001Good evening. Calling the Wayne Westland Community School District Board of Education meeting to order at 6:30 p.m. I am going to ask that everyone please stand for the pledge. And I'm going to ask Dr. Weaver to lead us in the pledge, please. >> Do I do that on 78? I pledge algiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you so much. We are at 137.26. Roll call. Mrs. Hines, please. >> Mr. Andrews, >> present. Abby Mitchell >> present. >> Dr. Weaver >> present. Mr. Cox >> present. >> Mr. Rashawn >> present. >> 70. We have everyone here today. >> Awesome. Thank you. We are now at item 138.26 adjournment to a close
002session. I am looking for a motion. >> Motion to accept. >> Support. >> Thank you. Miss Tines, will you please call roll? >> We have Mr. Cox. >> Yes. >> Mr. Mr. Roshan, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, yes. Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Miss Abby Mitchell, >> yes. >> President May, >> yes. >> Motion carry. >> Thank you. We are to the close back into open session. >> Support. >> Mr. Ty, please call roll. >> Dr. Weaver. Dr. Weaver. >> Here. >> Mr. Cox, >> yes. >> Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Mr. Rashawn, >> yes. >> Miss Abby Mitchell, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, yes. President May, >> yes. Motion carries 70. >> Thank you. Good evening again. Welcome to those of you that were not here when we first
003started. Excited to have you with us this this evening. We are now at item 140.26 recognitions and presentations. Bless you. Um we have the districtwide communications marketing plan presentation with Mrs. Johnson. Thank you. >> Lions game made a clock. >> Dr. Weaver, I cut my presentation down. I cut about half the slides out when I realized my husband informed me that the Lions are on tonight. >> Let's not talk about your husband. Let's go. >> All right. >> No pressure. No pressure. Here we go. Okay. Thanks for questions. >> What did you say your husband's name was? What's that? >> I don't have to watch the Lions Gang to fourth quarter. What's your husband's name? >> My husband's name is Kelly. >> Okay. You see a doctor? >> Okay. So, the landscape of public education
004has changed. Um, back when probably, well, not this little one. Most of us went to school, it was just a foregoing thought that you went to the school in your neighborhood. That's what happened with public schools. That's all that was available. Now we know that we have charter schools, private schools, other public schools and homeschool options. And so we as public educators have had to realize that marketing matters. So we have to have a solid marketing plan. We have to have a solid communications plan. And I apologize, but I have the old eyes. So I will be referring to the closer version here. And what we do as part of marketing is we build our brand. I hope everybody in this room has heard great future start right here. That's our tagline. We use that
005a lot. We want people to know that. That's part of our branding. And the reason we do the marketing is because we value communication. We strive to have transparent and clear communication with our internal and our external stakeholders. So when we're communicating with our staff, with our students, with our families, and with our commu community members, we want to be clear. We want to be consistent, and we want to be transparent. That's how we build trust in the community. So busy. Sorry, I can't take that right now. And as we build that trust, we go to community engagement. And you're going to see later in the presentation something great that we have coming up for community engagement. It's giving the community the opportunity to get together to have that feeling, that neighborhood feeling that I
006belonged somewhere. I belong with someone. That's important too. That's important for them building trust in us as well. And then finally, the goal. We always say in marketing, you know, what is your call to action? So, obviously, our call to action is attracting and retaining our students because parents have a choice and we want them to choose Wayne Westland. And then the district marketing goals, as you can see, it's just to increase awareness, boost engagement, and then drive enhancement. And I put it like that as a circle is because it never stops. Our marketing goals never stop. And as you'll see, we have different campaigns at different times, and we're in different phases for different areas of the campaign cycle. So, I told you that marketing is important, but how do we market? Most of
007what we do is on our website, wwcsd.net for those of you who do not have it bookmarked. That's where all of our required information, our information that might be helpful, our hey, I don't know who to contact or what to do, where do I go? Our website is our first spot. And all of the marketing that we do create, we put our web address on there because if people aren't sure what to do or what question to have, we want to drive them to our website. Second most popular right now, love it or hate it, is social media. Um, I will tell you, as you can see the picture there, our most recent popular engagement was our employee of the year. We may have one sitting in the room over here. >> We may. Um,
008we get really good engagement from our parents. And in case you haven't figured it out, usually about half of our staff and our parents are on Facebook, the other half are on Instagram. Um, everybody's on YouTube, our kids are on Tik Tok. Great thing starting this year that we've started with our schools is our schools are starting to create their own Tik Tok channels. So, in addition to the district having a Tik Tok channel, our middle schools now have Tik Tok channels. and I'm working with Miss Dicklman at the STEM center and the STEM center is going to have its own Tik Tok channel. So, we're reaching out when we talk about our branding. It's not just district branding. We're trying to get each school in each department to also be marketing and branding themselves
009as well. Then, continuing down the list, we've got InTouch we use for phone calls and texts, and we try to save those for just those really important things. I really, really need parents attention. I need staff's attention. I need to tell you there's a snow day. I need to tell you that there's a half day. Class dojo is something that our elementary schools has been using for years and years and years. And we now introduced it this year, districtwide dojo. So, we're going to use it K through 12. Our middle schools have been trained and they're using it right now. And the goal is by next year to have our high schools have it so that as a parent they have one platform, one communication platform for all of their children's school. And it looks
