month, it is Remma Eunice, the principal at Lorie K8. Remma has been employed with Dearborn Schools for 26 years. She's nominated for her remarkable leadership and dedication. She fosters a positive, respectful, and supportive environment and has such a positive impact on l on the Lorie school community. Thank you, Reema. And we are honored to have Elizabeth, Lena, and Remma as part of the Dearborn team. Thank you. Next item, please. Next item is acknowledgement of donations. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen of the board. Dr. Malleo, Miss Harris. Um, I'd like to recommend the following don donations right here, uh, that were offered to the district. The first one is a donation of $586 that was offered to Forzen High School
048by the Dearborn Education Foundation for the U Animal Farm Creative Summitive Project. Also, a donation of $300 has been offered to Henry Ford Elementary by the Dearborn Education Foundation for ukulele storage. A donation of $4,000 has been offered to Dearborn High School by the Dearborn Education Foundation to be used for registration for HOSA. A donation of $200 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by the Dearborn Goodfellows for the student Eid celebration supplies. Also, a donation of $600 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by Access Youth and Education to be used for the student Eid celebration supplies. Another donation of $118 has been offered to Salina Elementary School by the Amity Foundation to be used for student Eid celebration supplies. And last, but certainly not least, a donation of an adapted bicycle has been
049offered to House School by Amy and Andy uh Fredken to be used uh by students as part of the adapted physical education program for mobility training, sensory integration, and posit uh provide positive behavior support for students. Thank you to all of our generous donors and support of our school staff and students. Thank you, Mr. Audi. And thank you to the donors, uh, the organizations and the rack family. Next item, please. Next item is the approval of minutes. Oh, can you read the recommended? Sorry. Approval of minutes of the following Dearborn of Board of Education meeting policy committee meeting April 14th, 2025, board report 24-132. and the regular P12 meeting April 14th 2025 board report 24-133. I'm looking for a motion to make any necessary corrections and move approval of these minutes. So move support motion
050moved by Trusty Derio supported by Pleskov. Any corrections or modifications to the minutes? I do have uh just a small correction under uh board member superintendent commentary section where um I commented about the ArabAmerican Heritage Month and then there is a comment that is just check tape but it um that that could be deleted and then Arabameans could be capitalized. Any other corrections? Seeing none, may I have a unanimous approval to this motion? Yes. So it is moved.