2025-10-15 | Regular Board Meeting

001the um regular board meeting from for Wednesday, October 15th to order at 6:00 pm. How come I'm doing this? Hold on. I'm trying to figure out why I'm making so much noise. >> I'm good. Okay, maybe this is just too close. Um Black >> here. >> Fields here. >> Moore is here. Morski is absent. Morris >> here. >> Shoefeld is is excused. Westfall >> here. >> Thank you. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance. >> I alian to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. >> Um I believe this will go to you, Mr. Morris, tonight. >> Okay. Nope. I am the acting secretary for today. Um item three, uh revisions, approval of agenda

002policy number 0166. >> I have a revision. >> Okay. to add a very short short report from John Ross on um smart boards to be purchased. >> Okay. And that'll be discussion item number six and action item number eight if we take action. >> Thank you. >> Is there support? >> Support. >> Okay. Um, with that, uh, vote a roll call for the approval of the revision. Uh, Miss Fields, >> uh, Miss Moore. >> Uh, yes. >> Mr. Murdarski, >> yes. >> You didn't ask for a motion and a second. >> Oh, my apologies. Uh, uh, I thought Kathy and Mark gave us a motion and a support. >> Motion. Mark supported it. >> Yeah. Okay. Um I am a yes. Miss Shufeld is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> Miss Block. >> Yes. >>

003Okay. That carries 6. Moving. >> Let the uh record reflect that Mr. Morski arrived at 6:01 p.m. Okay. >> We're going to move on to scheduled reports. Um, suicide prevention coalition. >> Yes. >> Well, thank you. I appreciate um the time the board has given me to talk a little bit about um the coalition which Taylor is a part of. Um Taylor Public Schools. My name is Brian Galdis. Um I'm a former superintendent of schools from South Radford and currently work with F works which is a nonprofit out of um Plymouth and um I I coordinate the um the um Open Empowerment Coalition and that that that is the name of of the of our organization. So you can see up on the screen that our mission and our our vision up is up there,

004but we're really a group of school districts and hospitals that have come together to um to battle adolescent depression and suicide. So if you and if again if you look up at the screen, you'll see the school districts that are involved. There's nine school districts um and two hospital systems, Trinity Health and Corwell Health um are both uh very instrumental in the work that we do. Um and um so we also have a quite a list of um community groups that are also supportive and in part of our coalition. Go ahead and change the um screen. So just a couple of statistics. I don't want to get get us buried in them, but I I picked a few that I think are really important for us to remember um really as a society, but certainly

005as a school district. um suicide for the students that we serve in uh middle school and and high school is the second leading cause of death. The first leading cause of death would be accidents. Um and this isn't getting better because not just a couple of years ago, suicide for that age group was the third leading cause of death. It's it's moved up and and not down. Um, and so if we go to the next slide, um, so this is data that comes from the CDC and it reflects almost identical to the similar data that comes that the state of Michigan does and and we do locally. Um, which is really um something that really is kind of jaw-dropping to me. And um if you look at um nationally the number of kids who have

006said self-reported that they've been sad or hopeless for a period of two weeks over the last 12 months um significantly sad or significantly hopeless. It's 42% nationally and it's 40% uh in Michigan. And again the local MIFI data that we have is mirrors the same information. So if you look Taylor um Taylor school district has about 1,400 high schoolers that's 565 of your students have have felt sad or hopeless. Now these aren't documented these are not documented cases. It's really extrapolating the 40% to the number of students you have. But there's no reason why you wouldn't do that because the data is so similar between districts. It crosses social economic standards, it crosses race, it crosses gender. Um these these aren't somebody else's problems. We all own this. Every single community, you know, owns these

007numbers. Um and then if we go down to um made a plan, how many students have reported about have having made a plan in the last last 12 months? 17% of Michigan students, that boils down to 246 students in Taylor um have made a plan. and they felt so hopeless that they've made a plan to to take their life. And this is the one that just drives me. This is what keeps me in the business. And that is 9% of our students across Michigan have made an attempt of some kind on their life. So they've got to a place where they've made a choice to do something to take their life. Again, if you extrapolate the numbers, these are not documented cases. The this is extrapolated numbers. um you're looking at 126 Taylor students that

008are attend in the last 12 months. And um so that's really what drives us. I mean, we can't those numbers are not acceptable as a society. And we really need to be doing something different. And I will tell you that um I've been around school districts now for almost 40 years in terms of my my um profession. School districts are working their butts off. They really are. Taylor is working hard at at at addressing this. There's no doubt in my mind. I just think it's too big of a problem to deal with single districts. We really need to work as a coalition. We need to come together. We have people all trying to do the same thing in silos and our mental health professionals are are are working their tails off too every single day

009that are working in the schools. Um but but they're but oftentimes they're doing it alone because of their case loads and because they might be the only person in a building that's that does the work that they do sometimes and I think we've gotten away from this for the most part but in some districts they're the only person in the whole district who's doing that work. And so I think regional coalitions are so important in order to to address these issues. Um there's another statistic and and um or I guess you could say it's a trend, but what if you look at the numbers of attempted suicides and completed suicides by adolescence, school age adolescence, they spike during high stress times during a school year and they go down during vacation time. So the beginning

010of a school year, exam time, prom time, those times are extremely stressful um during the school year. And there is a spike in in um in suicides. We as superintendent, you know, we really struggled obviously you were you guys were all there too. We struggled with whether or not we should close schools for COVID. And we had some very serious conversations with superintendent as to how do we move forward? And one of the things we thought was we can't close schools because because of adolescent mental health and and and we're going to see a spike in suicides or attempts. And that was that was a you know one of our strong arguments about not closing schools. What we saw was exactly the opposite. What we saw was when kids went home the suicides went down

011and and I'm I'm not blaming schools. I'm part of schools. Um and I know I'm not we're not going to be able to change the importance of GPA or college entrance exams or any of those kinds of things, prom, social media, you know, we're not going to be able to do that. But what we can do, I believe, and we must do is create supports for kids that are in school. So, if we know that prom time is or exam time is in a is a very stressful time, how can we support those kids during those times? You know, I think that's kind of, you know, some some some obvious things that we can do that are that are under our control. Um, and so, you know, those are those are the numbers that drive

012us and and numbers that we're looking at. Are you already working with with our students in Taylor or I'm sorry if I'm ignorant of the whole >> Yeah. No, that's okay. Um yes, Taylor is part of the coalition. Um I'll talk about what the coalition is doing and um and Taylor's part of it and so then maybe I can answer that question after. Sure. Um yeah, because um because they're part of the whole coalition um and and um it's hard for me to to do a deep dive into Taylor because I don't know all the details of what Taylor's doing, but I can talk about what we're doing as a coalition, >> you know, and then we can go from there if that's okay. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> So, what so what are we

013going to do about this? How are we going to make a difference? Um so, we we um the first thing we did is we started looking at a common screener. And so a screener is is an an instrument that a student goes into crisis at school. And so we need to find out what the crisis is all about. And every school district was using a different screener. Um emergency rooms were using a different screener. Remember we have Trinity Health and Corwell Health on our team and their emergency rooms are are represented on our team. And so what we did is we decided, look, we need to come up with a common screener so that if I'm a a parent of a student in crisis or I'm a student in crisis, I'm not having to go

014over this thing over and over and over. Um we're all using we're all asking the same questions and we can communicate um together using the same language. Uh student and staff prevention, uh suicide prevention training, which is QPR is is the is a program we use. We've now it says 5,500 up there. We're now over 6,500 adults in all of our uh coalition districts that we've trained. So, bus drivers, superintendents, administrators, teachers, parapros. We've trained them in looking for red flags and what do you do if you see some red flags? Um data. We're looking at data. How to how to best look at data and and and know the data is um what what's the data telling us in terms of our interventions. I had a conversation yesterday with some police chiefs and looking

