001Thank you. >> I'd like to call the committee of the whole meeting to together for Wednesday, February 4th, 2026. Um, >> Westfall >> here. >> Uh, Black >> here. >> Uh, Fields >> here. Morris here. Morarski >> here. >> Morris >> here. >> And Shufelt. Oh, she's excused. I'm sorry. We're just talking about that. And we called to order at 6:00. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance to the flag of the United States of America. We'll start with some good news. Moody Bitty Ball. All right. Can you guys hear me? Okay. I can't kind of get her. All right. So, girls mini ball season was definitely interested. We didn't have enough coaches to go to coach every team. So, I end up have to do double duty. So, I coached Kenyon
002along with running the league, which was a lot of fun. Um, getting to coach fourth and fifth grade girls was a different experience, but we were to have a good season. We played plenty of games. um came down to the last game of the year where my team made it and of course Miss Bush's team of uh Blair Moody made it and I got out coached. So um I can't thank you enough for you know what she's done for that school. She's been there for about five years now. four or five >> coaching both boys and girls and seeing the way she coaches and how I deal with the high school coaches, I'm like I kind of want to switch them once in a while. So, uh, but she does a great job. She keeps
003a lot of kids and in this when you keep a lot of kids, you don't get to play your better kids that much and she finds a way to make it work and that says a lot about her and how she's able to um work with her students. So they won the season this year and I couldn't be more happier for a coach and a family. She got a strong family background and everybody they brought out to the game. So I can't thank you enough. So I would like to congratulate Mrs. Bush and have her come up here and say a couple words about the season. >> Year. >> Okay. Well, as I'm talking to you guys, um I do appreciate everything. I do appreciate him allowing me to coach still. Um my old coach,
004Mr. Doyle, right here. Loved him. Um so I I learned a lot from all the coaches, especially my dad, too. He coached me as well. So took everything that I learned from every coach and just inspired other kids. But I would not be the coach that I am without the kids today. So for the girls to go this far in years is very very amazing. Um also Nikki Nikki helped coach this year. So also we wouldn't be as happy as where we are without her as well. So, I do want to give a a big shout out for her because she didn't have to and she chooses to. Um Oh, yeah. >> I do want to say though, these girls are very, very, very inspiring. They are very phenomenal. Whether they choose to continue to
005play basketball or they don't, they are very good kids. They are very good scholars, and I love them for that. So, I hope they had a very good, tremendous year this year and I'm so happy that they took first place. I am so happy. Um, they deserve it and so do all the other teams in the league. And I try to respect and I try to show them respect of how to treat one another, to treat your teams because you don't want to you don't want to get too negative in the basketball game. You don't want to you'll get kicked out and all that. It's not showing anything else. Um, but and I can say that from experience. Um, but yeah, I do I love coaching at Moody. I hope they continue to allow me
006to coach at Moody. Um, and I love showcasing what the kids can do, boys and girls. >> Yeah. Thank you so much for all you do for our kids. That's great. And get girls, fabulous job. Well done. >> Okay, girls. Come on. What will take mention for later? All right. Ready? One, two, three. I think the whole team show >> this time, >> but we'll see. You never know if they have anything um if it continues. for me. >> Go ahead. Go ahead. Thank you. >> Um, so next thing of good news is that just recently we took our boys basketball team to LCA to play here on. Um, last year we decided to do this. Uh, we went against the Detroit Taylor Cops, sorry. And, you know, it was a good Taylor event where
007we were all down there, but they weren't much competition. So, we decided to actually put on a real MSSA game. So, this game counted. Um, we took our varsity boys down there. We actually actually got more time this year on the court. Um, they gave us two hours, so we were able to play the varsity game and the kids that didn't get a lot of playing time. We're able to scrimmage and play a fiveminute game. Our cheerleaders got to go. Um, we upgraded this year. I worked out a package with LCA where we got the all you can eat seats. So once the game started at 5:30 for the varsity game, they had more nachos and hot dogs you've ever had in your life. Um definitely the price I think I definitely drink it in
008Diet Pepsi for 48 bucks, >> 12 bucks a piece. So everyone had a really good time. You know, behavior was great. It was uh really good. They got to meet some unique people, too, while they were down there and get to be on the floor. Um they got to go for a tour around LCA. And what was interesting is that the guy's trying to throw out pinch lines like how much it cost to get this suite. You know, it's $30,000 a ticket if you want to do this. And it's, you know, then we go up top in the mega suite. He goes, "Oh, you want to rent this? It's 60,000 a game." And the kids are all looking around like, "What is he talking about?" But at least they got to see what it looked
009like. Um, so that was a nice nice touch to what we had the chance to do with our kids. Um, and then if you guys ever come to one of our senior games last week, a lot of our we had 10 seniors that were graduating and five of them mentioned LCA is one of the highlights of their high school careers. So, that's the goal. Um, you know, to give our kids some experiences that most kids wouldn't get. And by doing this, it is a lot of work, but at the end of the day, it's well worth it. and um our kids got to enjoy a nice night out um be a pro and get to see what it's like in that atmosphere. So, thank you for allowing us to do that. >> No, thank you
010for setting that up, Chris, because I've been there both years and uh watching the kids on that court and just watching them have that ability where they'll take some shots. I don't think they would normally take at Taylor High's gym, but you know, you're standing there on the Pistons court and you're like, "Oh, I'm going to go for the NBA three." and they start taking those extra shots and it's just fun to watch them have that ability. So, thank you for for setting that up for our kids. >> Thank you. Girls next year. >> Yep. Thank you. I said ditto here. Thank you for that. >> Exactly what I wanted to say. Now, we have student representatives from West Middle School, the drama club. Hello, my name is Sheamus Hall. I'm a seventh grader at
