BOE Special Meeting 7-21-2025

001Could you help the students here? >> Good evening everyone. >> Thank you. This meeting is a special meeting of the board of education and public for the purpose of conducting the school district's business and it's not to be considered as public community meeting. There is time for public participation during the meeting as indicated in the agenda. And upon request to the superintendent, the district shall make reasonable accommodation for a person with disabilities to be able to participate in this meeting. I'm going to start by calling the role. >> Trusty Albre >> here. >> Trusty Arnold. >> Trusty Brutderly here. Trustee Sapola >> here. >> Trusty Kangas >> here. >> Trusty Riser here. >> Trusty Sara here. Trusty Benito and Trusty Brandt. Okay, we have an agenda to approve. I'll move that the board of education

002approve the agenda with an amendment to add a discussion item after the candidate second round interview. So adding as discussion, >> I'll second. >> We have a motion and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor of approving the agenda with the amendment say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Um, I'm just going to let trustees know that you can turn on your mics to speak tonight. Um, and we do have tech support in the room, so if we have any difficulties, it will be managed tonight. >> I don't know if they're on right now. >> Uh, should be, but >> yeah, I'm not turning my >> There's a red light on top of it. >> Yeah, it's not going. >> Okay. If not, I guess we will manage. Is this just one mic at a

003time? >> No. Hold it down. It should power out. >> It's not. >> Okay. We will we will figure this out. Pass it around. >> I don't need it. >> Um let we're going to start with public participation. And please note for efficiency policy 25 for public participation um will be suspended for this meeting and there will be only one opportunity for public participation. The board will be providing feedback forms to all attendees to collect written feedback for board consideration following each interview. Um audience members, if you don't already have um a paper, it is at the back and you can grab it quick right now or you can get it at the break. Um is there anyone who would like to speak to the board tonight? >> Seeing no one, we will move on

004to our second round interviews. >> Are you sure? just check. >> Yeah, there's time. She's got to connect. >> Feel free to take a minute to get connected and let us know when you're ready. >> Yeah. Does yours turn on? Do your mic turn? >> No, not think said the batteries were done. Well, we all say they're charged. We'll pass it around. >> We can pass. Yeah. Yeah. >> It's not white. >> It's just a normal por. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Got the magic test. Um, and just for the purpose of trying to keep the owl on the presenter, we will turn them off while the presentation is going on. >> I just wanted to make sure >> No, no, no. I appreciate that. >> All right. Good evening everyone. Um, let me start

005um by saying on behalf of Desert Community Schools, I would like to welcome Melanie Noat, Dexter High School principal, back for our second interview for the position of superintendent. I wanted to take just a moment to describe our format tonight. The interview may take up to 80 minutes. It will begin with a presentation on the topic provided by the board. Following the presentation, there will be 15 questions. And please note, because we have prepared these questions in advance, we will not be asking questions specifically related to the presentation. Toward the end of the interview, time permitting, we will give you a chance to ask an opportunity to ask questions of the board and make closing remarks. And we will indicate if time is becoming an issue and there's a need to pick up the pace

006of your responses. For those present for the interview, we welcome and encourage their feedback. You may use the form provided for this purpose. Although the task of choosing our next superintendent is the responsibility of the board of education as the elected representatives of our community, we value and seriously consider the input of our stakeholders. Miss Noak, you may begin your presentation on the following topic. What is your vision for what Dexter schools will accomplish under your leadership over the course of the next three to five years? >> Okay. Thank you, Elise. Um, should I speak very loudly towards you? >> Can you turn your microphone on and maybe pull it to the front of the table? Yes. >> Or no? >> Yeah. >> Um, before you, you have a folder full of fun resources that

007I'm going to be referring to today. Um, so on the left side is just a copy of my presentation. On the right side, a packet of the resources I'm going to be referring to. Again, because this is a 20 minute presentation, I'm not going to go over all those resources. There's not enough time. But just so that you know what I'm referring to because I did not create all those myself, but there are things that uh I'm going to refer to the things I would like you to look at. Um so I'm actually going to pick up where we left off last time from last week. At the end of my presentation uh last week, I had asked you what you wanted to see in the next floor member or um superintendent from report. Here

008are some of the things that you've said to me. You want a long transition and nothing to be dropped. You uh want us to continue on our good trajectory. You want to keep it student centered. You want a strong handover, no new new initiatives, and just a smooth transition. Learn from the job, but no big change. I heard you. I really did. And tired of the leash. Um, as someone who oversees a lot of the initiatives and programs in our district, I saw that and thought, "Yeah, it really is a time for us to stop, collaborate, and listen." Pause for the laughter. Um, but truly like we do need to listen to each other and pause for a moment and think about what we're doing right now in our district. What do we want to

009continue and what might we want to change or adjust? So although I was brought into this um district because of my transformational leadership and uh the innovative um instructional practices that um I am really well aware of and and can teach. Um I do think we need to pause for a moment and think about what we're doing well and also continue on uh that same trajectory. >> But before I launch into what I will be doing, I want to make sure that you know that I have a commitment to the vision of the district. our mission and vision of the district. I have no intention on changing that. That is going to stay. So, um our champion learning of developing, educating, and inspiring students, we need to stick with that. But it's going so well

010for our district. And that really gives a commitment to our community about um what we want for our students. And then in our mission of Dexter Community Schools, it's really about championing those learners in the development um inspiration and education of our students. So my um vow to you is that we're going to continue on that path and continue developing educating and inspiring our students. So how are we going to do that? There are four main things um that um of my um priorities and vision that I would like to describe to you today. But first I'm just going to give a quick overview. Um it would first start with that smooth transition with Dr. Timus. Glean all the information we possibly can from him before he leaves. 17 years of experience as superintendent have

011a lot of knowledge and a lot of experience. We need to um make sure that we clean everything we possibly can from. Um also during this transition, we need to continue our district work. We can't just pause because we're going through a transition um period. We need to continue the good work that we're doing and be strategic about it. And then while we're doing this continuation of district work, we also can enhance some of the things that we talked about last week when we talked about culture and climate, when we talked about communication, the things that we still need to bolster and improve in our district. Do those at the same time. Not in a different initiative, but at the same time so that we can get to the end of that 3 to 5

012year period and celebrate our successes. Celebrate together, celebrate our students, celebrate our staff, celebrate our community together. So let's dive into first the seamless transition. Um again Dr. Timus has been in the superintendency for 17 years. 12 here and five in Adrian um public schools. He has a lot of experience and knowledge to offer us. So it's time for us to lean on him and gain everything that we can from his expertise. The three main things I would like to prioritize are learning about bond projects, healthy school finance, and community consensus building. Those are huge to any of the work that we're doing. And before I dive into those three um items, I want to direct your attention to the first um packet I gave you. Um in addition to these three items, there are

013monthly items that are always running in the background of the district that the community may not see, but if we don't do that, they'll definitely see them. So, I also want you to know that I'm well aware of other things that Mr. or Dr. Timus does and other administrators in our districts do to make sure that we are uh you know implementing different reports from the state in a timely manner in the correct fashion. Making sure that we're um doing program development with fidelity according to the state guidelines. Those are and as a member of Mesa which is our Michigan Association of Superintendent and Administrators. I'm part of that and I have training and opportunities with that I will continue into that superintendency. So um but without as you can see that's a big cave.

014I'm not going to go through that in detail. That is something that we will be going through line by line with Dr. Smith and really making sure that we understand that. Um so that first one bond projects this is a graphic that you've seen many times before. I did not create that. This is why I have that that second item in there. This was developed with the community um of all the bond projects that we want to see going forward in the next nine years with this recently passed bond. So, there's a lot of projects. The community has entrusted us with $242 million to allocate to bolster our programs. And um although I have never seen a bond project from start to finish, I am in those Tuesday meetings with the um facilities committee in

015the morning and then the design um uh meetings in the afternoon. and um I contribute in those meetings, talk about who we are as Dexter Community Schools, who we are as Dexter High School, what we want the community to see and um I'm always always bolstering uh or I always want to make sure that we're bolstering all of our programs, academics, arts, music, athletics, all of them, and make sure that we show that to our community with how we allocate our funds. Um so and I did not pass these out because not everyone is part of the bond facility um committee. So I have those but um line by line month by month for the next nine years. It it is clearly laid out how much money we're going to spend by dollar amount and

016in what series and on what projects. It is a very precise um and organized um planning. And I told you last week that I take peace and comfort in a wellorganized spreadsheet. I can't tell you that I find peace in this, but it is very precise and it is um again we we can say with confidence to our community that we are looking at the money that they have entrusted us with and we are using it to host all of our programs. Um and again making sure that this bond money goes for all um of our stakeholders and um contributing to our community positively for all of our stakeholders. Again across all of our campuses for safety and security um enhancing the student experience and again all of our um different programs like arts, athletics,

017music. There's a lot of different projects and we're going to go more in detail later about those, but there's many different areas that we need to track those projects. And the second item that I really want to spend time with Dr. Timus and um Christine Bey on is a healthy school finance. And it's important to know where to find the information on how to keep a healthy um healthy school finance. So that first of the first document I want to refer to um on this page is u the Senate um fiscal agency. In this um packet, it's going to show you the trends in financial spending in the state of Michigan. Um what has traditionally been given to districts over the years line by line and then showing um the increases and decreases and what

018we can expect this next upcoming fiscal year. Additionally, um there is the um recommendation the recommended budget for this year and as you all know the recommended budget is much different than our actual budget that comes in fall. And so how do we use this information? How do we translate this information into what we can plan for in the future? Because as you know that budget doesn't come out until fall. We need to plan for a district before the summer even begins. How how do we make sure that we have the proper number of staff members? Um allocate money to each of the buildings without knowing the actual budget. Well, that's why we have to look at this historical data. Make sure that we are looking at the trends. making sure that we are um

019doing it um in a way that we are making educated estimates on our enrollment on class sizes on the um projected um resource um allow um a lotment for each of the different programs that we're bringing in. It's a lot of it seems like a huge pot of money but it gets spent very quickly when we talk about our entire district of students. Um the next um document should be very familiar to you. This is something that the board created and it talks about um what the board is um allowing for our expenditures next year. As a board, we know that you came up with those um those numbers because of projections into next year. This is something that we need to do together every year and and be fiscally responsible and make sure that

020we give ourselves a little wiggle room just in case that actual budget that does come out in the fall doesn't come out exactly the way that we thought or the judgments looked. But knowing where that data is, knowing how to translate it, and knowing the different people to lean on to um further translate that information is really important. As you know, that's an intense um process. So, I don't want to get too far into the weeds there because there's a lot there. Um, but I think that there's a quote that we can apply to this situation. Um, it goes something along the lines of we can't direct the wind, but we can adjust our s. We cannot control the state budget. We can advocate, we can talk to legislators, we can look at again those

021budgets, we can look at recommendations, we can look at trend data in the past, but we can't control all of it. But we can adjust for sales. We can be fiscally responsible. we can plan for success. We usually do that by looking at our numbers, our projected enrollment. We do that by um looking at the projected um um expenditures for the next year for our programs, our curriculum, our facilities, and what we might need. That's a that's a large undertake. And again, as we talked about last week, whenever we're um making um tough financial decisions, it's really important that we do it systematically. It's important to do SWAT analysis. It's important to do um line by line analysis of our budget to make sure that we are giving to the um correct line items or

022possibly taking away from different line items. You can't do it arbitrarily. There's a lot of data and um analysis that goes into that. Um again, over the last 12 years, Dr. Tennis has been able to navigate some really tricky situations. There have been some polarizing events both in our community, our state, the US, and he's been able to keep us student center through all of it. Been able to keep us student center and really focus on what matters most, our students and their education. How do we do that? The community consensus building. Community sensus um consensus building was included in my 90-day plan, which you got last week. So, all of these items, I know it's very small, but those were included in last week's packet. It's more than just meetings. It's more than just

023coffee talks. It's more than that. It's making sure that we follow through with what we say that we're going to do so that the community knows that we are leading with integrity and honesty. So, working with Dr. Timus and um working with um different partnerships in the community and proving that we are going to do what we're we say we're going to do and utilize the funds that they give us and entrust us with their children every day. Community consensus building is about worth and words. If we don't have that, none of this other work matters because we need the community around us. Um throughout the transition um with Dr. Timus, we can't just pause our work. Everything just can't stop because I'm learning something new. We need to continue all of the great work

024that we're doing in our districts in district including the bond projects the strategic plan and the goals that the board of education has set out to accomplish over the next few years. That all needs to continue on as I'm learning in the background. So as mentioned earlier bond projects that's one of the largest projects that we're going to be working on over the next couple years. This is just some of the projects that we're going to be working on, right? This is not an exhaustive exhaustive um list. Um these are just some of them, but all of them are important and it's important to do all of them with Fidelity to make sure that we are supporting every different um uh program, student building in our district to make sure that we are making good

