001The third is called Ryu Chu, that's Spanish by um Brian Sable and it is a rough translation. Uh it discusses the Virgin Mary and the baby and uh makes a metaphor of the wolf and sin and and uh you know, of course, the the whole story. So, um please please enjoy. Any fluent Spanish speakers here tonight? Of [laughter] course. Of course. I raise your hand if you've taken a Spanish class here at Big. >> So, yeah, they're they're pretty good with the Spanish. Anyway, please enjoy and thank you for let inviting us to come tonight. [singing] Holly [music] jolly [singing] Christmas [singing] whenever you Walk [singing] down the street. Say hello to friends you know and [singing] [music] the mistletoe where you can see [music] [singing] her Christmas [singing] Ill [singing] this year [singing and
002music] [singing] where you can >> [singing] >> waits for you. This once for melly [singing] Christmas [singing] [singing and music] this Hereley. [singing] Jolly [singing] Jolly Wolley. Holly, Jolly. [applause] >> [singing] >> people win [singing] this cold [music] night in [singing and music] the stores. Sleeping [singing] flowers [music] that will let [singing] the sunrise [music] [singing] fire will be dying soon. [singing] in [music] the distance. Call in [singing] the night [singing] and [music] you speak of the light. Gentle ear, [singing] you whisper softly. [music] Rumors of our [singing] hearts are embrace. [music] [singing and music] So will we know [singing] of the morning [music] night is [singing] [music] All is Christ [music] mother and [singing and music] child in [singing and music] tend And sleep in [singing] heaven peace. [music] Sleep in heavenly [music] peace.
003[music] >> [singing] >> Shine brighters [music] [singing] [music] and kings all [singing] [music] the [singing and music] way [singing] down. Ever [singing] night and days. [music] Our [applause] accompanist Carla [applause] >> [music] [singing] >> Just hello. [singing] [music] >> [singing] >> Will you be [singing and music] your child? [singing] [music] Hello. [music] [singing] [music] [singing] Hallelujah. We [music] [singing] [music] [singing] Please [singing and music] [music] [singing] [music] [singing and music] Fore [music] [singing and music] [singing] [music] [music and singing] you He [music and singing] just [singing and music] [music] You real. [singing] [singing] [music] [applause] Thank you very much. That was Kiara Harwood on the desk at the end. >> And Mr. O'Neal, I believe you would like to hear their names and their grades. >> We would. >> So Kiara, why don't you start
004us off, please? >> I'm Kiara Harwood. I'm a sophomore. >> It's you. >> Okay. I'm Chloe Childs and I'm a junior. >> I'm Emma and I am a sophomore. >> I'm Camden Sterling. I'm a sophomore. I'm Dakota Alger and also a sophomore. >> I'm Grace Peters and I'm a junior. >> I'm Addison Hawkins and I'm a senior. I'm Brandon Bailey and I'm a senior. >> I'm Michaela Cowan or ML Pickle and I'm a senior. I'm Adeline Berry and I'm a senior. >> Go ahead. >> I'm Harper Gothier. I'm a sophomore and I really like music. >> I'm Gavin Roach and I'm a junior. >> I'm Kellogg and I'm a sophomore. >> I'm Jake Mayo and I'm a junior. >> I'm Wes Glace. I'm a sophomore. >> Mark Well, sophomore. I'm Isaac Spencer. >> [applause] [applause]
005>> chamber singers, thank you very much. I believe there's food around the corner, so quiet the hallway, please. >> Thank you all for listening and merry Christmas and happy holidays. [applause] What do you need help with? coming. >> Oh yeah, this is only one of the seven All right, let's give it up one more time to Mr. Morris and our chamber. [applause] That's fantastic. Another one of our great holiday traditions is introducing formally to the board all our new teachers for this school year. So, I'm going to turn it over uh to the principles, and we're going to start uh with Mrs. Digert uh from the middle school to introduce our new middle school teachers. >> Well, welcome. Good. Good. We have um four middle school that we will be introducing tonight. And our first
006one is going to be Amber Harkness. So Amber is coming to us. Um she with 13 years teaching experience. She teaches sixth grade English. Um she used to live in Middleville, Michigan is where she grew up and attended High School. Um something she loves about Vixsburg is kind of the feel of Vixsburg, the small town community much like what she grew up in. And I'm going to ask her a little bit, what are some of your hobbies outside of school? >> Well, now that it's uh winter, officially, but it feels like it. Um, I enjoy skiing in the winter. Um, I'm I'm down for anything that's outdoors. I love camping, hiking, boating, um, visiting Lake Michigan in the summer. My family has some property in the Upper Peninsula, so like to get out there and
007I also have two dogs at home, so they take less time as well. Um, another question I ask is if you could have lunch with past educator, who would it be? So, I thought it was kind of cool to recognize someone in her life, Mrs. Choker. She said if she could have lunch with one of her former educators, it would be her eighth grade math teacher. Um, so she made such a positive impact on her during this challenges. So, this goes to show our teachers on our [applause] Next up, we have Becky Bulas. Um, Becky is coming to us with more than 13 years experience. She teaches seventh and eighth grade English this year with us. Um, she grew up in Kazoo and she went to school at Eastern Michigan and Arizona State. Um, some
008of the things that she likes to do are reading, skiing, roller skating, swimming, running, watching sports, and listening to all kinds of music. Um, about and what attracted you to what made you decide to come from? >> Um, well, I right from so a small type of town, you know, and so that kind of is appealing to me to have that hometown feel, you know, everybody goes out to football games on Friday nights and you can walk into a store and they know who you are. Oh, you taught my child or you from the neighborhood, those kind of things. So that was really something that kind of drew me toward um something that Becky was also just talking about and when I was talking to them about coming to the board meeting and some of
009the things that they like about education. So, one of her favorite memories, she said, is when she gets a chance to laugh the students. And I have to share observation the other day in her classroom. And that was all that was happening. And it was so fun to watch the kids engage in the lesson, the activities that they were doing, and they got to write a script together and share it with each other. And it was just a lot of fun. >> [applause] >> Mia. So Mia Holly is um our new ESL teacher. She is split between the middle school and the high school. Um Mia is coming to us with a vast experience. She also has more than 13 years experience. Um she's coming to us from Hanover Horton, Michigan where she grew up.
