001calling our candidate interviews back into session, please. It is 8:45 p.m. And on behalf of Wayne Westland Community Schools, I would like to welcome Dr. Katherine CS back for the second interview for the excuse me, for the position of superintendent. Dr. CS is interim superintendent of Wayne Westland Community Schools. I will take just a moment to describe our format. The interview may take up to 75 minutes. It will begin with the presentation on the topic provided by the board. Following your presentation, there will be 14 questions. Toward the end of the interview, time permitting, we will give you an opportunity to ask questions of the board and make closing remarks. We will indicate if time is becoming an issue and there is a need to pick up the pace of your responses. Again, for those
002present for the interview, we welcome and encourage your feedback. Rather than making public comments about our candidates, we ask that you use the QR code provided for this purpose. Although the task of choosing our next superintendent is the responsibility of the board of education, as the elected representatives of our community, we value and seriously consider the input of our stakeholders in the process. Dr. Cross, you may begin with your presentation on the following topic. How will you grow the district with a focus on full utilization of the career tech center? Uh first of all uh thank you to all seven of you for this opportunity to come back and return and share more information with you. Um I am very grateful and humbled um to the large community gathering here. Thank you for coming because
003this process is so important and your involvement means a lot to all of us who are are here tonight. So um as president May said uh all three candidates were given the same homework assignment. So this weekend um I did some thinking about this and uh the topic was she said was growing Wayne Wesland Community Schools through career connected learning which I thought was a wonderful topic. I however um thought about we have 500 students at our CTC program that means we also have 9,000 students in our other capacities be it prek all the way through 12th grade. So when I approached this question, I was looking at not only CTC but also all of our other programs. And I think it's important because we absolutely can leverage the career tech center as the driver
004of increasing student enrollment, student achievement, financial stability, as well as our community trust. So, you're going to keep hearing about those four topics because that's what I thought about in terms of growth. Um, I picked this picture. This was in a kindergarten classroom and um I believe it was Hamilton. What struck me about this is we're starting with our younger learners, our kindergarten students. We have them for 13 years. So, we're looking at programming from not only kindergarten, but then all the way up through 12th grade. And the growth we have to focus on is it's intentional, it's strategic and absolutely student centered. So let's talk about why we want to leverage the career tech center. The bond in 2018 afforded us the chance to renovate and bring wonderful technology there. It is one of
005our most valuable assets. It has high student engagement, great retention. It attracts new students to the program from not only Wayne but also John Glenn as well as schools of choice and it gives us the ability to develop partnerships with our local businesses and industries. So I was really excited when I saw this topic because of the um the expansion that we can go. So growth in these four areas gives us an opportunity to increase acade academic proficiency, enrollment, fund balance, and to build our community trust. So if we touch on those four areas, my vision is that Wayne Westland will be the district of choice for future ready learning in western Wayne County. And this is going to be the case for of course our career focused learning but also for traditional hybrid and
006virtual learning. And if we complete that vision that means every student in our district will have a pathway. We'll have excellence in high quality and engaging opportunities for our students and families will know what we have to offer. So the four areas, the first was student achievement, growing student achievement. This is identified in our strategic plan with a strong focus on quality tier one instruction. Multi-tiered systems of support, meaning what happens if students need more time, need more instruction, need different instruction. How do we wrap around them to make sure they're hitting their growth and proficiency targets? We also want to drastically decrease our chronic absenteeism. By focusing on these areas in our strategic plan, it will mean we will have increased student achievement. Students will have a sense of belonging and self-confidence and a
007consistent access to highquality instruction each and every day because they're coming, they're attending. So that's the first goal. The second goal is um increasing our enrollment. So I'm going to start with our programs at CTC. I think it's important that we align these programs with the current labor markets. For example, auto mechanics right now um are in such high demand. They're earning60 to 80 dollar coming out of a program like our CTC program. Uh, we want to be able to add certifications for students, meaning they can take more than one at a time. Um, I would like to co-design expanded programs with our industry partners that are local here. I checked out Kalamazoo's um, uh, career tech school. It's brand new. They created it with a bond of $86 million. And some programming they had
008that is high demand right now includes aviation technology, computer networking. You can imagine businesses that start that need to be able to have their techs out in the field talk to the people back in the office or if they're working remotely, they all have to be able to access their own company's network. conservation biology is huge, especially with um renewable or reusable resources and veterin veterinary science. Um at the meet and greet, I um happened to be talking to an instructor at CTC who expressed wanting to create a drone class. we have drone certifications in our firefighting and then our um EMT, but he gave me the idea that maybe we need to just separate that and create just drone asis and I thought that was really intriguing. So, um uh thank you Mr. Si.