010like a social media feed if any of you have dojo. So you're getting and you can instantly message your child's teacher, principal, or as the district person, I'm on there as well. So that's what we're looking at is really going to be our preferred communications tool for how we're pushing information out to our internal audience, our parents. Digital signage, if you've been in our schools, you see that we've got TV monitors all over and we've got streaming things on it. Our schools have access to twothirds of the screen. The district has access to one-third and we put important information. Right now we have bond information. And then this is not everything, but last not but not least that's on new this year is our district parent advisory team. I will start meeting with them in
011October. We just had um application period just closed. We have about 70 parents who are interested in being on our team districtwide. We're going to meet quarterly. The goal is to talk to them about things happening in the district, but then also to ask them their feedback, their input about what's happening in their school, in their community, what their thoughts are. Um, I got a little crazy at student achievement committee meeting this week and I pitched um, which two of our board members were there and liked it, that next year I'd also like to start a student advisory team because we have to get our kids input too. And when we're talking about marketing, our kids are a very valued voice and we want to make sure that we're including them as well. Okay, as
012I said, save something. What kind of information do we share? Our district programs, these are this is not a comprehensive list of our district programs, but these are the things that are some of our more popular or fastest growing programs. You see the career tech center there. So every student visits the career tech center when they are an eighth grader, then again when they are a 10th grader. So by the time it's time for them to schedule for high school, they've been there twice and they know what programs are available. I just want to read because I have some facts here. From the 202122 school year, we had 621 students at the Career Tech Center. This year so far, because we know kids still enroll, we have 969 students. So, we've grown over 300 students
013in those four years. We've been very strategic about how we are marketing that program. Now, it's important to market that internally as well as externally because our schools need to know that it's an option for our students and our parents need to know. The career tech center also brings in schools from across the district. So, we also market to them to let them know. And currently, we have 384 students from other districts coming to the career tech center. So that's something where we really focus on internal and external marketing. You'll see social media ads. You'll see some of you might have gotten emails. You'll see Tik Tok videos about it and that's really working. The other program I mean these are all working great. These are all amazing programs that we have is um our
014innovative academy. So, our online schooling, which now is 6th through 12th grade, continues to grow. And I just confirmed that with Miss Swanson because she's sitting over there in the corner. And she says that by second semester, they'll probably have 75 more students. We market that. We start in the spring marketing that, telling people, hey, if this is an option, if this is something you're interested in, they're hearing radio ads. They're getting targeted emails. We're sending postcards. We're letting our current staff know that we have online school in addition to the in-person hybrid options that we also have at the innovative academy. And then points of pride. I told you earlier stuff like employee of the year huge. Anything that we post. Um some of you might have seen last week we had a former
015way memorial graduate that was racing. she was running in Tokyo and she like made it to the world finals and she had her best ever uh score. So this is a class of 2017 graduate that is continuing to do amazing things. We share that because what do we say? Great future start right here. She started with cross country here in the district and now she's doing amazing things. And then the picture our second annual Halloween trunk or tree is happening. Our schools are starting to send this information out. I'm posting it on social media. We had about a thousand kids last year. We're anticipating we're going to have about the same. Wayne Memorial High School students contacted me this year and said, "We heard about your trunk or treat. We'd love to help. Can we
016please do a haunted house?" Absolutely. And when you think of that stuff, that's community engagement. That's building, you know, that's building our community. That's letting our kids have a voice. I showed them the space they have and they're going to run with it and do whatever they want. They know it's got to be kid-friendly. They're excited. All right. Recent marketing campaigns as you walk out and Mr. Cox, you already saw them as you walked in. We have a bond coming up in November. We've been working very hard recently to get the message out about that. You all are going to see within the next few days. If you live in the district, you're going to get a postcard. We have lawn signs out there right now. If you live in the district, please take one,
017two, three lawn signs to put out. We're going to have it on our signs. We're going to have social media. It's been in the school newsletters. It's in the district newsletter. That is something that we are marketing. We call it our internal and our external audience. Dr. Mr. Cost and Mr. Tokco are going to our employee groups. I'm sorry, our employee groups and they're talking to them to educate them about the bond because they know that people in the community are going to go to the people they know who work for the district. So, we're they may not live in the district, some of our employees, but they're learning about the bond so they can answer questions. And then our external audience, every voter in the district, we want to know about it. We've gone
018to the senior center and talked to the seniors. We're going to some of the school PTOs and talking to them and then we're sending direct mails out to everybody. So, that's where we marry that internal and external audience. And then iHeart Media, we're just wrapping up a campaign. I don't know if any of you heard it. It was out of streaming platforms. We had four of our different staff members, pardon me, four of our different staff members uh record 30 second commercials talking about different aspects of Wayne Wesland athletics, the elementary programs, our career tech program, and um our middle school programs. So that ran for four weeks just as our school of choice window was ending to try to gather up anybody who hadn't made a decision yet and might want to come to
019Wayne Westland. next steps. We're going to continuing continue our message because marketing never stops. We always have a new program coming up. We always have time to register for something else. So, we're going to continue with that. We're expanding our video storytelling. I love that our schools are embracing Tik Tok because frankly the kids are going to be way better at it than Scott and I are going to be. They know the trends. They already know how to do the editing. They're like that's perfect for them. We're going to continue to expand that. And then I mentioned the district parent advisory team which I'm excited about. I want to hear our parents input. And then we're going to continue targeting those high demand programs. We know that I'm going to talk to Miss Swanson in