010So a little over by the Jackson area. She graduated from Western Michigan University. Um some of the things she likes to do gardening over the summer and she has a really interesting story to tell about herself. I asked them what's one interesting fact that you would like you know to share if you have one and hers is the most interesting that I have ever heard. So um so my interesting fact is that I was switched at birth. Yes, I really was. Um so for a while too for like a whole 24 hours I was at birth. Um And so yeah, back then, you know, they didn't scan babies and mothers like they do now. Um, so it was two recovering C-section mothers across from each other. And um, yeah, the other baby was a girl
011as well. And so they didn't know that we were switched until about 24 hours later, we realized it. So, um, it's a horror story for my mom the way she tells it. Um, it's a lot more, um, you know, horrifying than me. Yeah. So, it's a Yeah. I mean, I can't tell you how many times I've had friends who've wanted to like hear the confirmation from my mom like I say and they're like, "No." My mom tells this like, "Oh my gosh." It's definitely um interesting that people don't know about this stuff, but I know some of her siblings are still [laughter] asking question. she never got switched back. >> Um, and one of the reasons why I'm here so that she would like to become a teacher is that um, she has had some
012really great experiences in her life with teachers and educators. And one of the things that she wants to do is inspire others. And she felt that during her adolescence years that she always wanted to pretend to play school. Um, but I can see it as well in her students that the >> [applause] >> And last but not least, Mr. Christian Yu. So Christian is um teaching six and seven, not six, seven. [laughter] And interesting story, last year I walked down to the lunchroom and in our lunchroom as a substitute teacher. So fifth hour thing, he got time. So he was down in our lunchroom and I introduced myself and I said who I was. He's like, "Oh, hey." He's like, "I'm here today." And he goes, "Do you happen to have any science openings? I'm
013going in science." I said, "I do not." However, I said, "We actually have a teacher going on maternity leave in about two weeks that happens to be science. Would you be interested in a long-term sub position?" He's like, "I would." So Christian subbed for us last year in science. When he finished that, he then rolled right into longterm sub position in English and then at the end of the year we had an English and a science opening and so he just fit right into one of our science positions. So he's been around but this is his first official year in Vittburg with us as a teacher. So we are super excited to have Christian. So again this is his first year. Um he is coming to us. He grew up in Portland and um he
014graduated from Wala University and I remember talking that he went to. But um >> no, um some of the things that he likes to do outside of school is hiking with his wife and dogs and playing some video games. And um what is it that you like best about? >> Um I love the really like strong community vibes I get here. Um, everyone kind of knows everybody and it's a little scary, but it's mostly really cool and everyone's super nice and super welcoming. As soon as I came in, I just knew I needed to fight my way here. I needed to stay. >> One other conversation I've ever had to do anything. I just want to be here. I just feel like I'm supposed to be here. that day it was like someone for science
015long term. Um but again with with Christian he said the reason why he became a teacher was to be part of a bigger cause than himself and I see this every day with him. He took over our club and so he you know works with kids on Mondays after school for a couple hours or they have a club um last year before he was again even officially hired. He was being with students after school to help them with homework. He was he came in and helped out high school summer schools. Um just really involved the >> [applause] >> Well, thank you, Allison. Now, I'm going to turn it over to high school principal, Mr. Bar. >> I got to go second this year because following the chamber singers is rough. rough. >> So, good evening.
016Tonight, we are proud to welcome the newest members of the VHS team, and I feel like we really knocked it out of the park this year. Each of them brings valuable skills, meaningful experiences, and a genuine commitment to supporting our students. Please give them a warm welcome as they share a little bit about themselves. Matt Bomb. So, this is Mr. Bomb. He is our engineering and robotics teacher. He's a graduate of WMU and he also served as our robotics coach in the middle school and high school for the past 10 years. An interesting fact about him is he's blown up toilet paper. My dad did I blew up a roll of toilet paper in an improvised munition course. I came here from public safety. I followed a non-traditional path to Vixsburg High School. Uh as
017he said about 11 years ago, I started coaching robotics. I was for the crime lab at the time. My path didn't end there. I went on to work for a morg. So handling high school students is pretty easy. [laughter] My favorite thing about Vixsburg is, you know, for the last five or six years, I've been, you know, thinking what would help the robotics program here in Vixsburg. What they really need is somebody in that high school. And I would always point over to high school. We just really need somebody in that high school. And I obviously never dreamed it would be me because you need to be a teacher to be in the high school. I never knew there was another path to becoming a teacher. So, I'm really excited to be here. [applause] >>
018So, Mrs. Hecker is new, but not new to the high school. She um graduated from Western Michigan with a bachelor's degree in strategic communications. After working as an event planner, she decided to go back to school to getting her teaching. We were fortunate enough to have her as a student teacher last year and then when we had the opening for our English position, she applied for it and got the position. So, it's kind of like it's your second year here at Vick High School. How is it? being a teacher as compared to a student teacher last year. >> Um, a lot more relationship with the kids. I get to interact with so many more kids now. Um, and they're I'm teaching much younger grades. Um, and so they're very much up my business which is
019wonderful and they really are the best. >> Um, you also enjoy, you know, summer and winter. You talk about the summer you like to kayak and boat. In the winter you like to So, you're loving this weather right now? >> Yes, we're getting used to it later. >> We'll be good. >> What do you like best about Lakesburg High School? >> Um, honestly, again, the kids, um, they're a really great group. Um, they brighten my day in every single way. Um, but also just the consistent support, um, that I get from everyone in the building, my department, really great, especially >> [applause] >> So, we had huge shoes to fill when we lost Coach Phelis and um we were lucky enough to hire Coach Magcguire as our strength coach. Um he's also a varsity football
020coach here at the high school. He put in all caps he's a proud graduate of Central Michigan University. all the time. Um, had a great football season. What was most memorable about your football season this fall? >> Um, it's kind of the same thing that kind of led me towards Vick. I grew up in a small town, Martin, and I worked in a couple big districts. Um, and then so after we won the regional game out in Portland, we came back and fire trucks met us coming into town. led us through town um to a crowd of people downtown come out of the establishments and were uh cheering us on and then a huge crowd back to the high school and I vividly remember um something like that when I was in high school on
021a bus and so it just that was the most memorable thing so far kind of the reason that I wanted to come to a place like that that really strong sense of community. So, an interesting fact about him, he brushes his teeth in the shower and hates birthday cake. He looked at me when Neo was talking like mine's not nearly as interesting. [laughter] I thought that what do you like best about teaching in our weight room and teaching because you have both of my kids who couldn't be any different, you know, which has to just be fun. >> Um, yeah, it's great. That's one of the the best parts about being in the weight room setting is, you know, we get a lot of like the football team and other kids were really involved in
022athletics, but then we get other kids who kind of could care less about participating in an athletic arena. But um just to see kind of the same figure that they they attack it with assign the same value to it and just the amount of confidence that I see in young people, you know, it feels good to feel strong. [applause] So Natalie is our K12 special ed coordinator. She graduated with her bachelor's and master's degree from Cornerstone University. Something interesting about her is her first teaching job was in Las Vegas. So, what brought you from cornerstone all the way out to Las Vegas? >> Yeah, I guess I was just young. [laughter] I had no children. I was excited for the adventure. So, sold everything, packed up. Before that, I was working um in like sales
023and I was a technical writer, but my heart and my passion was in education. So, um yeah, gave it all up, took a trip. It was a good experience. Not regret. And now you're back in Western Michigan at high school and middle school. What do you like best about working for community school? >> Um I definitely love the community, the teachers, the community that I work with. Um there have been um great welcoming people. Like I feel like um being a new person in the district is not always easy. That's sometimes um but I feel like everybody's been very open and very welcoming. I love the strong collaboration that we have in our district and the plans and the things in place for um strong teamwork to happen. >> [applause] >> So, Mrs. Rickers teaches
024personal finance, family living, and nutrition. And above that, she's now taking on a new class. She's going to pilot interior design >> for next semester. She got her bachelor's and master's degree from Western Michigan University. >> Interesting fact, she loves the beach in summer. So, how's this winter treat? [laughter] >> And she has two different colored eyes. Looking at it right now. She wrote thatum. What are you most looking forward to when you teach this new class? Because you taught this at your old district. So, um, when we were hiring, she had mentioned wanting to teach new electives at the high school. This is great. And so, tell us what got you so excited about teaching interior design. >> Um, I'm super excited about it because I love doing it myself. I We're on our
025fifth house right now and I just like the creative side of it. I do have a creative side myself and I love seeing the creativity, especially those that don't think they have it. So, super fun when they get these projects and really dive in some sort of design creativity and just pulling that out of them and realizing that they do have that is super fun. >> Awesome. >> Um, what do you like best about working at high school? >> Um, let's see. Honestly, for me, um, I came from a small district as well and I am so impressed with the support mostly from the staff. Um, instructional coaching is amazing. I can't how wonderful it is. Even though this is my teaching um and honestly the kids, they give me so much energy and even
026if I'm having a rough day, I can just put that aside because they just make me feel so good and they are I'm really impressed with the high school and how these students behave and handle themselves. So, I feel very [applause] >> Thank you, Mr. Brush. All right, up next, uh, Indian Lake. I'm gonna introduce Principal Valia. >> Hi. Short and sweet this time. This is Eric Be. He is our second grade teacher this year. Um, Eric grew up in Vixsburg, so he's probably a familiar face to a lot of you. He actually went to Indian Lake as a kid. Um joined by his older sister, Amber, who is a first grade teacher at Indian Lake now. >> Um and of course they were raised by two wonderful parents. We see them dropping things off
027at school quite a bit. Jenny and Pat. So we're I shout out to Jenny and Pat. They raised a couple of great kids who are now raising a lot more great kids. I really like um and he has a a 2-year-old mini golden doodle. who also makes her way to India sometimes sometimes once in a while too. >> Um Eric graduated from Alabet Nazarene University in Illinois. He majored in elementary education. Um and stayed in that area for about a year and a half working as a resident director of the university and a third through fifth grade special teacher at a neighboring high school. Um, but he had also completed BF at Lake when he was in high school or sorry, Sunset Lake when he was in high school with um, Betsy Brain and Shel.
