001That's your sign there. >> You guys are so good. >> Okay. >> All right. We'll bring our meeting to uh order. We're delighted to be in the land of the Toby Tigers and we see you all there and we look forward to hearing from you. And I'd like to thank uh you all for hosting here and for Mr. Diger for arranging the weather. I really appreciate that. >> Yes. And I hope it was outside recess day for everyone because it was beautiful. So with that, uh, we'll turn it over to our superintendent for some >> Well, thank you, Dave. It's great to see. Big shout out to the PTSO in the back. Thank you so much for this question. Really appreciate everything you do. Can't do it without you. Uh, again, great to see all
002of you here tonight. I want to welcome everyone watching our live stream this evening as well. very excited to be back at Toby Elementary and definitely looking forward to the reports we will hear later in the agenda. Uh we are celebrating uh reading month. March is uh reading month here in Vixsburg Community Schools across the state. Uh so hopefully uh to all the trustees, hopefully you have a good book that you're planning on finishing this March so that we can all show how important it is to read on every or on every every single day to read, right? >> Yeah. >> You all love reading. COME ON, GIVE ME SOME HERE. >> All right. >> Good. I I just want to let the the community know I really appreciate all the work our elementary schools
003do to celebrate reading month with all the great activities. So, uh thank you um to all our elementaryaries for all that hard work. Um I'm going to turn it over to uh our principal, Mr. Bill Dyert, uh for some introductions. Take it away, Bill. Thank you, Mr. O'Neal. At this time right now, we want to kick it off in in a fun and exciting way. I know board meetings aren't always the most uh tantalizing uh of especially when we have weather like this, but we're we're excited that you're here tonight and I know a lot of you are here to support uh the young ladies and young men behind me and uh Mrs. Heinelman. So with no further ado, I will turn it over to our elementary choir. >> Thank you very much. We have
004had so much fun this year. Our choir meets Wednesday mornings at 8:00. I want to thank all the parents for bringing them here and all the students for their dedication and hard work. Um they wanted to sing more songs, but we settled on three and these are their three favorites. We're going to sing the Wellerman. It'll feature some soloists for you. So raise your hand if you're a soloist today. Thank you for doing that. And then uh we're also going to sing a beautiful song called We All Need Peace. And then our final song, if you know it, please sing along with us, will be our Toby School song. So here we go. Love this. That's a shipwong. made to bring us sugar and tea. One day when her son will take her leave and
005go down the captain and swore he will come to bring us sugar and tea and one day we'll take our leave and go the whale came All hands are when we >> may come to bring us sugar and tea and rom to that ship and toad. And then for six long days and six long nights, she drove us south with all her might until we were too tired to fight. We let her go to bring us sugar and tea and rum. One day when the time is down, we'll take our leave and go. Soon the man come to bring us sugar and tea and one day when it's done, we'll take our leave and go. We'll take our leave and go. We'll take our Breathe and go. So we can fill the world with hope.
006We all need hope. So we can build a lasting peace. We all need peace to keep our dreams alive. We all need peace to make our planet thrive. We need a single so that the world can hear our song. We need a song so that the world can sing along. Will spread it loud and clear. Our song will spread to people far and near. Together we can learn to harmonize. Together views a million ways to harmonize. A message is strong and bright and true. So we can fill the world with hope. We all need hope. So we can build a lasting peace. We all need peace to keep our dreams alive. We all need peace to make our planet. To make the planet bright. To keep our dreams alive. We all need love. We all
007need hope. We all need peace. Okay, now we're gonna sing the Toby song. So, if you know it, sing along. If you don't, clap along. >> Liy's ready. We better get started. >> You're a grand where the kids are smart. They do their part every day. Every heartbeat on the zoom. You're the best in every way. All the way forever school is here to stay. >> Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. That was marvelous. And I wish I had a choir director that would count the beats for me when I was singing in a choir. That's Marcus thinking. >> We can't see her. >> Yeah, we just done it so many times we have it stuck in our head. >> Awesome. >> Nice. >> We haven't. >> Thank you so much, guys. That was awesome.
008>> We are the best. >> You are the best choir. >> Hands down race. You did amazing. Awesome job. >> Okay, we'll uh we'll take just a short break. So, parents, you've got bedtimes and things if you want to. >> They can get some sugar and then as a reward and then head out. >> Okay. >> I mean, I guess I can try to do the legislative report. I don't know how >> loud it'll be in here, but >> yeah, we'll give him a break. >> Notice you're doing that. Oh, that's brilliant. >> We're not live. Oh, is she uh I wonder if she's going to record it and then post it later. Sometimes I have to do that. >> That's happened definitely before. >> Is that yours? >> They're probably waiting for the band.
009You might have to put a post in there. Oh, gotcha. >> Good. >> Thank you. >> Could we use our inside voices, please? and we'll try to to get underway because uh we've got elementary teachers here and we have to make bedtime too, >> right? >> Yeah, we do. >> Superintendent to make bedtime. >> So, we'll proceed with this superintendence report, but families, you grab something and you you you can sneak on out. Um but we'll try to keep things moving here. >> Yeah, just a short report tonight, but just uh some important things uh that I wanted to highlight. Uh in Lancing, the activity is picking up a little bit. Obviously, we uh have some election season uh going on, but at the end of February, Governor Whitmer did deliver her uh final state
010of the state address, and I just wanted to highlight a little bit of that um because she did center her remarks on education policy around literacy and identifying early reading proficiency as a top priority for 2026. um and just wanted to highlight some of the things she referenced in her speech and that is in light of her uh releasing her executive budget uh proposal as well. Um so the continued implementation of the 2024 science of reading legislation as most of you are aware our elementary teachers do go through the science of reading training. Uh she also highlighted statewide dyslexia screening. Uh we also know laws are coming down the pipeline for that that are going to be implemented in 2728. Uh additional funding uh for evidence-based literacy curriculum and literacy coaches. Um so that's great
011news. Expanded professional development for letters training, increased tutoring, and targeted intervention support. And also funding for universal free full day prek and permanent free breakfast and lunch for all public school students. So again, there will be more information coming regarding these priorities, but we most likely will not know the exact details in the until the budget is reached. If you recall, last year the budget was what, six months late, roughly >> three, >> it felt like forever. Remember June 30th is uh the deadline. So, we're really hoping that the legislature uh will get to work and finalize that budget, that uh school state aid budget by June 30th as promised. Also, um they'll be working off Governor Whitmer's executive budget proposal as the House and Senate prepare their their budget. So, stay tuned on that.