009The the meet and greets work um expanding uh these programs. We might not. We might run out of room. We have room in Wayne Memorial. We're utilizing three classes in John Glenn right now. Could we expand the footprint of CTC? There is an expansion grant through MDE that we could certainly look at how we could create new opportunities for our students. So, if we do this, we are going to make our CTC program a regional destination, if you will. It'll become a hub of not just our community but neighboring communities. It's going to attract students. It's going to um have evening programming. Think about that. Where a student maybe who's in a traditional course or in virtual programming during the day could come at night and pick up more certifications. adults. The board and I
010have had conversations about adults being able to come and utilize that space. That's very powerful. Um I also think about our younger learners. Karen um with the STEM program has students coming in over the summer doing exploratory work. We could offer summer camps. We could offer middle school interest programs. And again, that would create a pipeline for when students become high school age and could be taking some of the certifications. But I want to market this as our flagship program. Market it not only to our district but also neighboring programs and involve not only our current students but potentially community members as well. So that's how I would increase enrollment in CTC. If I'm looking at our traditional hybrid and virtual learning environments, how would we increase enrollment there? I think it's super important that
011we maintain strong programming with our fine arts, our AP classes, we offerings, both hybrid and virtual, and our free athletic programs. We absolutely have to continue our strong mental health support for our families. If we are going to educate our students, they have to be able to be safe and supported. That's got to be a must. We also have to meet families where they are. If we don't remove the barriers that are blocking their students achievements, then we're not fulfilling what we need to do. So if we do all those things, I see our enrollment increasing. I see higher attendance rates and strong gains in our academic achievement. Aggressive marketing and branding is a part of this. Um we need to be able to tell our story and I'd like to do this through student
012success models. Um, I I became aware of a young man who he um graduated with an auto certification but went to college on the evenings and weekends. He was working at a car dealership earning $65 an hour. That's how he paid for his college education. And those are the success stories we need to build upon. Um, I'd like to have experience it tours where families can come in and see students working, come in in the evening, see the wonderful um, opportunities as well as outreach to those who we know might be going to other places. So, that's how we would grow. The result of that growth would create financial stability not just for CTC but also our district. My vision is to absolutely have a fund balance over 20%. And what will that allow us
013to do? It will allow us to continue to pay our staff well and retain them. It'll let us create a high impact curriculum for all of our students and afford each campus modern and well equipped That's exciting to be able to do. >> Yes, it is. >> So, the last goal I had by growing CTC as well as our district was increasing community trust. And I'd like to do that with strong two-way face-to-face communication. Jen Curry when she was here had great results with going to the community, going to community centers, she brought dinner, uh she brought guest speakers to get input, what's working, what's not working, what are some great opportunities we can connect your students with. Um we can tell our stories about the academic, social, and emotional support we have for their
014children. And uh another way is to connect with local businesses and employers so that they know where our students are going to be coming from, what skills they need. Um I think about Kuanas, I think about Rotary, I think about um Leavonia Westland Chamber of Commerce. That's just the beginning. So that we can develop partnerships for our CT students, CTC students and others. Um, a result of getting more community trust is that we're going to have more Wayne Westland parents send their students to us, their children to us. And as I said, our CTC program will become a hub within our community. I believe it was um Mr. Ambrose who said if you measure something what really changes is if you report out on those measurements. So it's important to me to say if we're
015making a difference or not. If we go out in the community how do we know we're making a difference? Um if we're marketing how do we know if it's working? So, what I would measure and report back to you on would be our CTC enrollment growth as well as the number of industry certifications that were earned. Then, as far as achievement, we'd want to measure our performance on state and local assessments. And I am big on proficiency, not just growth. Um, we would look at our overall district enrollment, our fund balance, and if families and students know what we have to offer. Something I have I have experienced in my time here is being able to go from school to school to school and see the wonderful things that are happening in our classrooms, in
016our hallways, even in our lunches. And I want to tell that story. So in doing so, I sincerely believe that we can lead this region. I want people statewide to know about Wayne Westland and what we are doing because we're going to create a relevant, rigorous, and connected to the realworld experience for our young people. We're going to fully utilize the Career Tech Center. And we're not going to just grow enrollment. My vision is that we're going to grow opportunities for each and every student. >> Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Cos. You have about 59 minutes to start the 14 questions. All right. And so the first question, since deciding to become a candidate and participating in the search process, what has reinforced your aspiration to be the superintendent of Wayne Westland Community Schools? The