028So, um, I was so thrilled when Amber said he might be coming back back to the area and I couldn't wait to get him, you know, back in our doors. He worked for um, some part-time building for us for a little bit and then we made last year and the second grade position opened up this year. We were so thrilled to have him. I I actually can't imagine anything like without Eric now. He brings a lot of joy to him to to the building and um such a positive strong influence for our our students too. So Eric, would you please share a little bit about what you love so much about school? >> Um I mean when I was a kid, I love having those adults that saw you more as a person, as a
029student. They build relationships with you. So being part of that and be able to be that adult kids and then just the family that we have in Vixsburg especially at Indian like you can go to any of the teachers there like your personal problem or a work problem they just support [applause] >> thank you Sarah All right up next Sunset Lake and Principal >> Macau We have five. And I know Adam said they knocked it out of the park, but I don't know. >> Yeah, we all win. It's a win. That's what we do at Fixster, right? Okay. So, I am super thrilled to introduce Emma Ston. She is a kindergarten teacher at Sunset Lake. This is her first full-time gig, I guess, teaching job, but she actually is not new to V to Sunset
030Lake. She did her internship after graduating well last year at Western Michigan was her um college and she did her internship with Sarah Phillips and uh Sarah was determined that there's got to be a way to expertise Emma in the district and so things worked out. We were able to do some interviews and Emma just just really has been such a joy to have she comes from Gold Lake School. high school and actually once at some time and when I actually saw some goal friends this past week they were so excited when they found out that kindergarten teacher with us. Um Emma with her family highlights she has three younger siblings that she really has spent so much time being that big sister that they look up to. So she loves being that role model
031for them. She has a significant other of seven years. I still see her strong and so that's part of her personal joy that she has in her life. And um as far as like what's your favorite part of being >> um really just seeing how everybody shows up for everybody. I'm seeing the way that the families have showed up for sunset and how all the staff doesn't just show up for each other but for the students. I just really can see that everywhere that I've been so far. It's been such a joy to have with three veterans, but it's so fun to have somebody with new energy and new ideas bring it to the more veteran team. So, the way they collaborate already is super exciting. And I know that we're going to have Emma
032for many, many years. So, I'm super excited to introduce tonight. [applause] We're gonna go for fourth grade. Sabrina, come on. All right. Next, Sabrina Fall is our fourth grade teacher. Okay. Sabrina Fall is our fourth grade teacher. She was actually our late hire as well. Um, Sabrina, we had a late retirement come in. And so, Sabrina is also not new to Sunset Lake. She did an inter she did a pre-intership last fall with Kelly Sanchez. And then, uh, so excited that Sunset that we are able to keep her internship the second semester. So she was a third grade intern through Western Michigan last year with um Kelly Sanchez. So she spent a whole year at Sun Lake. Then you know we're looking at different things and her degree at Western was early childhood development. And
033so when we were looking at fourth grade it was kind of some tricky things but we worked some things out for her to get in a fourth grade classroom. And so she has many of her students that she taught last year are in her class this year and it's been such a great and even those that aren't in her class. Like she knew that that third grade so she knows them now. Fourth graders. It's been fantastic. Um she is um one of the like like I guess mas of the fourth grade team I think I would say. Um Sabrina shares you know her she was later in life when she decided to go back for she didn't know that she could do but she did. >> Um I also remember last year when we had
034family night of their engagement. Her whole family showed up and she was in an internship and I was like, "Oh, this is like a good sign." Really great to see. Um her her family, as I already mentioned, she has three wonderful children. Her and her husband have been um very close together watching them growers um do that with them. And then I want you to share what has been your favorite part. >> So same as everybody has been saying, which obviously has to be truth, you guys are very good at welcoming new people into your community. You guys are very helpful. Um I see it all the time that it's not just about the students that year. It's about that student effort continuing to grow each year. And I love that about Vixsburg. It's not
035just one and done. We want to continuously do what's best for all of these children. And that's what what brought me to Vixsburg in general. I wanted to um Lucas, one of my colleagues, when a fifth grade spot opens up, he said, "You have to apply. You want to be in this district. This is a district that you can grow with. You are perfect for it." And that's exactly I love Florida and welcome to [applause] Speaking of Lucas. Lucas fifth grade. Yeah, thanks for the introduction. [laughter] >> Okay, fun fact about Lucas. He interviewed for the fifth grade teaching position with 28 fifth graders on what? May 28th in the afternoon hot afternoon. We put him in, we asked him because he did such a great job. The first round we called back, we called
036back a couple for a second round, but the second round was live and in place. We gave him a standard. We gave him You're going to be teaching fifth grade and And then he had all of us watching him. Uh again, it was in the afternoon of a hot day in May. All the kids are checked out. He was so great. >> I knew I knew one of the students and that was it. >> Was able to just draw them in. He really brought up that that lesson. It was quite impressive. So, Western Michigan grad. >> Okay. And he also worked with Curious Kids for a while before and after school programs. and he worked his internship was at play. >> Yes. So he didn't with us but he did a great job here. A
037little bit about the family. His mom has been a teacher for 30 years in Portage and very well known. In fact several people on staff found out who mom and cat >> and then can you share this for all of us? What has been your favorite part about school? >> Yeah. So I mean I'm going to sound a little bit like a broken record to what everybody else has been But the community is absolutely amazing. Um, being someone who did not have the chance to have their internship in Vixsburg schools is a little bit nerve-wracking. Going into a new district as a first year teacher, but um, my fifth grade team and everyone at Sunset has been so supportive and has helped make this year as flawless and as um, easy as it could possibly
038be for someone who's coming into a new position and is getting a bunch of kids who I have never seen before. everyone else had a wealth of knowledge of them. So, they've been super helpful in making it super easy and the families are great for them like that. So, yeah. >> Thank you, Lucas. [applause] Mackenzie. So, you've noticed a kind of a theme. We have a lot of new new and so McKenzie is very new to teaching. However, not new to Vixsburg. She was a for many years and she had such a passion for art and a passion for kids she decided to to plunge go right in and she went through the program of teachers of tomorrow and so she is she actually >> I'm still working on >> almost she almost got done
039so with you know some of the different programs that you can get certified um it's a big commitment because she is working full-time she's learning so much but she is committed to doing all the course work as well on top of that and so she also you know, hey McKenzie, as you welcome into art. We also have a student that got a curiosity grant. Could you take an art club and start that? So, she's just been super passionate about that. Her um her bachelor was at Central Michigan. So, that was early childhood development. And what was the other thing I wanted to make sure that I shared? So, she has two children that are Vixburg students. One Evelyn is a sophomore at the high school and Elliot is seventh grader at the middle school. And
040when um I guess I'm going to let you one of your favorite parts about working now in this new capacity. So, I've subbed and I care, but this is a whole new adventure and I'm extremely blessed to have K through five students, all of them come into my classroom for an hour each week and um I'm just blessed that I get to teach art to these beautiful students and they have become my favorite artist. It is so fun to watch them learn and grow and they're excited and that's what's fun about They're very excited to get out of the classroom and learn something new. And most of them excel at art. There's no wrong answer to art. So, I'm blessed to be able to bring that to their lives. Welcome again. [applause] Last but not
041least, we have Lydia Ringer. Now, she does come with some experience. She had quite a bit of experience. The interesting thing about Lydia, she is our multilanguage teacher. She's also our computer specialist. Last year when Dale we were talking about this role because these are the needs that we had. I kind of was like with this person falling from the cloud where are we going to get a person that has ELLL engineer special Lydia fell from the cloud. She happened to be subbing in our building one day started talking to her. She has experience working with migrant students. She had experience working with some inner city students and we're like oh let's talk some more. Um so she has how many years was it that you had teaching? So this is 11 years. 11 years.