012Um just wanted to highlight we had um some uh public comment last board meeting. I just want everybody everybody to know you the safety and security of our students and staff here in Vixsburg is and always will be our number one priority. With that being said, we have experienced an increased number of behavior incidents mainly at the elementary level. And because of that, we definitely want to dive in and get to work. I want to thank all the community members who come forward and talk to us. I I had some wonderful meetings on the phone and also in person with concerned community members that shared their concerns and their willingness to work together. Uh sometimes we fight a lot on social media and when people come forward and actually have conversations with us and um
013collaborate with us and want to help uh that is a great conversation and good things happen. So, thank you to those community members who've reached out to us. Again, schools can't do this alone. We need the support of the community. So, we thank them anytime they give us a call and email to share their concerns in a positive, productive environment. So, thank you for that. Um, in response to the concerns, I just wanted to let the community know there's a few things we're going to start doing. First and foremost, we would like to review and revise our student handbooks as necessary. uh make sure they're all in line with policy, state law, federal law. We definitely want to analyze our discipline data, including the consequences. And then of course in Vixsburg, we have um a
014lot of support for behavior. So we want to work with our behavior teams regarding individualized student behavior plans to help um our students uh with their behavior and so that they can learn. So, we're we're looking forward to this work. And again, I want to thank the community for um coming forward and talking to me about that. Um as we continue this work, I will continue to update the board uh as well as the community. And in in closing, I don't think there's anything more important but to continue to encourage our parents, our community, and our students to continue to report concerns. Always report, report, report. and I want to thank people for doing that. Um, so I thank you in advance for your support and partnership and my door is always open to talk
015to concerned citizens. Um, I want to draw the board's attention to our important dates. Uh, a lot going on which is exciting. Uh, starting out this Wednesday, we do a half day. Uh, we have a half day uh, for students and a half day for professional learning for our staff. Um, next Friday, the 20th, we have another opportunity. We call it coffee with the superintendent. The communities can come on in and learn about our 2026 bond proposal and ask questions. As you can see behind you, there's a a nice information board. We'll have these boards at every school at VAB. And as we uh have our tour where we're visiting as many people as we can. We'll we'll that will be in tow with us. Highly encourage the community to go out to our website.
016We have a bond badge on there uh where they can get you can get all the information you want including how to uh register to to be a a voter if if need be. Um very excited about this uh Saturday um and Sunday our spring musical 42nd Street kicks off at the high school and then that will also continue into the following weekend the 20 uh 20th and 21st. So come on out, see our talented high schoolers on stage. I heard this is a can't miss show. So I hope you hopefully you can come out and do that. Also on Saturday the 14th is the annual booster bounce. Uh Vixsburg athletic boosters. If you can't attend, please consider um donating to that great cause to support our student athletes and our boosters who do so
017much. And I want to thank Lucas for his efforts with that group. Um, our first community forum for the bond will be held on Monday, uh, March 23rd at 6:00 in the Vixsburg High School Library. Again, another great opportunity for the community to come out and learn all about our bond proposal. And then, um, we still have, uh, some of our programs, our elementary programs going on in March, March 25th, which is a Wednesday. Come on out. Sunset Lake third grade program will be in the PAC and the 27th will be a half day for students. Um and then spring break officially kicks off that afternoon and will carry over through April 3rd and then our first day back will be April 6th. Um so with that, that's my report. >> Very good. Uh we'll
018move on to budget and finance reports. Uh Mr. Goss. >> Okay. Okay, good evening. Uh, I've got my normal report, which I'll move through pretty quickly. Uh, and then I've got one additional thing to, uh, just talk to the board about this evening. First, starting with the, uh, budget progress report for the general fund, this would, uh, have activity for the first eight months of our fiscal year. >> On a year-to- date basis, revenue came in at just over 19 million, 19.05 million, or just under 50% of >> the originally adopted budget. Uh in terms of expenditures, total expenditures year to date 21,530 154 and then you can see on the instructional side instructional expenditures total 11,669 684. Support services totaled 8,959 368. You can see what we spent for athletics and community services. So
019again that total is 21,530154. If you follow these from month to month, there was a pretty significant increase in our expenditures that showed up this month. And that was related to um settling the contract with the BEA paying out, you know, the Uet one-time payment uh as well as adjusting people's contracts and retroactive back to the beginning of the year. So, there was a lot that came through in that uh last pay period before the end of the month. Looking at uh second page of the report uh just takes expenditures again breaks them down by object code. You can see there that uh salaries and benefits um stand at about just under 54% of the annual total 17,461452. And then you can see there's a breakdown there for purchase services, supplies, capital outlay and other.
020I went through that pretty quickly, but are there any questions? All right. If not, then uh I'll also uh take a quick look at the investment report. This includes the district's um cash equivalent investments as of the end of February. And um you can see the balances there. I guess the main thing I would point out is that we continue to earn a pretty reasonable amount of uh interest income. Those rates continue to come down, although they've kind of flattened out a little bit. And uh we'll just have to kind of see where interest rates go from here. I know there's uh it's hard to read the tea leaves. Um you know there's uh conflicting signals I would say of whether we should um cut rates at this point but uh we'll just have to
021see how that plays out. Um interest income on a year-to-ate basis you can see that for the month of January for all the funds uh totaled 32,201 and on a year-to- date basis, we're at 330, 375. Uh, but those numbers as we spend those balances down, particularly in the bond funds, um, you know, you see those amounts come down, but also as rates come down, you see the monthly totals come down a little bit still. Nevertheless, it's still a meaningful amount of revenue, and we try to maximize it wherever we can. Any questions on that? All right. If not, um the last item I had was just uh included in the board packet was a memo requesting the purchase of an additional van. So, uh as I stated in there, we currently have a fleet
022of three vans that we use really for small group transportation, um small athletic teams, um you know, anything that doesn't require a full bus. Um you know, we again we have three vans. they get used a lot and um so we've been looking for a while at increasing the size of that fleet and this evening we're requesting uh the purchase of one additional van. We went out uh got quotes um we're recommending a purchase of a van from uh Hoostra Transportation and so this would be based on a Ford Transit platform or chassis. Um, and it's modified uh to limit to no more than 10 passengers, including the driver. It also provides for a fair amount of cargo space. So, that's kind of the advantage as opposed to saying looking at buying minivans. So, they,