017building tours were phenomenal. Um I I really enjoyed them being studentled. Um in some cases the principles just turned me loose with the students and um they inside and out knew their stuff. They really did. Uh it was it was very apparent that they had a lot of student pride. Um that they had uh studied and done their homework. Uh one one one young man met me at the door and opened the door for me which I thought was lovely. So when I went on those student tours I saw high levels of engagement. I saw clean schools. I saw leaders who were active in providing educational leadership. I saw parents who were being helped. I saw people food. I got a chicken sandwich. Um, I I made a comment to the food service staff how
018how good lunch smelled. And maybe I'm not supposed to say I was given a free chicken sandwich. I probably should have paid for it. >> We won't tell anyone what. >> Okay. Um, and and she just said, "You've had a long morning. Here you go." Um, and and the it's just a community that surrounds every student with love. And I so believe that that I can make a difference in putting all these pieces of our puzzle together and moving us forward and I'm excited to do that. >> Thank you. >> Good evening, Dr. Cau. How would you ensure that our district's spending is aligned with our priorities? Oh, that's going to be so important. Um, so I go back I go back to our strategic plan. That's what drives our daily work. And our checkbook
019has to look like that is where we're spending our money. I'll give you an example. In your personal life, your visa bill statement should reflect your priorities. you know, if you're going to a gym, if you're going to, I don't know, healthy stores, if you're going to um small businesses. Um so, so your checkbook or your visa bill should re like reflect what your priorities are. Um it, you know, if you're trying to be healthy, it shouldn't be fast food. It shouldn't be stops at 7-Eleven. Uh so again, aligning priorities with expenses, no different than our school's budget of $144 million. Are we aligning what we need with what our most important work is? So here's an example. Um we have hired um additional bus drivers and aids so that we make sure we do
020not have canceled routes to school. that was a priority of the board and I am happy to say that we are cancelling 93% less routes than we did a year ago. So that's an example of spending where priorities are and and that has to drive every decision. >> Mr. C. >> Good evening Dr. Cost. My question is, how do you expect the advent of artificial intelligence to change classroom instruction and student learning and what actions should our district take now to prepare? >> So, I was on a lunchtime seminar with our superintendent association just yesterday talking about this or listening. Um, it wasn't very back and forth. Uh so I'm constantly trying to learn how these tools will impact our students and our teachers. Um AI is here to stay. As much as you don't
021want it, I liken it to um like when we all got email, there was some apprehension on teachers behalf of is this going to mean more work? And it wasn't. It actually made better. um parents could contact them on their time. Teachers could contact parents on their time. Now students even have emails. Um we don't have as many people at parent teacher conferences because they have that information readily available. So AI I believe is here to stay. Our challenge is how do we teach our children to use it in an effective as well as an ethical way. um and what are some ways they need to do that and what are some ways they don't need to do that. So uh I will give you an example. Um we are looking at many platforms that
022deliver AI. Uh Mr. BB and Dr. Jefferson have convened the AI task force. So it has teachers, it has administrators, students and they are looking at what platform is best. Is it Gemini? Is it chat GBT? There's some others that are school centered. Um there are guard rails for students meaning you can't say create a compare and contrast essay about blah blah blah. It the these will not do that. And so the guard rails are so students can perhaps get an outline but then create their own draft. Um it talked about the importance the task group is uh talking about the importance of how teachers can see student progress incrementally. So, for example, if you're assigning uh a research paper, being able to see drafts of it so that it's not just thrown into chatb
023GPT the night before and spit out so teachers can uh work with students as as they are developing it. Um the guard rails include letting students use AI but in safe as well as ethical and practical ways. And that's going to be important as they go to college. My children are in college. Their professors say, "We run your work through a an AI detector." And and so they know if that's authentic work or not. So, those are some of the things we're looking at bringing into our district by the fall of next year so we can make sure students are um able to use this wonderful tool, teachers are able to use this wonderful tool, but in the appropriate ways. >> Thank you, Dr. Weaver. >> Thank you. Good evening, Dr. Cost. What would be
024your top three priorities for our district over the next 12 months? And how would you assess your progress on achieving these priorities? So, last time I was here, uh, I dropped off my 90day plan. So, I think you said a year if I'm not mistaken, right? So I just want to talk about the first 30, 60, and 90 days because that's going to carry us into the end of that answer. So the first 30 days, which if I am chosen on April 7th, day one is April 8th. That's when I begin. I roll up my shirt sleeves and and look at developing relationships with with you, with teachers, with administrators, anybody who will sit down and talk to me and and the the focus questions are going to be what do we do well? What
025do we need to improve upon? How do you see that work being done? And what are the next big things ahead? So, it's going to be very important that I really take time to listen and learn from those many constituents. Um, I would go to Jenny's parent advisory meeting. I would uh go to student council meetings. I would go to PTO meetings and really collect this information. So, that's month one. That would be April. May um I would start looking at data which is perfect because that's when our schools start reporting out on their strategic plan data for the year as well as celebrating it. So it's perfect because they're collecting it and that would give me a chance to look and see where did we move forward, where did we not hit the mark.