015at their police runs. um and and measuring that, you know, how many how many times have you gone to a home um and an adolescent was either in in some type of a mental health crisis. So, we're going to get that data, scrub it down, obviously without without names and locations in that and we'll be looking at things like that. Um, I will tell you anecdotally that to a te this police chiefs I've talked about have a heavy heart because they've seen an increase in um, and I haven't talked to the Taylor police chief yet, but um, have a heavy heart and because of the number of runs they're making for adolescent attempts um, is up and and mental health issues um, research and recommendations. So we get together and talk about how do we

016best bring things into schools, you know, as a whole coalition. And being part of the coalition means that when we agree to interventions, then we um, you know, as as a coalition district, then then you're going to move forward with those things. But we have the best people in in in Wayne County working on looking at what are the best interventions and sharing programs between school districts which doesn't happen a lot unfortunately but now the coalition is helping us do that. Uh coalition mutual support excuse me we have really broken down the silos between school districts. So now I have school districts, uh, special ed directors, social workers, counselors who are working across districts who when they have a problem in a school, instead of trying to sit in their own little silo in their

017office, they're picking up the phone and they're calling people that they are in the coalition and they're they're talking through issues in terms of have you ever seen this? You know, what have you done here? Um, I've gotten a number of phone calls. We got this this thing going in the district. We've never seen this before. and I'm able to get a couple people special ed directors mostly who have gone through this and by the afternoon we have a zoom going you know uh with the special ed directors trying to help that that particular special ed director work through the issues. Go ahead next slide. Um so we do a lot of professional development where as a matter of fact we have a professional development on um election day that is because all of Wayne

018County has kids don't come to school. Everyone has to have professional development. Well school districts and and this was my school district also. We only have a handful of mental health professionals. It's kind of hard to find good quality professional development for a handful of of um um mental schoolbased mental health professionals. So now we're doing it as a whole coalition. We'll have probably between 400 450 and 500 um individuals at Thirsten High School on that day for a whole day with with quality inservicing and networking and um again breaking down the silos and and getting some quality professional development for those people. Um and then we run a lot of mini conferences. These are just a couple that we've named up there. You can go to the next slide. supporting students and families in

019acute crisis. Um, so a student goes into crisis in school, right? What happens? Well, they might have to go home. They might have to go to the emergency room. They might be transported by um a police or ambulance. They might go to residential treatment. Um, it might be a combination of all those things. Um, and and other things too. There are silos even between those levels. And so we have a subcommittee now working and we have emergency room uh personnel. We have residential treatment centers um um sitting on at the table. We have schools. We have administrators. We have social workers. And we're starting to break down what that process is. You have to remember when a student goes into crisis, a whole family goes into crisis. And how do we support that student? Why

020they're out, you know, getting the help they need. and then what happens when they come back into school, you know, how are we supporting them? So, we're really coming together and going to look for best practices on that. And um so that's some some exciting work that we're doing. Also, uh peer-to-peer school culture programs. So, we researched some some peer-to-peer programs um to to come into our middle schools and high schools. And um we had selected through a process of um hope squad be nice and sources of strength. So, school districts have a a choice to pay or not to pay to um to to participate with one of those three programs. And um because because we're approaching this as a as a coalition, we represent 65,000 students. It was easy for me to go

021out and say, "Hey, schools are struggling right now financial wise. This is so important." Um and so we were able to get that fully funded for all 19 high schools and 28 middle schools across the coalition for three years. So that's going to be fully paid for um um you know by by a grant that we have. Um so that's exciting that's going on. Also student voice. We're not going to move that needle off at 10% um without getting students involved. We need their voice and we need their leadership. Students listen to students best. Students know what's going on in their schools. They know what's happening with their peers and so we need student voice. So, we're putting together a a um a really a coalition of um high school students and our goal will

022be to have three high school students from each high school that will meet every month and they'll work on uh interventions that they're going to recommend to to schools to look at what makes a difference and then they'll bring them into the schools. They'll work in partner with our adult coalition group and um and there'll be communication in between them. Now, we just got that off the ground the end of last year in the second semester. Um so, we haven't done a lot of work with that. Um but we've done some and it is so amazing to see these kids work. Um we have a on Saturday will be their first meeting of this year. It's going to be held at Plymouth Canton and um to sit and listen to to the students. They've established

023their own their own leadership structure. They came up with their own mission, their own vision, their own logo and they did it in such a way that was so uh cooperationbased. Um I was actually pretty blown away. I I I sat back and I sometimes think, you know, why can't our adults act like this? Why can't you we'd be so much more effective if if our adults could um you know, could move forward in a way like this? So, so I'm really excited about that work and and next year when I'm here before you, um, I'm I'm excited to to bring you up to speed on that, too. Let me go to the next slide. So, that's the logo that they that they came up with. Um, they they came up with a name also.

024That's their name. We as adults kind of were guide on the sides kind of help them a little bit in terms of getting going, but this is all their work. And then you can see their vision and their mission. Um, we added no words to it. We didn't we didn't direct them. We didn't do anything. And um you know, they're they see themselves as um a community that provides the wise and how to help students feel better and tackle stigma. And their mission is foster a multid-district collaborative effort between students and mental health groups to develop tools and strategies that raise awareness, provide support, increase engagement to improve mental health, and overcome stigma. Um all their words, all their work. Thank you. >> Yeah. >> Are there any questions from the board, comments, questions? None.

025Well, thank you. We look forward to hearing more. >> You are welcome. Thank you. >> Thank you. Secondary grading committee updates. It would be Marlene. Evening. I think Matt's got my completion up there. Um, okay. So, today I wanted to update you and also extend an invitation to collaborate um on a secondary grading committee. Um, over the summer I had the pleasure of working with a number of secondary teachers on some curriculum mapping and one of the discussions that we had was surrounding grading. So, this includes, you know, not just grading practices in the classroom, but in the school, how grades are reported, um, and just kind of all of those issues around grading. As you can imagine, there's different views. There's pockets of teachers that have, you know, by department or even within some

026schools that have some very strong practices in place where they're kind of all on a united front. Um but um if you want to go to the first slide here um there's just not consistency across all of the secondary buildings and so that's really the goal. um and talking with the group of teachers that I was working with um it was probably I don't know 40 teachers or so 30 or 40 teachers and they had a lot of different opinions in that room and as you can imagine with something like this it's really important to get all of the stakeholders input. Um, when we're making these kinds of decisions, we want to make sure that, you know, we're not just hearing from a loud minority. That we're getting all of the teachers, the administrators, the

027parents, the students, that we're getting a broad picture of all of these different aspects and how the different stakeholder groups view them, what their feelings are around them. so that we can have some guidance as to where we might need to um implement some of our structures. And so this is where Grading RX comes in. Um this is essentially a extremely small company, if you even want to call it that. It's a couple of researchers really um that founded this organization. Um one of the main researchers has published books around grading and grading policies. Um, and really their main goal is to help school districts do what we're looking to do to help us not only reform, they give some research-based guidance, but the survey that I'm talking about, they are the ones that help

028us to implement um a comprehensive survey to all of our stakeholders. And so, you know, you have this presentation. If you want to look at a sample report, you're welcome to. This is directly from their website. Um, essentially, our team at the district is going to meet um and they have kind of like a template survey, but they want to adjust it to meet our needs like specifically in our district. So, they're meeting with um our team and we're going to go over the questions, make sure everything aligns to what we're looking to gather or what makes sense for us >> before it goes out. >> What's the essential question or the question that you're hoping to get an answer for with the survey? >> Yeah. So, it's going to ask about grade reporting. Okay.