042Okay. So, 10 years teaching prior and she came from she her degree is at science Ohio. >> Okay. Science University. And she has her daughter Lily who is at first grade and her and her husband moved from Ohio up to Michigan. And so we're so glad that she did at the timing that she did and it's been wonderful. And um I guess I guess I'll ask you same question. What has been one of your favorite things about working here? So I really like the everybody else has said, but more specifically the generosity within the community. So in a lot of schools, the resources that we have for kids in need aren't necessarily already in place and they are here and I think that speaks to our efforts of meeting the needs of a child versus
043just teaching kids and that's that's very impactful in the long run and I really I really appreciate that. >> Welcome [applause] Thank you, Amy. Uh, last but not least, uh, Toby principal, Mr. Digger, uh, with the new Toby teachers and Mr. O'Neal. I'm going to invite Abby Brahman first. We're going to put them in alphabetical order instead of choosing, but uh, Abby attended Portage Public Schools as as she uh, grew up and graduated from Western university in 2012 and completed her student teaching actually at Toby with Kathy Holiday. So, um it was quite the reunion when she came back and interviewed with us. Um she didn't choose the traditional path of going right into uh education right away. She actually uh went into the corporate sector for her first 14 years. Um and her background
044was uh electronic medical records and She was an executive uh assistant and trained people in behavioral and mental health. And then um a little bit about her and her family. Um she married her high school sweetheart. She has three beautiful children, Thomas, Vivian, and Ty. And her family, she's very involved in their church and in their activities as well as soccer and dance. And um just happy to be able to share a little bit about her favorite part of being back with the Toby community and as a whole. >> Um so kind of just reiterating what everyone else said about community and the smallness of togetherness of um Vixsburg and where I came from Portage. It's not necessarily the same setting. It's much larger. I am really into alliteration with my last name being promin.
045and I'm teaching fifth graders. So, first day of school, it just kind of clicked and came to me on the spot. I'm like, I need an attention getter. I'm not doing a hand clap or anything like that. And it just came to me like literally as these students are in front of me. I said, I'm going to say fantastic. You say fifth graders. And it stuck. And I just kind of write it on all of our things where they're from and fantastic fifth graders. So, um I've really enjoyed my time being back and Hope to stick around for a long time. Thanks for having me. [applause] >> Hoy, she a unique situation. We, as you know, had a kindergarten teacher go on a one-year medical leave. Um, and so the year had started and we
046were fortunate enough Brianna come our way um and brings a lot of experience. So let me tell you a little bit about um her background in education. She has a bachelor's degree from Michigan State uh in elementary education with a focus on language arts and a minor in teaching English to speakers of other languages. Um she got her mers from Western Government University in Christian instruction. and she taught fourth grade for two years um and third grade for five years at Fort Logan Northgate in Sheridan schools in Colorado. And then she taught third grade for one year at Centennial Academy of the Fine Arts uh in Littleton Public Schools, also in Colorado before moving her family uh back to Michigan. and her family includes her husband, Alex, her 2-year-old son, Lesie, and their 12-year-old black
047lab, Nick Porter. They've been super happy about the move back to Michigan to be closer to family and love all the family things that Southwest Michigan has to offer. And she said one of her favorite uh her son's favorite things is the Kazoo Air Zoo. But I'll let her tell a little bit about her favorite things about being a part of community schools. >> I guess the community um having an unconventional like start. Everybody has been so incredibly welcoming and helpful. Um, as you heard, I never talked to kindergarten before. So, everybody's just been like so kind and helpful, thank um, and just giving me really awesome praise. But purple, I also really love kids. Um, this is I'm sporting a really beautiful bracelet from one of my students. Um, they're just so kind and
048helpful as well. Today we taking our test and one of my kindergarters walks away from her. I love you. >> [applause] >> You can see that does bring a lot of energy for so live um this is actually her first teaching job and she is currently finishing her bachelor's degree. degree uh in special education with an endorsement in emotional impairments and learning disabilities along with her elementary education certificate from Western Michigan University. Um and she um completed her general education internship in third grade at Sunset Lake. And so um she was in the Vixsburg community and um she's really excited about being at Toby and we couldn't grful as well. Um, Liv was raised in a first responder household uh 30 minutes outside of Detroit in Trenton. Um, she grew up with her father being
049a firefighter and her mother being a 911 dispatcher and she is the oldest of four and currently lives with her boyfriend Dick, their dog Moose, and cat M. And I'd like her to just have the opportunity to tell what she's enjoying. about community schools. >> Um, well, I fell in love with it at Sunset. Um, and I think like personally the community has encouraged me so much to grow as a professional and the growth I've seen in myself within my students from the time I started last January to now is just incredible. Um, so that's been really encouraging and everyone's so welcoming and we all work together. You don't anyone that won't go above and beyond for anyone else. Wonderful. [applause] >> I do have one other teacher to recognize. She couldn't be here tonight.
050She had other obligations, but I'd still like to uh introduce her and honor her anyway. And that is Liz Bureer. and she is our um school counselor. And Liz received her bachelor's of science in psychology and minors in youth studies and family studies from Central Michigan University. Uh and she received her m I'm sorry, her mers of arts and counseling uh from Western Michigan University. So you can see she's a little confused, but at least she love her. Liz completed her hours of practicum. um from WU's onampus counseling clinic um and also at Flamewell High School. She comes from a family of educators. Her grandmother was a elementary music teacher. Her dad, which which I worked with and do know, was a physical education teacher and math interventionist and she has two aunts that are
051retired elementary teachers and several cousins that are teachers. Um so it's a passion of hers and and an follow in those footsteps. So, um yeah, we just want to welcome Liz Fisher as well. [applause] >> Well, thanks everyone. It's so exciting uh to see all the talent in this room. You guys are amazing and we're so happy you're with us. Uh I really appreciate that you came tonight and I I think I can speak for the board that uh they they really enjoy uh getting to know all our new staff. So, thank you for that. I'm going to rip through my report real quick, but there's some important dates, then we'll get you out of here. Okay. Uh, first and foremost, just talking about Lancing. Very quiet in Lancing. Um, nothing to report at this
052time. Uh, they're scheduled to adjourn next week for the holiday break. If anything comes up from now, till then, I'll certainly uh update the board. I think really important while everybody's here, I just wanted you to take a look at all the important dates coming up. Boy, do we have a lot of great things coming up to showcase students and our community. Starting tomorrow, uh the Vixsburg Middle School holiday band concert right here at 7:00 in the PAC. Then Wednesday, December 10th, uh we're going to have our first uh 2026 Bond Community Forum. That's going to be at 6 PM in the uh Vixsburg Middle School Library. And then on Thursday, we have the Vixsburg High School holiday band concert right here at 7. And then uh wait, I want to make sure that's correct.