011West Middle School and I play George in our fall musical production of Schoolhouse Rock Live Junior. Last year, we brought theater back into our school with West Drama Club, which meets once a week after school. More than 60 students joined. Each week we explore different dramatic exercises that continue to sharpen our communication skills, team building, confidence, and self-exression. And we have fun doing it. In the spring of 2025, we performed our first play, The Absolutely insidious and utterly terrifying truth about cat hair. We planned a one night event and carry forward through that m momentum. This fall we saw close to 400 people attend our shows of Schoolhouse Rock Live Jr. West's first musical production in over 30 years. Our shows were almost entirely studentrun from students acting, singing, and dancing on stage to students
012on the technical crew moving set pieces as well as running lights and sound. We had over 30 students involved in this production. If you missed the production of Schoolhouse Rocklife Jr., you are still able to view our performance with a quick search for our show on YouTube recorded in front of a live audience. We hope that you continue to support our drama club community by joining us at our spring play, James and the Giant Peach, April 28th through the 30th at West Middle School. Our theater students work hard exclusively after school. So everything we do happens in addition to our classes during the school day. Many of our students involved in our drama program are also members of our award-winning band and choir programs. Tonight you'll hear from two of those students, Maddie Johnson and
013Olive Shankle, who played Dena and Scholley in our musical. Maddie and Olive have won awards for their singing performances and most recently received perfect scores at their fall musical theater competition. Tonight they'll be performing Some Things Are Meant to Be from the musical Little Woman. We hope you enjoy the performance. Last but not least, our final theater event of the year is Solo Night, May 26th at West Middle School, where students and staff will perform a variety of songs from musicals and Mr. Green will announce our fall musical production. Thanks for your time and support. And without further ado, here are Maddie and I'll live with Some things are meant to be. Snow. Goodbye. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat. Heat up here. Heat. Thank you. That was beautiful. Okay, we moving on now to sorry
014Lowe's, Kathy Fields, board treasurer. As most everybody is aware, we have partnered with um Fish and Loaves this year, giving them a home for their uh for their fundraiser. and we received a very nice letter from Stephanie McNees uh who is the head of Fish and Loaves. Um on behalf of Fish and Loaves Community Food Pantry, please accept our heartfelt thanks for your generous support of Santa's Magic Forest. Because of you, thousands of families were able to experience joy, connection, and hope during the holiday season. The impact of this event will be felt far beyond the lights and displays. Santa's Magic Forest has been cher a cherished tradition in our community for decades. Thanks to the Taylor School District, this event has now found its home at a at the former Eureka Heights Elementary School
015and welcomed families and individuals of all ages to enjoy the magic. An event of this size takes many hands, including sponsors, volunteers, donors, and patrons to make it possible. We hosted over a 100 volunteers to help with the setup totaling 1,000 plus hours of donated time. And the list included city of Taylor and Taylor school district staff, artists, painters, crafters, builders, machinists, fiberglass specialists, carpenters, and electricians, all coming together to bring our display to life. Santa's Magic Forest was open to the public for four weekends and required an additional 100 volunteers donating roughly 500 hours total to welcome 3,200 guests and make the event run smoothly. Because of your generous generous sponsorship, you joined us in helping to create an unforgettable experience for our families, giving them an event to celebrate the season, admire the
016beautiful antiques and craftsmanship, and create lasting memories. Most importantly, Santa's Magic Forest raised $30,000, providing critical support for Fish and Loaves and helping us to keep our pantry shelves stocked for so many in our community facing food insecurity. In 2025, Fish and Loaves distributed 3.5 million pounds of food to more than 45,000 households across our region. Thanks to your continued support of our fundraisers, we have been able to ensure that no one goes hungry for the past 17 years. Thank you for believing in our mission, for standing with us when our neighbors need it need it most. We are deeply grateful for your partnership and compassion. With gratitude, Stephanie McNe. and it's been it's been a pleasure partnering with them and we're hoping that this partnership just continues. Um I do have one other bit
017of good news that we for the first time got uh Randall has a food pantry now and it's up and running and filled and being used. So thank you. That's an addition. Thank you. All right, finance report. Move on back to Kathy. >> Um, we had a finance re uh finance committee meeting on the 29th and Dr. Hil uh presented the proposed budget amendment. Um, and she will be making a presentation tonight. Thank you. >> All right. Now, we will move on and I think we'll leave it. Mr. Morris, you're going to >> absolutely discussion item five revisions approval of agenda policy number 0166. Um, is there a motion to approve the agenda? >> Motion by Miss Field. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Moore. Uh, Miss Block. >> Miss Fields. >> Yes. >>
018Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mski. >> M. Machine is excused. Mr. West. >> Yes. >> Okay, that car is hearing. >> All right. Thank you. We'll move on to discussion items. That's would be the um budget amendments and we'll turn that over to Dr. Hill. >> Thank you very much. Can they see my PowerPoint? Oh, okay. Okay. Thank you very much for the opportunity to present our first budget amendment for the 2526 school year. And if you all would just give me a moment. You'll see my PowerPoint shortly. While we're waiting for that, I would just like to clarify uh budget amendments are pretty normal this time of year because we have to submit our budget before we know all the finances that are coming to the school district. Is that correct? >> That