023you know, we can carry a driver plus nine passengers and have a decent amount for cargo. Um, so the vans are significantly more fuel efficient than buses. Um, and we also have the ability, you know, our bus drivers have a lot of demands on them. Uh, they drive, they do a lot of extra trips. Um, sometimes we don't have enough drivers. And so when we have those vans for small groups, we have the ability um to have other staff drive uh or volunteers. You don't need a CDL to drive those vans. So, are there any questions on that? I I was wondering about the other three vans. Are they all the same age? >> Yeah, I think they were 2017s. >> Um, so I mean, we're going on 10 years. Um, but we have a
024phenomenal mechanics crew in the transportation department. They're wellmaintained. >> They don't have a tremendous amount of miles on them. It but it's they're in high demand. So they, you know, on any given night um we don't have enough for the requests. Um but so we expect to you know get at least 10 years out of it. Um and I think we have several additional years on the existing vans as well. >> So the existing vans 10 or 12 passengers >> they are 10 correct Karen. The existing vans are 10 passengers. >> Yes. Yeah. So, we can't just take seats out, you know, buy a 12 passenger van and have our mechanics remove the seats. has to be done um like it's done aftermarket but it's basically I won't use the right term but you know
025like the uh the plate inside that which lists you know capacity and all that >> is you know it's >> I see >> and it's a little frustrating that it's so hard to find 10 passenger vans to be honest I think you know because I think a lot of buses are you or a lot of school districts rely on them, but it's they're pretty hard to find. >> So, >> surprising. >> Y >> but the added cargo that's good. I mean, if you think about golf teams and bags and other, you know, that's >> it's a good problem to have, I guess. >> Yeah. Y >> anything else questions for Mr. Goss before we move on? >> So, Steve, this comes out of the general fund. >> Yeah, this would be general fund. Now, we
026do have um there is a transportation fund line item. Um so, I'm proposing that we use a portion of those um funds for it, but you know, but the net effect is it does come out of the general fund. Uh you know, even if we didn't use those funds, they would still be spent on the transportation operation. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Thank you. >> Yep. >> Anything else? Okay. And that's it for me. >> Thank you, Steve. Appreciate that. Uh we now have a proposal for K5 science core resources and we have two esteemed elementary teachers, Sammy Buell and Michael Ship going to present and maybe Jen Teal as well. >> Okay. Moral support. >> Okay. Uh where >> may be dangerous to hand Michael a microphone. Jen trusted me with this. >> All
027right. Well, thank you board for letting us uh present this. We are super excited. My name is Michael Shimp. I'm fourth grade teacher at Sunset Lake Elementary School. >> I'm Sammy Buell. I'm a second grade teacher at Sunset. >> So, science is all about curiosity, like sparking that interest, really getting that hands-on experience for those kids to really dive deep. And when we went through the process, we had a lot of non-negotiables. And you know, there was a guy that I used to go to, a doctor that he uh really saw me a lot when I was younger. He um he really captivated me even when I was in pain with my ear infections for years. And he did he pulled out this tuning fork and he bang against his knee and he drive my
028attention and it was just all about that curiosity. He knew by sparking my curiosity, he could distract me from my pain and answer those questions and ask me questions that he wanted to answer to. So, and Dr. Shreamer definitely did that for me. So, it was all about captivating the kids and it's it is still today. And we're just fighting such a different age with how do we do that? And we came to the table um with a bunch of the lovely ladies I work with and on this thing and I I appreciate everyone that I worked with, including Sammy and Jen. Thank you for your leadership, Jen. and we just looked at a lot and there was a process that we went through and we looked at everything and we're like what could be
029better than what we have now and what we had was okay but we really were missing a couple things that we thought we needed to change. So >> yeah, the biggest thing we wanted was hands-on for the kids. >> Um something they could explore and not just be cut and dry. Um yeah, engaging hands on. um easy to navigate for both the teachers and the students and we think with what we found that we found all of that. So, >> and it matches up with all the standards that we're supposed to teach and we really dived into that. Um I know there's questions about uh cost. We just want to make sure that we we as a team learned that again or we knew it already but there was a cost with serial city science
030and we're just taking that cost and putting it into the cost of this new it's called TCI um that we're proposing. Um so we're just taking that cost and we're taking it away and we're putting it on that. So what we were doing for science wasn't necessarily free. We're just changing what we're buying. >> So and then yeah. So any questions or anything else? >> Will there be like activities to be done at the OEC? Is this like some of that curriculum will help with those things or >> so? Great question. Yes, Kelly Christensen is also on board with the Yes, very good. Good question. Um so yeah she is on board and she is in on the conversations and um really she's the biology part like right she is really invested in that and
031she loves the interactiveness of the um new curriculum that we're looking at proposing um it's very user friendly can't stress that enough for teachers because what's hard for me is I go to these extra meetings and I I am involved with a lot of the process in the district but what do I do I I leave very basic sub plans well With this, I could definitely leave a substitute with lesson because it's that easy to read off of. With the old curriculum, I could. So, it's just like they don't miss out when I have to go to another meeting. So, there's that. Okay. >> There's also connections to like between grade levels and with STEM connections bringing in there's an engineering concept within each unit for each grade level as well. So, that was another
032really big thing. >> Yeah. dive into deeper into, you know, why is this working? Why does a tuning fork, >> you know, work the way it does and why what's the purpose of it? All those things. A lot of curiosity questions that really spark a scientist, >> right? >> You know, and that's what we're hoping. >> You have the cost breakdowns in here and you you alluded to there's current costs today. What's is what's the difference? I mean, is there is it a it cost more per year to do this program? It costs a little bit more per year to do the program. Our previous um science program did not have an online component at all. This one does. Um and so like Michael alluded to, um you can um we're not our plan is
033not to have the students necessarily online, but for the teachers there, that's that's a huge thing um to be able to have um access to that. You want to add to Yeah, and I want to piggy back off that like with my teaching style, especially upper L, um, I love to run small groups and where I can dive into like a hands-on activity, like an experiment where it's hard to have 20 to 25 kids around me doing showing, uh, and modeling a science experiment when I could sit down with each small group that I have in my classroom and do that experiment while they're on the Chromebook doing additional practice on their own. It gives them that focus that they need for me to really make that impact of, >> you know, what are we