026Then that would allow me to in the in June start looking at with school leaders with leaders here in central office. What are our goals for next year? What resources do we need? Juel's going to be developing her budget. And so that goes back to the budget question about aligning our budget to our most important work and getting a sense of the direction for the next school year. And that would take me then to the next nine months when school would start. We would monitor pro um progress with our district school improvement teams as well as our um if we're monitoring um absenteeism. We have a team who's monitoring that. Uh we have um groups that are working on on things like common assessments. We would need to implement them. I was learning that the
027high school has developed such good common assessments. We may no longer be asking students to take the NWA which is a celebration because it means that our own assessments will tell us much more than a standardized test will. So, it's going to be looking at data cycles. It's going to be continuous improvement. It's going to be board workshops with all of you. How is our budget? How is our enrollment? How are our programs? What do we need to do to move forward? >> Dr. costs. How do you think various stakeholders such as parents, staff members, and community members should be involved in our planning process and in setting direction for the district? Um what is is what made me kind of think when you were talking is that we have just released our um parent
028and student uh surveys that we do for the school improvement process. That's part of the um that's a stipulation that we we do. So we do it every year. Those surveys were just released. There's QR codes in every school. So, when I was doing my my school tours yesterday, I saw the QR codes that families can scan right on the spot and provide feedback. Um, so when I think about all of those stakeholders, they all need a voice at the table to tell us what we're doing well, what we need to change, and how we need to do that work. Um, I'll give you an example. Uh uh and this is going to go to something as as as minute as what we offer in food service. We thought we were hitting the target. It
029turns out as a result of those surveys, we found out we weren't hitting the target. And I don't know, when I'm in in the cafeterias, I I say, "What's the best part of your day?" And they're like, "Lunch, of course." Uh even high school kids. Um uh and that is a a place where it might seem kind of mundane to you or me, but that's that's really important if you're a student and that you have halal food if you are are needing that as a requirement or you have um gluten-free or vegan, what is it they need? And so by getting some input and that's was from students, we found out we weren't hitting the mark. Um, in some parent surveys, we find things like, um, start times, end times. It's hard to get my
030child from a middle school to and then drop off an elementary school student. So, we adjusted start times to accommodate families. So, it's things like that that help us make it better for the consumer, give them a voice in our planning. Um, I would, for example, um, bring some of those things to the community forums that I envision having and talking not only to staff to get their feedback. Uh, food service I I don't remember if I mentioned this in this meeting or one of the other ones. I was at John Glenn and a food service employee kind of called me over and she said, "You're that person." >> Was it here that I told the story? >> Maybe not. Okay. You're that person. And I said, "Yes, my name is Katherine." She said, "Can
031you do something about the parking?" The students were parking in the food service employees parking, which made it hard for them to get in the door that was closest to the kitchen. So, I admittedly am not the person to solve that, but I certainly can get the right people on it. So, that's an example how even of just being visible and having an open door policy, staff will come to me and I can remove barriers for them. So, Thank you, >> Dr. Cost. Competition to traditional public schools in the form of school of choice, charter schools, private schools, and virtual programs has significantly increased. How, in your opinion, can we remain the district of choice for students and families within our district boundaries? >> Um, thank you for that question. Um, we we lost 300
032students this fall, which was like a a punch in the stomach. It surprised us all. Uh, so we started to dig deeper into why that happened. Um, so it it highlighted the trend you're talking about. 2,600 students who live in Wayne Westland choose to go to other schools, be it other communities, be it um charters, and that is a lot. 2,600. So, I started to rack my brain about how do we how do we bring them back? 200 students, and I think I said this in my other interview, 200 students attend a virtual program in Aendale. They leave our community. They have to go to Aenddale five times a year. Why are they going to Oakland County for this? And we offer the same virtual program. And my conclusion was they just don't know. And
033so I really believe that if we were to talk about free athletics K12, if we were to talk about virtual options we offer at WEIA, Chris's grown enrollment leaps and bounds. Um if we talked about our hybrid program, of course, CTC, our AP classes, our fine arts, um where else can a student want to like learn how to play trombone and not have to rent a trombone? We give them free instruments. Those are the things that set Wayne Wesland apart. I don't believe our families know enough about us to keep their students here. So, we have hired an advertising firm that is targeting families. A difference is that when they click on please send me more information, they are followed up with a phone call 24 hours later. We have made contact with 187 families