029Um how clear um grades are reported. It also asks about grading policies in terms of you know just like uh not only homework policies but you know there's standardsbased grading is very popular but it's like do you feel you know that the content is reflected in the grade or that the grades are consistent across buildings or across schools and those types of things. Yeah, I yeah, I just question, are we digging up a can of worms by asking those those types of questions um with parents? I mean, and really I don't I don't know as you open up a braiding policy to parents and certainly students and Yeah. and and >> I'll have to talk more. >> Sure. Well, the purpose of asking parents is really for the report card aspect of it. like the

030clarity in that but that's what we refine when we meet as a group and so part of coming here today if you want to go to the next one >> is um so you know we worked in summer um so we're at October and and we're meeting this Friday morning um at 9:15 on Zoom so if any of the board members would like to attend we have a team from Taylor that is meeting with grading RX on Zoom to just kind of go over some of those things and make sure that we're asking the questions that we want to be asking to each of the stakeholder groups. >> I'm I'm a little confused. So, how does that how does that fit in with MTSS? >> So, tier one instruction is for all students and so

031the grading practices and policies that we use is what applies to all of our students. Any questions? Any other questions? >> Thank you. >> Okay. Thanks. >> Okay. Discussion items. Athletics uh improvement contract awards. Saxi. >> Are they here or somebody else presenting? Yep. They're they're >> okay. Thanks. Sorry. >> Uh I do want to say uh just before they come up present, I did give you guys the updated copy that uh they will be talking about tonight. So you're all ready. wanted to give like a brief overview. Say yes. Uh >> good evening. My name is Joe Spagnolo. I'm a project manager with Sax Construction. >> Yeah. Joe, if you want to give us a brief overview of the process we've been going through, that would be fantastic. >> Yep. So, over the last

032few months um we have been out for bid for public bids um for the work at the athletic fields at the high school. So, this would be um upgrading the football fields, uh softball, new softball and baseball field, new tennis courts, um new practice fields, and then of course uh an update to the um concessions building, uh the ticketing building um would be an add-on there, and then some storage building add-ons um as well. So, over the last few months, we have um been procuring bids from contractors. Uh few weeks back, we had a public bid opening. Um, we read the bids out loud and we then put together this um, letter of recommendation you guys have in front of you uh, with all of our lowest biders that we we have vetted that they

033have all of the requirements and all of the scope captured. Um, so that's what we wanted to present to you guys today, an overall estimate for that work um, for the athletic improvements. So, >> and I want to say like this has been quite a process. I know Jack and Patrick have been involved at every single level including coming to all the PO post bid interviews and so um they have been very active and very much in in what we have selected here uh before you today. >> Any questions from the board? >> Anything else you'd like to share or we >> um at this time? Nothing unless you guys have any questions. The numbers right there in front of you with all the alternates. So >> I think I think we're great right now.

034Looks like anyway. So thank you very much. >> All right. Thank you. >> Now we are going to have Frog Holler fresh fruit and vegetable brand. Is Jen Trumbetta here? >> Is she here? >> Yeah, it's all right. >> Oh, she online. >> Y >> Okay, we can open her up. >> Hi everyone. How are you? >> I'm sorry. My dog just started barking. So, I am asking you to I'm requesting the board of education to approve a PO for Simon and Lehman uh aka Frog Holler for $101,600. Um this is the fresh fruit and vegetable grant which runs uh from October 1st, 2025 through September 30th, 2026. We don't have an exact amount of the grant dollars due to the late budget that MDE had due to the state uh not getting a budget

035through, but we know that it's over 124,000 for the year. This grant is reimburseable, which means we spend the money up front and we get re reimbursed monthly. Any questions? Is it um Jen, is it is I'm looking at the spreadsheet. Is it um like Meyers would get it or is it every every school in the district? >> Just the elementary schools. >> Pardon me. >> Just the elementary schools. >> Elementary. >> Okay. Oh, I've turned the page and I see the rest of them. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> All right. And I'm accounting. That would be Kim Nicholson. >> Sure. >> Yeah. Short. >> I'm short. >> Yeah. >> Just what we need to know. >> Very short. There's three of us up there. Okay. >> I'm Kim Nicholson. I'm here to

036let you know that your health care committee, which has always done a great job, has come together and voted unanimously that they would like to move forward with a defined contribution. And that's where you get more involvement from the employees and the goal is to save money and hopefully stop having these huge increases in premiums. So, I know you all have the presentation. So, at this point, I wanted to just open it up for questions. maybe better explain. I don't know if everybody on the board understands what the defined contribution means and what that's going to mean for for our benefits. I mean, I do. Kathy does. Um, okay. You know, >> a defined contribution plan says an employer gives so much money per um employee and the committee looks at that and says what

037can we buy with it? So they took the current plan and um current expenses and again because of large increases the employees now are only going to have an option of 2500 5,000 HSA and from everything I could see right now next year they would be looking at a 35007,000 the defined contribution gives them the ability to come together change because people listen to their union leaders okay so they can have more impact on changing rates than management can. >> It doesn't mean any more um expense for the district because the district's on hard cap. So this is something because the employees are the ones that um are affected mostly the the bargaining units are affected with insurance that the healthc care committee was came together and to move forward. I think it's an awesome

038program myself. >> Absolutely. I'm in full favor um and wanted to do it years ago. So thank you Kim. Thank you John. Thank you Mr. Evelyn, >> what are you thanking Terry for? >> I don't know. He's my friend. He worked worked. He got beat up over this by someone I know. >> Yeah. Okay. You're welcome. All right, let's move on to resolution for boiler um heating lines for Ruben Holland Platinum Mechanical. Jack, >> good evening everyone. Um, so a few weeks ago we put out a RFB for heating line uh on the roof at Holland. We had a a roof replaced and we had to remove the heating line and we noticed that some of the decking that was bad. So we had to replace the decking. Uh we came back in to install

039the heating line and we were recommended to just replace it because it it was 50 55 years old. that could attribute to some of the heating issues we were having in that building. So, we did put out a bid. Um, we received three bids. One from Detroit Border Company for $62,138. We received one from Delta Temp Services for $155,185. And we received a bid from Platinum Mechanical for $39,48. And we recommend going with Platinum Mechanical. for that big of a different I'm just asking out of curiosity for that big of a difference in price I mean do you is it you get what you pay for or >> No we actually had we actually had post bids um and and he was very aggressive he he he told me he was very aggressive in bidding

040because he would like to get a lot of the districts >> just I was just curious >> and I told him you know we've got some you know um bond work going on so you know that's absolutely something he could bid on but we were very impressed with with him their company to do with the remodeling that we've been dealing. >> No, no, it's when we had the new roof put up. Um, and it's it's, you know, it's it's 4inch pipe encased and and insulated and underneath there, the decking had gone bad. So, when we we did the roof, we wanted to make sure that, you know, the decking was replaced. And like I said, when we put it back together, we were going to put it weld it back together and they said, "You

041know what? You're probably better off just to get it replaced cuz I I we have had heating issues in, you know, one of those build Holland and many others, but that was one of ours." Yeah. >> I was just curious on the bedding just because when people come to my house and I get bids, I wonder about that, you know. >> Yeah. No, and I I mean we got multiple um you know recommendations work that they have done. You know, we did contact a few of the his former clients and Yep. very pleased with their work. >> Looking for your expert opinion. Yep. >> Any other questions for Jack. >> Thank you. >> Now we have student reinstate statements. Jason Gribble. >> Thank you, Madam President. Um, you have in your packet two statements or

042two statement summaries for student one and student two. As you can see at the bottom of each page, you can see the recommendation from the panel. Any questions? >> See none, we'll move forward. >> Thank you. >> Okay. Public comment. Is there >> Yeah. Yeah. The one we added on the revision. >> Oh, the revision. I'm sorry. >> Marks from John Ross. >> Yep. And it's sitting right in front of me, too. >> That's Thank you. >> Well, he couldn't have blamed me for that one. >> I forget things from minute to minute. So, >> all right. I'm requesting about $35,000 to replace smartboards. Uh, these are going to go into Ohigh and ASD rooms. These have already been previously approved by RHISA uh who where the funding source comes from. Uh the funding source