019is correct. >> Thank you. Wanted to make sure a >> Yes, this is normal. >> Yeah. And that'll be another typically to close the year as well. Yes. >> Thank you. >> There it is. Okay. And just like you were saying before, according to the Uniform Budgeting and Accounting Act of 1968, under section 141, school districts may amend the budget to stay within appropriated budget, meaning the budget approved by the board. Thank you. And the district budgets uh tonight for consideration. These are the general fund, funded programs or grant funding, food service, debt fund, center programs fund or act 18, capital projects fund, and student activity funds. And this represents all of the district's funds. So, the board of education has been uh supplied with all of the financial statements ahead of time and for
020the sake of time I am going to review the general fund which is the district's largest fund. In terms of our general fund, the local revenue is at $19.5 million and local revenue meaning the taxes levied from local businesses. State revenue is at 60.7 million. Federal sources is 14,590. Other local sources is at 5.7 million or this represents money that we the district receives from the ISD and other financing sources. Total revenue is at 8 86.2 million 86.2 million at this time. And this is a pie chart of what our funding looks like with the local revenue being 22% and state revenue being 71% and the largest pot of money that the district receives is via state revenue. In terms of our local sources, just to explain that a little better, uh the majority of
021the district's local revenue sources are from operating and debt taxes from the city of Taylor, Brownstown, Dearborn Heights, Inkingster, and Westland. For fiscal year 2526, the current operating levy is at 17.6 and the debt levy is at 0.85. The commercial levy is at 5.6. Like I stated before, uh, in terms of state revenue, just to give you a little bit more detail about that, the projected foundation allowance is at $10,50 per student. And it's not projected. It's exactly what the district is being paid for. And the district is paid on a blended count. So, we are currently being paid on a blend account of 5,165.59 FTE. Last year's blend account was 5,308, a difference of 142 students down or $1.4 million down. So in terms of the first budget amendment expenditure assumptions, major expenditure assumptions
022as our projected costs for various special projects uh for some roofs and other special projects within the district as well as some buses purchased and an overall adjustment for the cost the increase in cost of goods and services. Everybody knows that, you know, with uh the current inflation and things of that nature, everything is up. So, we have to adjust the budget to reflect that. And then we also went to a a new benefit platform. Um the cost of benefits have been adjusted to uh include the increase of costs and benefits and also for the cost of utilities which is also on a rise. And this is what it looks like in a pie chart. Um, you have your audited cost schedule for the past year coming out, our original budget, and then our first
023budget amendment at 86.2 million million in revenue. Projected expenses is at 92 million. And we project our fund balance to be about $33.4 million. Grant funding, food service center programs, debt funds, projected capital funds, student activity funds. Thank you for your time and attention. And that is my presentation. >> Thank you. There are other questions from the board. >> Yeah, you talk about the student blended count. When's the next count date? February 11th. >> Oh, okay. >> It's coming up. >> Yeah, it's coming up. Okay. And this includes the current contract. So, if we make any changes to future contracts, that would obviously require another amendment. Correct. >> Yes. This includes the future contract that ends June 30. >> Yeah. >> TFT and TPA. ski is would anything we're in current negotiations on affect our
024current budget? >> Correct. That is what I'm asking. >> It would not. It would affect our next budget. So when we create the new budget in June, uh whatever we agree to would go in into effect on July 1st. So that would be where where that would be affected. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Anyone else questions? I do want to say too, like I know that uh it was said in there like a big part of what we're spending out of the general fund right now is going to be for infrastructure needs that we desperately need. We know it's part of our strategic plan. Um there is there was in the state budget a grant for infrastructure. Uh the only issue is we have yet to see how the application is coming out of
025MDE. So, as soon as we get that opportunity through MDE, our intent is to apply for that and offset uh some of what was just presented. But we have to come before you tonight and say like, hey, we may have to to dip into the general fund to to cover these projects when we're really hoping that this grant money will come through as well, but we just haven't seen the opportunity yet. >> Thank you. Anything else? Okay, we will um move on to public comment with regard to agenda items only. Is there anyone wishing to to address the board regarding agenda items? Is there anyone on Zoom? >> I'm sorry. No, >> no, no one here. Okay, we'll move on to the consent agenda. >> Yep. Uh, next item, consent agenda, policy number 0166.1, uh,
0266470, 8640, and 2304, including, uh, minutes from the regular board meeting January 21st, 2026, consolidated items, payment of current bills, certified, non-certified, and administrative reports, outofstate overnight field trips, outofstate overnight grant-f funded conferences. Is there a motion? Motion. >> Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Fields. Miss Fields. >> Yes. >> Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. And Shoefeld is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> Miss Block. >> Yes. >> That carries. 6. On to the superintendent report. >> All right. Uh, thank you very much. I got uh two things I want to bring forward tonight. Uh the first is uh lately if you've been following the news there's been some stories some articles going on uh about a different grant opportunity