034learning today and hitting that standard hard and like again really focusing on those questions. >> So that's Ryan. >> Yeah. So to answer your question, you know, Serial City, we budgeted about $14,000 a year for Serial City. And so this recurring cost per year is more, but to put it in perspective, you know, we buy licenses for a lot of our online programs. We are currently renewing our math program um agile online and so for our sixth graders this this coming year it's going to be $4,400 a year just to renew those licenses. For serial city moving on for grade level it'll be 4,300. So it is right in line with um current costs of programs. >> Okay. >> What about training for all the teachers going to a new curriculum? >> Yep. Yep. So
035we have plans for training. Um TCI has included some training already. Since we're purchasing with the program, um we'll be doing our training during um our grade level like um pull out days, what used to be called our sore days. Um and so every grade level will be trained um for a half a day and then we'll have some time to work. I think it speaks to the ease of the program that the actually the training component is not particularly ownorous um because it is so user friendly. Um it is not going to require a lot of training. And there is an option too over the summer like us elementary teachers are definitely eager to dive in and see that online um uh part portion of it. So there are modules that we can take
036and I will highly encourage my grade level team to do it just because it is so awesome. Like I I love the way it's formatted so just allowing us to just prepare but it's very very helpful. So >> any other >> I have a question. Well, I just looked up the program myself just to see, you know, what is what is this? And the re >> what I found was it was very positive. So, I'm in favor of it. I'm wondering if do you guys know other and it doesn't have to be in Michigan, but other schools that have implemented this, did it help their >> science scores? You know, did it improve? Was it, you know, do you have any idea like how it matters. >> Well, we looked at during our whole process
037of looking into all the curriculums, we looked at like what Portage was doing and what KPS was doing and all that. And that's how we kind of picked out all the different ones that we looked at. >> Yeah. >> And we went through five different ones before and we were pretty depressed because at first I mean it's just like whoa really cool bright colors and all that. They really tried to grab you, but when you opened up and we started looking, it just we were really we were really big and they I love the leadership that we have with it really we don't want to be distracted by all the bells and whistles. It's more about >> making that deeper connection for that child and making it easy for the teacher. Not easy, but allowing
038us to just have that opportunity of success >> to make it very impactful. >> Yeah. >> Because we want those kids to be curious. That's what science is all about is sparking that. >> Oh yeah. Yeah, and as you found out, TCI is nationally reviewed. It met all the criteria in our EDS reports and everything that we had as part of our CDR. So, we're really confident moving forward that this is the right choice. >> Nice. >> Anyone else question for them? >> We just want to thank you for taking the time and making the effort that you obviously have to find something good for our students. I appreciate that. >> We're grateful for Jen. We're grateful for our principles for all the support getting us out. We've met multiple days and it's you know
039it's hard to get out of our classroom especially you know with just but we know there is that purpose and we're excited for >> I guess I should re um for the public's benefit that you don't just sit down with a vendor and have them give you a sales pitch. There's a whole process that that uh Gentiel has and that we've been doing here ongoing to really assess what the needs are to to to have a very thorough kind of vetting process and it's not just oh let's make a decision this afternoon and whoever brings us the nicest lunch, >> right? >> You know, so that's really good. And I guess I have one last question. Uh Mr. Shimp is do you do your lessons in a Donald Duck voice? I do a bunch of
040>> I know I I'm pretty loud. That's why. Yeah, >> because I I didn't know if you recall that part of an ear exam was the Donald Duck voice. So, okay. >> Do you you remember you do one? >> Yes, that's what I'm asking. All right, we we got a challenge here. >> My ear does it best. Not >> all right. Uh we better move on to Mr. here if we have no other question. >> Thank you guys. >> Good. >> You either have to have eyes in the back of your head or turn around. Don't tell So before we get started, this is totally impromptu. Um Will Sparks happens to be here tonight. he was performing with the choir and he is also our character council president representing our fifth grade. And so really
041quickly in the back again not rehearsed um just asked Will if he would like to address the board um with just some memories some important memories that he's had along the way here at Toby Elementary before he goes tonight. And um in talking to his dad, he said, "Well, Will's an actor. He'll come up with something." So So like I said, I'm totally putting him on the spot, but because he's here, um we'd like to give him the opportunity to address you. >> Give Give the microphone. >> Some of my favorite moments are to at Toby were really fun. Of course, that's why they're my favorite moments. And I have a lot of them. I probably can't say all of them right now, but so I'll just go with my favorite favorites. And I remember
042my first day at Toby in first grade and I thought it was going to be a boring day at school and I wasn't going to have any friends until I had some of my current best friends come up to me and talk to me. And it was really fun and I didn't know those were going to be my forever friends at that moment. And I've had so many fun moments, especially um one this year with all of my friends coming with me to our ski trip. And we had a lot of fun. And I figured it would just be me and my friends till I had a lot of people um still being right beside me when I had so many things happening falling and just getting back up knowing they were right next to
043me. And I think one of the most important things of school, even though it could be really boring, is to just have fun and make friends along the way. Not bad for being unrehearsed, huh? Thank you, Will. Okay, and we will jump into it. So, um, I think Will hit the nail on the head there when he just talked about friendships, connections, and what we're all about here at Toby Elementary. So, first of all, we're going to kick it off with with our team. This is what makes it all happen. Um, to take a look at all those smiling faces. That's what brings us into work every morning. um as educators knowing that we're going to give our best to our students every single day. Um we also couldn't do it without our PTO and
044uh they are amazing ladies and so selfless here on week nights um multiple times a year and and we'll get into all of the events that they've been a part of. Um but here tonight we have our president Crystal Wolf, our vice president Holly Shidell, um Secretary Kendra Woods, and our treasurer Allison Stoton. She is not here tonight. Um communications Allison Cedorf, uh Alyssa, I'm sorry, Cedorf, she couldn't be here either, but our volunteer coordinator is Courtney Smith. So, um, just wanted to thank all of them because we truly couldn't do this without your support. Um, and I know the kids have really benefited along the way for again your just the selfless time that you put in for us. So, thank you. This is just highlighting some of the events that they've been a
045part of and this is just some but um summed it up by better together. I remember um when I was first being introduced here at Toby and um Crystal reached out to me right away. She said, "I'm going to be the new president of of the PTO board. Um I'm new to this. I know you're new." Uh so we started communicating and what kind of things do you want to do? Um and the first thing we talked about was a beautifification day um before the school year even started. Um and she was able to rally community uh members, community support. Um got landscaping companies to donate mulch. Um we had several parents here working and that was just a great opportunity for me to just see how this community comes together out here at Toby.