053Sorry, dates are wrong. Uh next Tuesday, Mr. Morris is in the house. Uh Vixsburg Middle School and Vixsburg High School holiday choir concert at 7 o'clock right here in the PAC. And then on Wednesday, uh, Sunset Lake will be performing the fourth grade program. And then on Thursday, the Sunset Lake fifth grade program. So, we have lots of great ways for you to come on up and, uh, see our talented students on stage. And then officially, our holiday break will start Monday, December 22nd, and then school will resume on January 5th. And with that, that's my report. And I think we'll take a little break so everybody can head out. Thank you so much everyone uh for coming tonight. We really appreciate it. [applause] Oh, it was >> Thank you. Okay. >> Okay, we're ready
054to move forward here. Board members, we're gonna we're gonna the seating here for the next couple of presentations. We've got the u the audit presentations we're in and then we have Steve giving us a couple budget reports. So it' be easier for you to see the screen. >> Yeah, I'll just do a quick introduction. >> No. All right. Uh, pleased to introduce uh, Mike Foster and Jebidiah Pallet from uh, Plant Brand. They're here this evening to uh, give a quick uh, report on the district's audit for the year ended June 30th, 2025. and uh they've got a PowerPoint presentation and then uh board members obviously if you have questions feel free to ask them uh you can follow up with me separately how you want to do that. So with that I'll turn it over
055to Mike from plantar man and I'll flip the slides. >> Thank you. Good evening everyone. So as Steve mentioned we're here to talk about the results of the audit for the year ended June 30, 2025. There are three documents that are the official results of the audit. One is the financial report. So these are Vixsburg's dis Vixsburg Community Schools financial statements. You've engaged Plant Brand to uh render an opinion on that on those financial statements. We're issuing an unmodified opinion on the financial statements. That's the highest level of assurance that we as auditors can render on a set of financial statements. Uh, a couple of things in the financial report. There's a new accounting pronouncement that the district implemented this year that was required, Gazsby 101, related to compensated absences. It resulted at the governmentwide
056basis of about a $200,000 impact to your governmentwide net assets. So, in the grand scheme, relatively insignificant, but that was one of the big changes for this year. The next document, interestingly for us, is still in draft. So the federal awards audit is required because of the amount of funding that the district receives. The rules that we have to follow come from the federal government. They tell us here's what's important related to the federal grants. Here's what you should be testing. They tell us on an annual basis. They adjust those slightly from year to year. This year, they didn't tell us the final rules until November 28th, 2025. So, after the end of the fiscal year about a week ago, they finally told us the rules. They had given us a draft, so we kind
057of knew what was going to happen, but for the entire audit process, we were operating with a draft compliance supplement. That's now finalized. We're in the process of finalizing the federal awards audit. Nothing is going to change in the federal awards audit. There weren't any surprises in the final compliance supplement. So, it's a more of an administrative process to get that finalized. And so, we'll do that over the next few days. We did test the child nutrition cluster, kind of the food service program is what we tested this year. Uh we're happy to report no findings in the child nutrition cluster and we're issuing an unmodified opinion as it relates to compliance over the food service program. The last document is the report to the board of education more commonly known as the management letter.
058So this letter really has three different um categories sections included in it. One is a summary of the audit results. There are a bunch of things that we're required to talk to the board about in writing. In general, the audit went pretty much as planned. No significant adjustments, no significant issues encountered during the audit. We do have one recommendation in the in the report to the board related to food service. So the the state of Michigan has come out and said if you've got a lot of fund balance in your food service program, you need to spend that money. You can't continue to have a large fund balance in the food service program. Vixsburg falls under the category of having a fund balance which is larger than the Department of Ed thinks is appropriate. And
059so we've put in a recommendation in here similar to what the department of ed is telling Vixsburg and other districts that you need to come up with a plan to spend down those dollars. And I assume that within the budget and in planning you will get that taken care of. Finally, there are a number offormational items in this letter. Things that we think are important to the board to know about what's going on at the federal level, what's going on at the state level. I know Keven does a great job of keeping you all up to date on that, but we pulled together a some items that we've included. Any questions on that? That was kind of a qualitative summary of the audit. Jeb's going to walk us through the rest of the graphs and
060we'll talk more about the quantitative side of the audit. We're going to focus most of our presentation on the general fund. That's where most of the dollars are happening within the district on a day-to-day basis. Again, if you have questions as we go through the graphs, please don't hesitate to >> How how do you pick which cluster to focus on? >> So, there is a process that we have to go through of testing the big grants on at least every three-year basis. And so, it's often a rotating schedule of the grants that we pick. For a number of years, we were picking the education stabilization grants, the ESSER dollars. Those were identified as high risk by the federal government. And so if you had a lot of ESR dollars, which just about every district did,
061we were testing those. Now we're kind of past that. And this year, um, the food service child nutrition cluster was what was selected. Thank you. >> Sure, Jeff. Hi everyone, my name is Jeff. I'm the engagement manager. Um, Mike's the engagement partner, so I was a little bit more involved in the dayto-day working closely with Steve's team throughout the portion of the audit. So, I had a chance to work closely with Steve and his team, and they did a fantastic job. And my job tonight is kind of run you through the numbers and try and give you a little bit of sense of what the financial outlook looked like for fiscal year ending 630 2025. So, Steve, go ahead and go to the slide if you can. So, this this first slide's more more soformational
062and this is really what um Mike just went through at length. So, there's nothing really new to present on here. Um key takeaways were the basic financial statement, the single audit report that he talked about that's in draft form. And then we also have the required communications under AU260 which was that letter that he discussed at the end of um his presentation there. So nothing really new on that slide. Uh Steve, sorry once again I'm going to get you to go to the next slide. So this is where I really come in. As Mike mentioned, I'm here to talk predominantly about the general fund. That's the main operating fund of the school districts amongst all the other school districts in Michigan. Um I'm going to do my best to keep this high level. I'll give
063you a little bit of a rundown on what what each slide represents and then obviously if you do have questions feel free to to let us know. Uh this first slide is going through the general funds balance sheet. When we're looking at balance sheet we look at two main categories. It's going to be the assets and the liabilities. So total assets were approximately $14.3 million. This is for again for fiscal year I mean 630 2025. That was a 5 72,000 decrease from prior year and that primarily related to a decrease in cash and investments and receivables. Cash and investments and receivables make up almost all of the assets on the balance sheet. Um, and the receivables piece of the assets is mostly related to the July and August state aid that the school district receives.
064Total liabilities were approximately 4.8 million. That's a decrease of approximately 829,000 from the prior year. This is mainly attributable to the acred payroll for the teachers receiving July and August pay. Steve feel free to go to the next slide. >> So when we talk about revenue, one of the main drivers of revenue is the blended pupil count. So this slide pretty much goes through the five-year trend of what we're seeing with the blended pupil count pupil count. Vixsburg. Um from 24 2024 to 2025 uh there was a 68 student decrease at Vixsburg schools. Um it is important to note that the pupil the blended pupil count is the primary driver of state aid. So what I just alluded to with receivables, this all kind of ties into it, which is why we're going through this
065slide. The foundation allowance per pupil for the current year was $9,68 and that actually remained unchanged from 2024. Go ahead, Steve. Now I'm going to go into the general fund revenue. So the income that was sourced to the school district in the current year and we also did include 2024 just as a comparison. So you'll see that total revenue increase by approximately $363,000 from 2024. That's approximately a 1% increase. Uh state sources increased approximately 665,000. The federal sources were actually down $659,000 this year. That is due to the ESSER funding uh that had been completely spent down as of 9:30 2024. So this is a common trend that we're seeing across all our school districts that funding has effectively been spent down. So there's been a general trend of decrease in federal sources for 2025.