027through the state of Michigan for 31A. Now 31A was uh grant funding that was for uh safety and mental health resources for school districts to use. It's been available for the last few years at this point and in the past we have applied. We have received money for 31A. As the state budget was written this year, there were some changes uh to what the requirements were to uh to receive that funding. And uh when we talked with legal counsel, when we talked with uh different entities who had consulted their legal counsel as well, it raised a great many uh concerns. So, when we analyzed where we stood and you just saw our uh budget pro amended budget and you saw where we're at with our funds right now, what we were able to do is
028to be able to keep everything in place that we would have done with 31A funding. So, any programs we had, any mental health resources, any of those pieces, we were actually able to fund through the carryover from last year's 31A grant and with money from other grants. So, we were able to uh keep everything we've put in place, keep all of our services, keep all the things that are uh we've employed in the past with that money to keep our students and our staff safe. Um and to not necessarily take this money at this point uh as that was the advice that we had received for for doing so. Uh the second thing I want to talk about real quick uh is the uh athletics. Like we know we have underway our uh renovating our
029athletic complexes, our outdoor athletic complexes. Uh we just had our recent meeting last week on where we are, where the status is. We are still in place to start that renovation in March. I am concerned with the with the crazy winter we've had that I I'm crossing those fingers every single day that we don't get delayed because of the the frost or because of the snow or because of any of the things that have happened. But as of right now, all of our partners are saying we are still on pace to start in about that first to second week of March with those renovations. With that said as well, we are in the process of planning a groundbreaking ceremony and that groundbreaking ceremony will be on March 26th, Thursday, March 26th. We are in the
030process of developing all our invites and all the things to send out to the community to celebrate that event. But look for that to come forward. Uh it's very exciting to finally see this up and going. Hey, it felt good when we went through the process of the bids and we saw that and then saw that reality start to come to light and now that we're actually to the point where they have that plan and they're going to start breaking that ground. Uh I'm really excited about this opportunity for our kids and for our community going forward. >> Thank you. >> Yeah. I have a quick question regarding the 31A. >> Yeah. Um, I've been following it quite closely and about half the school districts took it, about half didn't, or at least in Southeast
031Michigan. But what I found weird about Taylor is we never voted on it. Yet, every other district voted on it. How did you do it without a vote of the board? My understanding is it should have been a vote on the board and we never had that vote. >> Per board policy, uh, we have several grants that we apply for every year that we put money out there and we put out our applications. I shouldn't say I'd say money, but we put out our applications for those funds and those are handled internally uh at the discretion of the the district administration and uh several other districts down river uh that I have talked to and we partnered with and when we having these conversations did the exact same thing because that is how their their
032policy works. >> Um can you forward me that policy because that's I'd like to change that if that is the policy. Fair enough. Absolutely. >> But we absolutely should have voted on that because this was very important. We lost $150 per student and there was a reason we should have taken this and I'll get to more on that in board comments, but this was a very good grant. It was designed to prevent cover-ups in the event of shootings and mass casualty events. So, we essentially voted to keep the cover up going if something bad happens. So, that was a matter of public policy. It never should have been decided administratively. And yeah, the 31A issue is not going away and we should have taken that. And the fact that we didn't even have a chance
033to vote on it is a huge problem. That was never something that should have been administrative. And if it is, you bet I'm going to change that policy or try to. Okay. Anything else? We will move on to um good news items scheduled for next agenda. Good news and student representatives. Not sure who they will be, but they will be on February 18th. Um, general public comment. Is there anyone wishing to address the board about anything? Anyone in person willing to address the board regarding any topic? Okay. Welcome everyone to the Taylor School District regularly scheduled board meeting of February 4th, 2026 where our mission statement is to educate with purpose, engage with passion, empower the future, and our vision statement is that we will create a welcoming and innovative learning environment that nurtures the
034whole child, empowering every student to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you to all of you who can be with us tonight. We understand the importance of continuing to keep you informed and providing an opportunity for you to be heard. Public comment will begin with those in person and then move to our online audience. For those in person, please step up to the microphone. State your name and address for the record. After the in-person comment, our online audience will need to find the raise hand symbol for our moderator to recognize you and unmute you. Please take into consideration common courtesy. Refrain from any personal attacks and keep your comments to three minutes or less. We will provide an assistant and assist provide an assist with timekeeping. So our each guest will be able to monitor
035their own time and know when to conclude so all who wish to speak will have an equal opportunity to do so. As a reminder, if any questions arrive arise during this meeting or through other avenues, Superintendent Wagger or his designate will work to provide answers in a timely manner. Please note the views and opinions expressed by individual board members are their own and do not necessarily represent the official position or consensus of the board of education. Also note this portion of the meeting. Oh, we don't need to do that. Uh, I would like to remind everyone that this is a public meeting held in accordance with the Michigan Open Meetings Act. This meeting is being audio and or video recorded and the recording may be broadcast or made available to the public. Mrs. Pat, >>