046Um and an opportunity for me to u meet a lot of our people. So uh that was just how we kicked it off. But they supported us with our open house. You'll see a picture of that up here. And that was quite the event. Um, and we had a lot of uh community um companies and organizations that were there to just introduce themselves and meet our families as well. Um, feeding us on conference nights, school events for the kids like movie nights, dances, the trunk or tree. We have K- Wings coming up. Um, our field trip support and stipens for our teaching supplies. It it goes on and on. It's endless. But again, um we are better together because we couldn't do it without them. Moving on to our character council. You just heard from
047our president, Will Sparks, but um I know they're not here tonight, but I did want to give them a shout out and recognize them. So, our representatives Sammy Sedlick, um, Elliot Baggley, Clay Chisum, Bailey Hess, and Ryder Jagger and Corbin Garmin. They are our representatives for our character council. Our treasurer is Bentley Man. Secretary is Mallerie Stoen and vice president Becket Roger. So that's just a quick view of our student leadership team there. Wanted to talk about some community partners because again we couldn't do this without the support of others. Um and some of those community support uh community partners that really do support us. Um Kids Hope being one of them. We are excited to bring them back this year. This is the first time that they've uh been back with our school in
048several years. If you don't know a lot about Kids Hope, it's a mentorship program and um typically they have to be affiliated to a church in some way. Um and that's how it was originated. Uh we did not have a church that that we were affiliated with and that's why the program was lost here at Toby. And luckily South County Services and Generous Hands decided to be our sponsor and they were allowed to sponsor Kids Hope. So, we were able to bring that back to Toby. So, we're excited about that and what that offers our kids. The first day shoe fund, something that I wasn't familiar with before coming here. Um, but it it truly is an amazing program. Uh, putting shoes on so many of our students just at Toby alone this year. And
049we have another fitting on Thursday. They did one earlier in the year. We'll have another one this Thursday. 135 students are receiving um new shoes from this organization free of charge. Um you know, it's just it's it's a blessing to our families and to our kids. Uh the Lions Club, they come in and they do free screenings, uh vision screenings for our kids. That's an amazing process. If you haven't seen it, they have these thousands of dollar uh cameras that map the eye. Um they bring about six of those devices with them and get through our whole population, about 400 students in the matter of an hour and a half. I mean, they're so organized. They bring volunteers and then they send these nice reports home with our students that um parents are able to
050then go to their eye doctors and follow up with them. Um and if insurance or money is an issue, the Lions Club will help pay for any corrective lenses that need to happen. And a new partnership that we created this year, maybe you heard about this in our newsletters or some of the kids talking about it, but Championship Martial Arts, that was really cool as well. thought that was a neat experience. As you know, we focus on character traits here at the well in all of our buildings, but here at Toby as well. And Championship Martial Arts, they also um focused on four-pillar characters. And so, we thought it was a nice tie. They came in and did an assembly for us and then they did four different lessons with our kids. We had such
051an overwhelming uh response that we had over 150 students sign up. So about half of our student population, a little less than that. And so they had to divide it up into two sections. They couldn't service all of the kids in at one time. So we had a group of about um 75 kids go through the first um cohort. They had four sessions and then we had the second group come through and then they got to do a graduation at the Portage Dojo um with their families. So that was just again a neat partnership that we will continue. Um so that was great. Patty was here earlier but huge shout out to our arts. That's something that I know Dixsburg really values and and so do I. It's so meaningful for our kids and gives
052them an opportunity um beyond just our normal four school you four classroom walls. Um so here are some of the presentations if you performances if you were able to go see them. Our fourth and fifth graders um up at the top there they most recently just had a concert at the PAC and then we had a holiday concert. Um the other pictures that you see that's the Ka KIA art show. Um so Mr. Bernaki made sure that Toby was well represented with about 250 pieces of art there. Um and so if you the art show still is going on if you haven't seen it yet. Uh but if you have again just what a great opportunity to highlight our kids and um some of the amazing things they do outside of learning in the classroom.
053So, um, I highlighted a few other things, too. Um, like the choir that performed today, they do that outside of school hours on their own time. They come in in the morning before school starts and they rehearse. Same with strings. Um, so it is it is just a a lot of great opportunities for our kids and I'm grateful for that. jumping into uh some of the meat of this presentation and you're going to see a reoccurring theme from you know some of the other uh building presentations that have already happened and you're familiar with this because it's right on our website but it's so important and the vision and mission that we have for our students. Um and then some of the things that really hit home for me but as well as our staff
054is those belief statements. One we were just sharing recently um at a staff meeting with our staff is the importance of recognizing the fourth bullet point for me. When students don't learn the way that we teach, we find ways to teach the way they learn. I think that's so important because we do find that sometimes we feel like we hit a wall with the kids and we're not sure how to move beyond that or they feel like they hit a wall and they get frustrated and in order to move on. We have to kind of recreate ourselves as ed educators every day. Figure out where those barriers are and then where how we can meet those students where they're at. This is another slide that again you're pretty familiar with, but just in talking about
055educating the whole child, three three big components of that, the academic, the social emotional, and the health and wellness all under that umbrella of MTSS. You'll see the castle competencies right next to that. A big part of our SEAL work. So jumping into the academics again, this is how we operate. Key principles for professional learning communities. I'm so proud to be a part of a building and a district that invests in this because it's so important collaboration with our educators. Uh we couldn't do our work without great systems and without great people collaborating. So this is kind of at the foundation of all that we do. all of our work. Um, and all of that, of course, starts with quality tier one instruction. So, you heard that presentation tonight about the new science curriculum, and
056that's exactly what we're talking about. We're continually looking at our tier one resources and what we do as educators with our tier one instruction. And what I mean by tier one, if you're not familiar with that term, that's our core instruction. uh high quality research-based teaching that every student receives. Now, if you look down at that um second statement there, that proactive growth by making our initial instruction really strong. Hopefully, we're reducing the number of students that we have to intervene with. Um, but we're allowing the kids time to master those grade level standards in real time. Uh, our intervention process is so important and you're going to see that in just a moment here. Uh, we use regular formative assessment and those formative assessments are just pulse checks on our student learning, how they're
057doing, so we know how we can adjust our instruction in the moment to meet their needs. And now we'll talk about the PLC process. A lot of people when they hear the PLC process and um think about the collaboration only think about the intervention side of things um but I wanted to highlight both because not only do we talk about what it is we want our students to learn um and making sure in that those PLC's that we're very aligned in our classrooms. We have three sections of each grade level. And so we want to make sure that those those classroom teachers are all aligned so that no matter what classroom you're in, you're getting that quality instruction and everyone's on the same page. How will we know when they learned it? We just talked
058about that formative assessment um and sharing data. So they're bringing student data to those meetings to the table to talk about how our students are doing and what we can do to meet our kids needs. Now this is the part that people are familiar with I think um how do we respond if they don't know all right that's the intervention process intervention is happening in the classroom both tier 2 and tier three and also we have some amazing interventionists that we do have pull out groups that they have the opportunity to work with our kids and intervene as well but we take that a step further because our students that do have it we want to make sure that we're extending in their learning as well and giving them an opportunity. So those extensions are
059so important too. We don't stop at proficiency, right, and just say that's good enough. In the PLC process, we want to continue to challenge um and I used part of our Toby way here. We want to yearn to learn. We want to make make sure that they're striving to advance themselves beyond just what is proficient. So here I wanted to talk about that because Toby was recognized now this is on last year's data um 528 out of 1475 ranked schools in the state of Michigan so in the top 40th percentile which is fantastic. Um, but again, you know, if we're talking about proficiency, I don't know about you, I'm a super competitive guy and I'm going to continue to strive to push us. And I know our staff, I see them nodding their head their