043is act 18 and the primary funding source comes from a countywide uh education mill that's approved by taxpayers and Rhysa is the approver. Uh they're also in charge of the oversight and compliance of this. So we've already been approved on all these products that that we're going to put in from a technology standpoint. uh just looking to make this purchase and get these upgrades in the classrooms as quickly as possible. >> Any questions? >> Uh just one. Are are these all going to be like installed immediately into the classrooms or are some of these going to be like on hold until we need them? Like what is the urgency right now? >> Uh the urgency is that the rest of the district was already on a path to upgrade to this new technology and the

044POI and ASD rooms because they have separate funding had to wait. And so we do want to do it immediately so we can catch them up with the rest of the district as well. But because of the way that the funding sources are offset with one another, we always >> we kind of plan a year before when it comes to act 18 funding and and that's why theirs is delayed just a little bit, but uh it'll be immediate. So, as soon as we get the PO, which is already in the system and waiting for approval, uh, as soon as that gets over, uh, we'll set up some installation times and as soon as the equipment comes in, it'll get installed. We're only talking about 10 screens here. It's 10 classrooms, so it's a rather small

045install, which will just take a day or two. >> Thank you very much. Yep. >> You anything else? >> Thank you. Okay, now we'll move on to public comment. Is there anyone wishing to address the board with regard to um items that have been on the agenda, discussion items for you can speak about anything pertaining to discussion items right now? Anybody online? Okay, then we'll move forward. >> Okay, you moving on to action items. Uh athletic improvement contracts. It is recommended that the board of education approve the athletics improvement contract awards outlined above in the amount of 7,717,68257. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? >> Support by Mr. Westfall. Uh Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mardski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Moore says yes. Miss Shoefeld is excused. Mr.

046Westfall, >> yes. >> Miss Block. Miss Fields. >> Yes. >> That carries 6. Frog Holler. It is recommended that the board of education approve. >> No, I think I took that off just off the one you just gave us, didn't I? >> You said >> Oh, didn't I write 9 million? >> Oh, did I say seven million? Excuse me. That was supposed to be 9 million. We will we will do a revote. Okay. >> With the appropriate number of 9,717,000 >> already >> 68257. Is there a motion? I'm going to go through the action again. Motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? Support by Mr. Westfall. Miss Moore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Morarski? >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris says yes. Miss Shufeld is excused. Mr. Westfall? >> Yes. >> Miss Block? >> Yes. >> Miss

047Fields? That carries 6. Thank you for the correct. >> Glad you caught that because I'm like I thought I wrote that on the sheet. >> You know you did. There was I saw a lot of sevens. Okay. Uh frog holler. It is recommended that the board of education approve the purchase of a frog holler um from Simon and Leman Frog holler produce for the fresh fruit and vegetable grant for all elementaryaries for $11,000. Excuse me. $11,600 for the 2526 school year. Is there a motion? >> Miss motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Moore. Mr. Morarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shoefeld is excused. Mr. Westfall, >> yes. >> Miss Block. >> Miss Fields? >> Yes. >> Uh, Miss Moore? >> Yes. >> That carries. 6. KN&M

048Accounting LLC defined contribution plan. It is recommended that the board of education approve the defined contribution plan administered by K&M Accounting LLC for 2025 costing 1,562,2.99 for the 20 uh for 2026 costing oh for yeah for 2026 costing 9,767,583.97 with the projected Expected plan cost being $215,236.38. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Fields. Uh Mr. Morris is a yes. Uh Miss Shufeld is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> Miss Block. >> Yes. >> Miss Fields. >> Yes. >> Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mardski? >> Yes. >> That carries 6. Resolution for boiler heating lines for roof at Holland. It is recommended that the board of education approve the resolution for boiler heal heating lines for the roof at Holland Elementary with platinum mechanical in

049the amount of $39,48. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Mr. Morgski. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Fields. >> Uh Mr. Westfall? >> Yes. >> Miss Block? >> Yes. >> Miss Fields? >> Yes. >> Miss Moore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Murdki? Yes, >> Mr. Morris says yes. Miss Shufelt is excused. That carries 6. Assistant superintendent positions. >> Yeah, this is what we talked about at the cow last week. So, bringing it back to the actual >> It is recommended that the board of education approve the consolidation of the two current assistant superintendent positions into one effective upon the retirement of Jason Gribble on December 1st, 2025. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? >> Support by Mr. Westfall. Uh, Miss Shufelt is excused. Mr. Westfall, >> yes. >>

050Miss Block, >> yes. >> Miss Fields, >> yes. >> Miss Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Morarski, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. That carries 6. Student reinstatement number 01-10152 025, policy number 5610.03. The review committee is recommending the board of education approve the conditional reinstatement of student number 01-10152025. Is there a motion? >> Motion by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Fields. Uh Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> Miss Block. >> Yes. >> Uh Miss Fields. >> Yes. >> Miss Moore? >> Yes. >> Mr. Markski? >> Yes. >> Uh Mr. Morris says yes. And Miss Shufelt is excused. That carries. 6. Student reinstatement number 02-10152 025. Policy 5610.03. The review committee is recommending the board of education approve the conditional reinstatement of student number 02-1015205. Is there a motion? >> Motion

051by Miss Moore. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Fields. Uh, Miss Block. >> Yes. >> Miss Fields. >> Yes. >> Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Murdki. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shufelt is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> That carries 6. Um, let's see. Do I have language for the last >> I don't think so it would be >> I can read that real quick if >> it's going to be for smartboards for our oi and ASD and crosscat classrooms. >> Okay. Uh motion to approve uh John Ross's recommendation of 10 smartboards uh for the uh listed rooms at the cost of $34,48068. >> Motion. >> Okay. A motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? >> Support by Miss Moore. Uh Miss Block. >> Uh Miss Fields. >> Yes.

052Miss Moore, >> yes. >> Mr. Mardarkski, >> yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Felt is excused. Mr. Westfall, >> yes. >> That carries 6. >> Okay, we'll move on to the superintendent report. >> All right, thank you everybody. Um, want to give a few updates tonight uh about some of the things we've been reporting about in the superintendent report the last uh few go rounds. Uh the first one I want to come to is we recently sent out the communication asking for applicants for the sexed advisory board that we are putting together currently. And uh I want to thank everybody who submitted applications. We had 17 applicants overall who put in uh nine of those 17 did express interest in the co-chair positions. Uh two of those were employees, seven of those parents.

053by law, we have to have one that's going to be an employee uh co-chair and we have one that is going to be a parent co-chair. So, we are going to bring those forward to the board. All uh nine of the people who did apply for that, we're going to bring their applications forward to the board at the committee of the whole meeting coming up in November. And we will do a ranking system much like a board vacancy where we will rank the candidates and uh go through that process. But that will take place at the uh November meeting, the first November meeting. Uh of those 17, 82% of those applicants were not employees of the district, which falls in line with the law that requires that over 50% of the committee does have to

054be by parents who are not employed uh through the school district. So again, we will be in compliance uh with what we have. Uh we also are missing two pieces that are required by law. So, we are going to have to go seek uh people to fill those positions because the law does require us to have a clergy uh member and the law requires us to have a student on the panel. So, we do have to go out and fill those two positions to make it fully uh compliant. I would make the recommendation and this is something we're going to talk about when we get those co-chairs in place. But with that number of being 17 people plus the two we have to go and recruit to to be compliant, I would say that I