034in three weeks as a result of that marketing campaign today and we are going to run that through August. Um Michelle who is fantastic in our enrollment department is setting up tours for families. She is sending them information. She's setting up meetings with principles and just getting families aware of everything we have to offer. So that's something we're trying this year so that we can retain and bring back those 2600. >> Thank you Mitchell. >> Okay. Good evening again, Dr. Cross. My question is if if a serious safety incident happened at the school or at a school event, what would you do in the first 24 hours? Describe how you would keep students and staff safe. Work with the police and emergency reminders responders. Tell families and the public what they need to know and
035keep the school board informed while protecting privacy. >> I think every educator's worst nightmare is a school safety event. I I it it rocks it rocks us to the core to think something might happen in our hallways, in our cafeterias, in our classrooms. Where I find solace is the strong, proactive district safety team. They meet bi-weekly. They make sure schools are doing drills. They make sure doors are locked. They make sure AEDs have updated batteries equipment. Um members of this team range from communications to um to CIA to our buildings and grounds to transportation. Uh they make sure Alice drills are done on time. They make sure uh that fire extinguishers are are charged and ready to go. They operate on a proactive level. Um they also are um they take into account so the
036temple Israel Bethl the temple incident in um Bloomfield Hills where a car drove in. They will look at situations like that and say, "What happened if that were to occur at one of our schools? How would we respond?" Um, the SRO's are on this. This information is then sent out to school safety committees, which every school has one. And the result is that those proactive measures make sure that in the event like something like that happens that we are operating on all all cylinders, we will um automatically know where the first call goes to. How do we involve our SRO's? How do we involve police and fire? Um, they have uh badge entry to each of our schools. All of our schools doors are numbered. So, if there's a crisis, a kid can look and
037they're numbered inside and outside. So, a kid can look up and call 911 from their cell phone and say, "I'm at door six at this school." They instantly know how to respond. Um, keeping all of you updated, keeping parents updated. So something I learned when I was in we dot is an event can happen at one school but then I have to look at all the neighboring schools. So it might be an elementary school but if there's a middle school down the road I need to make sure those parents know and if there's another high school down the road the other way I need to make sure they know. So there's like there's a perimeter. Eventually everybody will know but who needs to know first? We're blessed to have a communications department which has templates
038and can get things by text, by email, so that you all know first, the rest of the staff know second, and then the rest of the district knows third. Parents are with the rest of the district because we need them to know their children are safe. We do evacuation drills in the event we need to move students from one site to another. parents will know where to come and pick up their children at the reunification point. We have hard copies of every emergency form, so if for whatever reason there's no internet, wherever that reunification site is, we know what parents to ask for ID to pick up that child. Um, I'm going to give you an example of why this is so important. At Roosevelt Elementary, there was a parent coming to pick up a
039child from Champions. The secretary happened to be there working late. The parent had just signed out the child and collapsed, was not breathing, and was turning blue. The staff at Champions did an outstanding job of making sure no child nearby knew what was going on, including the daughter. that staff um moved the children to a different area. Other staff members called 911. Another staff member called Sandy in the office. She runs down with the AED. There was no hesitation. She runs down with the AED. The champion staff member is performing CPR. EMS is rolling. Sandy starts getting the defiill rolling. End result, they ended up saving this woman's life. EMS came and continued to do CPR. They loaded her in the ambulance. She was awake and back alive. And that happened in the blink of
040an eye. And our staff responded because of the drills we do. Those are the proactive steps that I know make a difference. >> Thank you, Dr. C. Meaningful family engagement goes beyond announcements and newsletters. It requires intentional two-way communication that meets families where they are, reflects the diverse needs of the community, and is directly connected to improving student achievement, attendance, and school culture. As someone who has served this district at in an interim capacity, what specific steps have you already taken to build relationships with Wayne Westland families? And what does your concrete plan look like for ensuring that family engagement becomes a measurable and consistent driver of student outcomes? Not a broad initiative, but a targeted strategy that reaches the families who are hardest to reach. That's a really important question. Um, and I say
041that because we absolutely need our families to be engaged for the strength of this community, for having them come to our schools. That is one of the markers. Um so in my presentation I did today I used the words community trust and that was one of the very important four things that I would do in this this next 90 to 90 days a year that would be a strong focus 100%. Um and I see community trust and engagement kind of overlapping. So, uh, I mentioned going to where families are, community centers, um, maybe it's elementary athletics, meeting them there. Maybe it's, um, their place of worship. Maybe it's uh, the libraries. I will go where they are so that I can listen. I can develop a relationship. I would be the face of the district