036it seems like it gets longer and longer, doesn't it? >> I think I'm going to go through and revise that a little bit. >> Um, Pat 6860 Jackson. Um when you were speaking about the um Christmas um walkthrough for the Fish and Lowe's, we did tour that over there and I am so glad that they are there. There's so much more room for them over there than it was at the activity building. Um it was set up really nice. Um when we went I kind of took a little detour and went into the library because I didn't know if they were using it or not, which I know they weren't. They were down the area and it brought me to why I'm here. um with knowing um that we can always use books in our
037elementary libraries, there are still books on the shelves in that library. So, I would offer um go through you too would offer to go over and either box them up or maybe take a whole day and have the elementary librarians go a pair of pros go over there and pick out again what books they would like. I know um the librarian that was there, library parro that was there before dispersed books to the so they did get some books from there but there are still so many books there and it just broke my to see all of them still there and not in the hands of kids in the other buildings. So I would be willing to either box them up or or distribute them to the schools or whatever you want to do. So
038okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. >> Wallace. Hey, Dan Wallace, 23245 Northland Road. Um, when we worked at Fish and Loaves over in that school that we're not using anymore. Um, I actually to get Christmas music going, I made one of the speakers work and it brought to mind there's a lot of really nice equipment still that maybe is still current and I was just curious if there are any plans to recover that equipment. Um, there are I I I happened to look the speakers up online and at least online they're like $1,768 a piece and I thought, wow, it'd be really sad to leave this equipment all behind. Uh, or that that's what my question was if there are any plans to deal with the boards and the audio equipment. >> I can answer
039that real quick. I got real easy. Uh, we still run summer programs in that building, so that equipment still gets used. So, >> good, thanks. I was just curious. Thank you. Okay. Welcome. >> Hello. I'm Bethany Pavey, 6036 Mayfair Street. I have been attending the Sex Education Advisory Board meetings in the capacity of a parent since its reassembly at the beginning of this year. I wanted to voice my concerns about transparency and about how and why the chair and co-chair were selected. From my understanding, the those positions were directly filled by the board using information that remains secret from the public. When the chair and co-chair have no information to go off of and an few answers to any questions, it does not instill much confidence. One chair during each meeting so far vocalized how
040they can't wait to go home, how late it is already at 6:30 for a meeting that started at 5, and how we spent, and I quote, an entire hour talking about useless stuff. I can attest we did not spend any time on anything not pertinent to the meeting. We have yet to have an official meeting since we cannot reach the minimum membership requirement to meet quorum. So instead, we're having unofficial gatherings where we're trying to shape the bylaws of a board that doesn't technically exist. We are lacking an educator and a student member. We have an average of four parents attending, which is not enough. We are going in blind and we can't get enough members to vote. Our time has been spent doing nothing. It means nothing. I'm asking for your help to make
041the CAB successful for the Taylor School District and compliant for the first time in what I've heard is years. I'm concerned that in order to even find out any information about what was last done in Taylor regarding sex education, a private citizen and Taylor's school district parent had to foyer for and pay her own money to receive any documents referring to past sex education curriculum, giving us answers finally that even the chair and co-chair were not given access to. How can this information be available when foyered for, but not when the chair and co-chair of a board ask for it? It doesn't exist. I'm advocate I'm not advocating for this, but we don't need an a sex education advisory board unless the parents of Taylor want their kids taught anything beyond what the HIV and
042AIDS education covers. But if they do, we need the help of the board. I'd specifically like to thank Mr. Mr. Morarski for taking time to sit in on and take part of the discussion at the meeting. Mr. Wagger, you were sort of there, too. I was expecting you to address the group as a whole at some point, but that never happened. As a superintendent, you must have some insight on this or access to information we can use to be successful. So, please let me know how I can be helpful in any way. And thank you for your time. >> Thank you. Courtney Prout 9846 Katherine. Um well, the last parent pretty much stated everything I was going to state. Um I have a couple other things to add to that. Um, at the last meeting,
043we were explicitly told um that the district did not have to include us, the the CB on the creation of its bylaws when one of the members had asked a question about something and there was kind of like a little back and forth between the chair and that member and she had said, you know, we don't have to include you guys in this. It's not required by the state to have you guys be part of the bylaws. Um that statement to me undermines like the whole statutory role of the body and it reinforces the concern that this board is being treated as optional advisory and only the name um and subjective to what the administration prefers. Um additionally neither chair could identify whether the district was or the district's curriculum was currently abstinence based or
044abstinence only when I had asked. Um that is a very big distinction and it's not an optional distinction. Um, so when I asked that question, it it and they didn't know it. Um, it kind of raises concerns whether or not this district's even ready to teach sex education if we don't even know whether or not we're abstinence only or abstinence based. Um, and also there was the the Rhysa person was there as well and she had said, you know, that that is a huge distinction and she had asked them to and they could not answer that question in neither chair. Um un fortunately for myself I was able to pull the foyer request um that I do have which has a little bit of information in it. I do see a board meeting back in