025on the promises uh that we told our community before the bonds passed. Um, so in each one of these projects is spaced out and sequenced with purpose. We need to make sure that we're following our timelines. That spreadsheet that I was describing to you earlier that literally goes through that 242 million month by month for the next nine years in the different series. We need to stick to that. We need to make sure that we are utilizing those funds properly so that um rate rates don't increase and that we are stretching that bond money as far as possible. And so keeping on um that uh that time frame is important and we need to make sure that um the community is involved. Our work on these projects is not done. Although we have established what

026projects need to be done, we haven't gone through all the nitty-gritty details. For instance, next Tuesday we have the community has the opportunity to um come to the high school media center and contribute to the ideas on the new fieldhouse. I encourage everyone to come to those meetings. That is important. We need to make sure that we're servicing our entire community, all of the stakeholders, so that they are part of this process and that we are just not making these decisions in isolation. So again getting the feedback from the community and all the stakeholders is essential. Another big work of the district is the continuation of the strategic plan. Part of the strategic plan um includes vision culture learning continuum studying learning opportunities and cultural competency. We have not yet mastered any of these areas

027of our um uh our strategic plan and that's okay. This is a plan that was to span over years. And there are different details within each of these different areas that we need to master, but we need to do it together as a community. So, in your packet, you also have a quick overview of the strategic plan that just talks about what those different areas are and um the different goals within the strategic plan. Um, and throughout my presentation both today and last week, you've probably heard me say over and over again about the importance of collaboration and listening and effective communication. The same can be true of our strategic plan and design. None of this work matters if we're not doing it together. We all need to do it together. And that won't happen

028unless we are unified, collaborative, supportive, and have these connected relationships that is essential to the success of all of this. No one person can do this. Although I would be at the helm and directing a lot of this, we need to do it together. Two areas that I want to focus on in the strategic plan are the learning continuum and the extended learning opportunities. So um in the learning continuum we talk about um creating and implementing a a preK through 12 uh learning continuum and talking about instructional practices strategies. So over the next couple years we have created a uh a timeline of how to create more vertical and horizontal alignment with all of our curriculum. We need to engage the staff in conversations about what is mastery, what does that look like, what are

029our students coming, what skills are students um getting at the end of each course, at each um grade level, and is it consistent? Is each fourth grader getting the same math exposure and mastery by the end of fourth grade? We need to look at that. We need to um engage everyone in those conversations to make sure that we're being consistent so that students prek through 12 have a consistent learning experience and exposure. Additionally, are we creating um opportunities for students to be flexible in their learning paths? Next on your packet, you will see the new Indiana U diploma requirements. Those are more flexible pathways. I can guarantee you that the um career landscape that you and I have navigated is not going to be the same one that our students will navigate in the future.

030It's just not. It's changing rapidly. So, if we continue to teach the same same content in the same way, our students will actually be behind. We cannot continue to do that. We need to look at more progressive innovative um learning opportunities for our students so that they can take those skills and that fast content and translate them for the future. I'm not saying that we should adopt Indiana model. I'm just saying that we need to explore and look at some of those. Um the next item I want you to look at are the board goals. the um goals established by the board in um 2024. Um as a board, you've established four goals that you want us to continue to work on over the next couple years. We need to continue on with these because

031these affect all students. Graduation rate. Graduation rate. Um this is not a task just for senior level teachers. This is a pre prek through 12 effort with all staff members, with all stakeholders, with all community members. Now, although our metrics are not going to show it, we actually got a 100% graduation rate with the students in this past cohort that were on campus. 100%. The metrics aren't going to show that because we do have some students who are off campus, for instance, some students who attend Wave or ECA um or um a few students that are on our campus but are not diploma bound. Think of students who might be pursuing other educational needs or have extended um learning opportunities past year. But students who are diploma bound on campus at Dexter High School, 100%

032of them graduated this year. That's a huge success. How do we do that? It's a collective effort. Over the last few years, we have been working on our MTSS strategies and programs and bolstering our services and supports to students. That can include graduation coaching, could include special education services, could include 504 services. Um, lots of different things that will continue to contribute to this graduation rate, the map of reading achievement. Um, so I really dove into our AER and um really looked at what could be some of the contributing. I did not send out the AER for everyone. That's quite a packet. um there could be a lot of contributing factors to the different results of the AER and how our students are um performing. However, as we also talked about last week, our students

033are more than just a single number of a single year in these different um subject matters. Should we look at it? Absolutely. Should we dive into the data and look at trend data and talk about like all right so you know 57.2% of our third graders last year compared to the 59. We we need to look at that. We need to talk about the contributing factors of why those percentages have changed, celebrate the successes and talk about like okay if they went down why did they go down and talk about it and have those collaborative conversations with the teachers, the staff and dive into the curriculum to talk about these differences. So, and we need to do that in a systems uh in a systematic way. We can't just arbitrarily say well that looks great

034pass along. Students always think how can we do better? How can we um give our students even more opportunities to bolster their education and benefit post-graduation planning? Again, thanks to the board of education, thanks to our district leadership, we were able to hire a career development facilitator this past year that has been a game changer. We have implemented so many new career and college readiness um efforts because of her and her efforts and the continuation of services that we have been implementing for our students for college and career readiness to make sure that they are looking ahead of in their future. So we have um implemented school links. School links is a new program where students do their educational development plan. You might have heard it called an EDP. That is a graduation requirement for

035all students in the state of Michigan. Um this is where students will explore their talents, their gifts, their interests in interest and where they might want to go to um in the service, trade school, college, nick a gap year. That's where they explore themselves of what they might be interested in. We now have developed a comprehensive grades 5 through 12 um u plan so that students starting in grades five can explore those different options and then the year after that expanding that even more. So students in our elementary levels can explore as well. Facilities planning, a big part of facilities planning is our bond work right now. That's all of our bond work right now. Trying to forecast what we need in the future. Um making sure that uh we are doing a better job

036of planning, building, improving, and maintaining our facilities. And then looking in our part of the facilities planning is how can we service the entire community through our facilities. Um we have a huge option right um an incredible opportunity right now in Dexter because not only do we have our bonds going on but we also have that CTE in Wall County that just passed. Great opportunity that we need to capitalize on. Are we supplying our students um with all the opportunities possible for CTE programming for hands-on experiential learning? we can do more. So, um it would be one of my pushes to continue that and get more opportunities for our students. Um and again, in my past experiences at Farmington, I did oversee all of the CTE programs there. So, I have a lot of expertise

037that I can offer in that area. through the seamless transition and the continuation of our district work. I think that we can enhance our current state by not doing any extra initiatives, anything additional, but doing it through the work. I want to make sure that we are being collaborative through all of our different efforts and do this together. Again, I would be working handinhand with Dr. Timus to make sure that there is a um a very clean and seamless um transition to make sure that all of our stakeholders are respected and honored through this process and again that we're doing this process together. Not one person can do all of these initiatives all of this work. It is a team effort truly a collaborative effort from the entire community. Then again celebrating celebrating student achievement

038and success. We will do that through all these other items that we've talked about today. And I think as adults, sometimes we lose sight of why we're here and why we have a school district. We suck the fun out of things here for kids. We're here for their education. And that's serious business for sure. We are molding and shaping the lives of young people. But we also have to have fun with it and celebrate them. Celebrate our kids. Celebrate our staff. Celebrate our community in fun and engaging ways. Not just the big stuff, not just commencement, all the small stuff. Actually, today before coming in here, I was doing laps in the in the gym at the high school and rehearsing my stuff and one of the kids are knocking on the window. What do

039you need? Can we play basketball? Sure, come on in. And then celebrating because they were talking about what they did this past weekend in a baseball tournament. Celebrate the small stuff. Make it fun. We don't have to be so serious all the time. Yes. all of this and the bond work and the um school finance serious stuff and we need to make sure that we do all that good fidelity but also making sure that we are student centered. They're why we're here. We need to make sure that we have a connection with them. So, um my promise would be to make sure that we have more student advocacy groups and listening to them more so that they can tell us what do they want in their education, what do they want in our district. That's

040going to be important so that we can get from here to you. We need to celebrate together and again through these next five to three to five years working with Dr. Timus through transition goal making sure that we are accomplishing all the goals set out by the board of education continuing on with our strategic plan work making sure that all of our projects in the bond are done and and seen through fruition in a positive way for our entire community. We can celebrate. What questions might you have for me? I think if we're okay with it, I'd rather just move to the questions that we've prepared if that's okay. >> Thank you. No worries. Thank you very much for your presentation. We appreciate it and thank you for providing us materials to answer tonight. Thank

041you. Um so we have prepared 15 questions and just so that everyone here understands these are board composed questions um that were written with um the feedback from the community following last week as well as questions that we ourselves had following the last interview >> and they weren't provided in >> they were not provided in advance. That's right. Um so I'm going to begin. Um Miss Noak, our community knows you as Dexter High School's principal. Please talk to us a bit more specifically about things we might not know about your background, familiarity, and preparedness to lead elementary level education initiatives. Great question. So, actually my first um position as an administrator was in an elementary school. It was one of the most fun experiences I've ever had. Um the elementary level is so different than

042the secondary level. um and they have different challenges um a different focus um but it again all about kids. Uh so when I first took the job as an elementary principal we were going through um the building and formation and uh the initial stages of a brand new school. It was it was the Compass Learning Center and we were spanning grades 2 through eight. There's not another school in the state of Michigan with grades two through eight in the same building. Um, so they were shifting students from all parts of the district at different campuses all on this one huge big campus. We had seventh and eighth graders upstairs, two through six downstairs. Um, not only were we changing the layout and landscape of the building. We were changing curriculum. We uh introduced Witten Wisdom

043as our um literacy curriculum. And um so we were trying to engage with the staff on different professional learning opportunities with wood and wisdom and then carry that out in the classroom. Um we also were launching a new math curriculum at the same time. So I spent a lot of time in the elementary curriculum um namely at that point in time went wisdom and then we were doing everyday math at um the elementary level and as a math and English teacher I really was excited because I was seeing the building blocks in the formation of all those skills and competencies before it got to the secondary level where I would pick up those students at the high school level. So, it was so cool to see the um letter formation and um word recognition of

044students through that curriculum. So, it is something I'm comfortable with. It is something that I have done before. Um again, it is not my forte. That's not where my degree is, but I have spent time in the elementary curriculum in uh initiating those new curriculums at the elementary level. Um I would also say that my time at um Farmington Public Schools um I was um prek12 um and although the CTE programs were at the high school level um innovation was at the entire district. So I would regularly meet with the elementary principles about innovative practices, instructional practices at the elementary level. Um, one of the main things I worked on with a few of the principles at the time was uh joined grade level classrooms. So, in uh one of our buildings, we were joining

045all of the third and fourth grade classrooms into one classroom so that they could um flex and uh rotate their students through whatever was appropriate to each individual's skill level instead of being very um I'm going to say um sectioned out by what was in that classroom. instead of having to go down the hallway for other instruines and pairings in the classroom because it was um cross grade levels. Um and that was not something that they had done before, but that's something that I had expertise in because of my time at the steam centers um and to come see. So, um it was really cool to dive into that third and fourth grade curriculum and talk about how we can do different pairings and group work um in the third and fourth grade math, science,

046um social studies um curriculums and um group students based on ability levels and how to help students grow and stretch their skills um through that. So I would say both um through my experiences at Tacci as um an elementary principal and at Farmington as um an innovative um curriculum director at the central office level, I have been able to dive into elementary curriculum. >> Thank you. Okay. Given the difficulty of the job, why are you interested in becoming a superintendent? >> That's a great question. Um, and I've thought about this and so, you know, this position is very unique and I believe that I can offer um this district a a different perspective. Um, so both in our conversation last week and in my presentation today, we have some work to do, especially in the

047areas of culture and climate and climate and communication. I can help with that. Um, so it would be um my task and my vow to help with that and bring together um our staff and improve relationships um so that everyone truly feels heard, seen, listened to and that their feedback is taken um seriously and that we are following through to some of those things. So that would be my goal. So my um to answer your question directly, it's to have bigger impact. I love what I do. To me, this is a win-win situation. I love my job at the high school. I love it there. I would also love to have more impact if I have the opportunity to do that. So, I'm not looking for um to change districts. Again, as I talked to

048you about last week um last week, this is my community. This is where my kids go. This is where my nieces attend. This is where my friends kids go. This is where I want to be. But to have the opportunity to have that bigger impact so that we can continue to improve and bolster our culture, climate, and communication, that would be an ultimate goal of mine. And also throughout the state um you probably have seen statistics that only 15 to 20% in any given year um of 15 to 20% of our superintendents are female. Why we have such a um female dominated employee force in education lacking in leadership. >> Thank you. >> All right. Uh, in light of our recent approval of our $241 million bond proposal, what strategies do you plan to implement