042and I would be able to um connect them to resources or people that could help them. Um I talked about measuring and then reporting if this is working. So uh surveys are one way. Um another way is just how many people am I able to talk to? if uh if they're not showing up, I'm not at the right places. Uh communication is also a part of that engagement. Are people reading what I what I write? I'm uh I I told I think it was a group of staff members yesterday that um so every every two weeks I write a little column in learn, grow, and know which goes out to all our staff. Um, I have no idea if they read it, if they click on it, if they open it. I know one person
043did because I wrote about my son breaking his collarbone over the holiday break. And so when I was somewhere, a secretary said, "Oh, how was your son?" >> So I know one person read it. Um, but but we need mechanisms to know if I'm communicating, is it hitting the mark? Because if people aren't opening it, if we're not getting views, then I'm not going to the right places and I'm not getting the right engagement. Um, relationships are extremely important to me. I saw uh on a Facebook post a community member um who had put some information and was just not happy with what was happening, but the information was erroneous. So, I had Kim make an appointment with her and she came in to see me and I could present like what I know to
044be true. Um what was very positive about that is I believe it opened up our two-way communication which you mentioned and has allowed um continued dialogue to happen and I never want anybody disgruntled, mad, angry. I just don't and if I can diffuse that that's very important to me. Um we we worked with another parent, President May, and and she is getting the help she was seeking. So those are the good things that need to happen because it's our brand, it's our market and engagement is a huge part of that. Trust is a huge part of that. Relationships are and I believe that's going to be a big part of my work in the next year. >> Thank you. >> Okay. My question is when you have an administrative team that may have differences of
045opinions, how do you reconcile those differences and get everyone to move in the same direction? Um, so when I started here with my executive leadership team with the executive, they're not mine with the executive leadership team that's important to me. Um, I brought something called levels of decision- making. So one level is I make the decision. So think about if there's a fire, you pull the fire drill, right? Like the fire alarm. You don't gather everybody together and collaborate. You you act. So some decisions need to be just me due to the nature of them. Other decisions are I will decide with your input. Other decisions are a level three which is we all have the same vote. the five of us all have the same vote. We're going to collaborate and figure out how
046do we move forward. Um the next level of decision making is I trust them to make the decision. I don't need to be a part of it. Now why was that important? We were posting a position and we had a disagreement about where to bring that person in, what what level. And what's super important about making that decision is that you've got maybe 20 other employees that are in similar in a similar situation and you don't want to pay this person more and and negate all the hard work those other 20 are doing. You've got to see kind of where it fits. Well, we all did not dis we did not agree and I decided it was important for us as a team because we all represented different areas that we need to do that
047together. So that was a decision where we all had the same vote and that was important because that built us as a team. Um I think difference in opinions make us stronger and and I told them we are not always going to agree. There's going to be times where we're going to agree to disagree, but the conversation, the dialogue is what's going to make that ultimate decision stronger. So, differing opinions, I think, give us an opportunity to problem solve. Um, but there are times when I just I need to make the decision and and we move forward and we'll we'll do that. But they know ahead of time. So they don't walk into that thinking, "Oh, my voice is equal." And then I pull the rug out from underneath them. They know ahead of time
048what kind of decision this is. Thank you. >> Welcome. >> Dr. Cost, if you had only had to choose only one action or initiative that would improve the district's reputation, what would it be and how would you measure its impact? Just one. >> Can you read that question again? >> If you had to choose one action or initiative that would improve the district's reputation, what would it be and how would you measure its impact? Student involvement. Let me share some thinking. Our reputation happens when alumni leave. Our reputation happens when parents see their child engaged, when they see their child growing, learning, experiencing new things. Um, I was talking to a preschool mom picking up her son who said he was going to try te-ball. She knew nothing about T-ball, but she was ecstatic. Her
049son was going to try te-ball. Um so so when our students are involved with programs CTC, virtual, hybrid, band, arts, AP classes, when um they participate in athletics, they are engaged. They're part of the community. They're surrounded by great teachers, mentors, coaches, band directors, choir directors, great people. And so I know that if the students are engaged, that's going to trickle out to when they become alumni, when they're talking to their neighbor, you know, about uh a program they're in, when parents are talking at their place of worship about the basketball game they just saw their daughter play in. um uh or like the Hicks versus Hicks basketball game and how many cheerleaders were there. Those types of engagements are what's going to drive the reputation. I can measure that by knowing how many children