0452022 um with Mr. Anisov. He was on that board with Cynthia Nickel and they did pass some some curriculum um and you know did some revisions on that and it it doesn't explicitly state there whether or not it's abstinence based or abstinence only and that was why that question was originally brought up. But just note that the chairs do not currently understand what that is or know what this district is, which is super concerning. Um, the other concerns I have is that the district has relied on administrative guideline drafts and deferred the superintendent for decisions. Um, and this is it's it's it's getting ridiculous. This is an oversight at this point. Sex education is not a one-sizefits-all, which is why the law requires specific representation. We need parents, teachers, students, nurses, community health professionals, clergy
046members, other community members to be on this board. There's a reason why these people are represented on a board is so that the community voice is heard by all people, not just one specific set of people. Um, and right now we have four parents showing up, one of them being a chair. Um, and the clergy member, which is phenomenal by the way. He's actually putting in time, effort looking over these processes. But that's it. The teachers that are required, they're one of them emailed, the only one emailed the day of the meeting about an hour prior and said she wasn't interested in being on the board anymore. Like you guys can't even get buy in from your own educators. um you can't get buy in from the nurses like your current this is another issue
047that the board I think needs to really look at is that your current chair that was chosen through the process is also acting as the sex education supervisor for the district as well as now the nurse um so the other day at the meeting when I had asked you know where's the school nurse she's not here and she raised her hand too so now we have one body acting as three votes which isn't operable underneath the law so currently right now there's not a makeup up yet these meetings keep going on um and there's not enough people to actually sustain a full advisory board. Um so I I think that these concerns there's there's just so much. Um Mr. Odarski did come to that meeting. I think he'd be a great um voice to let
048you guys know what happened at that meeting because it was concerning. It was more concerning than I had actually thought once we actually got into the thick of it and we started asking these questions what they actually didn't understand or what they didn't know. Um, so it's it's unfortunate that this district has placed people in positions that don't fit into those roles when there are subject matter expertise in areas that are not in the positions that belong there. >> So I I do I do ask the board if you can take a look at that um look over look over those processes and see if you guys can >> Yep. Absolutely. Um appreciate the information from both you ladies. We will work on um you know obviously obviously the the the picking of the choke
049co-chairs that policy is we've set in place it's it's done um but certainly uh people need the information in order to run the CAD properly. I'd like to know when the next meeting is and um >> it's March March 3rd because March 3rd is the next meeting. >> What time? >> I think 5:30 this time. >> Oh the 2nd. I'm sorry. 5:30 the second >> on the second. >> Yep. But unfortunately, these aren't actually sex education advisory board meetings. Just so we are making that clear because we don't have a >> so we'd like to uh you know make sure that Mr. Wager has a list of things that you need. Um and and we'll get those to you. Um but it really needs the group and we can't make people show up. Just can't
050do that. Um, and these are people that that there were 17 people that expressed an interest in being on the CAP. And so, and th those were the only people. We didn't go out except for the the um uh >> clergy. >> Slurgy. Thank you. That's the word I was looking for. Uh, and the student weren't they weren't handpicked. Um, so can't make people show up, but certainly it sounds like there's some tweaking that needs to be done with the CF. I think it needs to be a little bit more of a of a trans I think it needs to be more of a transparent process and allow more individuals than just those inside to actually be on this board. >> And how would you suggest we get people there? >> That that was a
051question that the chair had asked me too at the meeting was how do I suggest we get people there? And I think that the start of that would be to to advertise as more than just a a local spot. I mean we currently can't even get your TSC teachers to come. Like to me that's something that as an as an administration, as a board, how do you how do you ask the parents that are showing up, how you get your teachers to attend? I don't know that answer. I mean there there has to be a way for you guys to do something for your educators to get them to attend. Um it's sad as an educator. This is something I would be here as an educator if I was in this district and I would
052be here as a parent if I'm not in this district because this is important to me. So making maybe this important to your teachers. There is a solution here though just so everybody is aware. We can just not teach a comprehensive sex education grade law. >> I am fully on board for that because we have tried this twice now. Two times we've tried to get a lawful educa sexation board together. It has failed. There is a solution under the state of Michigan. It is not required. So that's the easiest and most proper solution right now is to step back and not do that until we can actually formulate a board and get teachers and students to buy into this process. >> Okay. >> I'll talk to Mr. De. Maybe they offer a stigment or something
053to get people here or we have um teachers that have that are parents within the district. I don't know. But certainly we can't force people to be there. So >> just so you are aware of this when I had asked a question because I do have the paperwork from the FOYA that there are teachers and nurses in that FOYA that are still in this district that were on the old board. And when I had asked like why we can't ask those individuals, I mean one of them is a school nurse and she's wonderful. So, I'd asked that question like, why can't we just ask them if they are on this previous board and it was operating lawfully? They should have that information, right? Where where are those pieces of papers that they got? Like, I