049to prioritize and carry out projects that will enhance student learning and encourage community involvement? Additionally, how will you ensure transparency and accountability throughout this process? >> Great question. Um and I am so thankful to have the opportunity to attend all the board meetings as of late or uh bond meetings as of late, both the facilities committee meeting and our afternoon design um committee meetings because that has really given me an inside look of how that money is being uh sectioned off for different series, different projects line by line and the the timeline of those. That has been very interesting. Again, there are spreadsheets upon spreadsheets linked into a spreadsheet about all of those different items. It is so well thought out and every dollar is accounted for in there. And it's important that we stick

050to those different timelines to make sure that we are um following through with what we have promised to our community because as you probably know, if we don't follow those timelines, different rates may go up. We might may not be able to um utilize the funds and take them as far as we could if we stick to those timelines. So that's why they are thoughtfully planned out the way that they are in the month by month 9-year plan. Um and making sure that our we are prioritizing different things like safety and security. Like one of the first projects is the entrance to the high school. That's important. Um you know someone who works there every day it's important to have that new entrance. So um those of you who have been in those meetings I

051I have been vocal about here's what I think that entrance should look like because I see the functionality of that each and every day. Um, so and then community and stakeholder feedback. Just like it's so important I mentioned earlier that everyone comes next Tuesday either at the the morning session or the 4:30 session to give their input on what they what they want to see in the fieldhouse. It's important to get everyone's feedback on that so it serves all of our stakeholders and not just portions um and parts of our community but all stakeholders. So, um, I would continue to hold those different community forums and feedback sessions to make sure that we're really hearing our community of how they want this money that they have entrusted us on that. >> Thank you. >> Good

052evening. >> Each candidate expressed the importance of communication and listening. How will you create an environment that makes it safe for staff and community members to constructively share their various perspectives and opinions regardless of how they may differ from the way you see things? >> Yeah. So, it is no secret that we're going to differ on things, especially in this very politically charged um society right now. We're going to have different opinions on things. But bottom line, we are a public school. We are here to service all of our students, our entire community. Regardless of political affiliation, regardless of how what church we belong to, regardless of how we feel about any of those things, we're here to service all of our students. So, it's important as the leader to hear everybody and make sure

053that it matches with what we are deciding and making sure that it matches law, legislation. Are we following the rules that we are supposed to um govern by? Um there are board policies, there are laws, there are different educational things that we have to abide by like pupil accounting rules, there are a lot of things and and making sure that that's transparent. Um so that the community knows why we make certain decisions. Um why we have a certain number of minutes in our school day, why we have all of those different things. There's a reason why we get out at 253, not 250, right? But some people might not know that and that's okay. But we, you know, we need to make reference to those things that we have to have, that's 98 minutes and

054we need to make sure that we track every single one of those, 198 minutes and make sure that we know where all of our students are at all time. Um, so Dan, I would say it would be through transparency and through referring to things and that's why today I don't want to take credit for all of the things that I presented today. A lot of it was taken from the documents either from the state or things that were collectively created by our district leadership, the board, state. This is not just my work. Some of the things I contributed to, but we need to make sure that we are supplying and making sure that we refer back to things that are important so that everyone knows, oh, that's why that decision was made. You need to

055do more of that. How will you adjust to being in charge after working alongside many of the employees um that you would now be supervising if you are hired as a superintendent? >> Yeah, great question. So Amy, this is going to go back to something I said last week about my leadership style being clear and kind. Whether I'm meeting you for the first time or we've worked together for four years, I really think that clarity is so important. That's the only way that we build a strong relationship with one another is if I'm uh clear with you, transparent, and I tell you the truth. No matter what our relationship is inside or outside of school, I have a job to do. And that's first and foremost. My job would be to serve the students of

056this district, serve the staff of this district. And if anything um you know happens within a school day that's not in alignment, we need to be clear and kind about that. Clear with you about what might have happened, refer back to why we make the certain decisions that we make and why we have different operating procedures or policies and then have compassion um and kindness about saying here's how we're going to correct this. I'm not scared of those conversations. Um I don't shy away from confrontation. Um but we do it in a kind way and we make sure that we are direct. Um and also part of that is, you know, having really good relationships with our um union leadership and bringing people in when necessary and making sure that everyone feels valued and heard

057and working as a collaborative unit because although we might be in different associations, we're here for the same goal and we need to make sure that we are working towards that same goal. So when things are out of alignment with policies, procedures, systems, just need to be clear about that and then work together to fix it. >> Explain in practical terms how you or use data in decision- making and give an example of how you have that done so in your current role. >> Yeah. Um thank you Melanie. So, um, as I told you earlier, I've been digging through the, um, AER data. Um, but also throughout and so there would definitely be things. So, this would be an example of how I would dig through data and make sure that we put together our

058data teams. Um, I don't teach fourth grade math, but I know people who do. So, let's get that team together. Let's show them the data. Let's help them um, analyze it and look at trend data. Are there have there been changes in the past? have has there been a difference um in resources or time allocation in the schedule? Those types of things. So really to be data focused and do it in a systematic way. Um so that would be something that I would I would help facilitate. Um something that I've done at the high school recently um with the other administrators at the high school is we've been looking at what the state considers access data. Um things that we report in our 31A. um 31A reports um students with attendance more than 10% um

059absenteeism um students who are first generation graduation students who might be failing some of the core academic tests in math, English, social studies etc. So keeping track of that but again what the state calls at risk data and looking at different supports that we have been implementing and then how can we change that and improve that. So we work closely with our um IST so our instructional support team um really diving into the data and seeing which of our strategies and supports are working. Um so something that we have really been trying to concentrate on is those are are they MTSS supports and which ones are really high impact. Um over the last few years we have been seeing a decline in again what is considered at risk population in a high school. So um

060for instance uh I believe it was last year we started with 140 students. I'm trying to find the exact um we started with actually over 200 students and then by the end of the year it dropped to less than 70. But we were really looking at that data um looking at the different um supports that were implemented to each and every one of those students and trying to figure out okay is there a correlation? But again, as we talked about last week, sometimes it's really difficult to find correlation and causation in education because again, we're working with humans, we're working with people. Um, but at least trying to find some trend data there. >> Oh. Um, as superintendent, you will be constantly pulled in all directions. How will you prioritize competing demands and what will

061you do to ensure that the important is not sidetracked by the urgent? >> Great question. Happens a lot at the high school as well. I know that that is more of a microcosm of the bigger district. Um, but it's sometimes that immediate and urgent needs to be done right at that moment. For instance, if I'm in the middle of a a really important contentious IEP meeting and there's a first responders um call, guess what? I'm going to that first responders call and I'm making sure that whatever help is needed is given and I am reacting to that. Um, and then coming back and making sure that I'm back and engaged in that meeting to make sure that the staff members, the student, the family feel supported in that meeting so that we can come up

062with a um a unified goal um whatever we're trying to accomplish in that meeting. Um I would say that making sure that urgent and pressing matters and making sure that priorities are set that that's really a team effort. um because on a day-to-day basis you can be pulled in so many directions but at the end of the day sitting down going through the list of things to do and then calling in the team saying hey here are 10 items that we need to accomplish before Friday which ones can we divide and conquer which ones do I need to take on which ones do we need to do together it it's a team effort no one person can do this job it is really a collective Yeah. >> Okay. Sorry, I'm going to turn on my

063mic in one second. How do you plan to interact and communicate with the board to ensure that we operate as a highly functioning team? >> You looked at my questions >> actually. So that with you. So that actually was going to be one of the questions that I asked you all at the end of um today's interview is um I wanted to ask you about frequency. Um so actually Miss Gingus, you had asked at um or you had commented um at the last interview about like the expectation of that constant communication and you expect to be informed of all those different things. Yes. How how frequently do you want it? In what format? Um so those were going to be things that I asked you about in an individual preference and a collective um preference

064of how do we communicate um because I operate under um the belief that communication is good and we always need to be on the the same page. So um an example I'll give um I work in a team of three administrators of a high school. we have a running dot so that at 3:00 am when I have that question pop in my head or that idea just pop it in there so that I'm not waking them up at 3:00 am and that's okay. I don't expect to do that with you all but you know but having those open lines of communication. How do I keep track of things and then how do I give you timely communications? I know that Dr. Timus gives you um weekly updates and keeps you informed of all the different

065things going on big and small. Um so I plan on continuing to do that and in my transition plan um with Dr. Dr. Timis, I plan on asking him questions about how does he keep those lines of communication with you all open at what frequency, how to make sure that you're getting the information that you really want and need to make sure that you are informed and uh giving the community information that they need. All right. How would you engage with all stakeholders in our community, including those who may have opposing views on more progressive initiatives to build consensus, maintain support, and ensure our schools remain supportive of all students? >> Great question. Um, so I believe that all parents want the best for their students and they are passionate about different things. Even if

066they are different views, because they are passionate about their student, they want the best for them. It's important that we listen. Even if someone is giving a direct contrasting view of something that you believe in, there's probably a morsel of something that you can come to agreement on. Almost always we can do that. So I think it's important that we find that common ground and those commonalities because again we're here for our students. I know I keep saying that over and over again, but we need to be student centered and find those commonalities to make sure that we're servicing all of our students. So to me, it's it's it's not the uh progressive versus conservative that that's not what this is. We're here to service our students and what our future landscape is going to

067be. So are we providing them with the best educational opportunities that we possibly can so they can be ready for the landscape of 2027 if that's when they're going into the job force, whatever that is. And make sure that we really listen to one another and find the find that common ground so that we can build upon that u common ground. Again, even at the end of the conversation, we might not fully agree, but we can at least agree that we're both working together to make that best opportunity for our student. >> The schools offers a wide variety of sports, clubs, and activities for all students. How we promote some of the less prominent sports and clubs to support their success and give them more visibility to students and the community. Good question. So, um

068something that I feel very thankful that I was able to uh be involved with this last year is um unified sports. If you have not been to a unified event, I highly encourage you to do that. Um my son actually part participated um in unified sports this year. What an enriching experience. you want to talk about students who are really giving their all and and putting their heart into the activity that they're doing, go to one of those. That's going to be fulfilling. So, my Dan to answer that, I would I'm going to attend those um different competitions. I'm going to attend those events. Um we have different um venues and communication streams to um advertise and um try to get people to those different events. I plan on continuing um to do that and

069bolster those efforts to make sure that all of our students feel seen and heard um in their different efforts. How will you educate yourself more fully on school system financing and preparing for being in charge of the entire district budget? Specifically, what will your role in establishing and maintaining the budget be? Yeah, good question. So, um a strong knowledgeable CFO is essential. No one leader can be an expert on everything, but we need to know um some on everything, especially the budget. So, my plan would um be to spend a lot of time with Christy Beiki, our CFO, and talk about our budget line by line, and spend a lot of time with her and really analyzing what we're spending our money on. um going through different SWAT analysis and again not just her and

070I doing that SWAT analysis but sometimes bringing in bigger teams of people um to look at different programming um funds and budgets um but really um diving into that together again as I um gave you some resources here with the um the the Senate um fiscal agency looking at those different documents talking to different um connections I have around the state and different superintendents that I work closely with um and talk about like, hey, you know what? Here's our projected enrollment for next year. Here's what I'm thinking. What are you guys doing? Again, as I talked about last week, it's not Dexter against the world. We're working all together for our entire community and all of our students in this state. So, it's important that we lean on one another. We're all going to be

071given that same budget in in the fall, obviously allocated a little bit differently because of enrollments, but we need a plan in a similar fashion. So, my plan would be to connect with other um superintendents in the state as well. Um I have a a network of um superintendents that I know really well and are close with. For instance, um the Chelsea superintendent, the Sleen, well retired superintendent, but I'll get to know the new one really soon. um Farmington, Perry, um Taylor schools and now well um retired but I have a connection and network in the state of people who are um working with the same issues and and and the same finance and sometimes there will be texts going around like hey how is everyone planning this uh how how to spend this grant

072or hey did anyone else apply to this one we're looking at this one those texts happen all of the time in fact I was getting replies to a bunch of them as I was sitting waiting for this interview about something um happening in this upcoming year. So having those networks of people that you can rely on and ask questions to is really important as well. Was the innovative and educational experience and to come see that you spoke of in the first interview a success and is it still in practice? Please explain your thoughts as to why or why not and also please share why you chose to leave to come see for the position at her. >> Great questions. So, do I think that it was a success? Yes. Um, the example that I gave

073last week about the student who was uh who did not speak at the beginning of the school year and gave a presentation in front of the community. That was so impactful. I will never forget that. He will never forget that. His parents will never forget that. His classmates will never forget that. that happened through f flexible learning opportunities and um not being confined to the bell-to-bell. We're gonna have math for 60 minutes, social studies for 60 minutes. He was able to grow at his rate, at his um his interests because we had a different model and we had different supports in place because of that model. So I would say absolutely yes, it was success. Did it go a ride? Sure did. We weren't really fast and some of the communications were not always clear.