055would recommend that all are on the committee and we have a committee of 19 uh members at this point. I think that's the the prudent thing that we should do and it would give voice to everybody who who put that out there. But again, we'll talk about that more when we go through the the co-chair process in November, if that makes sense to everybody. The second update I want to give is we did recently put out the surveys to the community regarding quasi political symbols. Those windows closed. Again, I want to thank everybody who uh participated, everybody who took the time to fill out those surveys. And these are kind of the statistics and the things that I I've gathered from the results. and we will be putting up uh on the website we will

056put those results up for everybody to see as well. But this is kind of just a quick breakdown of what we had in place. So we had 246 parents who participated in the survey. 174 uh rated that they felt classrooms should be neutral spaces uh as a five on a scale of one to five and five was of great importance. So very clear feedback that neutrality is uh where people felt that that we should be in those classroom spaces. 53% of the respondents did say that they didn't want to see any kind of flag symbols of any kind for any reason in classrooms. Another 29% said that they wanted to see only if it met some clear guidelines. Uh when we went to the staff survey we had 95 participants 44 again a pretty high

057number rated neutrality as a five. So it was very clear among staff as well that that the thought process was the same as what the parents were at. They had uh on the question of what should be allowed they had it at 28% none at all and 55% was again with clear guidelines of what is acceptable what's not from the secondary students that we surveyed we had 76 participants and of course we're talking about students so I think their lens is always a little different than what we see from from the other groups. Uh this is the one where we did see a a little bit of a difference, but they rated uh basically 24 of those 76 rated the importance of neutrality in a classroom at a three. So right kind of dead in

058the center and then there was um 20 or so who also said who had it as a five. So most of the feedback was either they were really neutral about it or they they felt strongly that again neutrality should be there. And again, this came back at 52% of uh secondary students even said in place with clear guidelines. So I think we pretty much have kind of what we see what's the will of the community at this point. So at this point we are going to go back to the policy committee. We're going to start the work of uh working off of Niola's policy. And I did present this at the last policy committee that essentially Niola has a policy already written for this and it does say that things would remain neutral. Um, but

059they give options and that's the part that the the work of the policy committee can be because if we're hearing feedback that says they they're okay with things that have clear guidelines, well, the Neola policy has clear guidelines and that's the part we'll start working forward and then we'll bring a final draft forward for readings with the board of education for approval. Um, but the things that are in that policy that they would consider is like obviously allowing the Michigan flag would be something that would be allowed. uh the current school flag. Some of the other options that Nola puts out there is if it's a display that is used as part of a unit of study or as part of the approved curriculum, they put out an option that says displays that denote recognitions

060of student achievement. They put out uh one that says putting up different Michigan High School Athletic Association flags and uh symbolism from that. uh displays from colleges or universities, flags from other countries that would represent our foreign exchange students, and one of the other ones is displays representing student organizations and clubs. And this is all kind of in line with what what we've put in place temporarily while we start to to build this policy. So, this is what we're going to start working as our template and move forward. The last thing I want to talk about tonight, um, one, I'm very thankful we finally have a state budget that's been approved and has finally gone through the process. And I know you've heard me rail rail on about that all summer long and every every

061week it was, contact your legislators, contact your legislators. Uh, I want to say that there are some things I'm very thankful that the legislature put into this uh, budget. We're still analyzing. We're still looking at all the different things that are in there, but there's a couple that jumped out to me right away that really speak to our needs in Taylor and I wanted to kind of talk about them tonight in this report. And these involve infrastructure. Uh I know at a previous meeting I had mentioned that that infrastructure is a great need. I know Barton Mallow has come and presented and said of how how vast our needs are when it comes to infrastructure in our district. So, I was really excited that one of the grants they have is in there is under

06211X and it's a competitive grant for infrastructure needs and they're going to give priority to districts who have roof and HVAC needs. They will be at the front of the line for that competitive grant. So, this has me excited because I know in our strategic plan, we're talking about more roofs that have to be done. I know we're currently working on Taylor High's HVAC program and we have other buildings that could use boiler upgrades. I know I could get Jack up here and he could probably go on quite extensively about what those needs are, but we have lots of needs we can address and hopefully get that that competitive money. Another one is the 12E emergency infrastructure grant. Again, this is a competitive grant as well. as we start to see what the how you

063can get that money and what what they're going to look at for your qualifications. I believe we have some needs that could fall under this as well. Like particularly when we're talking about Taylor High's uh heating and cooling and we're already got that moving and we've already started that work. I would consider that something that might be able to fall under that because we desperately need that fixed and we need that to to be a problem. for those. >> So, um, for these we would be working with our director of state and federal programs, Stacy Vaspreami. Um, I've already met with her and Jack and Patrick, because really it's the three of them are going to have to work together and and put those together and get those out there. So, and the last one

064um is something very specific to the Taylor School District. So, in the state budget, there is $4 million for Taylor schools to use for infrastructure purposes. And this is only us. Um, this started two years ago. I had gone to the legislature and I had talked with many of our legislators about uh the fact that we were coming short on the money to build a new high school through the bond process and said, "Hey, is there any way we can work something in? Is there something that can help us get to that that finish line? So, in the 2425 state aid budget, they granted us $4 million towards a new high school. $4 million wasn't going to close the gap and get us to to be able to build. And so, at that point, there

065wasn't much we could do with the money that they had awarded because it specifically said new high school. So, I spent time over the last year going back to the legislators, going back and talking to them and saying, "We really is there a way we can repurpose this because we have needs like there are things we can use this for that are going to help make our schools better for our kids, better learning environments for our kids." And I was really excited to see that they had repurposed it in the this uh state aid budget and now it does state that it is for our infrastructure needs. And so, like I said, I know Barton Mallow presented, they went over those needs. This four million is stuff that we can put towards that and we

066can start moving the bar forward on providing better facilities uh for our community, for our students. So, uh again, we know we're going to explore all these opportunities. We know we have lots of needs and I'm just excited that there are things on the table for us to take advantage of. And I think we're in a prime position that that our needs are going to speak for themselves and we're going to be able to get. So really wanted to put that out there for everybody to be aware of. Right. Thank you. >> Thank you. Any questions for Mike? >> Thank you. Moving on to consent agenda policy numbers 1 or 0166.1 uh 6470 and 234 which includes the uh minutes from the regular board meeting of September 175 consolidated items payments of current bills certified

067non-certified administrative reports out of state overnight field trips and out of state overnight grant funded conferences is there Motion motion by Miss Fields. Is there support? >> Second by Mr. Mardarkski. Okay. Miss Fields. Miss Moore. >> Yes. >> Mr. Murdarski. >> Yes. >> Mr. Morris is a yes. Miss Shufelt is excused. Mr. Westfall. >> Yes. >> Miss Block. >> That carries six zero. Um items scheduled for next agenda, Wednesday, November 5th, 2025. Good news and student representatives. Thank you. Do we have now it's general public comment? Anyone wishing to address the board with regard to anything? Um please, uh we'll do uh people here first. >> I have a little speech I need to read to you. So, >> okay, >> come on up and hold tight. Welcome everyone to the Taylor School District regularly

068scheduled board meeting of October 15, 2025 where our mission statement is to educate with purpose, engage with passion, empower the future, and our vision statement is that we will create an welcoming and innovative learning environment that nurtures the whole child, empowering every student to thrive academically, socially, and emotionally. Thank you to all who can can be came to 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 and unmute new

069unmute you. Please take into consideration common courtesy. Refrain from any personal attacks and keep your comments to three minutes or less. We'll provide you um and assist with timekeeping so each guest will be able to monitor their own time and know when to conclude. as well who wish to speak will have an equal opportunity to do so. Um, as a reminder, if any questions arise during this meeting or through other avenues, Superintendent Wagger or his designate will work to provide answers in a timely manner. Please note that 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. Thank you. And you may do you mind if I just add one thing on there just so everybody's aware like