066Next slide. So now I'm going to go a little bit into the expenditures. So this is general fund expenditures by function and this is ultimately a representation of what the dollars were spent on within the school district during the fiscal year. The expenditures increased by approximately $1.6 million in the current year. That's approximately a 4% increase. 56% of the expenditures are related to instruction and 37% of the expenditures are related to support services. So we we generally like to refer to these as people costs. Um this is really the instructors, the support staff that are involved with the school district. So to see that up in the 80% range is pretty consistent in what we're seeing with um our school districts. Next slide. >> Yep. Next slide. On this slide specifically um what we're essentially
067doing is we are comparing the percentages that you saw on the previous slide to what we would identify as class one schools. So class one schools are anywhere from 2500 to 2,999 pupils. And the pie chart to the right actually represents uh data from 2024. So it's not a perfect comparison. You're looking at 2025 percentages to what the state average was for class one schools in the prior year. But the main point of this slide is you can see that they're relatively consistent. When we get to the the data from next year, you'll obviously see that there we will have the 2025 statistics in there. But the main the main point that we're getting at is you can see the percentages are pretty consistent with other schools. Now, in contrast, this slide really focuses on
068where the money was spent. So, it's general uh general fund expenditures by object is what we like to refer to it as. And the key takeaway on this slide is that salary and wages make up 81%. So, that's kind of what I was alluding to on the previous slide. um very consistent with with prior year because it was uh 82% in the previous year. Other categories of capital outlay and supplies you can also see remains relatively consistent prior year as well. This next slide goes through a breakdown of the per pupil healthcare costs. Um, so from 2023 to 2024, we saw a $481,000 increase. That's about 15.2%. And in 2024 to 2025, we saw a $189,000 increase, which is about 5.17%. This ultimately equates to, and you can see up there, um, $1,53 of health
069care costs per pupil. On the next slide, we're going to do something similar, but we're going to focus on retirement costs. So, in 2023 to 2024, there was a 747,000 increase of, and that's approximately 17%. And from 2024 to 2025, there was a $362,000 increase, which is about 7%. This equates to, as you can see, $2,119 per pupil. Um, thing we like to note is these retirement costs do exclude what's referred to as 147 C1 and C2 retire retirement costs and these are these are ultimately covered under 147C funding that is received as part of the school district state aid but then it is immediately remitted to the OS to help cover the retirement costs so this does exclude those costs that I just mentioned this amount in 2025 was 2.2 2 million. Last year
070it was 3.1 million. >> Yeah. I think the key takeaway about the retirement cost are this rates determined at the state level by the state pension plan. You don't really have a opportunity to set what that retirement rate is. And so your ability to control some of these costs, you don't have the direct ability to do that. Quick, sorry, quick question. >> Sure. >> And not as part of the audit, but maybe this is something Steve you do. >> Does anybody project try to project in the future 5 to 10 years around healthcare and retirement just from a planning perspective or >> well consulting side? >> Yeah, the retirement system, you know, there's a wealth of uh actuarial data and studies and projections related to the uh retirement plan. Um, you know, and I it's
071something we could set up time to talk about separately, but you know, what we're finally starting to see is, you know, the the actual rate start to level off and come down a little bit. >> Setting 147 C aside. So, I mean, we are seeing that that, you know, this year we actually saw the rate come down. And that's the first time we've had any kind of reduction in the rate in I mean, since I've been here. I mean when I started you know or when I was auditing I mean the rate was around 12%. I mean it was in the single digits and it was kind of getting to 12 and you know now you know for last year like the average rate was around 31%. >> Now I think if you look at
072it this year I think our average rates are going to be about 28%. So on the health care um you know we try we see our costs go up pretty significantly. There's a few things to that. Um >> same for that's why I was like >> how do we I mean we're starting to project it's you you don't know but you just know it keeps going up and it's like how does itffect the underlying financials >> and that's there's a that's a longer discussion topic and we've done a lot there to uh try to keep those costs down particularly for our staff. That's one of the things that it's part of the compensation package and it helps us to be attractive and to >> um but it's you know that's one that's you know we're
073there's a lot of moving parts there. The state has a cap on how much we can pay. Um and a few years ago when we saw that larger increase um we had through collective bargaining gone from like 90 or 95% of the hard cap allowance to 100%. Uh so we saw our costs go up. We knew that would happen. But one other thing that we've seen is you know we've seen the participation with our health plans go up. you know, we have more we have fewer people taking cash in le of insurance than we used to. Um, so it there's a lot of parts to that that it's definitely a challenge that we have to keep. Moving on, obviously there we have more opportunities to look at plan designs and that type of thing. But
074in education, I mean, that's a >> those are long discussions. Those are not >> easy to just you can't just arbitrarily make those changes. Thanks. >> I think the other thing that the other thing that impacts the retirement rate is the state pension plan has a bunch of assets that are invested. If their investments do well, that helps mitigate some of the increase in the rate and that has happened over the last several years. Stock market has done well, their investments have done well. That's helped mitigate what might have been larger increases in that rate. All right. So, >> which is are we on this one? >> Yes. >> So, it's this one. So, um we we talked about revenue, we talked about expenditures. Really, what ends up happening at the end of the day
075is you compare those two and you end up getting to a net change in the fund balance. That ultimately is what drives the cumulative fund balance that you're going to see on this slide here. So, it goes back the last couple fiscal years. Um, you will see an upward trend and that is pretty consistent about uh across what we're seeing with other Michigan school districts. Um, the increase in the current year was $258,000. So, that's $258,000 revenue over expenditures. Um, leaving you at a $9.5 million fund balance at the end of fiscal year 2025. >> Do they Is there a cap on that where >> there is not >> like that you said you know with our food balance the cafeteria >> there is not a cap on fund balance on on the upper level
076there is evaluation done if your fund balance gets lower if your fund balance gets to 5% or less of your expenditures then you you would go under state monitoring so for Vixsburg if your expend revenue revenue is say $40 million, 5% of that would be $2 million. If your fund balance went under the $2 million threshold, then you would go under evaluation by the state. It's illegal for the general fund to have a negative fund balance. So that would be something else. That'd be kind of the next threshold on >> okay >> the bottom side. But going up there is not a limit. So it's a matter of evaluating at the district at the board level what your resources are and how you want to spend those in the current year versus long term and
077I think that's the process the board and Steve and your team would go through on an annual basis is figuring out is there something longterm you want to plan for and accumulate fund balance one of the things Jeff mentioned is you get paid two months in a rears by the state so you have two months of your state aid at the end of your fiscal year that you haven't gotten paid for. And so a lot of our districts are accumulating fund balance because if you don't have enough fund balance, then you have to go borrow to meet cash flow, to meet payroll during the those months when you're not getting paid currently. >> Yeah, I know there was a lot of question about this year's budget being so late. >> Yes, we didn't have to
078worry about that. Okay. And then the last slide uh this is a metric that we use as a measurement against the general fund balance. So it's fund balance as a percentage of expenditures. So in the uh fund balance as a percentage of expenditures was 24.47. Um, we've historically seen over the last four or five fiscal years that trending upward did plateau a little bit this year, but that again is pretty consistent with what we're seeing with state averages. Um, for example, in 2024, Vixsburg was at 24.8%. Uh, the state average was 26%. So, it's staying relatively close to what we're seeing as a state average for for other school districts. Um, and we would expect a relatively similar trend moving forward as well, whether that continues to gradually increase. But >> yeah, I think what