020December about early college and getting a parent night set together and getting our students to fill those classes up which filled with the first time hold a parent meeting those classes fill. I know in December I'm also going to talk to Miss Ble about kindergarten roundup in Young Five registration because that'll be happening in March and we're going to get probably 7 to 800 kindergarten students. So these are the kind of things that continue to happen and that's what we're going to work on. Okay, I think I did it, Dr. Weaver. I did it pretty good. Now it's up to you guys for whatever questions you have. >> Thank you, Mrs. Hines. >> I just got two. Great job in your presentation. >> I'm sorry I'm coughing. >> Do you need some water? >> I
021have some. And I have a cough drop. >> Okay. >> Yeah. So, I just noticed and I love it. I've been noticing like the John John Glenn Athletics and having their own special little like videos and stuff and it's so cool. So, I've been taking and pulling and put it on my page because it's like real live like the football game, you know, like the really cool. They doing a super good job with that. And then too, I was telling Dr. Cole like on our school board business cards, maybe you guys can put like the points of pride on the back like when we pass them out, we have like those five points of pride because I noticed like I think the Sagenov school district does it. So, it kind of, you know, it kind
022of promotes the school district as well on the back of our business card. >> What if instead of I I like both of those ideas, I would steal Mr. Mallaloy for our department because he really enjoys the social media and graphic design. What about instead of the five points of pride? Because that might be really small font. We did a QR code that drove you to our points of pride on the website. >> That would be nice with a QR code. >> Yeah. I think that would be >> then bam, you could have it right there. >> Okay. I like that. That's excellent feedback. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mrs. Abney Mitchell. >> Yes. I just have a couple of questions myself. One of them is you said that you was the um district person
023to be contacted on um dojo. >> So what is your turnaround time to reply? >> Oh, within 24 hours. That's our email, our dojo. That's our social media. Yes. >> Yeah. And the other question is um I guess Oh, the parent advisory team. I'm excited about that. Thank you for putting that together. I'm excited about it, too. That's all I have. >> Any other questions? >> Yes, Mr. Roshan. >> Um, a lot of parents and community members aren't able to make it to our board meetings. Um, are we looking into maybe creating a live feed um so they can attend in real time? >> We are. Uh, that is something that we started looking into just before Dr. cost came and now since she's been here I've done some research and I've shared it with
024her and Mr. Tokco about, you know, what we need to do to get it implemented. Um I don't know what she has shared with you or not shared with you about it, but it is something that we're looking at. >> Also, um recently, last Monday, I went to few ele elementary school, high school. Talked to a couple first, third, fifth graders, had a ball uh and al and some high school students at uh Wayne Memorial. Talked to them about, you know, school lunches. It was during uh lunchtime, school lunches. How's the beginning of the year kicking off with everyone? Everyone seemed really excited. Um how can we capture some of those students stories? That's what >> Mrs. Marky actually sent me your schedule of when you're going to be at every school. So, you're going
025to have a shadow pretty soon and I'm going to start following you because it seems like you would be very comfortable in front of the camera. So if if you're already comfortable, we're going to get that when you go out and about and just capture you talking to the kids >> and just get that, you know, real natural conversation kind of a thing. >> I think other board members will be with me as well. >> Okay, we will anybody who wants to visit, you just let us know and uh we will follow you. Absolutely. >> Why don't you share your schedule? Oh, I'm I'm I'm so sorry. Any other questions or comments? >> Mrs. Johnson, I just want to say thank you so much for your presentation. Um, it was very informative. I do have
026a quick follow-up question in regards to the visits for C the CTE program. Sure. Do we offer external visits? Like do we offer it to other schools to bring in their eighth graders or their 10th graders? >> We do. That just has to be arranged with Mrs. Bigalow. >> Okay. >> To come in. Absolutely. >> Thank you so much. Um, next on our agenda, we have item 141.26, citizens comments in regards to agenda items. Do we have any, Mrs. H? >> Uh, these look like to be non-aggenda items. >> Thank you. We are now at item 141.26, I'm sorry, 142.26, consent agenda. I am looking for a motion. I also want to make sure everyone saw the updated item to the consent agenda. >> Yes. Move approval with the update. >> Thank you. >> Miss
027Hines, will you please call >> Mr. Ambrose? >> Yes. >> Abby Mitchell? >> Yes. >> Dr. Weaver? >> Yes. >> Miss Hines? Yes. Mr. Cox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rashawn? >> Yes. >> President May? >> Yes. >> 70. Motion carries. >> Thank you. We are at 143.26 board of education committee reports. Mr. Ambrose with the finance of facility report, please. >> So, the finance of facility committee meeting was called to order on September 11th at uh 5:30 p.m. with the following in in attendance. Myself, uh Miss Lwanda Abney Mitchell, uh Dr. Cost, Miss Juel Claire, Mr. Daryl Bey, and Miss Kim Marky, uh with Miss Melanie Hines, uh called in because uh because of her schedule. Um we discussed the following items that are being brought before the board tonight uh for our approval. Uh
028first we talked with uh Mr. uh BB uh who proposed purchasing eight MacBook Pros with Apple Care for the digital media class at our career technical center. The total cost for these eight MacBooks uh would be $33,344 uh with the funds coming from our CTE equipment grant. He stated that this purchase is utilizing sole source uh instead of a a competitive bid process and all licenses on our old equipment uh would be transferred to the new equipment using Moisel. Uh the second item we talked about uh was brought to us by Miss Claire presenting on behalf of Mr. Monta Montaigne. Uh she shared a quote for the purchase of uh some solar powered uh speed limit signs. Uh cost for these signs would be roughly uh about $88,000 if memory serves. Uh for reference, these