070what I'm gonna try to do now so I'm not eating in your three minutes like if there are particular questions that I can answer on the spot. I'm going to wait till you say everything you have out there and then I'll try to answer what I can and there may be things I can't but I just want to make sure let you know that's how we're going to work it. >> Um my name is Thomas Stwie. Uh address 25487 Statatler Street, Taylor, Michigan. Um this is Paul Arquette. I'm not sure of his address if I'm being honest with you, but I know he's in Taylor. Um, we also have April Buck and and Terrence Bevans. Um, we're all from Taylor Junior Football. I'm sure you guys see us over there on the field. Um, we're

071just kind of trying to look for an avenue. You know, we've for the since I've been here at least, we've had our games there. We practice over there. Um, you know, we're finally on the right track to financially make improvements. Um, we're just trying to find the avenue to to I guess get permission, you know, in in some sort of guarantee that we're going to be able to use that field in the future so that so, you know, Paul, you know, he takes care of the grounds on the weekends because that's part of what we've always done. Um, we're trying to pride oursel in being Taylor. Um, if you look over the field looks, it looks pretty good for being a grass field, but we want to make it even better. There's there's, you know,

072like the concession stand April wants to paint. We're we're just looking to make improvements, but we also want some sort of I don't want to say guarantee, but some sort of agreement saying, "Hey, you guys will be here for, you know, at least five years, you know, and and that way we don't spend our money on something and then it's gone." And >> um we're right here right behind the Okay. You know, we we practice on the fields outside. We play our home games >> every Saturday. Yeah. And and what's the age group? >> Um so we go from we go we well we have mascots cheer. So those can go from three to >> 13 is cheer and then uh football goes from seven to 13. >> Thank you. >> You know >> Mr.

073Gribble I thought this was handled. >> Well we've spoken with Mr. Grible about it but we don't we just wanted some to talk with you guys and see if there was some kind of arrangement we can work out like so we know long term that we'll be able to use the field. I don't know that and I'm just speaking for myself >> there in a second. But yeah, go ahead. We got the okay to paint >> that we can we can lock in a fiveyear type of thing because we don't know what's going to happen with the land. >> Correct. That that that's what I was going to we're more than happy to keep working with you and cooperating doing those pieces. But it is that part where we just don't know what the future

074entirely holds for this piece of property as of right now. And that's where locking in is it's difficult to say. I I guess if we did, it would have to be with some certain very ironclad items that said in the event of this or this scenario, we would have the right to to back out of it. But that we'd have to discuss what that looks like. But yeah, that's the biggest piece. >> And I guess what we're just trying to do is, you know, bring more attention to us as in the sense of we are trying to make it better. We're, you know, we're not looking just for a field to use, but we're looking to make it, >> you know, obviously I think they said there's going to be track, there's going to be

075soccer, and we want to help, >> you know, improve that so that Taylor as a whole, uh, you know, benefits from it, not just the the Taylor Seahawks. >> Yeah. And that was the other thing I was going to say is, yeah, come spring, we are definitely going to have to use it while the work is going that we just approved for the athletic field. So, >> we'll need it late summer, early fall is time, we're going to need it. >> Yeah. Early spring is not an issue. We'll even >> Right. Absolutely. >> We'll even run a concession stand for you if you guys want while you got track soccer going over there and get, you know. >> Yeah. And and we just, you know, I mean, we've talked with Mr. Gribble. He's great. We

076walked around. We kind of showed them, you know, what we do, what we use. And I mean, I guess we're just looking, like you said, I get, you know, you don't know what's going to happen with the land, but we're just trying to cover our basis so that we can try to secure something. And I guess that's my thing is like we're open to it, but we we would have to just discuss what that looks like in the event that something would change. >> This is home. You know what I mean? >> Could we enter into a year to year? >> We kind of do that now, but we got to wait till you know like I'd say early summer to you know discuss you know permit days and stuff like that to where >>

077now if we get something with you guys, we know automatically that once our football season starts we can just go to the field. >> You know what I mean? It's more of a security thing, >> right? Yeah. If they if they bring us something, I certainly we'll look at it. That the only concern I would have is if what if we sell the land. >> Um but but yeah, absolutely. Use it. >> Yeah. But we can we can talk about that. Like I'm I'm open to it. So we'll we'll get in touch and we'll make sure we >> start figuring stuff out. Just my request though for the folks at home listening because I know you explained it, but can you explain a little bit in more detail for people who aren't that familiar exactly

078where the land is you practice on and play on? >> Um, so we're I mean I guess it would be what the Taylor Kennedy Old High School football field and the surrounding area of the football field. >> Okay, that makes sense. Yeah, but the way it was said I think people were a little confused. I know, right? >> Public speaking isn't my thing. >> Okay, thank you. Thank you for that. Um, I mean, I guess that's just kind of what we're looking for. We wanted to bring attention and if there's anything, you know, if we're ever able to even say, you know, hey, we're going to be, you know, just just a couple things that we are trying to improve is like the the the stand the what do they call it? The >> the

079grand stand, you know, the the windows don't move up easy. We we've looked at getting them, you know, redone, but they're a couple thousand dollars and >> we we want to do it for everybody, but we just don't want I guess it's, you know, one of those things >> do it be gone the following year. >> Yeah. Completely. Yeah. If they bring something for us, I think the board here they're open to >> certainly. Mike, you're going to work on it? >> Yeah, I think we we can do it. I think the biggest thing is just making sure whatever we did has contract language that would give us that extra. >> Well, I mean, if you think about it, nothing's going to happen within the next two to three years. Five is pushing it, but

080two to three. >> Yeah. And even that even that is, you know, then we have something of, you know, we we just what we were worried I mean, when I first got here, you know, we we won our championship on the field and we were told actually it was gone. You know, that was the last time. >> So, so now every year we're kind of getting towards the end of our season. We're like, "Okay, well, are we going to, you know, and and and we we just, like I said, we're make want to make it look better." I mean, if you guys >> take care of your own field, too, though. >> Yeah, that's what I thought. >> Yep. Mr. Mr. Arquette here, he's mowing every Sunday. You know, the surrounding areas and everything. Uh,

081>> my house. >> Thank you. >> Don't ask him because he will. >> So, I know by Pat Park you guys used to have your logo up. Well, what do you do at Pat Park then? >> So, we do have our building at Pat Park. We don't p our building where we hold our equipment and we host our meetings, you know, >> but like those grounds couldn't be practiced on. It's a swamp most of the time. >> I was wondering how you played football there. I was always curious. >> Yeah. No, we're we're right here. >> You don't? Okay. Right. >> Keep all of our equipment and stuff like that, but we don't practice or play there. >> Now, at that age, for those those, you know, students, um, for those players, are they more

082uh this is technical, but is it more man-to-man or they play some zone defense? Uh, I mean, I'm man-to-man personally, but you know, uh, our freshman, I think, does run a little zone, you know, but >> they use some zone. >> Yeah. I mean, it's it's a little bit of everything. It's okay. >> You know, curious about our next home game next Saturday night, uh, come out and watch. I think, you know, we're we're we're creating a good atmosphere around here and hopefully it carries on to the high school, you know, and there's a couple of my players out there now that >> so, you know, we we're we're just looking to make this place better and making it look something to be proud of. >> Thank you. >> Take care. Thank you guys. >>

083Anyone else wishing to address the board? Come on up. Come on up. Absolutely. April Buck. I live at 22415 Champagne here in Taylor. As they said, um, basically we just want some place for the boys to call home, the girls to call home. They are made to be proud of where they are. They they help clean. They help take care of the grounds. They, you know, they deserve it. They And these are kids that are going to go on to play in high school. they're going to go on. You know, we just want them to have a home and we've been here, my grandson started the year with Tommy. They took the championship, the Peanut Bowl. Um, he ages out this year, but I have other grandkids that are still in it. We just want