074Um, and as I was describing the the Compass Center, we had grades 2 through eight in one building. There's no other building in the state of Michigan that has grades two through eight. That was a really advantageous goal. Was it perfect? No. Did we make errors along the way? Absolutely. Were there would there be things that I would do differently in that model that if I had the opportunity? Sure. But overall, was that um educational model and um shakeup a success? I would say so. I chose to leave to come because of some um personal things. Um there's even a YouTube video out there where I spoke out against one of our interimm superintendents. It seemed like we were having a new interimm superintendent every couple weeks. That's not an exaggeration. I think we had

075seven within nine months or something ridiculous. It was intense. So, constantly having to change to different leaders and different superintendents every so often. That was difficult. Um, however, three out of however many of the interim superintendents we had at that time are actually some of my references. So, I would encourage you to reach out to them. The work that we were doing was good. There was a lot of unrest in uh the community. So, it was a really difficult um situation to work in, but I'm still really close to a lot of those teachers. In fact, a lot of them re have reached out within the last couple days and said, "Good luck cheering for you." We were such a close team. Um it was so hard to leave the staff. It was so hard

076to leave the staff. We were really like family. Um but because of that changing district level leadership and um tumultuous board that almost became impossible to work for. Um, and the blatant disrespect of women in leadership. That was that I could not do that. Thanks. I appreciated the opportunity to read your transition plan. Um, can you please provide an example from your plan of something that you are excited to tackle and share why you've identified it as a priority? Sure. Are you supposed to transition please? >> Yes. Okay. >> Just just we'd like to hear about any portion that you want to tell us about. >> Sure. Um, one of the portions I would like to talk about is specifically about student agency. We have really amazing students in our district. We need to hear

077more from them. we need to be taking notes and um implementing some of their ideas. Again, an example I gave last week about winter formal. That's no little thing to them. That's huge. That contributes to their entire high school experience. Um last week um at one of the bond meetings, we talked about the opportunity for the community to come together and um really get feedback on the fieldhouse. As soon as the meeting was over, I got on the group meet that I have with the student section leaders and our student advisory board and a couple of our other student leadership groups and specifically invited them and said, "I need you here on Tuesday. Please come." Went over to the wait room said, "Guys, I need you at this meeting to make sure that you are

078contributing to this conversation." That's important. Um, it's important to hear what our students have to say because they are brilliant and they have a voice and we need to hear them um more. We need to them to take more agency in their learning so that they are more engaged with it and care about it. They're going to care more if they if they know that we care about um what they have to say. Um another example, I just met with a group of students last Thursday about senior parking spots. Heard it here first. We're doing it this year and they're so excited and so they're getting out the word already. That's those are the celebrations. That's the exciting stuff that we need to do more of so that our students really feel involved and engaged

079in our school community. We need to give them voice. Did we help them write that proposal and put some rules? Sure, of course we did. They've never done that before. They've never written policy. So, we help guide them so that they can do it again and do something even bigger next time. So, I would say one of the most exciting things in the transition plan um and something that I really want to make sure that we do well is we get different student groups and that's just not high school groups, middle school, intermediate level and elementary as well. We have brilliant students pre-K through 12. They have a lot to say. They want to tell us and we should be implementing some of those things. You ask my son, he did a uh presentation to

080his class about more recess. Now, I did have to talk to him about allocated time that 1098 and what that means. He didn't quite understand or buy it, but I at least talked to him about it. He's like, "Okay, go out and play football." But our students have agency. They want to be heard. They want to be seen. Thanks. >> Okay. Tell us how you'll go about making sure our collegebound students have access to resources and curriculum that will help them achieve their post-secary education goals. Great question. Um, and in fact, looking at our senior exit survey from last year or two years ago, I'm sorry, the the data from this past graduating class is not is not in yet. We usually get that at the end of August August. So, this recently graduated class,

081I don't have the data for that yet, but um the graduating class from last year um said only 22% said that their school contributed to um developing their hurdles. That's way too low. We cannot leave that there. I'm really hopeful that the efforts that we put in this year with our CDF, our career development facilitator, and the implementation of school links and the career fair will increase that number. Again, I can't forecast that, but I am pretty darn sure that it's going to be more than 22%. It has to be. We're only going to continue increasing efforts in that area. Um like I talked about earlier in the um three year three to five year um vision um presentation that um starting next year we want to imple implement a 5 through 12 um incremental

082um plan for student um exposure to career and college readiness so that students at a very young age can start looking at um what they're interested in, what their talents are, what their skills are, where they might want to go to college. Could that change a bajillion times between fifth grade and 12th grade? Sure, absolutely. And it should and we encourage them to do so. And now we have the tools that they can explore and quickly look up different facts. So my plan would be to continue to bolster those efforts in the career and um college um development readiness um sector um in collaboration with our CDF and our other teachers um teaching those elective courses to make sure that our students do have exposure at a younger age and more frequently. What is your

083biggest apprehension about taking the role of superintendent and how do you plan to address it? Um, thank you for asking that question. So, I don't do things halfway as you saw by the big pack I gave you gave you today. I'm all in. I'm gonna do all the research. I'm gonna look at things. I'm going to work with teams. I'm gonna dive into data. Um there's probably a lot of data points that I've researched and looked into um that we haven't even talked about today. One of my apprehensions is that this is going to be Melanie and I still need to leave time for other parts. Um, but I would say something that would help me overcome that and make sure that it's balanced is similar to what I do now. My kids come with

084me to almost all the events. So, if you've seen me at a concert, you're probably going to seize them at a concert. Um, and although Little Women was really difficult for my seven-year-old to sit through, we at least made it through the first worship. It was great, by the way, for a seven-year-old for him, right? But they're going to be with me. And so trying to balance that work, family, life balance. I'm not going to say it's going to be easy. It's still going to be difficult. But I do a lot of that in my role right now as high school principal because especially in the winter, there's an event every night. And balancing, okay, who is going to represent the high school at this event? Making sure that all of our programs and directors

085and um coaches feel supported and seen, that's important, too. Um, so my plan would be to continue to um incorporate family time with some of the things we do here because again this is not just a job for me. This is also where I live where my kids go to school and where my kids play sports and are educated. So I'm also going to semis at Eastern, right? I I'm also going to pop schools in the park with my son. So it is possible to do both. >> Thank you. We would like to take a few minutes now to provide you with an opportunity to ask any questions you may time flies when I guess you stole my thunder with one of those questions. But I I do want to um go into more detail

086about that. So, I really do want to hear from each of you individually what your expectation of me would be um both in frequency um and in detail of what you would like that communication to be and what you expect of our relationship going forward. >> Um just I guess to give an overview I guess I would say that our board is very strong in the premise of no surprises. So, we really do communicate with the superintendent if we if questions arise and we do expect to be notified so that we aren't um caught unaware as well. So, I think that's one of the sort of biggest um pieces is that we don't show up to a board meeting not understanding what's going to be shared with us because we do a lot of homework

087before our board meetings. I I know lots of times people wonder how we are kind of ready to be prepared uh to make a decision and that's because we're doing a lot of homework. So I I think just in terms of making sure that we are provided with enough information in a timely way I think is probably one of the overarching points. Thank you. >> Um I guess I would add I agree with everything that that Trusty Brley said. Um, I think that, um, being prepared for board meetings and being able to give a nice summary of what's going on in a clear fashion is very helpful. That's a really nice way to communicate. We have quarterly reviews um of the of the superintendent. So, those are in close session. So, there it's kind of

088a time to have some open dialogue about how things are going and what where you might need help. So, that's always helpful. Um, and then you know if there's anything big then we would receive a text. It's not a group text but it's a it's something that um that we generally will receive just so that we're aware um we gen we're it's not our job to run the district. It's it's a superintendent's job. But just being aware is very helpful. >> Thank you. >> I got one comment. So the president sets the agenda with the superintendent. uh we provide input to the president and I would like to see more that input that we give to her that she gives to you implemented in a timely fashion. Uh lately it's been changing but I say

089historically it's delayed when we ask for presentations on data points talk about trend analysis how how the money spent. I mean everything's out there and it's hard to get to sometimes because there's a lot of stuff out there. Uh so when we ask for like oh literacy program right okay it's two years in now how's it going what are the trends are we improving or disapproving that's a big curriculum change uh stuff like that when we ask for stuff we want we I say we but I'm pushing for more routine so we don't have to beg for information routine um I think the community wants it too some more routine information on certain trends through K through five middle school years and then the the high school group. So >> certainly >> what's that? >>

090More routine data on on how how they're standing out. It's a trend over years. So you know you're not going to give me something on what happened this last month in the school test. But where are trends? We constantly need to review and see them ourselves versus digging into them. And the information is hard to get to. I know that we've seen it before, but we shouldn't have to beg for >> Thank you. >> I've really enjoyed um when Dr. Timus would give us our weekly updates. uh being new to the board and trying to get my head around what we actually do and uh it was a a mad learning curve in the beginning, but those were um very essential to learn what the board was doing and what they were focusing on and

091what they were the input uh from the superintendent is is is vital to the decisions we have to make um to oversee you. But um even beyond that, maybe to get a little bit more specific on why um you would make the decisions you made, you know, in that update. A little bit um you know, of reasoning. Maybe that would be helpful. That would be a comment that I'd have. >> I just like things to be concise and direct. I'm a fulltime fulltime firm. I don't have time for people to beat around by the bush. So just give me the information that I need to have. I mean I need to have it so I can I also don't have the board email on my phone. So I have to literally switch gears put my

092board hat on and check any. So that's just something that so there's something that's urgent kind of let me know but I do check it every day. So >> thank you. >> And I agree with Nani. Um concise is good. um a regular email um or an update for the week has been very helpful um with the information in it uh about what is happening at each school and and any decisions that have been made. If there's something important that happened at a school uh a medical emergency or or um a weapon in a school like that should come to us like immediately in a text. um something that we would know about from the superintendent relay to us. Thank you. >> Thank you for that. That's helpful. Um and also last week a comment

093from um the board was u about the literacy scores. Um and I spent a considerable amount of time um jumping into the AER comparing um some of our trend data from year to year following different cohorts um through their experience. Um, is there was there a specific area, grade level maybe, uh, resources, curriculum that, uh, you wanted the superintendent to focus on for this upcoming year or was that more of a general like we want to see increases in our literacy scores like the board goal that was established to 24? Just to clarify, are you asking what the board goals intent was or are you asking >> Yes. the intent >> of the goal of the question? >> Yes. Um so like is it about you know going back to Dan one of your comments

094about that trend data and um >> well I don't know who made a comment but the new curriculum we implemented K nursing >> u K1 through three >> the two-year groups that we introduced on new literacy program to increase those are the lowest scores they're below the state average below the national average and then we talk about then they jump and we're ahead you know So the whole thing was if we can get those to at least come to the state average or the national average then we're not only we're going to jump we're going to jump we're just going to explode. That was I think at least my intent at the most important. Well, I think the board goal itself was designed to uh give us a space to continue talking about the new

095curriculum that this district invested in to make sure that it was realizing the goals that I think we hoped for it to realize and to sort of give an opportunity for the board to be checking in with administration about, you know, is this working for our kids because that's our goal. >> Okay. Thank you for that clarity. I mean that is it's um it's a very broad goal as you know and there's a lot of different elements of that. Uh so I wanted to make sure that I was clear on exactly what that intention was so that I would know where to dive in there. We also recognized that coming out of COVID there were a lot of adjustments and so we wanted to sort of give some latitude to move forward and adjust along

096the way rather than being very directive because that's not our area of expertise. We want the goal to be realized. We don't want to provide a specific path. Sense. >> Yeah. I mean, I would just add there was a lot of discussion among the district about Lucy Cawkins versus other types of delivery methods and we made a direct decision not to to to to the Lucy Cawkins curriculum and move to another one. So, just being able to follow up on that, seeing how it's going. I I don't agree necessarily that um low test scores and then a big jump um is necessarily a bad thing because sometimes just cohorts develop at different pieces. Um I think that our district is really good by the time they graduate in terms of the level that they're at.