060heads. They're going to continue to push, too. Because if if we can be 528, why can't we be 100 out of 1475? Why can't we be 75th? you know, so we're going to continue to push ourselves. We're not going to be satisfied with being good. We want to be great. Looking at some of our data, and this this is some of that data that we're talking about when we're in PLC's and we're meeting now, we're looking more at formative data there because those are those uh data pieces that we can really make instructional decisions on. little harder to make instructional decisions on um some of these more macro views of data, but still very important. What I wanted to highlight here, you all know that the I Ready platform is brand new to us this
061year and a brand new screener, but I wanted you to look at you can see the BOI so beginning of year data versus middle of the year data. We will take this benchmark assessment one more time this year. U so that'll be the EOI the end of year assessment. Um, but if you just look at the growth, and that's really what we're focused on right now is that growth measure and how we're improving. And you can see across every grade band, the level of improvement that kids have made where you see that green bar continuing to grow and the red bar continuing to shrink. In kindergarten, not even seeing any, which is fantastic. So, um, and and only 2% of our students, um, still there in first grade. So, um, remember again when you're looking
062at this data that if they're in the green, they're already hitting those endofear benchmarks. Um, if they're in the yellow, they're on track. Uh, because we haven't hit the end of the year yet. So, look at those bands and see all the green and yellow. That just tells you how many of our kids are not only on track or have already met those standards and we'll just continue to push forward. That is our reading data and this is our math data. Now our math data although and it and it did show that that was a little lower in our MSTEP scores as well. Um but if you look at the overall although we have a little less green we still have a lot of yellow. So the red bands are still very small as compared
063to the reading which which is fantastic. Um but you can also see in every grade band growth um and significant growth. Look at the just shouting out our our third grade and our kindergarten. Um, looking at the beginning of the year, 18% of our kids were were in the green, meaning they were already hitting kind of endofear uh benchmarks. Um, and to see that growth to 42% um midyear um and looking at third grade going from 15% to 42%. Um, so just fantastic work and that's the kind of growth we love to see. Um, looking at MSTEP data, again, we haven't taken the MSTEP yet. When we return from spring break, we'll be taking the MSTEP this year. Um, so this is based on last year's data, but just to give you a comparison because
064percentages don't really mean a lot, but when you're um comparing us to the state as a whole, I think that you'll be, you know, really happy to to look at that. And you'll see the Toby comparison to the state. This is an ELA. Um, and this is um capturing all the students that are either advanced or proficient. So um in third grade 52% of Toby's students were advanced or prof proficient as compared to the state at 39% and so on. I won't read through all the percentages but you can see 5642 um and similar with the math data again we we are definitely performing better in ELA than we are in math. Um and so we know areas that we want to focus as a staff, but still as we're looking at ourselves compared to
065the state. Um in all three grade areas or grade bands that we take the MSTEP, we outperform the state. Um so although we feel like we still want to grow and we still have room to move, um we are outperforming you know the state as an average. So, we were excited about that. >> Bill, can I ask you a question? >> Absolutely. >> Go back to that. >> Yeah. >> So, the state I I've said this multiple times and the board has heard me say this, too. I don't really like it that we compare ourselves to the state because I think Michigan is just performing very badly. Um, so what are your thoughts though? it like how do you think or what do you need to I guess accelerate the growth Mr. competitive. I'm asking
066you. >> Yeah, absolutely. >> So that you know we can support these students to like who cares what the state did? We are outperforming you know the state of I don't know I don't know what states up there at the top you know is it Ohio? I don't know. Yeah. >> But what what can we do? Do you have any thoughts on that? >> I I do. Um and I think continuing to um look at our curriculum resources. Um, we did just look at reading and purchased a new reading curriculum. You can see that that's where we're performing and that's where we're strong. We've just made that move. Um, I know that math is is on the horizon and and we'll be doing a curriculum review there. So, I think just keeping up with the
067latest research, looking at the best resources, um, and then just giving quality professional development to our our staff because, um, I know here at Toby and I, and I know I can speak for the other buildings, too, just so proud of our staff and how hard they work and I know if we give them the tools, they will perform. So, um I think it's just a matter of continuing to um go through this process that is well established and in place here um and continue to um look at the latest research and the latest materials um so that we can equip our teachers to make sure that they have the best tools in their hands to lead our kids. So, um, and I'll do my part to make sure that they're getting the professional development
068they need, the encouragement that they need, um, to continue to improve these scores because I agree with you, we don't want to just be good. We want to be great. Um, I think it's good that we are outperforming the state, but we don't want to stop there. >> Yeah. wanted to highlight some other just great uh things about Vixsburg and the opportunities that we have here at Toby. Um the outdoor education center that was brought up in the science uh proposal tonight as well. Um, you can see what a awesome facility and I know that there are plans right behind me in the bond proposal um to improve that even more which you know would be amazing. It's a beautiful piece of property. I've had the opportunity to go out there with our kids and
069just see um the learning that happens. Uh and it's exciting. It's exciting to have a teacher dedicated to that. My understanding is that the classroom teachers used to have to go out and lead that instruction by themselves, but now to have Kelly out there as well as the classroom teacher coming and collaborating together and seeing the power of that. Um, it's been really dynamic. It's been fun for me to see. Um, and I've just highlighted some of the benefits of just, you know, our kids moving beyond just that textbook in the classroom. um and becoming stewards of our environment and things like that and how they play a part of all of that. So um I think it's just an awesome opportunity for our kids looking at our attendance. Um again, we couldn't accomplish what
070we do without our kids being here and in front of us. Um and so we've we've put a lot of emphasis on that and making sure that um our kids know the importance of being at school and that they want to be here. You've heard other buildings talk about it, but that really comes with connection. Uh if they feel connected to the school and they feel a part of things, um just like Will said earlier, they're going to want to be here. And I know some of those things are outside of their control. Um but the more a child is nagging on mom and dad to get them at school, get them to school, they they'll be here. So looking at 2425 school year, um our daily attendance rate was 96%. Uh this year we're
071at 95%. Um so holding strong. Now our chronically absent um so that's in the bottom here. The way that this is broken down is not um to say 85% of our total population um have missed five or more days but this is saying 85% of our chronically absent students. Okay. So out of this year's data um if we have a daily attendance rate of 95% so that 5% which are considered chronically absent 74% of those chronically absent kids have missed five or less days um uh 21% have missed six to nine and then uh 5% 10 or more um again of that chronically absent not our overall population. Some of the things that we've done to tackle that and to make those connections are having attendance challenges. So, um that is a part of every
072morning's daily announcements. Uh we have an attendance tracker. We have a traveling trophy that goes around in classrooms. So, you can see that's Mrs. Wester's class there holding up the trophy. Um last week they had perfect attendance every single day last week. Um so several classes during the week had perfect attendance on a a day or two days, but they had perfect attendance all five days. So they have the weekly trophy each week it travels. Uh treats go along with that. So that's a little motivator as well. And then at our uh Toby community, our end of the month recognition assemblies, we recognize all of our students that have had perfect attendance in front of their student body and we send certificates home with them. So that's an exciting time to recognize and celebrate them
073and we see it having an impact. When we talk about social emotional learning, um, positive behavior supports, um, you probably have heard the acronym PBIS and this is what it stands for, uh, positive behavior intervention and supports. And these are just some of the things that we have in place there. Um, again, not to read through the list, but just to highlight a few. Um, talking about our building wide expectations. So when we come into school, just teaching what those common area expectations are, whether it be our cafeteria or being in an assembly, walking through our hallways or in the bathrooms on our playgrounds, um, and then revisiting those after breaks. So, when we came back from our holiday break, making sure that we revisit those and retach those because if they're going to be
074an expectation, we want to make sure that our kids are well informed and know exactly what we expect of them. Um, we teach and model lessons just like we would academic lessons. Um, and that's where we move the needle with behavior. Keven was talking about that at the beginning of the day and that's what we'll continue to do. um treat those just like academic lessons and teach those behaviors that we want to see. But we also want to recognize our students that are doing that well with tiger tickets, recognition announcements, um students of the month. Again, they're recognized at our recognition assemblies. Um having character trait lessons. So, this has been a fun opportunity for me to uh get into classrooms and just share stories that are related to character traits and allow our teachers