084to be able to keep it going and we would like to fix the things that you know when when these people are coming to watch this team that we have built and and has become pretty good you know the team to beat people. We want them to be impressed with the field, the concession stand, the the, you know, we don't want other teams to see us fighting and somebody lose a finger trying to open the press box, steel curtains. So, um, we just basically just want some kind of guarantee before we go spending all that money to improve things. >> Absolutely. I understand completely. And you said that if we bring it to you, you can think up a you can discuss a contract or whatever. We have tried to bring it to you for

085about two months now. And um >> first I'm hearing of it. >> I know. It's come to our level. Yes. But the big thing the big question has been the the long-term sustainability is where we have to >> we'd have to just iron that out and I think we'd be good. And so how do we go about doing that then? >> Well, I that's where I need to consult and start looking at some language that we could use and put in there. >> I don't appreciate that greatly. >> Yeah. Everybody I don't see anybody saying no, we don't want you using the property the same. >> I just wanted to make sure of how we went about doing it because it keeps kind of >> Yeah. There's been no discussion about selling property at this

086point that I remember aware or are aware of. So, thank you. >> Thank you. Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, next. >> Feel like I'm pretty well known at this point. Hi, Patrick again. Uh, robotics team. I was looking for maybe an update. >> Yeah, I can say we are currently putting out a survey. I'm not sure if it went out yet to assess how many students are interested. Once we have that piece, then we'll know where we're kind of at and uh what we need to do from there. But the the biggest thing was we we kind of put some ideas together, but we were like, we need to see and make sure we have enough people to fill a team before we're going to to commit to any of those kind

087of things. So, Mr. Gribble, I know that we just approved that and it should have been going out >> pretty recently if it's not out already. Correct. >> We were. Yes, it was supposed to go out. We were just waiting for M. aren't hard to get access to the high school parents wear. >> There we go. >> Get those connections so we can get that survey. >> Yep. >> Cool. So, guess the next question is what is your guys number that you guys are shooting for here. >> So, uh when we consulted and when we've talked to First Robotics, 10 is where we need to be is at least 10 people out there because that seemed to be the common thing we were finding uh in our conversations that we've had with the >> First

088Robotics organization. >> Okay. >> Yep. Um, as you know, we've already got some, but they're very quickly looking at other uh robotics teams in the uh surrounding school districts. Um, it's October 15th today. >> Yeah. >> Which means in a little over two and a half months um is when the season starts. >> Y >> and we all know how quickly November and December just kind of fly by. Yeah. >> Um, so >> yeah, we have that in our mind. >> Gotcha. So, so, so, so if you guys are, if you guys are planning or hoping to have a team to compete this upcoming season, >> Yeah. >> the time is kind of the essence. Um, >> in addition to that, you know, just kind of wanted to express some things real quick about it.

089It's uh you guys obviously seem to like, you know, like you guys are moving the ball. So, you know, thank you for doing that. We just, you know, I was talking with Mr. Porter today who has been in some type of contact with you, I believe. >> Yeah, him and I have contacted Yes. on a few different occasions. Yeah. >> And uh me and him were just, you know, we want to make sure that the team has an opportunity to exist without uh the previous the baggage of the previous leadership. Um it's it the like I said before the program was immensely impactful to me even under the erroneous leadership that you know from before. So I want to make sure that it's around for the kids you know that are coming up. Um if

090there's any do you have Gail apparts mean uh she's the president of FIM first in Michigan >> I believe. So I like when you said the name Gail and I'm like I know that's come up. I know we've had that. So yes, we do have that >> like reached out to her. She's intending to reach out to you soon if she hasn't already. I can also give you her uh >> I think Mr. Gribble has talked with with her before. So >> Yeah. Uh he said that she was reaching out soon like like if she hasn't already done recently. >> Sick. Um yeah. Okay. That's about it. >> All right. >> Um if you can just let me or uh Mr. uh quarter now. >> Yeah. As we go along, but like I said, the

091first thing is we're getting that interest survey uh completed and then we'll go from there. >> One two other quick things for you about it. Um it's money and room. >> Mhm. >> I we understand that you guys needed to repurpose some of the space that we've had previously at the uh tax uh >> Career center. My apologies. It's changed name since I was in the school district. So um and so I know that Mr. has ambitions to put us in here. I also know it's full of a lot of stuff, so I wasn't sure if that was still >> No, there's still lots of things up in the air. So, yeah, I I can't say that for sure. >> The other thing that me and Mr. Porter were talking about, and please keep in

092mind that this is soft numbers, the registration fee for is $6,000. And at the moment, since we haven't been doing anything, uh we have no sponsorships anymore. Uh, so that might come from some of the, you know, mentors and some of it might have to fall on you guys. I don't know if that's something that you guys are open to. >> Concern. >> Yes, ma'am. >> True. I've always supported robotics since the day they started 30 some odd years ago. However, I've always thought that I believe it should not be an afterchool program. It should be part of our curriculum. >> Yes, sir. That's that would be my >> got it. >> I would love for that to happen as well. It's something that I think would have been a great idea. The problem uh

093in past years, especially when I was in the school district, was the fact that we had two different high schools and we didn't have enough kids between the two different high schools to have two different teams. So, they would have to have been at the career center. And at that point in time, while we had the room there, the problem was is that they're just I I believe that there had been an initiative in years past to try and make it a a class uh daytime class thing. It had just never worked out. There were some other issues with that. I don't not fully aware of it because I was a >> student being pushed now. >> Gotcha. Thank you. And I believe there I believe I read somewhere recently that there is some investigation

094by our cabinet into um >> making it a class. >> Yeah, we'd love to have that happen. >> Appreciate your passion and >> Yeah. all of that. Thank you. >> Yes, ma'am. and you're caring for the kids. Thanks. Anyone else in person wishing to address the board? >> Um, Courtney Prout 9846. Catherine, I just had a good question. Um, I got your email Sunday. I always look at those emails and it came up with the chronic absenteeism and the one to two days and then two to three a month for chronic absis. And I get that. I'm a K12 data analyst. that I do all the time is track kids, track numbers. >> My question is though, the times I keep my child home, I know how important attendance is, is because there are subs.

095And the last couple times there isn't a sub. So, our kids are split. And I know that you guys can control. But my question is, is when I called my daughter in, they don't write that as an excused absence because there's no excusal for that. Like, she doesn't have a doctor's note. I'm keeping her home sibly because I don't think that her being in a school where she's split in another classroom or her whole class goes to another classroom. As an educator, I know that that's just a day where you have 40 kids in your room and you're trying your best is to control the students in the room. Um, so that's to me as a data analyst who works from home. I can just stop what I'm doing for that day and help my

096child at home and she's going to get way more learning than she would if I threw her into a classroom with 40 other kids that day. So, I guess I'm just concerned is if that's her being written as a non-excused absence, she then is going to be targeted as a student with chronic absenteeism because she's going to be missing more than, you know, two to three days a month if that's how many times her teacher is out and teachers are given those days, right? So, they're going to use those PTO days or those mental health days, which they are they should use, right? But how does that affect my student if there isn't a sub? So it's like my long-term question like I'm just now that I got that email and I kind of looked

097at that like that put into perspective a lot to me like I she my daughter is going to be miss if there are subs in that room and she's being split. I am not sending her to school. >> Yeah. >> So I don't know how and I know there's multiple other parents that are in the same boat as I am because we can do more at home with our students than they can if they're in a class of 40 students. >> Yeah. That's going to require me to take a little deeper look. Uh I don't have that right off the top of my head, but I I can gladly take a look and get you an answer. That's >> Yeah, and that's fine. And then I just wanted to also mention like piggybacking off of