097And so personally um and this is me speaking personally. I'm not as tied to the test scores. I think you spoke to that last time, but um I know that the trend analysis is helpful to look at. We also used to have um easier access to peer districts so that we could like East Grand Rapids and just some different districts so that we could benchmark ourselves against that and it's become a little bit more difficult to get. So that's just another point of data that's interesting to see from the district. >> Okay, thank you. >> Mrs. If not, Janu, would you like to make any closing remarks at this point? >> Um, again, I want to thank you for this opportunity to even be in front of you. And as I said earlier tonight, this

098is a win-win for me. I either continue um to work in the district that I love, or I continue to work in the district that I love. Um, this is the community I live in. This is where my my students go, my personal children go, my nieces go, my neighbors, my friends children. decisions here in our successes sphere matter to me more than just job outcomes. I'm in the community. I'm at the quads. I'm in the CPA. You're going to see me everywhere. And you're going to continue seeing me everywhere. This is important to me. These literacy scores, whether I become the superintendent or not, I want to look at these. I I I want to see and make sure that I'm doing what I can to help. Um, all of these different um items

099are important to me and I want to help the district grow in the areas of culture and climate communication and I want to continue seeing the success of this district and I believe I can have it all. Thank you. Thank you so much. Um, Miss sincerely appreciate your time and your continued interest in being the next superintendent of next year community schools. We plan to make our final determination tomorrow evening and we will let you know of our decision immediately afterward. Thank you for being here with us today. >> Thank you. >> We are going to take a 10-minute recess and we invite guests to fill out a feedback form. We will collect those forms on the corner table over here and you can uh put it there during the break or at the very

100end of the evening. Thank you. >> Thank you. here. It got a little I turned it up on purpose. >> Are you gonna ask for right now? Thank you. >> Thank you. Dan, are you guys ready? All right, we're gonna gonna go on and then we'll start. >> We're good. Okay. >> Hello everybody. >> It is a rockus group. Okay. Good evening everyone. We are going to start our second interview here. On behalf of Dexter Community Schools, I would like to welcome Ryan Brutder, executive director of instruction, back for this second interview for the position of superintendent. I will take just a moment to describe our format. The interview may take up to 80 minutes. It will begin with a presentation on the topic provided by the board. Following the presentation, there will be 15

101questions. And because we have already determined those questions, we won't be asking you questions about your specific presentation tonight. Toward the end of this interview, time permitting, we will give you an opportunity to ask questions of the board and make closing remarks. And we will indicate if time is becoming an issue and there's a need to pick up a piece of your responses. For those present for the interview, we welcome and encourage your feedback. You may use the form provided for this purpose. Although the task of choosing our next superintendent is the responsibility of the board of education as the elected representatives of our community, we value and seriously consider the input of our stakeholders in this process. Mr. Rutder, you may begin with your presentation on the following topic. What is your vision for

102what Dexter schools will accomplish under your leadership over the course of the next three to five years? >> Thank you. Uh first off, I'd like to thank Board of Education for the opportunity to speak to me this evening. I had a great time last Monday and look forward to continuing the conversation and sharing a little bit more about myself as well as my vision for the next three schools in the next 35 years. I'd also like to thank the staff, community members, parents and students who are here. Uh we that came last week, watched the YouTube video, came tonight. Appreciate your interest in this process. This is an important decision. So, thank you for being here and thank you for providing feedback from the board of education. Uh today, I'm excited to share a little

103bit about the vision for the Dexter community schools. And I say the word excitement because that's what I truly feel. It's the same feeling I felt when I was hired to be principal here at I had a general idea of what I was walking into. But the emotion was pure excitement. I knew that we could start put some pieces together. What we could accomplish together really was incredible. Last week uh last week I had an opportunity to present to you a transition plan that thought about what the next seven months would look like uh for me in the role of assistant superintendent superintendent working with Dr. Timus as well as bringing on the new curriculum director what those transitions are going to look like. At the end of the presentation, I provided to you nine

104priorities that I thought were of importance that we would need to consider uh moving into the next chapter of Dexter Community Schools. Those priorities for communication, trust and culture building, champion student learning and achievement, student and staff wellness and mental health, bond implementation and future ready facilities, financial stability and stewardship, instructional coherence alignment, policy and handbook alignment, culture, retention and recruitment and engagement and continuous improvement. Now those priorities in the plan that you received last week went to a little bit more detail about how we might do that. The board today has asked for a little bit larger scale vision of what we look to accomplish in the next three to five years. And I think you'll see some commonalities and how these priorities have informed the vision for the school district. One thing I

105would like to add is that these priorities are things that I've identified during the next seven months. It's my goal to engage as many stakeholders as possible to make sure I truly understand the priorities of everyone and that we can work to collaboratively set priorities for the district that would inform the net strategic plan. Our current strategic plan which has served us very well was created by a different board of education, a different superintendent under a different context. I think it would be a really great opportunity for all of us to work together to create a new strategic plan that helps guide the district for the next 3 to 5 years. So, I'm excited to share some vision with you this evening. Uh, before we go too far into the future, I want to just

106step back into the past. And I often talk to staff when we think about when we design cars. So, reason that the windshield is so big, but they put a rear view mirror there on purpose. We should use it. Uh, I would hope to think and I would like that opportunity to communicate with you last week. Uh, the experiences that I have had in this district, the experiences I've had in education, how they've informed me today. And I hope that today you see my vision is rooted in listening, in clarity, integrity, and in action. Uh, you know, I'm truly proud to be a dreadnot and just being up here is is uh quite the honor, quite the experience. I also wanted to include a picture of my brother and I I shared last time about

107my time with the Dexter uh soccer team and so this is a picture I keep on my desk and thought I would include it in this presentation. Starting off, our north northstar will always be students who will always be children champion learners. I'm unapologetically a learner centered leader. We are here for kids and we have to be here for students. It is a goal of mine and one thing I shared last time is to know every learner by name, by strength, by interest, and by needs. And I think that when we do that, we create a community. We create a culture to belong. That is of a high value to me. I'm also truly passionate on not only having high academic success, but making sure that our students have the opportunity to develop transferable or

108durable skills. We call them competencies for long-term success. We all want students who can communicate. We all want students who are critical thinkers. We all want students who are resilient. It's important that we put students in positions to build those skills. I think every family will say they want their child to develop resiliency. But in order to develop resiliency, you have to struggle. And we have to create opportunities for students to safely struggle in our guidance so that we can help them think about developing for their future for themselves. Last time we met, we had an opportunity to talk a little bit about curricular coherence. And so thinking about how this relates to students, I shared three-year plan, year one, this upcoming year. Really thinking about what are the learning goals for students at any

109given grade level in any given content area. Making sure that we have high standards, high level of rigor for every child across the organization. Year two, thinking about how are we assessing that? So what do our assessment practices look like to ensure that we have that vertical and horizontal alignment across the organization. And finally, year three, thinking about how are we reporting that to learners and to families as well, considering our grading practices and making sure that there's true alignment. All of that to say, when we can do that, we'll be able to provide an equitable learning experience for all of our children. And again, that is what we are here to do is to provide our students with a rigorous, equitable learning experience. I'm deeply passionate about personalized consty based and authentic learning experiences.

110Uh the last time we were together I had an opportunity to share with you a leadership philosophy that was rooted in my experiences being a goal in soccer and I apologize I have another soccer analogy for you today. It's one teaching and learning. It's one I use with staff as well. When we talk about learning in the learning framework we talk to staff about learning occurring in one of three modes. We have acquisitional learning or acquisitional knowledge. We have meaning making and we have transfer. All three of those are super important in a school setting. In the soccer analogy, we would say acquisitional learning is like practice. All of us know that we have to go to practice. Practice is a great opportunity to learn a new skill to give repetition and to build some

111confidence with that skill. As a coach, we also have the opportunity to put our players in the position of scrimmage, right? There are fewer uh there are listen there are more variables in a scrimmage but we the coach are able to create a container that is safe for our students to fit for our players to fit. When we think about a learning environment, that's meaning making. Giving our students a little bit more autonomy to take control, to direct their own learning, but giving them that safety net to make mistakes. You can be there to coach, who can be there to support, and that's incredible things to do. But ultimately, the reason you play soccer and the reason you're a student is to take your learning into a new and a different environment. And that's transfer.

112That's games. We have a responsibility as educators to put our students in the game. We at every grade level, young 5 through 12th grade, have a responsibility to give our students these true authentic transfer opportunities. This looks anything like project-based learning, place-based education, CTE, as well as many other opportunities for experiential learning, allowing a student to not only demonstrate their content knowledge, but also the skills, the competencies, and the dispositions that go with that. So, in that soccer analogy, all three settings have their time in place. They're all important. It's important that we practice. It's important that we scrimmage ultimate. We have to make sure that students get in the game. The other part of the analogy that we use with staff is that just like on a soccer team, the number of games you

113put on a schedule may vary from age to age. You probably are going to be able to play more games with your varsity level soccer team than you would in a kindergarten age. The role of the coach, the role of the teacher is also changing. Right? If any of you have ever watched or coached 5-year-old soccer, there's a lot of direct instruction that needs to occur. Oftentimes, it's reminding students which way we're going, which way we're which way we should be kicking the ball versus the coach from a varsity level soccer team is able to step back, provide a little more strategy, provide a little bit more one-on-one direction for those players. And in a school district, we have that exact same opportunity. In order to do all of that, we really need to make

114sure that we deepen our MTSS system. So, previously I shared about this idea of coherence. With that, it's important that we develop these multi-ter support systems to make sure that we have that safety net in place when students are having a difficult time meeting expectations. So whether the child needs support in literacy, whether the child needs support in behavior, we have structures and systems ready to support that child and meet them where they're at. Whether a child with special education, an EL learner, needs any kind of support, knowing that we programmatically have systems in place to provide that child with the support that they need to ensure their long-term success. One more thing I want to share on this slide. I apologize. Uh I think that we've done a really terrific job of providing our

115students with a variety of experiences and I think about the work uh that our career facilitator has done thinking about our opportunities with school links and our career fair. Those have been incredible and I think that we have opportunity to continue to build upon that. One thing I would love to see all of our students start to develop is a portfolio or a profile of progress of demonstration of learning. It can start as early as young five. This last year we asked students in the organization to reflect on one of the nine competencies and to think about what it means to them, how they demonstrated that competency in the school setting. when our students get ready for their next step whether it is enrollment, employment, enlistment or exploration for them to know who they are

116and their strengths on that on the helm to that will actualize their strengths into their future goals and their future aspirations. So what that could look like is an additional partnership in high school and having our students sit across the table from community members, big business leaders, folks in educational industry, and to tell a little bit about themselves, not only based on GPA, clubs, organizations, test scores, but more importantly, who they are as a learner and the experiences that have helped informed for our students to get feedback from those individuals to help think about their next step. I think is something that we can do. So in this next three to five years in addition to the great career and life readiness that we are already doing, I would love to see an opportunity for

117our students to sit across the table from members of this community, present themselves, get some authentic feedback, and take that feedback to consider their next step. >> In the next three to five years, there's going to be a lot of physical transformation across this district. and that already has been decided and supported by the community through the support of our bond. Uh we as a district have quite the responsibility to the community. I think that we can't take for granted the community support. Uh while the volunteering committee has listed some priorities thinking about creating two distinct campuses, updating our educational spaces to support innovation, updating our furniture, our technology, our art spaces, clubs, organizations, theaters, athletic spaces. These are all things that the bonds steering committee and the community has voted to support which is

118absolutely terrific. We as the district and as superintendent have a responsibility to not only oversee the projects to ensure that the projects are executed as communicated but that we provide financial stewardship and that we're using taxpayer dollars correctly that we know when and how to sell bonds that we're appropriately timing them to ensure that we're maximizing taxpayer dollars. I think regular and effective communication whether it's in the planning of design of the addition to El Y Elementary School or the design of New Creek Side making sure that we're engaging interested parties in that process to make sure that they have an opportunity to share their voice and to communicate those decisions so that those who were able to participate are able to better understand the decisions that were made. So I look forward to the

119opportunity to help lead and and uh steward this work. I think that we are not only designing the schools for the next three and a half years, but for the future beyond, but we're also communicating trust. We're communicating uh that we can be effective stewards of funds for our community as we think about the next bond coming down the way. >> Which leads me to financial stewardship. Uh the district annually brings in roughly $54 million in revenue. And of that revenue, we typically have four main sources of revenue. We get funds from local taxpayers, we get funds from the state of Michigan, get funds from the federal government, and we get funds to the ISD. Uh in our case, the special education village, which helps support special education program across the district. Of that roughly

120$54 million, $40 million is federal funds as well as state funds. And I'm not telling you a secret that there's a little bit of uncertainty about funding in Lacing and in Washington DC. We're hearing different projections about what school funding will look like for us here in Michigan this upcoming fall. We're also hearing a lot of conversation about what title one, title two, title three, and title four funding could look like for all schools across the nation. That's potentially a large impact not only on our organization but all school districts. And because of that, we have a fiscal responsibility to do a complete analysis to really figure out and put ourselves in great position for long-term success. Because Dexter has been great stewards of money in the past, we have built a fund balance that

121will allow us to absorb some changes and can be funded. So, if some of these funding sources were to change, I'd like to think we are in a position to absorb that on the short term. But we have a long-term responsibility to ensure financial health through the district. So I think we need to look at what we're spending our funds on knowing that roughly 86% of our funds goes toward people. And 86 is a little bit high, but I think that there's good reason why it's high. We unlike many districts, we continue to employ our transportation, our food service, our pair of professionals, their dexter employees. While there's a little bit the added expense to that, it's in great importance. Those people are highly invested in the success of the district, the highly invested with