029signs are identical to the signs that are just outside this building on Marquette in front of John Glenn High School. It has the current speed limit posted with a digital display showing the speed of your vehicle that it is currently traveling at. It will ask you to uh slow down if you are over the speed limit. Uh it'll say thank you if you are actually doing the speed limit or traveling a little under. Uh these signs are solar powered and will be installed by our maintenance department at all buildings in an effort to improve pedestrian sa safety at all of our buildings. And the funds will be covered by our syncing fund. We then heard from Miss Claire who reviewed our state aid report, the check register and investment reports. As of the end of
030August, the district has received all the state aid for for our fiscal year of uh 25 2425. We will be receiving no state aid for the month of September. Um state aid will start in October. And Miss Claire also stated that the bond account was exhausted and all remaining items that were left from the bond that are currently being completed will be paid for from the stinking fund. Also, all the arbitrage fees for the excess bond excessive uh bond earnings have been paid and we saw a an increase in our investment accounts during this time. Uh we discussed uh had a discussion around the lack of a state budget and concerns on if the current impass will cause programs to be cut. Miss Claire said she expects the state to have a budget and funds
031to be deposited in October. Uh but if that does not happen, we are in a good position to move forward. Uh we had some comments from Dr. C, Miss Abney Mitchell, Miss Hines, and myself. and we adjourn the meeting at six o 6:06 pm. >> Thank you so much, Dr. Weaver. Policy and procedure. >> Thank you, Madame President. Uh the committee met on September 11th, 2025. We talked about uh one thing that was brought up was live streaming our board of education meetings. Uh we're currently looking at our legal or to our legal team to give us uh their thoughts about that. Uh the team agreed to do yet another cell phone survey. It has been sent out and has been collected and we'll be reviewing that tomorrow. Um, I say we uh I'll be
032reviewing it tomorrow and um after our October meeting to get everything finalized, we'll be ready to uh present uh to the uh board uh for any questions and to put it in motion to make it our policy. All the schools already have their own cell phone policy. So there's no reason for us to talk about uh you know talk about discipline or anything like that because uh the buildings handle that on their own. So this will be an overarching policy that very simply says uh put away all of your electronics during class time. That's that's what we're asking. Um we shared comments and also I just want to say very quickly that um the three committee chairs uh have talked about getting together once a month and aligning um the committee work to enhance uh
033what needs to be done in policy committee. all three committees and how they can work together. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Roshan. Student Achievement Committee, please. >> Thank you, Madam President. Uh student achievement committee report uh September 17th, 2025. The committee reviewed the following uh curriculum read 180 and math 180 adopted in 2022 with strong PD and consultant support. board requested student data and feedback as programs continue. We also discussed grading policy roll out reporting by coaches and principles. Parent sessions will happen at conferences with a handout and social media communication. Goal is for fairness and accuracy. We also discussed uh parent advis advisory group. We had over 74 applicants received uh selected by a rubric with one to two reps per school. First meeting I believe will be October 16th. Uh group will
034help establish a student advisory committee this year. Um hopefully this year, next year. Uh we also talked about student board representation. uh were discuss discussions was held to be revised in November and brought to the full board in December. In additional notes uh focus on student well-being connecting achievement to purpose a strong parent staff engagement. Lunch visits with students have begun. Next committee meeting we will it will cons co coincide with the district trunk or treat in October. >> Thank you. We are now at item 144.26, review and approval of business and finance. First up, we have a recommendation from Dr. Oily to purchase iMac computers. >> Thank you, President May. As Daryl BB, executive director of technology and innovation presented at the September 11th, 2025 finance committee meeting. The district is seeking approval to
035purchase eight MacBook Pros, silver comp computers with a three-year Apple Care Plus for schools. The new MacBooks are for digital media classes at the William D. Ford Career Technical Center. These upgraded devices are essential to support the advanced software and performance needs of the film and media program. I recommend that the board of education approve the purchase of eight MacBook Pros in the amount of $33,344 with the Apple Care included. This will be a sole source purchase. This purchase will be funded by the CTE equipment grant and will have no impact on the general fund. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you. Looking for a motion. >> Move approval. >> Support. >> Thank you. Discussion. >> Discussion. Uh, with those Macs, do we um turn in our old Mac books or how does that
036work or do we just get new ones? >> Uh, good evening to the board. Um, so a number of the the older MacBook MacBooks are now, you know, they're pretty much out of service right now. So, there are a few that are still working. Um, but these are going to pretty much uh impact the the remainder of the class. they still use the ones that are, you know, but once again, if we got a MacBook that's like 5 years old, it's pretty much ancient at this port point and it's not being supported uh by Mac. So, >> yeah. >> Any other discussion? >> Thank you. Mrs. Hines, will you call a vote, please? >> Mr. Cox, >> yes. >> Mr. Rashan, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, yes. Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Mr. Ombro, >>
037yes. >> Miss Abney Mitchell, >> yes. >> President May, >> yes. >> 70. Motion carries. Thank you. Next, we are at the recommendation to approve the purchase of building sign building speed signs. Mr. Choco, >> as Jewel Clear uh presented at the September finance committee meeting, I'm requesting approval to purchase uh solar powered speed signs uh speed limit signs by Elan City. Elan city was recommended and approved by the city of Westland and has provided a delivery timeline that will allow our maintenance department to complete the installation in a timely manner. Uh this purchase will be made through the source well consortium in charge to the sinking fund and any in an amount uh not to exceed 85,000. I am recommending the board of education approve this purchase. >> Move approval. >> Support discussion. >>
038Yes. Mr. Um I'm we were talking to um Mayor Wayne. Yeah. >> We were talking about signs for in the Wayne area. Do you have >> We're doing it there, too. >> Okay. >> So, every one of our buildings >> um will have the speed limit sign. So, I've talked with him with the um the police chief in Westland, the police chief in Wayne. So, we're all on board. This has been a a year in the making. Uh we just wanted to figure out um now it's just a matter of where they're going to be located. Um the location is key and it's also what we didn't know ahead of time was that we have to pull permits because they have to be installed. Sometimes they'll be installed. We're trying to get them on the