054have everything that I have from this current board in a little notebook that I keep that if somebody were to ask me, I could pass it right over and say, "Here's everything that we're doing right now, everything that we did." >> Like, my question is, why can't we ask those educators or those nurses that are on that old board for their information? And when I had asked that to the chair, she had said, "Well, that nurse wiped her hands clean. and she's not going to help us. Which to me, it's it's a little concerning to think that we have a school nurse who I know is phenomenal and I haven't yet to ask her myself because that's not a conversation you just approach the school nurse at the end of the day. But I can't
055see that that school nurse is actually unwilling to just provide any insight that she currently has to >> I'm sure I'm sure a lot of it is you need to talk to people and ask people. Thank you. Appreciate you ladies. Appreciate the information. >> Anyone else wishing to address the board in person? Mr. PS. >> Good evening. Uh, Bill Pat 6860 Jackson. Just want to let you know that uh I'm going to volunteer myself to do that Taylor Plunge. >> Oh, cool. >> At uh I want to support our kids and I'm going to join Corey, I guess. And I'm hoping that we're not the only two. >> I'm going to be going in with you. >> Outstanding. Hoping for a balding 50 degree day. >> Outstanding. Kathy, I want you to know that Taylor
056School District 26M division M is 100% supportive in this. >> No, it's division bill path. Yeah. >> Thank you so much for everything and I'm anxious to do it and it's on March the 5th and I'm pretty sure it's a half a day. So, uh, >> they did say there was going to be >> challenging all of our >> there was going to be EMTs there, right? >> Yes. Guaranteeing. >> I'm just checking >> that was brought up last night. >> We We've got a program going with EMTs. We'll let the kids practice. >> The kids are going to be there. Yes. >> For me. >> Outstanding. Thank you so much. >> You still work for the district? >> Pardon me? >> Do you still work for the district? >> I sure do. >> Okay.
057I know if you were >> division M. >> Okay. Excellent. Okay. Thank you. Thank you for your service. I didn't know. >> So, yeah. Thank you so much everybody. >> Look forward to that. >> Anyone else wishing to address the board in person? >> Anyone online? >> Nope. Then uh board member comments just like to say real quick. Uh even though she's not happy anniversary to Mr. and Mrs. Shufelt. I believe she said 20 years today. >> So that's why she's not here. So anyway, it's the only thing I got. >> Anyone? >> All right, I'll start. I guess I did want to talk about the sex advisory committee, but because the uh 31A came up, I really want to talk about that more. So, I'm going to be really brief on the sex advisory
058committee and I promise I will do a lot more next time because we did talk about a lot of things and the board does, I think, need some background in this. But what was really interesting about the sex committee is we had a rep from Wayne Rea. She was extremely informative. We probably bored people with her technical back and forth, but um there are no bylaws for the sex advisory committee now. They're only proposed bylaws and they're just not even proposed. They're just basically a draft that somebody downloaded online. I saw them and a lot of the uh different districts changed theirs. So, I'm assuming ours will be very different than theirs. and they did spend a lot of time, probably two hours, going over page one, just cleaning it up. So, the these proposed
059bylaws are not good. And there's going to be probably weeks if not months to clean them up more. And there's also there has not been an official meeting. There's no quorum. All right. So, I researched it. The quorum defaults to half and there was nowhere near half. So, these have just been gettogethers. We want to make sure they're not considered meetings. And and that that was brought up, too. And then there's just a lot of missing records. And that's what me and the person from Wayne Rea talked about is that if you want to teach comprehensive sex ad, you're in a weird situation here because if you had an old board, you should have records from the old board and that would carry over. Nobody can find all those records and you don't have a
060new board because they haven't had a functioning meeting yet. So I I I literally asked her, should we be teaching comprehensive sex? Have we have we, you know, done all the stuff we're supposed to? And she said, "Well, HIV, sure, but comprehensive sex, I don't know if you guys have the papers or not. You should check." So, I'm just letting the board know we really need to dig deep. The burden of proof is on us and we need to find out if we have the papers either from the past. It would have to be from the past to really teach the comprehensive sex. Just don't do it. And as far as getting people to come to the meeting, I was an instructor at Wayne State for years. I taught boring physics and organic chemistry. And
061what we did, and I'm not joking, to get people to come to our little teaching sessions for the students is they gave me a little budget. We would get free pizza. So maybe we should advertise these meetings a little more, promise some free pizza. I'm really not joking. It did work. And um we even did studies on it. There was a statistical difference between when we had free food and when we didn't. So I just I have a question regarding the quorum because I've heard I heard Courtney say it and then you say it. Is it in the bylaws that you have to have a certain number for the quorum or is it possible to put in there? I know at the TFT we had a a quorum shall be considered and the members in
062attendance or is that because you're not always going to have >> Well, no, no, you're you're correct. So, there are no bylaws, right? Okay. >> So, if the bylaws can say it can be one, it can be a million. The bylaws can say whatever they want. Okay. But since there are no bylaws, at least no one can find them. It clearly defaults to half. Robert's rules of order defaults to half and there's various language in the state statutes I'm sure he can agree with it defaults to half if you don't have anything. >> Yeah, I was just curious. >> Yeah. So yeah, they're maybe at a third. So you're not even close to half. So >> right. Oh, absolutely. >> And I tell people there's nothing nefarious going on if there's no quarant people can