075to go out and do learning walks of each other. So, they get to get into each other's classrooms and see what's happening and great practices happening either next door or at a different grade level while I have the opportunity to share a lesson with their kids and get to know them on a different level. So, that's been a lot of fun, too. um calming corners, zones of regulation. You've probably heard a lot of these. All of these are proactive strategies that we're using to make sure that we're addressing those behaviors and improving those as we move forward. You see it on the wall as you come in, but a big part of Toby is the Toby way. Um, actually I have to laugh when I when I first arrived and uh before I even started
076it was the summer and uh the kids hadn't met me yet. The families hadn't met me yet. Uh Mrs. Wester reached out to me and she said the big read machine is going to be at Toby Elementary. How would you like to come out and you know be on the bus and just meet some of our families? I said I'd love to. What a great opportunity. So I came and um I had one of our fifth grade students come up to me very seriously looked me in the eye and shook my hand and said, "Mr. Digert," he was like, "I just want to know two things. Are we still going to have the Toby Way? And are we still going to have Toby community?" And I said, "That's what we're all about, isn't it? That's
077not going away." And he said, "Good." because I already had some posters made and I was going to do some pro some proactive protesting if we if that was going away. So, so and he was performing tonight as well. So, we have some great advocates in our student body. U but it means a lot to our kids. Um it's it's something that that is at the core. Um, and and we really talk about living those values and having it be more than just words on the wall or more than just words that they hear over announcements, but making sure that that becomes a part of their character and who we are here at Toby um at both Indian Lake and Sunset and they're both ahead of us uh as far as Playworks. Uh but we're
078really excited to bring Playworks to Toby Elementary this spring. Uh we'll be training our supervisors in building routines and that's thanks to the Vixsburg Foundation for the innovation grant. Um so we're going to be using those monies to u bring that program to us and again we're a little bit behind the other two elementaryaries. Um, so they have been great as far as uh bringing me along in understanding, excuse me, where that process is and um having already gone through the supervisor training and the building of routines and now Sarah at Indian Lake, you know, having uh students be a part of that leadership team um is is great and is something that we're looking forward to. So, um just a lot of benefits there and I think bringing all three elementaryaries um together on
079the same page is another way that we're going to address some of these needs that we see as they arise with as it comes to behavior. Um and then finally looking at that um last circle in the whole child is our health and wellness. And I I'll be wrapping it up here soon. I appreciate your patience. Um, but that's just giving our kids that opportunity um for that physical growth. Um, so with our fizzed program, we we have a a great PE teacher. Uh, Tatum does an awesome job with the kids. Uh, and here are some of the things that I've just highlighted. Making sure that they're physically active every day. I've been in there observing her gym many times. Pacer test, mileage club, field day. We haven't done that yet. The kids heart challenge
080is happening right now. Those are just some of the things that are uh that our kids are being tasked with. You can see along the wall here all of the poster boards that are signed by the kids starting out with three minute runs, five minute runs, six, seven, 10 minute runs. So those kids um that are are running and once they meet that goal able to assign that poster and um so that's been a big part of their growth too um because that's all a part of growing the whole child. And then recess making sure that they're out there playing hard but playing safe. Um girls on the run you heard Will talk about the ski trip. A lot of our kids, that's the very first time that they've been on skis, but to have
081that opportunity just so cool. Um, and then shout out to our food service department. I know they presented at a at a previous board meeting, but just having those healthy food choices and making sure that all of our kids are eating with the opportunity to have free breakfast and free lunch. Um, so what a huge blessing for our kids. And with that, I'll just ask if you have any questions. >> What is your criteria for defining a chronically absent student? >> Yeah. So, our chronically absent students um fit in those categories of five or more days, the six to nine or 10 or more. So, once they've Yep. Once they've reached that point, they're considered chronically absent. And that's when uh attendance letters start going home to the students uh or to the families. Um
082meetings set up with us to talk about the barriers that the families having and u being able to get to school and if there are ways that we can assist them. Um, and you know, typically it it can be transportation needs or just getting them set up on a bus route or something like that where they just haven't gone through the steps of making sure that they're looking at all of the avenues to getting their child to school. Um, and some happen to be, you know, our school of choice students um that were not able to put on bus runs. And so working those families and and letting them know, hey, we we want you to be a part of our school, but it's important that you're here. Even though you've got a long commute,
083um you know, it's important to your child that they're here every day. So, let's work on making that commitment that you'll get them here. So, having those conversations. So, is that an unexused absence? I mean, if you've got a child that's sick a lot, parents are calling you, oh, they're sick today. It's all if they're not here. >> Yes. And and and we do record excused absences versus unexcused. Um so, with the doctor's note, that isn't counted toward that chronically absent. Um because of course if kids are sick, we don't want them here infecting others. Um but if they call us and just say we're sick, but they don't go to the doctor and don't have a doctor's note, then it's recorded as they called us, but it's still counted towards one of those absences
084that would be chronically absent. >> Yeah, good question. >> Okay. Yes. I can't remember that. I guess along it would seem to me that it's easier with ahead of schedule because if you learn how to code a sentence, you can grow on your own. If you've learned to add or subtract, nobody's taught you how to multiply and divide. It's hard to be ahead because there's new skills all the time or learning what a circumference or perimeter is. So, it seemed to me intuitively that we would have many more in the yellow and less in the nature of >> I think that's a very good I think that's very fair and a good point. >> So, The key thing is avoiding the red. >> Yes. Yes. Yes. Because the red represents um one or more one
085to two years behind >> where we project them to be by the end, you know, at the end of the year. So, right, that's we do we do want to avoid that. >> So, but but to see less green than we do in reading kind of different vocabulary. >> It does. It unlocks. Yes. Everything. So yes, um, I really appreciate that you emphasize the support of the community here um because I think we do have a unique thing uh with the way that this community supports the schools and it's fun how to see how things come full circle and I don't know if many people know this story but I I have some inside information so generous hands was looking at ways to try to help the folks that they help a lot and it
086came up they that Toby had no longer had a kids hope program so They wanted to look into that. So who did they they contact Sarah Dornneboss and Sarah graduated from Vixsburg High School and she's on the national board of Kids Hope and she started the program in LA County schools. So we instantly had a resource and somebody advocating because she had come through Vixsburg and knew exactly what the situation was and you know grew up in went through from kindergarten to and graduated from here. So, it's fun to see our graduates paying it back and and Sarah played a big role in making that happen in this building. So, all right, I have a little script I need to read here. Yes, it is audience time. So, our next agenda item is for public
087comment. Meetings of the board are open to the public. It's the time the board conducts the business of governing the school system in the public arena. This is not intended as a meeting with the public with ongoing dialogue. Staff may follow up with you regarding issues raised during comment time. Please exercise the quorum and respect laws regarding privacy and defamation. Please do not refer to students by name. And speakers are limited to three minutes. And Tamara will give one tap when you have 10 seconds left and two taps when three minutes is up. That way I don't have to stare at the at the clock and I can listen in. And I believe we have one person who wants to address the board and again another Vixsburg graduate who is now a teacher. So Tabby
088Wilcowski, formerly known as Tabitha Sears. >> All right. As said, I am Tabby Wowski. I'm a third grade teacher here at Toby and I'm also an association rep for Vixsburg Education Association, the VA. And I'm just here to share some of our stories of VA members going above and beyond to support students and doing amazing things. Um, in our high school, our Vixsburg band directors, Ben Roger and Jay Bennett with our middle schoolers this weekend as well, scored some amazing um, ranks in their festival. They had seventh grades with ones, eighth grade with twos, concert band, symphonic band, and wind ensembles with ones. Um, in the arts as well, we have our Vixsburg choirs directed by Dusty and a student teacher. They went to choir festival last weekend. Students represented Vixsburg well with excellent behavior.