039school property, but some of them the best placement might be in an easement or in a community members uh situation. So that's where we're at with it. We shouldn't have any issues with any of that moving forward. Um the goal is to have all of those speed limit speed limit signs in before Thanksgiving. >> Oh, great. Great. >> I think they really work. >> No, they do. >> They do. Mr. Toko, >> I don't know if I made this up in my mind, so I'm going to ask this question. You might have. Was there a conversation ever about speed bumps or something in Wayne? >> Yeah, we Okay. So, I didn't make that up. >> So, if you've been by God, we're um three of our elementary buildings already have those. Um, so yeah, they
040um that's what we kind of t the city with. >> Okay. >> Um, we we said we would go through and and get the the signs, but we t the city, especially the city of Wayne, um, with the speed limit bumps, which will even >> I mean, it'll make it even stronger um for for these speed limit signs if you got the bumps. So, >> absolutely. Okay. Thank you for your work with that. Thank you to both um both city mayors for their support and getting this done because we know we've had several incidents and just being able to show that um not just show but that we are actively doing something to keep our kids safe. So thank you for that. >> Miss Ty, you want to call for us? >> Miss Amy Mitchell,
041>> yes. >> Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, yes. Mr. Rashan, >> yes. >> Mr. Cox, >> yes. >> Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> President May, >> yes. 70 motion carries. >> Thank you. We are at 145.26 review and approval of human resources. Dr. Oily and I believe our guest is here. >> He is. Thank you, President May. I would like to make a recommendation for Mr. Paul Shanks to be our next John Glenn High School assistant principal. He is in attendance. Um he comes to us with a bachelor's degree from Eastern Michigan University, a master's degree from Eastern Michigan University. He holds a professional administrator certificate along with an elementary and secondary and secondary admin K12 certificate. Um, he's previously worked with Pontiac uh, Academy as a high school social studies teacher, Brighton
042Area Schools as an alternative high school social studies teacher, Brighton Area Schools as an alternative high school restorative practice coordinator, Halt Public Schools as a restorative practice coordinator, and most recently, East Lancing Public Schools as a district behavior system specialist. And at this time, I'd like to make a recommendation to the board for Mr. Paul Shanks to be our next John Glenn High School assistant principal. move >> support >> discussion. >> I just want to say um I think this is fabulous. All the qualifications this will be perfect for John Glenn. So I'm just really excited at this particular hire. >> Thank you. Any others? No. Mrs. Hines, will you please call? >> Yes. >> Um Dr. Weaver? >> Yes. >> Uh Mr. Cox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ambrose? >> Yes. >> Mr. Rashawn? >>
043Yes. >> Miss Ad Mitchell? >> Yes. Miss Hines. Yes. President May. >> Yes. >> Motion carries 70. >> Thank you. >> I was going to say I'd like to take a moment to congratulate Mr. Shanks. Welcome. Come to the team and then give you an opportunity to say anything you would like to say. >> Thank you. Good evening everybody. Um I'm uh excited to be here. Want to just extend thank you to the board for uh for your um uh the opportunity to join the team here. I spent last week kind of getting my feet wet at John Glenn. It was uh it was kind of like drinking from a fire hose at times, but it was great to meet a lot of great uh students and staff and talk with some parents there. So,
044I'm excited to be here and looking forward to the rest of the year to come. >> Thank you. We are excited to have you. Welcome. Congratulations. [Applause] >> And next on the agenda, we have 146.26, the review and approval of board of education. um a recommendation which each of you have a copy of and I will read it to adopt the fiscal year 2025 2026 school a budget delay resolution. Whereas Michigan's constitution requires the Michigan legislature and governor to pass an annual school aid budget for the exclusive purpose of funding public education. And whereas Governor Gretchen Whitmer signed Public Act 160 into law in 2019, which states that the legislature must pass and present general appropriation bills for the upcoming fiscal year to the governor on or before July 1. And whereas local school districts
045in Michigan are required by law to pass their own budgets for the upcoming school year by July 1. And whereas the Michigan legislature has failed to meet their July 1 legal deadline to pass a school aid budget appropriation bill or make any meaningful progress toward doing so. And whereas the Wayne Westland School Board was forced to adopt a budget for the 2526 school year without key funding information due to the ongoing lack of a state budget. And whereas the fiscical year 2526 school a budget continues to be delayed by political battles that are unrelated to school funding or the needs of our students. And whereas the ongoing delay in funding certainty has already impacted our ability to best plan for the support our students need and deserve in the upcoming school year. And whereas every
046day the budget continues to be delayed by lawmakers will only worsen the negative impacts on our schools, staff, and students this fall and beyond. And whereas comments by lawmakers that suggest the school a budget can or should wait for other budget agreements to fall into place ignore the critical needs of our students. Therefore, be it resolved, the Wayne Westland School Board is urging state lawmakers to immediately pass a spending bill that fully allocates the entirety of funding meant for our schools in a manner that supports the needs of each and every student in Michigan. And so before we um go I'm sorry, there's one more part, but I'm sorry. Be it resolved further, the Wayne Westland School Board is affirming that school aid funding should not be tied to any other budget deals, including ongoing
047talks about road funding. Now, with that, before we vote, I would like to ask Mrs. Claire to just kind of share with us how not having a um state budget impacts Wayne Westland schools. >> Okay. Um thank you. Um, even though Wayne Westland Community Schools has a healthy fund balance at this time, the lack of a state budget and a school aid budget is causing anxiety for our employees, school officials, students, and families. We are making contingency plans using our best guesses of what might happen. We are estimating cash flow issues in October and possibly beyond if we don't get state aid in the coming months. We are estimating what our borrowing costs would be or our lack of interest income on our funds that we were expecting to be invested. Um, and this will