122success of the students. So as we look at our financial health and as we look at how we can think about efficiencies, it's important that we preserve quality and not cut corners. In my opinion, I think as we think about these next three to five years, we also need to make sure that the resources that we are allocating are aligned to our three greatest priorities. Our people, our learning, and safety. And when we do that, I know that we'll make great decisions as a district because it remains, you know, during this time, I think that there is a great opportunity. I look forward to collaboration and partnership with the board of education. We can make sure that we're making great decisions and that we're communicating those decisions to all of our stakeholders with clarity and

123optimism. Uh it is hard to be optimistic when the times are uncertain, but we have a responsibility to communicate that optimism and make sure that people know they should and can have confidence in the board of education and the district to make great financial decisions. Finally, and most importantly, I I think creating Dexter as a destination. Uh we have a terrific district. This is something that those of us who live in the community know year and dear. And it's why I'm in front of you today. that the culture in this district means so much to me and to my family. Uh I want to make sure that we uh continue the excellence and continue the tradition that Dexter has established to make sure that Dexter is known as a joyful learning collaborative uh district where

124we have collaborative leadership and we truly value whole child success. I plan to continue to strengthen our culture by celebrating the wins that we have with academics, the wins that we have with innovation, by recognizing our staff, students, and our community. Uh I think that there's no better way to beat bad press than to get out ahead of it. So to continue to support uh our staff, our students with the terrific work that they're doing publicly is just a great opportunity for us. And finally, uh, inclusive systems of care for wellness and mental health. And with this, I think that it is a great opportunity and something I look forward to doing as superintendent is facilitating a community conversations about social media technology, specifically cell phones. Uh, it's easy to say that this school problem,

125it's easy to say that this is a home problem. In reality, this is a collective challenge that we're facing as a community. And it's going to take all of us to come together and to talk about what are the challenges we're experiencing and what are the commitments we're willing to make to each other. Most importantly, what are the commitments we're willing to make to our children that help ensure that we are putting them in the best position? There are times that we need to be the adults. We need to be the adults and put our heads together and say, "What are we going to do to protect the kids?" So, I look forward to facilitating that conversation. I know that that's going to be a challenging conversation and it's going to bring a variety of

126emotions and feelings. Uh but I also know that when we have it together, when we involve people in the process, we'll make great decisions for kids and we'll have the collective commitment we need to see it. I look forward I am thinking about making Dexter as a destination building strong trusting teams across the schools uh central office, board of education, staff, students and community. And I really want to make sure that we establish Dexter as a district where people not only want to teach but where they want to learn and most importantly where they want to sit. Uh Dexter does so many things well. We have great brand recognition. We are doing things uh above and beyond and we have a great opportunity to further cement ourselves as one of the leaders in Washington County

127and in the state of Michigan the nations. So I think about our next chapter, think about these next three to five years and hopefully beyond. Again, I've acknowledged Dexter has everything it needs to build upon it success. We have the talent, we have the people, we have the commitment, and we have the passion. As a leader, I think I bring clarity, I bring stability, vision, integrity, and momentum to help continue Dexter down this path. I look forward to partnering with the board of education with staff, students, families, and broader community because collectively we can champion learning together for every child every >> day. We'll give you organized Thank you for your presentation. Um, we appreciate that. Um, we have some questions and I neglected to say earlier I just want to clarify that these are

128board authored um with uh questions that we had from last week as well as questions that came from the community. Julie, >> so our first question, Mr. Ruter, many in our community know you best from your role as Beacon Elementary School's principal. Faith Beacon, please talk to us a little bit more specifically about things we might not know about your background, familiarity, and preparedness to lead secondary level education initiatives. >> Yeah. So, I I do come with a wealth of elementary experience and when I put into the position of the executive director of instruction, I understood that I had responsibility to this whole district. Uh so I definitely made it a passion and an interest to become knowledgeable and skilled and secondary. Uh in the last four years I have become really close uh with

129our building administrators and learning. I am not afraid to ask questions. I think it's the best thing you can do. Ask questions, seek clarity, seek understanding. Uh I've worked to attend multiple conferences and learning opportunities. currently pursuing a head specialist degree where we talk specifically about organizations but it breaks into elementary learning as well as secondary learning as well. I've been a part of a national organization called the national council for innovative instructional leaders. Uh this is less than a hundred CAOs or chief academic officer types from around the nation that come together to talk about practice to talk about leading districts. Uh so it's something that's been deeply passionate and knowledgeable. I mentioned last time that I've had an opportunity to sit on the WISDCTTE advisory committee and their steering committee which that very

130specifically is secondary jukem but I've had a lot of opportunity to read pupil accounting and that's a pretty dense piece of literature but all the information you need is in there so looking about what are graduation requirements what we can do to count students I think being present showing up trying to learn as much as I can from our secondary staff has been something that's been high priority of mine. It afforded the opportunity to become superintendent of the Dexter Community Schools. I likely would look to lean on a new curriculum director, executive director of instruction with that secondary experience to be a complimentary piece. I think that right now Dr. Timus and I, we have different uh backgrounds and experiences as well. I bring more of an elementary lens, he brings more of a secondary

131lens and that partnership has worked well. So if offered that opportunity, I think that knowing myself, knowing my strengths, putting someone in that role with a strong secondary background to work collaboratively with type. >> Okay. Given the difficulty of the job, why are you interested in becoming superintendent? Yeah. Uh I asked myself what I should do. You know I I think I shared last week this position is not only a professional aspiration but it's deeply personal. Dexter means a lot to me. Uh I remember graduating out of college and looking for careers and looking for first teaching job. And at that time Dexter wasn't hiring teachers. So I was very fortunate to have get a job politically with the public schools. I always knew that having the opportunity to come back to Dexter and to

132serve my community is something that was my interest in adding to me. Uh again, I I I want to restate my my leadership philosophy about being a boy, but just to summarize, I think that I've always found myself that I can be a better coach than you. I think that superintendent is the opportunity for me to be that next level coach. I'm thinking about how I can have impact on the organization and how I can impact on others. I'm deeply invested in the success of this district. Um, my neighbors go here, kids go here, friends go here. I know your kids. I know kids of the community. I'm deeply passionate about their long-term success. So I I know that the position of superintendent comes with a lot of additional responsibility and I'm prepared to take

133that money. It always comes back to money, right? In light of our recent approval of $241 million bond proposal, what strategies do you plan to implement to prioritize and carry out projects that will enhance student learning and encourage community involvement? Additionally, how will you ensure transparency and accountability throughout this process? Yeah, I think that the bond steering committee which had representation from across the community did a really terrific job of looking at the comprehensive analysis that was done in the district and they worked together to prioritize and think about what does our district need right now and what will our district need in the future. Through that prioritization, they put together a really thoughtful plan of how they'd like the district to approach the bond and approach the next roughly seven to nine years of

134of maximizing those bond dollars. I think that we I've had the opportunity to not only serve on that steering committee, but I also sit on our bond committee, which means with our construction managers, our architects, and all those involved in helping make sure that the bond uh plays out to the best fashion possible. And through that process, I think that we have held each other to a very high standard to ensure that the voice of the community and what the bond steering committee uh prioritized and the community voted that support remains at the forefront. Uh it's very easy in these conversations to get caught up in flagship. We have seen a lot of beautiful designs that are just absolutely gorgeous. And when we start to think about how does that impact student learning, how does

135that impact safety? what opportunities afford us for the arts, for theaters, for music, for athletics. We've done a great job of holding each other accountable to say maybe we don't need it to look like this. Maybe this would satisfy the need. So, I think that collectively that committee is doing a terrific job. Um, as superintendent ultimately that will be my responsibility of working with the board of education to make sure that the funds are allocated in the best possible way to support what we have communicated to the community. I also think that we have an opportunity to further engage the community. So, as we start to bring on big ticket items, whether it be a potential fieldhouse, whether it be a new elementary wing or a new middle school, to make sure that we provide

136multiple opportunities and forums for community members, for students, for staff to give input to help shape the city. I've had the experience of undertaking multiple uh construction projects, Peacon Elementary being one of the biggest. and knowing the that we had the opportunity to involve staff in the process. And again, while the blueprint for a beacon was pretty much done, we did have some beautiful new spaces with the workshop and the marketplace that we engaged our stakeholders, staff, students, and families to ensure that we were designing for the needs of those interested clients. And that's something I hope to replicate as well. In terms of transparency and accountability, I think that regular communication is something that the district has done well. I will only want to improve it. Uh I think that oftent times this idea

137of transparency or doubt of transparency is when people don't have the information. So when we can regularly communicate decisions that were made uh I think that people feel at ease they they know that decisions are being made to the best interest of the others. So being able to get out their heads and communicate decisions whether we get a board meeting in some sort of regular newsletter or update. I know that we have plans to keep our page website up to date with conversations, decisions that have been made. Uh but just being available, you know, I think that being being uh accessible to individuals, whether it be staff, students, families, community members, board members to provide that feedback will help inform that process and to ensure that we're effectively stewarding community. Each candidate expressed the importance

138of communication and listening. How we create an environment that makes it safe for staff and community members to constructively share their various perspectives and opinions regardless of how they may differ regardless of how they differ from the way you see books. >> Yeah, that's that's important to me. Uh, I think that providing opportunity and space to have difficult conversations, courageous conversations is really important. I know that I've had them with staff, I've had them with students, and I've had them with families and I would hope to be able to provide a space to do that as well. I think that there are tools that we can use whether it's surveys, anonymous surveys that I think can be really helpful, but ultimately I hope that I will have fostered and created enough trust within the community

139that people can send me an email, people can call me and say, "Ryan, can we talk?" And whether it's me here on site or meeting somewhere in the community, but just to have FaceTime and hear each other out. uh as I shared the last time, I think that oftentimes when you are sitting across the table from someone even if you don't necessarily agree with where they're coming from. Uh oftentimes there is a there is a lining of uh you can understand where they're coming you can understand why that one might have where their concern might lie. And I think ultimately that's one that is communicated at a larger scale. import think about is this something that I'm I'm supporting or managing at an individual level or is this a larger challenge that needs to be

140addressed. Uh I I think that providing multiple opportunities again so whether it's those one-on-one meetings or community forums think about the Dexter Bakery is a great venue to host some gatherings and grab a coffee, grab a donut, we'll just have a chat, very informal, very casual. oftentimes it's through those conversations that a follow-up conversation occurs and we can really begin to listen to understand. >> How will you adjust to being in charge after working alongside many of the employees that you would now supervise as their as the superintendent of the district? Yeah, I I understand that there would be a dynamic change of sorts, but my hope would be that I've fostered the relationships, the trust with the administrators, with the directors. Uh I have taken the leadership role within those groups. So the admin

141and directors group, I am the one who helps coordinate and facilitate both meetings. I create the agenda, I run the meeting. The same is true with our admin team, our principles. So we meet bi-weekly and I'm the one who been working the cere is my hope that I've built that trust and people know who I am. I try to always show up authentically and so I do understand that it will be a challenge. Ultimately being a learner centered leader I know that decisions have to be made with students best interests in mind and that does mean at times having difficult conversations with colleagues and difficult conversations with friends. I'm not prepared to do general I also understand and I've felt this at every level of my career is that as you take on additional responsibility

142in an organization you become a little bit more isolated. there probably isn't a position more isolated than superintendent. I think that that's something that I understand and I and I'm ready for and while it can feel isolated, I think that knowing that you have relationships and knowing you have great people that I meet, great teammates, helps address that concern. I know these leaders really well. I'm excited to welcome some of our new leaders. I had a chance to meet with two of them today. They bring terrific ideas, terrific energy to our district and think are going to help move us forward into our next chapter. So I do I do honor that there is the potential for challenge. I would like to think that who I am as an individual, the goodwill and trust and

143relationships I've built with these individuals will help see me through to the next decisions. Explain in practical terms how you will use data in decision making and give an example of how you've recently done so. >> Uh sure. So I think that when we talk about data we have quantitative inquality. Oftent times in organizations we it becomes convenient to rely on quality people. So we're acknowledge what people have to say and I have nothing against quality. I think that it's of high value, high significance. When we pair that with quantitative data, we all think we start to get a bigger perspective and the bigger picture. Uh I previously shared that I'm really proud of the data analytic tool that we've built out with our partners escalated that we now have access to data in new

144different ways. We can provide visualizations to data quicker and in ways that we never were able to do. We can do analysis to see is there uh relationship between a reading intervention that we administer and students NWA risk score for literacy. We can see is there correlation between NWA and predictive technology like predictive to know how a student may score at the SAT. So we're able to run these analytics now because we have access to them. Uh some pieces of data that I've used to help inform decisions. I know I've talked about a few stuff so I don't want to go down that road again. Uh, but I'm thinking about a financial decision. Uh, we as a district had a contract with a partnership with a vendor that was quite sizable. It was upwards of

145$42,000 per year. And qualitatively, people will tell you it's a really great tool. Quantitatively, no one was missing. And I could tell I could go in and log and see the metrics to see how many staff and how many students were using said tool. And so, qualitatively, the organization will tell us that, hey, we have to have those for instructional practices. quantitatively less than 5% of the organization was utilizing. We hit pause on using that tool after communicating and having an opportunity to collect feedback. We said you know what this is not a great investment at this time. Uh and it ultimately led to a great conclusion because more people came up and said I would use it if or I would use it if I had this support. And when we start and again