098the robotics and stuff like >> um at Kenyan for example at my daughter's school like she's bringing home things from her steam class that are not you know steam related things. I mean yeah they're coloring sheets or like things that they're doing on the computers but there's lots of opportunity there to put in some you know we have those Osmos I know they they were all purchased when I was teaching in the district. There were Osmos in there lots of coding things lots of you know things that we could be putting into our steam classes to get those kids prepared and ready. So, back to like Kathy's remarks of we these should be things that are implementing in our schools. I think that we need to look at the elementary schools as well and implement

099those steam things in those steam classes because it's not happening right now. >> Yeah. And we've talked about this too like uh when I've had the conversations with Mr. Porter and some uh First Michigan and Miss Bernard, we've talked about the Lego robotics program as well because that ultimately building that at the elementary helps build that up to having a a program at the the high school, a robust program at the high school. Yeah, we've we've been talking about that. >> I don't know what they're called, but when I was in the district, they bought a bunch of those blue and orange little robot things and like they gave them to classroom teachers to try to like start implementing and using and they I haven't seen them since I left the district and I know

100that you purchased a ton of them um for a lot of the classrooms. So, I don't know where those little robot things went, but those are very awesome. So, things that I don't see happening and we do have the stuff in the rooms to use it. >> So, I appreciate it. Thank you. >> Yep. Thank you. >> Anyone else in person? Hey, I'm mine. Go ahead. >> Christina, you're on. >> Hi, I'm Christina Schoff and I live at 7937 Ziggler and Taylor. Uh my son is Joshua Weatherington and goes to Blair Moody or went to Blair Moody. He um I removed him last week Monday. I wanted to bring awareness to the board about that the fact that there are still teachers that are taking away recess from students. He's in the second grade and

101his teacher was taking away his recess and I talked to the teacher and the principal. Um, after days, several days, um, of not getting through with the teacher, I talked to the principal and all she really said was that she's sorry and that that she has a a few teachers that are old school and they still have a problem with going by. I guess it's a school a district policy to not take away recess. And I did find information before going to remove him about the um American Academy of Pediatrics is very firm on not taking away recess. It's very important for them to have their recess. And that's all I wanted to say is I hope that I can be the voice for these students who are getting their recess taken away. >> Thank

102you. >> You're welcome. Hey Bethany, you're you're up. >> Hi. Um Bethany Pavey, 6036 Mayfair Street. Um my daughters attend Kenyan Elementary School and last month um on the 25th they had a lockdown drill and then right after they had a second incident with the boot. Um and that was it wasn't handled well um from several perspectives, teachers and students. Um, my concern is that my daughter and other students that I've talked to and their parents, uh, doesn't know how to work the boot. I reached out to the principal who told me that she would reach out to the police department to see if they could have the boot like disengaged so each child could have the opportunity to place the boot so they know what to do in an emergency situation. Um, and I

103guess she was told no, that that was not going to happen. and then and then nothing after that. So, um it's been almost a month. So, um my question is uh what are we going to do to get these kids prepared for a serious situation? >> Hey, so I will say um because this came up as a concern at the last board meeting. Um, I know I've met with our director of security and we've been talking about ways that we need to uh re-emphasize some training pieces and those are things we are currently working on to make sure that we're able to to provide uh opportunities and make sure that everybody is following the correct process and procedure and uh remaining safe. But that's something we're still uh working on currently >> behind the scenes.

104Okay, that's good to know because there was no after being told the the the suggestion of turning off the boot. Um I was actually never told by the principal herself that that she was told no about that. Um but then there was just nothing nothing ever uh no correspondence after that. So that's why I wanted to clarify. I do want to make sure um that something's being done for the safety of everybody of course. >> We've been talking about Yes. >> Okay. Great. Thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, one more. >> Hello. Good evening. This is Shannon Seco. Thank you board members for allowing me to talk. Um, I wanted to mention regarding the myi surveys, the presentation for hope empowerment coalition. Thank you for bringing this up. Um there's been a lot of discussion

105about myi surveys within the last few years. Um if you're going to choose to participate in this program is the Michigan profile for healthy youth. Um just I didn't know if you mentioned this in the presentation but the parents need to understand that this survey is completely voluntary and um in the past they found that some questions were intrusive questions and some inappropriate. So just wanted to make sure that the parents are going to be notified and they can view the survey before it's given to the students. Um, I also wanted to mention um a couple resources. Mental health is a crisis. It's one of the I'm a nurse, by the way. And for a mom that's had dealt with mental health problems in their children, you know, mental health is can be life- saving

106when proper, you know, it's properly applied to severe needs. Um, I did a I had a psychiatrist do a presentation back in May with a group of parents um about how devices affect the brains of kids and teens. And it was very powerful how technology now is affecting our teens with their social, emotional, and family growth. Um, if you could write this down, I have a resource called Screen Strong. There's a lot of resources in there. Um just one of the callers mentioned about recess just simple things we can do with our children to be um to find the root cause of the mental health. We're seeing this increased anxiety and depression in our children and it's just so alarming and this just goes to my heart because you know I've dealt with this personally

107and um health is a really good resource and I also have some resources for parent coaching and also children um where they can you can do workshops here just doing that work to decrease the screen time. Um, anxiety, depression, the kids are addicted, you know, they're addicted to that. I have lots of, um, resources I'd like to share. I'll just go ahead and email you guys the stuff. But, um, it's a very passionate and I I feel like if we can get to the root cause and us parents work together with the school um, and, you know, work on this together, that would be great. Um, yeah, the the risk of suicide have went up because of teens are just on their phones, on their electronic devices, and there's a lot of cyber bullying. I'm

108sure you guys see all of it. It's all over down river. We've had a few incidents. Um, that's why I did my presentation because we had some parents there and to tell their story. So, yeah, I just wanted to mention that. Um, thanks for bringing this up and, uh, again, thanks for your time. >> Thank you, Okay, if that is it, we'll move on to board member comments. I just had a couple of things I wanted to mention. Kenyan um is having a Halloween steam and family night. Um they're looking for cars and a trunk retreat. And so they're in addition to the stuff that's going on inside the building, they're looking for people to register their cars for trunk retreat. So, if there's any board member um that would want to do that, that's

109on the 28th from 5 to 7. There was a I don't know how you register. There was a little QR code, but I don't have that. Um so, anyway, I may put a card together. We'll see. Um the wall of fame, the the Taylor Foundation for Educational Excellence is um looking for nominations for the wall of fame and you can reach that site by our um VR website and then um Wayne County Association of School Boards is meeting tomorrow 10:16 um 5:45 to 8 at Resa and so if anybody is interested in attending that. I think that's all I have. Anyone else? >> Yes. I'd like to thank Mike for never giving up on uh beating the legislature for some money. >> Yes. I've been doing it for two years on that particular piece and

110just the budget in general. Yes. It's it's been a lot. >> I I appreciate it. >> Dog me for that. So, thank you very much. >> And I just wanted to say that I'm a big supporter of youth football. I'm glad you guys are here and I definitely want to work something out. And as far as selling school district land, this is just a policy that I've always been very passionate about. I don't want to sell any school district land. I really don't. The land was either for education. Okay. Maybe if you have a piece of land that can't be used for either, plant some trees, turn it to green space, something like that. Um, we have enough vacant businesses. We're not going to do retail development on it. We don't need more junk condos

111or or junk housing complexes. You know what I mean? So, yeah. Well, let let's not sell school district land. Not at all. That that's my I'm a hard no on that. I'm only one person. I understand that. But I'm not selling school district land. So, let's work something out with you all. That's all. >> Thank you. Anyone else? Okay. Ahead of myself here. I would entertain a motion to uh adjourn. Motion >> motion by Mr. Morris. Is there support? >> Second. >> Thank you, Mr. Murdki. Moore is a yes. Morarski, >> yes. >> Morris, >> yes. >> Shfeld is excused. Westall, >> yes. >> Uh, Block, >> yes. >> And Fields, >> that passes 6. We are adjourned at 7:30. Thank you everyone.