048affect our budget for the rest of the year. We are delaying programs and purchases if we can until more information is known about funding. We're re-examining any new hiring until we know where our funding stands. We're worried about not being able to provide free meals to all of our kids and estimating the cost to the general fund if this is necessary for us to pick that cost up. We're upset that the school aid fund might be used for funding other things other than the K12 education. We're worried about cuts in federal funding and or the delay of this federal funding as much of it comes through the state. These funds are used for most of our for our most vulnerable children. School leaders are focusing on contingency planning instead of student success. Please pass a
049responsible budget for school districts so we can go back to our focus children. >> Thank you. Thank you. So I'm looking for a motion. >> So move >> discussion. Um I'd like to do a discussion. Um I'm definitely like miss bringing this to the attention because we are in the business of serving children and with programs being cut even with uh food when we were at the legislative lunchon the other day we found out that Wayne Weston has the second highest homeless rate. So it's actually went up from the last time it was five. So that's pretty scary. So there's a lot of kids coming to school hungry and then that even affects with attendance you know different things as well. So we want to make sure our kids are productive. So, um I really
050like this um proclamation here and I think it's important that people need to take care of our children because that's most important. >> Thank you. Anyone else? >> M will you please call to vote for this? >> Miss Abby Mitchell? >> Yes. >> Mr. Ambros? >> Yes. >> Miss Hines? Yes. Mr. Rashawn? >> Yes. >> Mr. Cox? >> Yes. >> Dr. Weaver? >> Yes. >> President May? >> Yes. >> Motion carries 70. >> Thank you. Next we have um two items. One is a first read and the other is more or less for um it's not we don't have to vote on it but it's just a um to make sure everyone is aware. So the first one is the adoption of board book discussion. So we had some information sent out to us um
051via email where you had the opportunity to take a look at board book. I believe we've had board book in the past, which is the electronic version of um receiving our board documents and being able to take notes into that document. And so at this point, I just wanted to open the floor for any discussion around it. I know we've I'm sorry, I said I was opening the floor, but then I kept talking. We um received um iPads this school year to utilize. We've had a couple of board members who have asked for the packets to be um electronic versus receiving them in paper copies. So this is why we are at this point. I just wanted to share that before we open for discussion. >> And you all also received the quote for board
052book which is about $3,000 if my memory serves me. Correct. >> I don't think just my opinion is I it doesn't provide anything that that uh I'm really interested in. We we did use it for a time and we spent money on it. It didn't do anything for us. Everybody still wanted most people wanted a paper copy and you know it's something you could write notes on it and I I don't I see people looking at their phone in here. I don't have any service in here. Uh I don't I like a paper copy. I I don't just look at it when I'm here and I don't always have my iPad with me, you know. So, and it might be a a generational thing, but at work, we've moved away from from basically paper and
053and have gone completely electronic in terms of our distribution in in materials. Um, all our presentations are electronic. Our reports are electronic. Um it's rare anyone goes to a meeting where we actually print something out and so >> Well, maybe just until us old-timers are done. >> No. >> And and was that an employee was that an employee request or was that management telling? >> Actually, it's it's been more employee at at Ford. Um >> do you are you uh do you do it after work? Uh Do you maintain contact with all your electronics after work hours? >> Uh, unfortunately some of us are required to. >> There you go. >> Others feedback. >> Um, so I've used it with um sitting on a committee with MASB and I really like it. I like just
054having access to the board packet electronically because sometimes having to wait for the paper copy, being able to get to it to look at it, it just is easier to have it on a device. So that's what I like it personally that way to be able to take my notes that way. Um because sometimes it's confusing when we get here and you bring your board packet, but then you got a new board packet because something has been updated. So then your notes are on the board packet you started on and now you have this. So, for me, I personally like the idea of um having an electronic copy, but like I said, this is a first read and so we wanted to be able to have this discussion at the table. I don't know if
055anybody else has anything they want to share. I just have one thing. I kind of like both options. I'm kind of a paper person because a lot of times like um I actually keep a lot of these different presentations I like to have on hand because I like to show them to people sometimes. So, I mean I like both, but I do like I mean definitely to do the work, but I sometimes like a paper copy for my personal I just look at it like so much paper and the money that we can save because most of the time like today being one we get a packet delivered to us and then we come back in to the board meeting we have another packet here. So this is a lot of excess paper to me
056that cost money to print. That's why I like it. I mean, I'm not an electronic person neither. I have bad eyesight, but you know, if it's required, it's required. If it's an option, it's an option. Thank you. Anyone else? All right. At this point, we will table it and it'll be on our um agenda for October for vote. Next, we have a um the timeline was shared with you for the superintendent search. So, just wanted to make sure everyone saw that and open the floor for any discussion or concerns with any of the dates that have been selected. >> Just a quick question if I might. Will this be added to our um calendar? >> Yeah, once we say that we're good with it. Yeah. >> Okay. I for one am good with it. Thank
057you. Any concerns? Nope. All right. So, this will be added to our calendars and that now moves us >> and then shared with the public. >> Yes. Yes. I'm so sorry. Most definitely shared with the public. I'm sorry that was not a secret at all. >> Um, >> no, we don't need a second reading. We don't have to vote on it. So, we can go out to the public after this meeting. >> Yep. This was just a conversation so that everybody knew and everybody was good with it. Um, and I can actually even kind of just share Um we have already established November 8th as a special board meeting where we will um meet with the search firm MLI to gather input and establish the parameters for the search and agree up on a timeline.