146in in my in my full transparency, I started to tell staff this is a cost-saving measure. Folks didn't realize that we were spending $42,000 a year on those tools annually. That's a lot of money. And so we started to think about what would be a number that would be appropriate and how many people will need to use it to make it worth. What would be a good return on investment? Through some hard conversations with vendors, we were able to negotiate that down to roughly $12,000. And through professional development for staff, we were able to more than probably 10x the number of students and staff that were using the tool. So now we have will be able to focus again at a reduced cost and we're seeing increased use. So in my mind and thinking about

147using data to inform a decision that was a decision well made and it's played out the return of the investment. >> Thank you. As superintendent, you will be constantly pulled in all directions. How will you prioritize competing demands and what will you do to ensure that the important is not sidetracked by the urgent? >> Yeah, that's that's that's the nature of the job was that everyone needs something now and everyone's feeling is a high urgency and we know we can live in the quadrant of important work. That's one of the most effective work for our organization and what we've done. And I think having teammates to lean on and to be have thought partners to process information to really make sure that we're understanding a problem and thinking about the significance of scale. Uh so

148just because it doesn't seem like a high priority to me doesn't mean it's not a high priority to the organization. So being able to use my cabinet uh every Monday morning uh the four cabinet level leaders meet with activists and we have these conversations. We talk about what has occurred, what is going to occur, what are the demands that are on our plate right now, what do we need to prioritize. I think ultimately there is a part of coming to an understanding and a realization that unfortunately you're not going to satisfy every single person and that when you think about what are our district mission vision what are the rules in our strategic plan what are the core principles that we hold true when we make decisions align with those even though they may not

149appease everyone we know that we made the best decision with the kids and I think when we can communicate that to the board and to the community give rationale to why decisions were made. That is where I think we are trusting. People may not like the decision but they understand the rationale I think that we >> Thank you. >> Okay. How do you plan to interact and communicate with the board to ensure that we operate as a highly functioning team? >> Yeah, I think that uh you know oftentimes the board of education gets grouped as it would the board of education. You all are seven unique individuals. You all chose to run for this position for a unique variety of reasons. It's my goal to get to know each one of you individually. What are

150your passions? What are your aspirations for the next students? Uh what are your skill sets that you bring to the table in terms of professional or personal passions, interests, and skills? Uh I think it's establishing a routine and a rapport with each of you as well. Some of you may prefer text messages, some of you may prefer an early morning call, some of you an email during the B. So getting to know each of you to figure out how our individual relationships can help strengthen the board as a collective community and also knowing how we interact with one another. Uh the seven of us and the superintendent making that eight is a team that we has to be high functioning. So, it's making sure that we set norms of collaboration, that we make sure that

151we hold each other accountable to those setting norms, and while we're not meeting those norms, whether it's any board member or myself, that we hold each other accountable as opposed to calling someone out, call someone, how can we help them with that? How can we support them to meet those expectations? Um, whether it's through committee, board, forum, or private conversations, I think having those opportunities to have dialogue is best. Uh at the end of the day, I feel confident and I know that we all want to invest in this organization. We all want the best kids. That when we can put personal differences aside and have keep that at the forefront, I know that we will. How would you engage with all stakeholders in our community, including those who may have opposing views on more

152progressive initiatives to build consensus, maintain support, and ensure our schools remain supportive of all students? >> Yeah, I I think that uh one thing I've learned is that oftent times uh individuals may have a strong feeling about what the school may what they perceive the school to be doing or not doing. uh is often rooted in a lack of understanding or information by no fault of educ. So when we as the school district aren't as forthcoming and transparent as we need to be, I can understand why individuals may create a narrative in their mind that something is or is not occurring in that school setting. It's been a goal of mine to make what we do in school a little bit more transparent to the team. I previously had a chance to talk about those

153learning outcomes uh in the three-year coherence plan. My goal would be that those learning outcomes are public face. Students need to know those, families need to know those, staff need to know those. There's no reason that those high quality learning outcomes for every child couldn't be public facing. So a family knows very clearly what kind of conversations are occurring in the classroom and how those can best support their child. uh you know I believe strongly in protective rights. I totally understand that personal values and beliefs uh may inform uh how a family wants their child to experience a school setting. So when possible when we can honor those beliefs I think that is important to do and doing that we also acknowledge that there are individuals that are going to have very different beliefs on

154the exact same tool. At the end of the day we are a public institution and we are a public school. It's our job to serve as a set of people. So I think that we can put things in place. We create many different avenues and opportunities for individuals to provide feedback to ask questions to have conversation. But at the end of the day, again, we're going to have to make some hard decisions. That's one of the keys everyone. But if we've been transparent, we've been openly honest, communicated, I feel confident in decision. Awesome. schools offered a wide variety of sports clubs and activities for all students. How we promote some of the less prominent sports and clubs to support their success and give them more visibility to students and the community. >> Yeah, you're absolutely

155right. You know, I went through this through this school district when our football team was not the best. In fact, I don't know that I ever saw a touchdown, let alone a win during my four years at Dexter High School. uh and despite that they still got a lot of media, a lot of attention from the school district. I often think about where are the champions we have across the organization. I've been really proud to see the way the community has raised our robotics program. Uh their level of success is unparallel to many other clubs and organizations we have school. I think that again providing space whether it's through a board meeting through our making waves uh through media but promoting some of these opportunities is of high importance. I also think that we have

156a real opportunity with these bond hours to put our money where our mouth is. We talk about our robotics program but I know the space that they work on is because my office looks just like theirs. So I get it. Uh giving them an appropriate space where they can be a national and world level robotics team. So, as we think about expanding our spaces across the district, where can we thinking about improving our arts, thinking about improving uh our orchestra, our band facilities, our choir facilities? Uh, one thing that's been of high interest and high demand is on the plans for the bond is to give those individuals opportunity to not only play at the highest level, but record. They've never had the capability to record the beautiful music that they create. And I think

157that be able to equip them uh is one small important way that we can show respect uh to the individual and to those organizations and also the experiences. I'd like to think that we do a pretty good job. I know we can always do know we can always do more to promote all different types of clubs, activities, sports, organizations that foster How will you educate yourself more fully on school system financing and prepare for being in charge of the entire district budget? Specifically, what will your role in establishing and maintaining the budget be? >> Yeah. You know, I I have had a variety of experiences interacted with budgets. When I think about some of the categorical grants that I've previously shared with, there's a lot of similarity to the categorical grants as there is to

158the overall school vulture. While it may not have the same dollar amount associated with it, the amount of rules, regulations, and stipulations, and the way that they're audited is at the same uh I think that through partnership with our CFO, through partnership with the business office, you know, I can be a leader. I can be a partner to them in this world. I also know that there are state and national organizations related to this code. I previously shared that I'm also earning my head specialist degree. I had the opportunity to take a class in district finance. So I have understanding of how district finance works. When we think about revenue, think about our expenditures. Uh think about the implications of health care of FICA how those have you know ability to create variability and volatility

159in budgets. that there are things that we just can't predict the highest level and why it would be important to be thoughtful potentially fiscally conservative going the next couple years to make sure that we give ourselves uh some flexibility we can always spend a little bit more we can always put a little bit money into the bank but when we overspend that creates some challenges so I think that I'd like to think that I'm a lifelong learner like to I I acknowledge that uh financial stewardship and financials is not my full-time job currently. It's been a big part of my role as executive director of instruction, but definitely an area that I can continue to improve on to lean on the people around me. I already have a network of superintendent that I can also

160call upon. And so through different local and national organizations, there are individuals that I call, I ask questions, I seek clarity. By having that network, I know that we can gather the information. Dr. Jimus has been in the school for a long time. I I always tell him something I I say to his face. I'd never like to say anything on the back that I wouldn't say to the face. He's a really difficult superintendent to work for. And I say that not because he's not a great guy. I say because he's so good at everything else. He's one of the few superintendents I've ever interviewed who's as strong of a financial leader by his HR skills, his obstruction skills. knows so thoroughly because he's been in that role for such a long time. Uh, and

161I aspire to be able to do that, too. I understand that I'm not coming in with the same level of experience as Dr. Timus. None of your candidates are. And I'm asking for patience. I'm asking for grace. I may not know everything on day one, but I know the people to ask and I know that we can work collectively to get the answers that you and the district >> literacy at the elementary level was a divisive issue between teachers. There continues to be different regarding the current half. Do you believe the current model is a success and should be continued as is? And if yes, please explain why and then no, explain why you think there might be a change. Yeah, you're correct in everything you just said. It was a challenging issue and it

162continues to be a challenging issue. Uh I think ultimately one of the biggest challenges that we have faced in our literacy work and it's a different philosophy or pedagogy about how students how young people learn intervene and I think that we have made some great strides there. There are things in learning that are quite linear. Mathematics for example is quite a linear process and you can uh scope how a child learns math and you can build foundational skills and build them. Literacy isn't quite the same way. While there are some progressions, the way that we build connectivity and pathways neurologically in the brain is just a little bit different. Uh there are definitely foundational liters and skills that we know that all beers need to have. uh we've worked really hard to provide professional development

163experiences for educators to to really learn. I think one of the biggest criticisms that we have heard from staff is their feeling as some of their autonomy as educators has been taken away. The program feels a little bit more scripted than they are accustomed to and that statement is true. It is a little bit more scripted than they are accustomed to. But I wouldn't say that that's a bad fit. There is a reason why the development of that program was made the way it was. It's it's rooted in research is rooted in science. Yes, we want to give our teachers the opportunity and space to bring the art of teaching, but we also know that there is a science of teaching and there is a science of leading. I would like to think and I

164hope that the data will show that we've made some nice trends particularly as we look at some of our populations that previously were not making any gains within the organization. When we talk about young people learning to read, there's often a portion of readers. My daughter is one of them. They're going to learn to read spikes. Uh she she walked into kindergarten with some incredible skills and and we have done nothing more different for her than we have for my son. My son is going to require a little bit more of support. It's going to need more scaffolding, more time, more direct instruction to really become a proficient reader. So we know that there is a group of readers roughly 30% of them that they're going to become school readers on their own. Brains are

165wider to them. There is another portion of readers, you know, roughly 40 to 60% that they're going to do really well with the support and the teaching that our professionals provide to them. And so, as long as there is a structure to the program, they often will pick it up and be able to figure out. And then there's roughly 20 to 30% that literacy is going to be of a great concern. It's going to be challenging to pick up. And where I'm most proud of some of the work we've done is we're seeing gains within that. So the students that need the literacy programming the most about are getting those keys. So as we look at some of our expedience metrics as we look at some of our MBAs we'll look at step we're seeing

166some of those students start to move more growth in four. So we look at the number of students that were at high risk we've improved that our number of students that are high settling a high level that has remained constant. So to me it doesn't indicate that any of the changes we made are impacting the majority of students. In fact, I would argue that some of the students who are the most uh vulnerable are getting the additional supports they need to be successful. >> Okay. I appreciated the opportunity to read your transition plan, including the summary of priorit priorities that you identify for the district. Please provide an example from your plan of something that you are excited to tackle and share why you've identified it as priority. >> Yeah. So, uh, I've had a

167chance to talk a few about them today and I'm giggling to myself because I don't think that people would think this is exciting by any means, but it's something that's really necessary. The board has taken that and particularly our policy committee has taken on a huge undertaking. Bringing on new policies for each school district is very challenging and I think that we have found it probably more challenging than we thought it would. The situation we're in now is that while we are working to bring on and adopt new policy, we're not only getting updates from our attorneys on set policy, but we're realizing that our handbooks are not aligned to our new policies. And while there's not a lot of changes, there are changes. Being a systems thinker and being a person who likes to

168point at the way we do things, it's important that those things are coherent. It's important that we have handles. When we have a student handbook that says one thing but a district policy that says another, that creates difficult situations, right? While families may or may not like our rationale for decision, whether we have alignment in policy and handbook and procedure, we can say this is the way we do business. I'm sorry that you don't like the decision or I'm glad you do like the decision. This is why we made the decision the way we did. So, as we brought on these new policies, which I think will help us in the long term, we need to really slow down and make sure that all of those handbooks, our rules, our regulations, our guiding principles, our

169standard operating procedures are all in alignment with our new policies. Uh, so to our policy committee who just thought they were uh getting over the end of the work, we probably have a little bit more work to do, but I look forward to being part of it. >> Thank you. Hi. >> Tell us how you will go about making sure our collegebound students have access to resources and curriculum that will help them achieve their postsecary education goals. >> Yeah, I think that we have a lot of terrific opportunities at Dexter High School for our learners who are thinking about college and thinking about uh advancing and we consider the number of IB and AP classes dual enrollment college. there's a lot of possibility and opportunity for students to get college level experience but also college