079we were seeing the last few years is again we talked about the esser co dollars districts took advantage of that and one of the results was a growing fund balance is kind of the trend we're seeing across the state. Again, now that those dollars have run out, we're interested to see what happens to districts fund balances going forward. We're seeing a lot of districts budgeting this year and next year for expenditures being greater than revenues, a deficit in in essence a deficit and a decrease in fund balance. And so Vixsburg's fortunate to have a fund balance where you have that if you could sustain a few years of expenditures being greater than revenue before you'd have to do something cutting programs or anything like that >> because we're going to have a little draw down,
080right? Isn't that >> that we're expected to this year and I I think that's going to happen again. >> Yep. Okay, so my last slide is just a conclusion slide. Um, like I said, this this is actually my first opportunity to work on Vixsburg this year. I had a chance to work closely, as I said, with Steve. I actually had an opportunity also talk with Keven. So, it was it was very welcoming to have you guys help us through the audit this year. Um, Steve was was great to work with and his team as well, Rebecca and everybody else as part of his team. But I don't know, Mike, if there's anything that you want to add. >> Nope. just like to thank you for the opportunity and again if there are any questions or
081if anything comes up afterwards if you're going through the document you say I have a question about something you've got our contact info please don't hesitate to reach out we'd be happy to try and help typical I mean this is a multiple years now that we've had an audit like this where there's been no findings and you know good recognition from your >> how How bruid is that across the the schools that you evaluate? >> It varies pretty widely. We have some districts that are fortunate. I mean, you're really fortunate to have two CPAs on your in your business office. A lot of our clients aren't as fortunate and so they really the audit process is a little more ownorous to those districts. So, we do have districts where we have findings on an annual
082basis and they're similar findings year-over-year and so and we have compliance findings. So, it it varies really depending upon district by district. >> Well, we appreciate all you're doing, Steve. >> Oh, well, they mentioned we're back. I mean, it's a huge team effort and I can't say enough about our team and it's getting stronger all the time. So, and I sincerely appreciate Jeb and Mike and the rest of the team. It's an intensive process and there's always something new. Gatsby 101 was new and that was Yeah, that took a while. So, I appreciate your patience on all that. I mean, I beat the federal government so that's good. like um we don't get to, you know, like the budget. We have to do that stuff on time, you know, um we don't have the discretion
083to not get it done. So, but um it's a it's an important thing. It's, you know, it's it's really we take it very seriously. It's a lot of money and we um value the oversight and uh the work that you guys do. I think one thing I didn't mention that I want to mention, there was some talk about planning for a future bond issue. One of the things that we do on an annual basis is look at your bond expenditures for current projects and make sure that they're in compliance with what the bond language said, how those dollars were supposed to be spent, and the state laws that govern those dollars. And we're happy to report that all of the expenditures that we looked at were in compliance with the rules and regulations that govern
084those dollars. >> That's all we have. Thank you. We appreciate it. [applause] >> Steve, do you have a couple reports? Do you are you presenting on the screen? >> No, I'm not gonna I wasn't going to put them on the screen. >> Okay. >> Which Yeah, if you guys are okay with that. Excellent. Thank you. Appcate. >> Yes. All right. And now I think we'll move on to budget. Give me a second. >> All right. A few things to go through very quickly. Um you guys have a great night >> and u so I'll go through the monthly budget progress report for the general fund to start. Um I'll go through this pretty quickly. Um this includes activity uh through the end of November. So our first five months of the fiscal year. Just want
085to blow this up a little bit. Um looking at the on the revenue side um you see that we've uh taken in u substantial amount of our local revenues. Of course those are primarily property taxes and so we've completed the summer levy on there. Uh state revenue includes the October and uh November state aid payments. And then finally other revenue 85300 that primarily revenue through kesa for shared programming um special ed primarily and then also the enhancement. All right. So revenue on a year-to- date basis just over 9 million.3.4% of the original projection. On the expenditure side, uh instructional expenditures came in just over 6 million or uh just under 27% of the estimated budget for the year. on support services. You see that total support services came in 5,84,914 not quite 34% of the
086budget for the year. Athletics came in at 317 726 community services at 266 578. And so you can see total expenditures year to date 11,670 595. And we talked about uh the auditors talked about fund balance a little bit uh and borrowing and you can see that you know just on a year-to- date basis because of that lag in the state aid that as of right now just looking at the current year revenue revenues and expenditures we spent not quite 2.7 million more than we've taken in. I do expect there to be a draw down to fund equity this year. Uh but this we are kind of fairly close to a low point just based on the timing of when we make payroll and other expenditures and when our revenue comes in. So it'll get
087better but this I think this kind of highlights the importance of maintaining adequate reserves. All right. Second page of the report um similar to how they presented um this is general fund expenditures year to date by object code. So compensation is obviously um majority of our general fund dollars. So year to date we're at 9,118,74. Um purchase services just over 1.4 million supplies 98,000 capital outlay under 000 and then other expenditures 75 685. So there's that total expenditure number again. Uh 11.7 million. Are there questions on that? Okay. Uh if not then I'll switch over to our schedule of investments. So these are um all the cash investments uh other than checking accounts uh that the district holds uh or held as of September or November 30th. This is very similar to prior months where
088um they are these are organized by the different funds within the school district. And uh I'll just point out that uh we had a total investment balance of 11.6 million of that. You can see that um a large portion of it uh is attributable to the 2022 and the 2024 building and site funds. And then in debt service, we currently have just over 2 million. Um and then the general fund, we're at 4,246,000. Down below that, there is a summary of investment income. And I'll point out, you might have noticed this, and we've been talking about it. Rates are coming down. Um, and so you can see now we are, I think this is the first month we've dipped below 4% in quite a while. So I hate to see it, but uh, it's happening
089and I think it's going to continue to happen. We may have another interest rate cut this month, which that's this week or next week. I think it's this week, but um, we'll see on that. But uh you know those these are consider them money market funds. So they are short-term rates. So when the Fed reduces rates that has a quick impact on these types of investments. All right. Any questions on this? Okay. If not then that will conclude um those two items on the report. And then the next two items we um have reached tentative agreements with uh two of our um bargaining groups uh VESPA. VESPA includes uh bus drivers, custodians, uh mechanics, food service and building administrative assistants. Um we [clears throat] have It's a fairly straightforward agreement. Um, and what we have
090in there is just they're just the summaries. Um, and so for both, well, I'll start with we increased u hourly wage rates by 5%. Uh, which is a pretty decent increase. Uh, and of course we try to do that uh whenever we can. and a lot of our support staff are, you know, these are um not really highpaying jobs. And so it's, you know, and yet they're important. We have to be able to uh have a full roster of bus drivers, for instance, and every other position. But, you know, bus drivers, that's one that I think we all see occasionally where, you know, districts aren't uh able to keep that pipeline full. That affects programs, affects to open. So, >> you know, it's um we it's a decent size increase, but I think it's appropriate.