063get together, have a discussion, we can talk, you know, but it's not an official meeting. So I want people to understand nobody did anything wrong. We spent two, three hours there. We had a great time, but it was not an official meeting. So that that's just all that is. >> Okay. >> I think there was an intention of including everyone who applied and that's why we got to that 17 member board and now you know reflecting on that a little bit later. Maybe that's a part of the issue itself. Maybe we we look into a specific number. Um but you know it's a difficult uh task to try to make sure everyone who wants to be included is included while allowing for functionality to you know you know carry out. And so maybe that is
064something we do need to look into a little bit more. Yeah, people consistently there too. >> Oh yeah, Mr. Morris, I completely agree. I was just pointing out that people said there's been all these meetings. They've been gettogethers, not meetings. But but you >> it's up to the chair. >> I'm sorry. I'm sorry. It's not public comment right now. >> But this Michigan Department of Education law a part of it that you're missing. It doesn't matter if you have that. >> We have our attorney. He will wait. >> He will take care of it. Right. >> Thank you. >> Okay. So, I'm done with that. And I did want to talk about 31A because this is a statewide issue and it's actually become a bit of a national issue. It's been covered on the news
065a little bit. So the background is very important. There was a massacre in Oxford, Michigan. And actually I hunt up there and I know some of the people the families involved. I was actually hunting that day. And so what happened is a student who who had been troubled, he came in and they intercepted him at the beginning of the school day, right? and he had a loaded firearm, a sig sauer, which is a heavy metal gun in his backpack. And they pulled him into the back room and they were going to send him home. But for whatever reason, at least two administrators interfaced with the student. There may have been a second or third administrator. They called and for a reason nobody can explain. They gave the kid his heavy backpack back with a gun
066in there and said, "You can go back to class for the day. We'll discipline you later." He ended up killing four kids. Okay. Um, there wanted to be an indictment or at least the grand jury wanted to look at did the administrators were they negligent? Did they break the law? Right. Why would you give the kid the backpack back if you pulled them out of the classroom in the first place and the second part of it is they had a contract with the Oakland County Sheriff's Office. They essentially functioned as a school resource. There was an officer a few miles down the road. Sheriff Rashard asked distinctly, "Why wouldn't you call me?" He's like, "I could have came. We could have searched a backpack." So, there were two allegations of potentially criminal misconduct by two
067potentially four administrators in Oxford. They never were able to even get it to the grand jury because they hid behind something called attorney client privilege. And so, that was a technical area in Michigan a lot of other states don't have, mind you, for these matters. So the state legislature said, "We don't want this to ever happen again. We didn't have the votes to ban it right now, but we're going to give you money to get rid of it." So they were paying us $150 a student to get rid of the attorney client privilege in the event of a mass casualty event. Okay? And I'll tell you from what I know about Oxford, and I'm saying this publicly because I have no problem doing it. Had it gone through a grand jury, there probably would have
068been an indictment of at least two people, and there probably would have been a conviction. And those parents are sick of what happened. Those parents are beside themselves. It's a really tight tight close-knit community. Everyone knows everyone. And these people walked away because of this rule. So, by taking the $150, we would have agreed with half of the other school districts to say, "Hey, we're going to end this rule forever because it only protects guilty people when there's a mass casualty event. That's all it does." Okay? This is the whole purpose of the law. So, it should have been voted on by the board. This is clearly a matter of public policy. It should not have been handled administratively. And I'm confident if we had voted on it, we would have agreed to stop the
069cover up. >> You're speaking for yourself, Mr. Madarski. You don't know we would have agreed. >> Okay. But you should have had the chance to vote. It shouldn't have been done the way it was. And if there is a policy, >> your opinion as well, sir. >> If if there is a policy, then I think we should vote to change that policy. That is my opinion. And I would love to hear your opinion. Should the Oxford school district have turned over the records or not? This is a good public policy debate. Let's go. >> I don't have an opinion on it. >> Exactly. >> Well, it's certainly >> You have an opinion on everything, so I just let me do it. >> We can't say that we're doing things wrong when it's a part of
070our policy. So, I want to make the >> I haven't reviewed the policy and I'm skeptical that we're one of the only districts that didn't vote on it. >> Not the only district. >> I said I'm skeptical when >> Well, at the point at this point, the the the goal, you need to change the policy in order to not leave that administratively. So, um, anyone else have board comments? >> No. I would take I would entertain a motion to adjurnn. >> Motion by Kathy Fields. Report by Mr. >> Morris. >> Moore is a yes. Morarski, >> yes. >> Uh, Morris, >> yes. >> Shufeld is excused. Um, Westfall, >> yes. >> Block, >> yes. >> And Fields, >> yes. That passes uh 6. We are adjourned at 7:02. Thank you everyone for that. >> Well,
071it's financial. Yeah. >> Yeah. But I find it weird that all the other district voted on this and I really it's common to vote out. They didn't. That's what I'm telling you. I talked with several districts who didn't. Most of Oakland County did vote one way or another. >> Not down river here. >> Well, I would like to have that office to vote on >> especially the grand >> shared your opinion.