170level credits. Uh previously I had an opportunity to speak a little bit about not only are we working to help that students build you know a GPA test scores that will support their uh acceptance to the college university program that they desired. But more importantly to think about how are we giving students these durable transferable skills, these competencies that ultimately are going to help them be successful. I've shared from my own experience. I graduated Dexter High School with a transcript that that got me into the university that I wanted to get into. Everything that I could have wanted on that transcript in terms of my clubs, my experiences, my letters, my grades got me where I wanted to go. I was grateful for that. But very quickly I learned that I didn't have the competencies

171to be successful that college. Uh there were many things that I did not learn in my kindergarten through 12th grade experience that would have bending faith. I think about my ability to be a critical thinker when I think about my ability to organize my time when I think about financial literacy. Those weren't things that were emphasized at the highest level during my young five or kindergarten through 12th grade experience here at Dexter that retrospectively I wish I was ultimately those would have been the things that will help me be successful when I was college now. And those are the things that proven to be most important when I think about entering the job. When we talk to the street leaders and we have data from Michigan and the Spark Council, they talk about what are

172the skills, compliments, and dispositions that our learners need. They're not listing content standards. They're listing competence skills. They're listing what we have in our help. They want young people who can communicate. They want young people who can collaborate. They can teach them the content. Those larger skills are learning most important. So whether a young person is college round or not, I think there's a lot of possibility and possibility on any path that a young person chooses. I think that if we can offer those type of experiences to our learners through those authentic learning experiences, opportunities for reflection portfolio, we're preparing our people for their next step. Okay. >> What is your biggest apprehension about taking on the role of superintendent and how will you address it? >> You know, I I think my biggest apprehension

173and I'm proud of myself for knowing this and I think that it's something that's I'd like to think has always been a surround. I know that don't I don't I I know that I'm going to need the support of the people around me and I look forward to entrusting them with that responsibility. While yes, there is one superintendent of a school district, there are leaders all across the school district at all levels of the organization and it's my opportunity as superintendent to engage those folks to make sure that they know that they have a really important role in our collective success. So acknowledging and knowing that I don't know it all I think I can turn into a strength uh because we have very talented individuals. I look forward to collaborating with the administrators, teachers,

174leaders, union represent all these individuals and think about our collective success. I think as my role as superintendent is to facilitate that process is to facilitate those those relationships and if I can do that I think there will be success. Okay, we would like to take a few minutes now to provide you with an opportunity to ask any questions you might have other >> as members of board of education to ensure you too are always getting feedback from things that we do really well and areas that we have the growth group when you reflect on the feedback that you've received from the community uh what are the strengths that have emerged that are generally moves out of strength as a district and one of the things that have emerged as opportunities for us to improve

175upon. Um I think you know I actually think you identified some of them tonight which I was um I I took note of you know in terms of communication and transparency I think the world is in an era where that is sort of forefront in people's minds and whether it is you know the school system that their kid goes to or the government that we are all um living with um I think everyone is being taught to sort of ask why decisions are being made and sort of for lack of a better word challenging those decisions and you know sometimes the challenge is are we doing the right thing. Um and I think as a school district um I want us to be really accepting of those questions so that people really do feel in

176trust for us. Um, and I think I I think maybe one of the things that's probably come to the board most frequently in our emails just about superintendent process is why are you doing what you're doing? Explain to me more about this. Um, and so I think if we can generalize that across all aspects, I think people will uh respond positively to it. >> I agree. People will always like the decision you make but wouldn't give the rest out if they admire the process and other student. Are there additional strengths that you have noticed that you hear from the community things that you're proud of being a board member community schools? >> They're all looking at you. I'm fired as a killer from your school closer. I think whenever you talk to people the common

177denominator is that people come to Dexter because of education is when people leave they come back to Dexter because education. So I think we we all feel the obligation to continue that continuity and that stability but also to look and say what else can we improve on because I I agree with you as an extra grad there's a lot that I didn't realize that I didn't all see even graduated if they had it all figured out we have no idea yet and you'll continue to not have any idea yet until you keep growing and keep learning but that's that's I think ideal if I wanted to give some feedback of things that I think the district could improve on is I think we I think sometimes even though I think communication's great, I think sometimes

178we get overcommunicated to. There are so many emails that I think sometimes it gets people to shut down to some degree. So I think clear concise is better. Um and trying to figure out more how to triage that a little bit because it's great to get information from the teacher, but you're getting the same information from the teacher at the bottom that you're getting from the principal that you're getting from the district that you're getting from. So I think sometimes it's just white noise and then um and then people miss stuff. So I think it's something we can improve on. I mean you can be communicative but overcommunication means that you just read. >> Sure. >> Um just to build on that as a devil's advocate for that comment. I totally agree. We we as

179parents do receive so much information, but every study shows that people need to hear it at least 10 times before they actually hear it. So I understand the multiple but but the question of of how to communicate in in multiple forms and multiple ways, you know, whether it's text or just different ways that people can pull the information um is very valuable. I would say our strength that what I what I feel I hear most is our staff you know between the the all the the transportation department the teachers the the administration etc. It's just over and over again how qualified and how much they care about students and um you know just the the stories over and over again on how this child saved this kid or whatever it is. um and the the

180communication which or the you know the knowledge and the personal knowledge uh that you clearly articulated and wanted to do. So that would be what I hear a lot of. >> Great. So >> yeah, I think overall people in this community are incredibly proud of being part of it and sending their kids to school here and I think having a room full of people to be here and invested in the superintendent search really illustrates that point. Thank you. >> Um, do you have any closing remarks you'd like to make? >> Uh, you know, once again, I just would like to thank the board of education, the community for this opportunity. It truly is a dream come true when you think about uh I remember being a student in this actual room, media center, learning the

181duty decel system. It used to sit right there. I always wonder what they did with the cart. Uh, it's quite an honor to be here too. And again I have shared with you this is not only a professional aspiration but but truly a personal call be able to serve the community that helps shape for me means so much to me. Last time we had a chance I talked about my leadership philosophy and thinking about soccer. I have spent the last nine years in this organization having the opportunity to train alongside great leaders to train alongside Dr. Toots. I've watched him as he has been our starting build. I've watched him once he has saved the day when he's anticipated a play developing and called it out. I've seen when he's led the role and taken

182that personal responsibility. I trained alongside Dr. Timus. I've had the opportunity to learn from him from leaders across this organization. And tonight I'm here to tell you I'm ready to be put ready to be your starting ready to lead the incredible people of Dexter Community Schools to create that climate culture that will help our team our organization be successful. Uh so again I I thank you so much for the opportunity. I know that you have a difficult decision ahead of you. I appreciate you allowing the community to be part of it to provide your feedback and whatever occurs. I look forward to continuing to collaborate with you all to do what's best for students in the extra community school. Thank you for your time. I realize this is a quite intensive process not only your

183candidates but over the board as well. So thank you for making the time and the commitment to be part of it and I look forward to future. >> Thank you so much. Um Mr. Burgerer, we sincerely appreciate your time and continued interest in being our next president of the Dexter Schools. We do plan to make our final determination tomorrow evening and we will let you know of our decision immediately afterward. Thank you for being here with us today. >> Thank you to our community for being here. I will again remind you that um we'd ask you to fill out the completed forms tonight and put them up on the form. We do need them this evening. So thank you. >> No discussion, right? >> Yeah. We're going to take a five minute recess and then

184we the board has to have a discussion just about process for tomorrow. So I'm going to give people a little time to to move and you're welcome to stay and you're welcome to move. >> We probably should leave it on eventually. You don't mind? >> Sure. Thank you. No, >> everyone is welcome to stay closed, >> but it's not closed, but we are going to continue just to finish the meeting. So, >> talk quietly as most. >> Okay. Um, we are moving on to the discussion part of the agenda and I'm going to turn it over to John just to kind of review what we need to know to prepare for tomorrow. So when we come back together tomorrow, what you'll want to be prepared to do is really we're going to mirror what we

185did when you selected finalists. We'll have each of you individually talk about where you stand, who you would like to see selected as your next superintendent. Um it'll be clear once that's done where there's consensus. Then someone can make a motion and there'll be a vote. It's absolutely fine if when you individually speak to who you would prefer to select if it's not unanimous. It's okay if there's differences of opinion and so you should not worry about them. Speak to who you feel should be advanced should be selected and we'll see where things land. Right? But I think the important thing and this is advice. I'm not dictating this. You're telling me you have to. Um, but once it's clear where there's consensus, once it's clear which candidate has four or more board members in

186support, and it's very evident where this is going to land, my advice is that when the vote is then taken, even if you came out and had indicated your support for the other finalist initially, um, the appropriate thing to do, I think, would be for everybody to vote yes. It shows unity among the board. you're supporting the decision that is obviously about to be made and it shows immediate support for the person that you're about to select as your next student. Again, I'm not telling you you have to do it. I'm advising that I think that's good practice and I would encourage them probably. So, um this is editorializing a little bit, but I'll just tell you too that I've done I think I told you this before somewhere in the ballpark. I've never stopped

187to count between 40 and 50 student attendance searches I think over the course of 10 plus years. Um I just want you to know that um the candidates that you have interviewed um would be viable candidates um just about anywhere they would apply. Um, so I I don't feel for a second like we would be settling or um, you know, I know that there's any thought to if we had looked outside perhaps we would have found somebody better, stronger candidate and I can't speak to that but I just want to reassure you that again from my experience that these candidates are outstanding and um, I don't have any doubt about their preparedness to be a superintendent but it comes down for you to do you feel that they're the right fit, right time, right place

188for your district? You could reach the conclusion and it's okay if you do and I always share this with boards in every search. You've got two finalists, but you've got three choices, right? Because one choice could be I don't believe we have found the right person. Um if the majority of the board doesn't land on one of your two finalists, our next discussion would be where do we go from here? Um, so I need to point that out, but I want to make sure you I'm clear in that that's an option I share with every board. It has nothing to do with the mentality of your candidates. Spoken to that part already. Um, but I think it's important for you and community members to understand that there's always a choice. You don't ever want to

189settle um, you know, in making this gigantic decision. And so when you speak to this tomorrow, you need to speak to um where your heart and your gut lies and convinced that this is what I really believe is in the best interest of Dexter schools. And if you indicate that you would like to select one of these two finalists, you're indicating that that you have confidence given everything that you've now seen and heard over the course of these last couple months or so that um you have the right person and that person is ready to take the lead of their district and excel in their goal. So you have any questions about what's coming next? I I'll quickly I I thank you too. I you have followed this process with great fidelity and um I

190think it's put you in a position where you've been very thorough, you've been very conscientious, gone about this the right way. So I think you're prepared to make this huge decision and ready to move forward. >> Thank you, John. I really appreciate your guidance. Yeah. >> Yeah. >> It's been great. >> Invaluable. Yes, >> definitely. Yes. >> And I guess just kind of more of a reminder to ourselves or speaking to the positives of the candidate that we would want to then. >> I appreciate that. Yes. We we never it's it's it's worth repeating that at no time should anybody ever speak to even tomorrow um in negative terms about the candidate that you are not interested in selecting as the superintendent. You're only speaking in terms of why you would like to select the

191candidate that you're naming. question on that may on the positive but there's some comparison going on and at least our heads and a lot of them have strengths in both areas do we just from a best practice point of view do we discuss only the candidate or >> maybe say this is what jumped out to me more so >> yeah I'm just trying you know >> I mean that say this one is better than the other even both good in this sense Yeah, >> I mean there's going to be some I mean when I go home there's going to be some of that in my head and I try to rationalize >> the decision process was and the easiest for me to would be to compare them both together, right? Almost like you guys do

192with legalize but we keep you saying we can't we don't do that which I understand because no matter what happen I think they're both going to stick around, right? So I don't want to you know >> if you were to say for example I it's a fair question. If you were to say, for example, that that the candidate that I'm naming I think has more experience in this area that I think is really important to us or something along those lines, that's not demeaning the other person or being critical of the other person in any way. So, if that helps, you could certainly go down that path. Um, what I'm advising is that you don't ever say, "Well, I don't think this person has enough experience in this area. I don't think this person has

193the skill set to allow them to handle this type of a situation." those types of comments. That's what we left her with. So, we're going to be focused on just one just so we can let you go home and think about the question. >> Yeah. I also I guess I just want to say also I think that we can do a lot of the comparison ourselves in our heads. >> Yeah. And I think what we should be focused on bringing here is naming the strengths of that candidate just speaking only to those strengths for that candidate. So we're actually never saying the other candidate doesn't have those exact same strengths. It's just one of the things we noticed for the candidate we're bringing forward. >> Yeah. That's basically here's why I'm confident that this person

194is ready to be our next superintendent and is the right person to be our next superintendent. And you could speak to your why. Here are the things that I think about this person that makes me believe that that's true. >> Yeah. >> Okay. With that, we will adjourn tonight that 87.