050are involved in all of those programs and if we're growing it or if it's stagnant or if there are some programs we need to stop offering and others we need to start. Dr. Weaver. >> Yes. >> Dr. Cost, how would you assess the effectiveness of our current strategic plan and what decisionmaking process would you use to make adjustments that approve outcomes, improve outcomes? So, this question is coming at a great time because we're kind of nearing the end of the year and uh matter of fact, our third quarter district strategic plan team meeting was just I it was either last week or the week before where we started looking at data from the from uh where we're getting schools from. Um it was data like where uh is our chronic absenteeism, where is um our
051student um growth with MTSS. I saw some terrific elementary data today. Matter of fact, that showed how many students in ELA are needing interventions. And I think it went from 80 last maybe last quarter. Now it's like 23, which is outstanding. That says we're hitting the mark in our classrooms. We're seeing students who don't need vast amounts of extra help. Um common assessment work, you know, is a goal of mine. Uh we're monitoring it. The teams uh were meeting just last week again. I believe those were high school teams. And that work is on target to be done. So, as a district, district-wide strategic planning team is looking at where we are. Are we hitting the mark? Chronic absenteeism, I will tell you, was a little disappointing. Um, we are not making a big dent
052in that. So, that caused us to ask questions as to why. And here's here's what we came up with. We're going to test it to see if that's the case in fourth quarter. um our chronic absenteeism is not going down but a wondering we have is if it's because more people are taking attendance. So if more people are taking attendance now we have more data >> and so um we we now are making so not everybody was taking attendance so we put a mechanism in place to make sure people are taking attendance. Well, they're taking attendance now and we're getting more data and we suspect that because we're paying attention to it and we're doing it more eth, you know, like not ethically, but more um across the board um that those numbers aren't where
053we would like them to be right now. So, I say this because in May we're going to have a celebration. Each district team is going to come and celebrate wins, which is so important that we not just look at data, but we celebrate where we move the needle forward. As a district, we're going to have a fourth quarter district improvement plan meeting and look at all the data together, which then will set the stage for creating next year's strategic plan targets. Thank you, >> Dr. Weaver. Oh, >> was that you, >> Dr. CS? Approximately 21% of Wayne Westland Community School students are served under individualized education programs and are legally entitled to at least a least restrictive environment. Meaning, many learn alongside their general education peers daily. As superintendent, how would you foster the shared
054understanding and staff support needed to ensure that all students with and without IEPs thrive in inclusive settings. We are we are blessed to have so many caring, talented, knowledgeable special ed teachers. Um they it is so I was at uh the senior center this afternoon um hearing third graders from Wildwood sing. What warmed my heart is it was all third graders. There were students who were wearing headphones likely because um loud noises bothered them. There were students who were stemming, meaning you know doing things with their hands. That was their coping mechanism while they were singing and in front of people. Um there was um uh a parapro next to a young lady who clearly was anxious and she was providing support. So I think about the blessing of this opportunity where all students of
055all abilities were able to get on the bus, go to the senior center and sing the songs. That to me is a great example of what least restrictive environment could be. Um that is absolutely the target. Sometimes it takes figuring out. We did not do a good job at the beginning of the year with a young man. He was five. And that's hard because when they come to us, it's hard to know their background. You know, was this a situation of um you know, the student uh wasn't very verbal? Why is it a hearing issue? Is it a lack of parallel conversation at home or wherever, you know, during the course of the first five years? Or is it a developmental issue? Or all three? And um it was very frustrating to the staff at
056that school because they suspected things. The push and pull is that to identify a child, testing has to be done, observations have to be done. And what's frustrating is the staff were raising their hands saying this is not right. This is not least restrictive for this young student. He was running. He was kicking, he was punching, he was hurting other students. And when that happens, we need to be able to react and as a team work with those educators to say, how do we provide the supports for that student? >> So ultimately, he was identified, >> but when they're five, it's hard because you don't know where they're coming from yet. Um, and we I don't think we hit the mark with that one. Uh we have just great resources with RHISA and our ACT
05718 programs service our most needy students and provide them opportunities. Um, I was at Stotlemire uh on my district tour yesterday and was in a classroom where um it was preschool students and then students who were in a special ed classroom were together getting life skills training from the Wildwood specials teachers. The Wildwood specials teachers come and deliver >> specials to to Stmemer students. It was so refreshing to see the GenEd and the special ed students together receiving the same instruction, doing the same activities, and that was a great case of least restrictive environment. So, we're we have a great special ed team. Sometimes we don't always get it right, but we're going to work hard to make sure we do. >> Thank you, >> Dr. Cost. How would you meet the needs of college