058Um December 1st through the 15th is when we will begin to collect stakeholder feedback to develop a candidate profile, create and finalize a position announcement. So you will see um information coming out for the community to be involved in that process between December 1st and the 15th. January 12th through February 23rd is when the position will be posted. Um I'm sorry to be posted January 12th and remain open through February 23rd. Um beginning on Monday, March 2nd is when we will begin to take a look at the applicants and make a determination of which candidates we will interview. First round interviews will be conducted March 16th through the 18th. On March 19th is when the finalists will be selected March 24th through the 25th will be finalist interviews. Um on Thursday, March 26, there will
059be a district tour and meet and greet. So then that way the community can come in and meet the candidates, the final candidates. And of course the community is a part of they are a part of the first round interviews as well as the second round interviews. That is all done publicly. Monday, April 6th is when we will select the new superintendent and then um we are looking at a date to determine the board action to hire the new superintendent. And of course, the new superintendent will start July 1st. Okay. But this will be published for everyone to see. And with that being said, we are now at 147.26 citizens comments on something. You just say July 1st, 2026. I didn't say that. >> What did I say? >> 2026. >> July 1st, 2026. I'm
060confused on what that was about. Okay. So, 147.26 citizens comments on non-aggenda items, please. >> I have two. Okay. >> It looks like Miss Melinda Harris. Hi. Hi there. This won't be my first meeting. Everybody knows that and that's why it's so great that we're getting this um district parent advisory committee going so we can get more parents involved. So, um, I am leaving tomorrow and a lot of people know that my brother's really sick, so I'll be gone for some time, but I met Miss Jenny Johnson in the hallway and I said even if I'm not selected, I really would enjoy being part of it. So, um, she's going to keep me in the loop on that. So, um, one of the main reasons I came here tonight is to acknowledge the board of
061education, what a great job they're doing. It's always nice to get compliments, you know, instead of hearing bad stuff from people. And um I really appreciate the meetings that you had last year that unfortunately I missed the meet and greets with the food. I thought that was a really great idea. And um I also want to thank you know Jenny Johnson for what she's doing with that new committee. Um I heard there's progress on checking into the code of conduct um district handbook which um Shannon and whoever else in the district is involved in that. I really appreciate that because especially with elementary kids, you know, um the terms assault and battery, I'm just not comfortable with that. And um the fifth grade teachers at Wildwood are doing a really great job um getting the
062kids ready for the fifth grade camp. And um it's, you know, hard for us parents. You know, we're struggling with apron strings. I mean, my son's never been on a trip alone for three days. So, I think a lot of us parents are trying to get through that, you know, and um I was pretty impressed because my son's a paleo eater and if he just has toast and water all all week, it's not going to be a good diet. But Mr. Carney told me they will accommodate children. If I say he eats hamburgers or he eats chicken, give him a list and they'll take care of him and make sure he gets fed. So, I think that's really great. So, um, one thing I want to, um, kind of set out there, you know, anybody,
063any administrators, any principles, things that I', I've been witnessing out in the community is that, um, parents like to gossip and they like to say things about other parents and it's kind of not fair to the parents that are being talked about. So, I'm asking everybody in the district, anybody involved that's hearing different things from parents to kind of like keep that in mind that um so two sides to every coin. And then um I'm really looking forward to meeting um our new assistant superintendent, Dr. Jefferson. Hi. >> And um I appreciate Miss Cost covering for us. That's really nice of you to get a new superintendent. And I want to thank um two ladies that have had children or at least one Kim in the district for attending the meeting tonight and getting involved.
064And I also want to thank Josh Powell that's here to support me. And um just want to let out and I don't know if everybody's a believer, which I don't judge, that I can do all things through Christ that strengthens me. And thank you so much. >> Thank you. We have another one. I think it's Eleanor. Is it Trushian? My teacher is helping my mom and she has a very sick brother. and she's going to Arizona tomorrow. And she volunteered at the music class room for for about two years. >> Anything else you want to say? >> Thank you. [Applause] Next we are at item 148.26 interim superintendent comments. Dr. Cos, >> I want to thank the board for some very constructive dialogue tonight um in our close session about uh the the goals that
065will be before me for the year. I'm excited to share them with my team and and get to work because I I truly think is going to foster the learning starts right here. So, that's exciting. I also have some other fun news to share. >> Oh, wow. >> I was at the superintendent conference uh last week and three organizations donated money for scholarships. So the first uh and so I on the first day I I did a QR code and signed up. Um uh so on the final day they called the first district and it wasn't us. I called the second district, it wasn't us. The third district was Wayne Westland. I've been told I ran down like it was the prices right >> because I was so excited to get a $1,000 scholarship for
066one of our students this year. >> So, I will turn it over to the scholarship committee to take it from here. Um, but just what a great way to put Wayne Wesland on the map in front of 720 superintendents and assistant superintendent. So, >> thank you. Thank you. [Applause] All right. Next we have um 149.26 review and recommendations board of education. Let's start with Dr. Weaver. >> I have nothing to say. >> Mr. Roshan, >> I have nothing to say. >> Let's keep it going. Let's keep going. >> Empress. >> Uh I'm gonna say something real quick. I am looking forward to this Friday. Um it's the Wayne John Glenn game. Um I'm going to do something uh that's going to be awfully hard for me. But the first half I'm going to be sitting