089The VHS Carell earned a second division rating and sixth grade, seventh grade, and eighth grade choirs with the treble choir as well. And chamber singers all earned first division ratings. Then just a little plug for the play this weekend as well. Dusty is not here because he's helping prepare for that. And if you guys can make it out this weekend and support our schools, that would be awesome. We also have Liz Pierce, a science teacher at VMS who facilitated a great movement where a student helped to teach her seventh grade students about genetics. One of our high school freshmen has a genetic disorder called Turner syndrome. In seventh grade science, they studied this genetic and among others, and they looked at the Turner syndrome. The student reached out to Liz to let her know that
090February is Turner syndrome awareness month and she asked if she could do something to educate Liz's students more about it. She coordinated with her and they agreed to make a slideshow and presented it to all the students. It was very informational and the students asked great questions, had great conversations and a student got to educate other students and advocate for a topic that was meaningful. In our fifth grade in all of our buildings, they all enjoyed that beautiful um ski day on the slopes. And as Will said, it was his favorite of favorites. So, it was a fun day where all of the fifth grade teachers encourage and help students learn how to ski. And then we have our um primary librarian, Kristen Shook, who started off a very exciting Marches Reading Month for us.
091She had a great local Michigan author, Denise Brennan Nelson. She came into all three elementaryaries and did a very engaging assembly and motivated reading and writing for the month. And that's just a couple of amazing things going on in Vixsburg. >> Thank you for that. >> Can I Can I add something? because my daughter was at the MSBA and it was really cool and the judge came up afterwards and said how amazing our symphonic band is. I don't know Rick if you were in the room or not but um also pointed out we should pay our band directors more and Ann said more people should come to school boards and share good news. So it was a really really amazing >> that is incredible to watch them site readad stuff. Uh, it's been a while
092since I saw that, but it's really neat. All right, we have board action required. We have approval of the following board minutes. We have It's 4A, the minutes from February uh 9, 2026. I'll entertain a motion. >> So move together. >> I was going to do them separately. >> That's one. >> Okay. Moved by Tina, support >> by Lisa. Oh, okay. We'll get you next time. Uh, all in favor? >> Opposed? The next item 4 A2 is the minutes from February 16, 26. >> Motion by Lucas. >> Support by Ron. All in favor? >> I opposed. No. >> Uh, item 4B, approval of the K5 science core resource. >> So moved. >> Second. Moved by Tina, second by Lucas. All in favor? >> I opposed. >> Item 4 C, approval to purchase a 10 passenger
093van from Hookster Transportation for $71,500 using section 221, District Transportation Funds. >> So moved. >> Moved by Tina. >> Support by Stephanie. >> Thank you. >> All in favor? I >> opposed. >> Okay. Uh next item 4 D we have first reading of several policies. Some of them is rescending that just so the public knows all of these P policies were related to non-discrimination, equal employment opportunity and anti-harassment. And they tried to streamline all that. So it looks like a whole bunch of stuff. Some of it is repetitive for different employee groups. Um, and with the board's permission, if we want to do items 4 D1 through 14, we can do so. >> Before that, I have a question for you. >> Yeah. >> Um, so this was like 120 pages of information. >> Yes.
094>> On policies. Did did our policy committee review this or this came directly from Neiola? So you didn't need to >> Yeah, we we have two kind of things that operate kind of parallel. There's there's stuff that we take up as a policy committee. We did not. This was this was coming from the attorneys looking at the various things that we're required to do at various levels to make sure we we've got it stream. So this was not generated from the policy committee. This was generated >> from Yeah. >> Right. >> Tamron and I did meet with Chris Rice from Neiola. >> And if you go through and look at the changes, a lot of resend and a change in address of the main office of OCR, I believe from Cleveland to Washington DC. And
095so a lot of that is just reflected in those policies. But as far as the language goes, nothing changed. >> Okay. >> Yep. >> Okay. >> Yeah. And when those are in the board packet, you'll see highlighted things or crossed out things so that you >> you that tells you what's changed, what additions or subtractions that you have. >> So you you feel Keven that because like the whole policy is crossed out, right, on on certain of them >> that it's it was >> like things didn't get left out or it's still all included. It's just streamlined. >> Yeah. So, I did send the explanation from Niola to all of you. When you see that whole thing crossed out, it's been moved into another policy. >> Okay. >> It hasn't just uh disappeared, I guess,
096is my point. And then we asked Chris on all of those. So, when he's presenting it, he's telling us exactly what's going on. >> Okay. Gotcha. Gotcha. Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> So, I will entertain a motion. >> So, moved. and Lisa. >> All in favor? Oh, I have to do roll call vote. I'm sorry. Roll call vote. Uh Stephanie, >> yes. >> Lucas, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Tina, >> yes. >> Ron, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> And yes. >> Nice to knock off 14 things. >> Okay. >> Uh 4 E is second reading approval of the following policies. And uh this was uh earn uh what was it called? Earn time. >> Yeah, ESTA. >> ESA. I couldn't remember what ESTA stood for. Okay. Sick time approval. >>
097Yeah. Sick time approval. Good. >> Uh so that's policy 1430 and policy 3430. We'll take them together with the board's approval. >> Motion to approve. >> Motion by Lucas. >> Second by Rick. >> All right. Stephanie, >> yes. >> Lucas, >> yes. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Tina, >> yes. >> Ron, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. >> And yes. Motion carries. And with that, we're adjourned. Has the sun set yet?