091Um in addition to that, um the 5% there is u some money in the school aid budget that specifically geared towards um school employee compensation. And so, uh, in our case, the estimate for the allocation for this year is about 370,000. Um, and you know, that's a one-year grant. Uh, there's no assurance that that gets rolled into future funding next year. So, we're careful to not add that directly to the wage scale because once we do that, you know that that becomes the new base and you're going to pay that every year. So, you'll see that both the FESA and the BPA agreements, uh there's a proposed $1,000 off schedule payment, um which is is pretty meaningful, uh and it, you know, we I think it makes a difference for our staff, uh but with
092without creating that long-term continuing burden on cost if we don't know where the funding is going to be. Right. So that's the VESba agreement and the BPA agreement which is our pair of professionals. Um it's essentially a very similar arrangement. We agreed to increase their scale by 5%. Um they are also eligible for the $1,000 one time. Are there any questions on those? If not, then I think that will conclude my report. Thanks, Steve. Next section of the meeting, we move into public comment. So, our meetings of the board are open to the public. It's time for the board to conduct business of the governing school system in a public arena. It's not intended for this meeting uh with the public to be ongoing dialogue. Staff members may follow up with you regarding issues raised
093during comment time. Please exercise the quorum and respect laws regulating privacy and defamation. Please do not refer to students name by name. Uh speakers limits are three minutes and got three individuals I'd like to address the board. Start with John Steers. Right. Yeah. As good as I can. >> Yeah. >> Is there a lecture or anything? use for my paper or do I have to Should I go up here or >> you like me to talk like right here? >> That's fine. We I can move that back for you, John. >> Yeah, >> that's not okay. >> I think so. I'm going to start three minutes now because we don't have any kind of thing to call for years. The mic issue has been an issue for all. Obviously, you don't want to fix it
094for us to hear people that are talking. We could I could hear anybody up there. So, obviously, it's not anything that anybody cares about. The failure to post the meeting minutes. I got two things in my mailbox today of about meeting minutes that should have been posted a long time ago, about a month ago. They just magically appeared in my mailbox today. We can't teach our kids this. I have the same problem in my township and it's BS in the Hamptons all the time in the minutes where we get an idea of these special meeting minutes or whatever. All it is is we're going into close session. We're not going to tell you why. If we've got the right to go into close session, we're going into close session. Also, in our meeting minutes, it
095has audience. What we said audience, two members of the audience address the board. That doesn't really tell anybody much anything. happened at that meeting because not anything that we want to teach our kids about how they conduct meeting or how we should conduct meetings in the first place. And you know that we've been over this how many times over the years. This gentleman, thank you for being here. And it's not anything personal, but I got one more thing for this meeting's minute. Tonight we have just a total line out of all of the electronic data processing disaster recovery plan. Nothing about what you're going to do. We're just going to line out the whole thing and just forget about it. That's what I I supposed to come here and talk to you about. You're just
096going to go ahead and eliminate something. You're going to replace it with anything? Evidently not. When Mr. Gowski resigned from the board, evidently that's It was about a month and three days before we had a meeting that said, "Oh, okay." Uh, M. Mr. Hot Fedler and Burn Bernmeister voted no. And Mr. Streamer suggested that we look at the top candies and possibly send out another set of questions. After discussing top candies, will we make a motion to nominate number 22 for second? Vote pass 42 said no. Nothing about why they said no. I'm gonna assume because we never had a chance to know any of the candidates. Nothing against you or anything. Didn't have a chance to have them come here. That is do we teach our kids that crap so that we can just
097go ahead. Nothing against you, but we should be have all those candidates here. If you're going to pick them, that's fine. But by gosh, we need to hear whether they are candidates we want on this board. That's about it. That's about all the time I have. I do not believe and electing people that we all of a sudden they just show up here and all said, "Okay, this is our new trustee." When we elect these every one of you on this board, thank you very much. Thank you, John. Ki Carmen Hi, my name is Carrie Garvin. Um, I have a fifth grader at elementary and seventh grader. Um, there was a lot of talk tonight about community positivity here. Um, and that's precisely why we moved our family years ago. Um, We've had an overall
098positive experience with the school system. Um, however, there was an incident that happened in Toby in October that does have a serious concern. Um, the student brought live school and that was what was there. Understand obviously, but to hear from a fifth grader threat was made against one of his friends um was very concerning to us and the fact that that was not included in that communication um it was not transparent and certainly doesn't build trust with parents with community um so we would call for better transparency last address the boards. Hello board and community. Um it's wonderful to recognize all the new beginnings tonight with our new staff and I'd also like to say welcome. Thank you to Mr. Hillard for being willing to serum now in my role as VBA president I'd like
099to to share some examples of Vixsburg excellence and achievement. These are stories of our members going above and beyond for our students. So, here's one. Amy Sum Manley, our high school and middle school librarian, has started a get caught reading prize for high school students. This is meant to encourage a love of reading in students. So, teachers catch a student reading in their free time, give them a little slip, and the slip can be entered into a weekly drawing for a prize and a big drink. Um, Patty Heitzman just recently this last week had uh two shows of Penguins Save Christmas for the second and third graders, all of them at Toby and Indian Lake Elementary. And the show was adorable. Uh we just finished callback auditions today for our musical for 42nd Street. That's
100our high school show this year, which will open in March. And I'm pleased to say I think we're going to have another very, very talented cast. Kelly McDonald organized in the seal committee to host a resiliency tree for the whole school to put their challenges on and the tree is there to represent the students ability to power through tough things and keep their roots sturdy in the ground. That's the metaphor. Uh Alli Landers did a great job with the food drive and this was our most successful one yet. We also got a lot of support from Mr. Brush and uh and from the district uh district Y. This was the most successful one yet and uh it was huge and we all know this is the time in the community to really use uh really
101use help in that way. Um on a personal note, I'd like to thank you for the invitation to come and have chamber singers sing for you tonight. Uh I've been here for 20 years now and I've always been thankful for the support that shows the fine arts. It's always been a nice place to be and to be involved in uh this community and making music with these wonderful kids. Thank you Ke for mentioning all the concerts that are coming up and I'd love to encourage you to come to the middle school high school show on Tuesday. Of course I'm biased but Lisa was asking earlier you know well just to give you a quick heads up you'll hear seven different choirs sixth grade seventh grade eighth grade and four high school groups. And that is
102Tuesday the 16th and it's free admission at 7 p.m. right on that stage. So we love to see you as always. Thank you very much. >> Thank you. >> All right. We have a few board actions to vote on here. We got the approval of the following board minutes. U board is good with it. I'd like to do all three. the 1110, the 1117 special meeting, and the 117 work session all at the same time. All in favor? >> Then we approve to accept student enrollment through section 105C of public act 94 for the second semester of the 2526 school year. All in >> favor? All right. Support. >> All in favor? >> I want to go back. [laughter] >> Anyone want to put forth the motion for the meeting minutes? >> I will. >>
103All right. >> Again, all in favor. Uh, let's see. We got approval to ratify tenative labor agreement between the board of education for Vixsburg Community Schools and the VAPA for the 2526 school year. This is a roll call vote. >> Move approval. >> Thank you. Lucas second. Lucas. >> Lisa. >> Yes. >> Tina. >> Yes. >> Rick. >> Yes. And yes. approval to ratify the tenative labor agreement between the board of education, Vixsburg Community Schools, and the VESPA for the 2526 school year. Again, this will be a roll call vote. I have a motion. So, move Rick and Lisa. Lucasain. >> Lisa, >> yes. >> Dina, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. And yes. And then we have a second reading approval of the following policies. Policy 2210, 2412, and 5120. Have a motion to
104policy 7540-2 and 7541. Approval. support and Rick and this is roll call as well. Lucas, yes. Lisa, >> yes. >> Tina, >> yes. >> Rick, >> yes. And yes. And with that we are >> journ. Thanks for everything.