067on the John Glenn side. Um and then on the second half um since I know everyone at Wayne, I can sneak across the field and because they try to keep both sides separated and and sit in the Wayne side. Um, I'm looking forward to seeing hearing both uh both bands play. Um, I've had a chance to actually see both uh marching band shows to this point this year and they are both great. If you get a chance um October 6th, both bands will be playing here at John right across from us at John Glenn um for the MSBA festival. >> Thank you, Mrs. Abney Mitchell. >> Um we tag team I'm John Glenn. I got two grandsons on John Glenn. So when you go to John Glenn and I go to Wayne Memorial and then
068we get switched. Okay. >> Okay. >> Um I'm just thankful. Um you know I want to say thank you to our interim superintendent. You know um she said that they said she was running like she was on the crisis right. She has been running like that since she been in the district. And I appreciate the work that she's doing. But the one thing I appreciate more than anything is the openness, you know, for her to want to share what's going on in the district and giving it to us straight instead of holding it back. We received information that I've been trying to get for the three years that I've been on the board. So, I thank you for that. Um I'm excited about the parent advisory board. Um, and I'm just thankful to our committee
069um, leaders, you know, the committees that they lead. You know, I don't say it all the time, but I appreciate the work that you guys do. And, um, and thank you. Thank you. And I appreciate the whole board. You know, um, I got a whole list of stuff to say, but, you know, I'm not going to be cruel to my fellow board members. So, go Lions. Thank you, Mrs. Hines. >> I'll be real quick. So, um, we are the city of Westland is having their Westland Multicultural Festival and our president, Miss Kimberly May, will be a speaker at the multicultural leadership breakfast Friday, September the 26th from 8:00 a.m. to 10 a.m. at the Westland City Hall. Um on Friday, September 26th from 5 to 10 pm, um they're having live music, dance lessons, um
070different food, fun activities, baked goods, arts and crafts. Um they're having nonprofit services, professional services, a little bit of a um fashion show. And then on Saturday, they're having a stronger West End parade. It's going to be Saturday, September 27th from 12 to 1:00 p.m. from John Glenn High School to Taten Park. Um, we're going to have Fox News, um, I think it's Rouge Rob is going to be there. Um, we have, uh, Banko Thompson is going to be one of the speakers and we're going to have Miss Actress Tanel from the film clinic. So, it's going to be awesome because we got our kids going to be a part of it. We're trying to coordinate with the city of Westland with our children. So, I'm really excited. Hope to see you there. And, uh,
071one more thing, we had an amazing legislative lunchon. It was great to have our senator in and we had issues that got taken care of in real time. So, thank you for all the people who participated and that's it. >> Thank you, Mr. Cox. >> Sometimes Melanie talks like she's running low on paper. >> Uh, what are you going to do? >> Oh, I am speaking at the breakfast, the multicultural breakfast on Friday morning at the city. >> Tell them what a great job you're doing as president because you really are. >> Well, thank you. >> And along those lines, Dr. cost as Lana said uh you're just so impressive frankly and uh I I I was just hoping for stability and focus on a direction and yet what we're getting is hard work and
072goal setting and accomplishing things and it's wonderful and and this com this also goes to your to the executive cabinet who has worked I can't even really describe what they've been through u but you wouldn't know it by the way they they work and by the way they work with you. Uh so any of the accolades that you were talking about the the board I have confidence the board feels exactly the same way about you and your leadership. So thank you for that. Tonight our friend Emily Bowman the uh council woman from the city of Westland is in the audience. It is it is not unusual to have a council person from one of our uh from one of our uh communities in the uh in the room but uh >> we have two >>
073Mr. We have to Hello, sir. We often uh don't don't hear from Emily because she comes here and she is supportive of us behind the scenes, but we are sometimes visited by council people when we're in the middle of turmoil and they decide to take that opportunity to come in here and try to connect with as many turmoil uh uh people as they possibly can. And I understand politics. I'm in politics, but not at the expense of the interests of the school district. >> And so, Emily, thank you so much for always being there when we need you without having to tell everybody you're always there. So, thanks. >> Thank you, Mr. Cox. >> Yes. >> Yeah. >> So, I um Thank you for being here. >> It's a It's still building. >> Well, no,
074I was just waiting. I didn't want to I don't people start talking. So, really quick, I just want to welcome Mr. Shanks to our team. Um I also would like to give thank yous out to Senator Paul Hanky and Senator um Kamilleri as well as State Rev. W Regula, our my board colleagues, as well as Mr. David Le, Maria Mter, Kim Marky, Nancy Schultz, Dr. CS, and Jenny Johnson. because of all of the work that took place this past weekend. And me not calling out names is not leaving anyone out, but just knowing how hard people worked this weekend to one for the legislative lunchon as well as for our board workshop where we had really great conversation. I'd also like to extend that thank you to the executive cabinet for being there on Saturday
075engaging in that dialogue with us. Um, and just really the feeling um that I had when I left that space, it was just so positive. um felt like we had some really good conversation that was centered around children and so thank you so much for that. I'd also like to um congratulate our employees of the year. I know they will be recognized at a dinner soon, but I just wanted to take that moment to say thank you for all of your hard work and your dedication to our students. I would also like to thank both of our um council members that are here this evening. Thank you for your support. Council member Bowman and Council Member um Mr. hornbuckle. And I did not have the opportunity to welcome Miss Jefferson to our team um because
076I missed that board meeting, but I just wanted to take that this moment to um recognize you. Thank you for being here and really appreciated the dialogue that we were able to engage in during the student achievement committee. So, thank you. I look forward to the work that will take place as we move forward. And with that being said, I also have to say, go Lions. It is 7:58 and I am looking for an adjournment. >> So move support. >> Support. All in favor.