058readiness while also providing high quality relevant careerfocused opportunities for students? Um I that question's got so much potential. So of course the presentation focused on um on career focused. I would love to see that expanded to create some more high demand opportunities for students. Um and and we may be confined by space, but we have space. We just have to figure out how to use it. Um the teachers there absolutely love what they're doing. Josh uh gave me a tour of the program yesterday and um his students had developed an arm, a robotic arm to pick tomatoes and peppers. How cool is that? >> Um they have two green houses. So they're just they their creativity, their collaboration make that a right place to continue to bring new programming in and make new opportunities. And
059again, as I mentioned before, elementary students exposure, middle school students exposure to to build and create um a hub where even adults come. Um the dual enrollment opportunities that happen at WEIA are out of this world. Um well, I'm sorry, I misspoke. Early college is at WEIA. That's where students can go for five years and have an associates degree and a college diploma. What a great thing. And those students are engaged and excited to be a part of that. Dual enrollment happens at our comprehensive high schools, Wayne Memorial, John Glenn students. Um I had a young man when I was in we dot. He was a talented trumpet player. He had gone through all of our music classes, our music theory classes. So he went to Wayne State as a senior and played in their
060band. That resulted in him getting a full ride to Wayne State in their band program. He was just and and again, what a great thing. We kept him in our school, but then we're able to grow his talents through dual enrollment. Um that's exciting. Our AP classes offer children a chance to get college credit while they're in high school. Uh we have we have so many electives which warms my heart because sometimes students don't know what they're they're good at doing. >> Right. >> And by goodness you take an art class and all of a sudden you find out you have a talent or um you pick up an instrument you didn't know you could play. >> That's right. And uh I just I think we we just have something a pathway for everybody. Thank
061you. >> Thanks, Miss Mitchell. >> Yes. As superintendent, you may promote a open door culture. How do you balance being acceptable accessible to individual board members while maintaining the governance structure? I keep on switching this around. Why? Why honoring the governance structure that the board president is the primary lease on? So communication with all of you is very very important because if you don't have all the information you have, you cannot make good decisions when proposals come your way. Um, you also might hear things in the community that I don't hear. And it's important that that together we work as a team to be able to resolve some of those issues or support some of our families differently. Um, Miss Abney Mitchell, you sit on the discipline the hearing committee. So on Wednesdays, sometimes you'll
062stop by after and sometimes I'm there and sometimes I'm not. >> Correct. >> And uh I enjoy those little drop in conversations. Um I do quite a bit. Uh some of you were at Untappd and Uncorked and again I enjoy just those informal conversations. Uh I never want you to to feel as though I will not have the time because it's very important we work together as a team of eight and most importantly that you trust me in what I'm communicating what I'm doing and then vice versa. So um balancing the open door if I'm available I absolutely would love to say hi or hear you out. Um, uh, Shannon, you pop in sometimes to come and get tickets or other things. And it's it's it's great to see all of you because we need
063to feel the pulse of the district together to move it forward. So, I welcome that. >> Thank you. At this time, we would like to take a few minutes now to provide you with an opportunity, Dr. cost to ask any questions you might have for the board and or any closing remarks. Um, first of all, I have I have very much enjoyed going through this process. It's it's been one that's been very reflective for me. Um, a question that that I think I'd like to answer is, and this came up in some of the the staff and the administrative and um community presentations, was um how long I would stay. And my answer to that is as long as you will have me. The the life expectancy of a superintendent is between two and three
064years. And that's gone down quite a bit. Um, I would love to be here for three, five, seven, nine because what is rewarding to me is to see the fruits of my labors, to see the impact of that the decisions we're going to make are going to have. Uh, that's that's what drives me to want to be here. That's what drives me to make a difference to the teachers in our classrooms, to the custodians, to maintenance, to bus drivers, to food service. Let me take barriers away from them so they can do their jobs, which is going to translate to great experiences for our students. So, I give you my commitment and I would stay as long as you'll have me. Um, I respect the work we've done these nine months and some of it's
065been difficult. I think about the 31A decision about whether we accept those funds or not and having meetings with attorneys and wrestling what do we do when there really is no clear-cut good decision. And I feel as though we did good work together. I thought uh the process that we created um had a pos as positive as an outcome as we could have had and I look forward to doing more work like that with all of you in the the years to come. >> Thank you, Dr. CS. We sincerely appreciate your time and continued interest in being the next superintendent of Wayne Westland Community Schools. We plan to make our final determination on April 7th and we'll let you know of your of our decision immediately afterwards. Again, thank you so much for being here
066with us again this evening.