001All right, we need to nominate a per Oh, >> we got >> Oh, pledge. Okay, we're going to do the pledge of allegiance. >> I aliance 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. All right, we are going to call the roll. We have Mr. Ambrose, >> present. >> Miss Abney Mitchell, excused. Dr. Weaver, >> present. >> Miss Hines, present. Mr. Cox, >> present. >> Mr. Rashawn, >> Excused. And we have Miss May >> excused. >> Is excused. Okay. So, we have four and three outs. So now we need to nominate a um perertram chair and so we're taking nominations. >> I would like to nom nominate Melindy Hines because she's doing such a good
002job so far. >> Thank you. >> Second. >> Thank you. Any other nominations? All right. >> Roll call vote. >> It could be a really fast meeting. >> All right. We have Mr. Cox. >> Yes. >> Miss Hines. Yes. Mr. Reaver. >> Yes. >> Mr. Ambrose. >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Thank you. All right. So, we have 116.26 recognition and presentations. And it looks like we have our food service overview. Mr. Bella. >> Good evening. Uh, my name is Brian Vela. I'm the Airmark Student Nutrition Food Service Director here at Wayne Westland. Um before I get into the presentation, uh I just wanted to extend a little gratitude for our uh summer food service programs. Uh we just wrapped those up. Last Friday was our last day of service. Um I wanted to give a
003little extra thanks to the staff that worked those programs over the I think it's about 10 to 11 weeks total. They served in total 8,945 breakfasts, uh 14,352 lunches for a grand total of 23,297 meals over the summer food service program. It's definitely the most productive summer we've had in my uh three school years here. Um I think it has to do with the strong participation in our summer programs. um having those students in the buildings. Uh but I wanted to just extend a little extra thanks to our staff in the food service department that worked those schools. Uh okay. So tonight I want to talk a little bit about um Mr. Toko and I met recently and he had asked me to um come forward and present a couple of the things we had
004talked about um in addition to answer some inquiries from some previous meetings um in regards to some food service topics. Um, so I have a number of different things all over the place here tonight that I want to touch base on a little bit. Uh, and then answer some questions or any other inquiries as well. So, first here I want to touch base on USDA regulations. Um, so United States Department of Agriculture regulates all of our school food service meals. um they set forth basically the food service guidelines, regulations that we have to follow when we serve breakfast, lunch, snack, and dinner to all of our students. Uh this slide here is just kind of an outline of the most recent introduction of regulations. Um it's referred to as the USDA final rule. So back
005in the spring of 2024, these regulations were introduced for the following three school years. Um, AirArk as a leader in school food service kind of took it upon ourselves here to implement all of these regulations as soon as possible. So, you'll see they the timeline goes all the way out to 2027, but from a regulation standpoint, our food service department follows all of those regulations already in 2025. Um, I will get a little bit more into the specifics of those regulations. Uh as you can see here uh the big three as the USDA refers to for these regulations are added sugar, sodium and whole grains. Uh the main focus on the introduction of these regulations was creating healthier meals for students in the schools. So I'm going to go one by one here. Um added
006sugar. The goal was basically to reduce the amount of added sugars in the products being served. uh we tend to see the most added sugar in our breakfast products that we serve to the students. So you'll see here the reduction had a big focus on breakfast cereal, yogurt and flavored milk, a um staple in the school lunch uh school lunch community as I would call it. Uh so these reductions were made this school year. Um they were mostly a product formulation thing. So it doesn't change a lot of our process. It changes how our manufacturers make the food that we serve. Uh same thing here just kind of uh what they were changing with milk that the reduction in sugar and the different types of milk we can serve at different age groups. Uh sodium
007so uh similar to the sugars the goal for the USDA here was to reduce the amount of sodium in food. Uh this was probably on the larger scale of having an effect on our school food service. uh it changed a lot of our standardized recipes and some of the products that we were serving similar to the added sugar changed how the manufacturers were making it. And finally, the biggest change, whole grains. Um so the switch to whole grains has been going on since about 2018. Uh that was when they were first really introduced to school food service and over time they've become more of a requirement rather than a recommendation. Uh currently we're required to serve of all of our offerings between breakfast and lunch 80% of those products have to be what they refer
008to as whole grain rich. Um there was an anticipation at one time that this would become 100% a 100% requirement more than the 80% now. Um so there's a very little flexibility in there to serve non wholegrain rich products. Um but Airark as a food service management company focuses on serving as many as we can. Um just because of the healthconscious side of it. Uh when it first came out it was definitely a product availability issue. There were some there were some issues back in 2018 2019 when it started but the availability of whole grain rich products has grown. So that's why we've seen the increase in uh requirement to serve those products. Uh okay. Uh that really speaks to the uh regulations um that the USDA kind of has put forth over the past
009couple years. Uh I wanted to kind of put a little emphasis on that. Um there was some discussion around the food that we serve in schools. Um and those regulations really are a big part of it. Um moving forward though, I also uh wanted to highlight here a little bit overall of food service. This is just a budget breakdown from last school year. Um, as you can see, it's broken down from our total revenue over the year into a couple different buckets. Uh, buckets food cost, hourly labor, management labor, and directs. Um, just one point of emphasis here, food cost for school food service, an average or kind of rule of thumb, your food cost is somewhere between 38 and 40%. So, um, our food cost as a district is just slightly over that. um
010but right about where we would want that from last school year. Uh furthermore, I just wanted to touch on our participation numbers. Um so here I have a little calculation of our food service participation numbers uh from spring of last year. I broke this down by uh school level, elementary, middle school, and high school. Um and breakfast and lunch being our two staples for school food service. Um, as you can see, our numbers in the elementary are pretty strong in the 70th percentile. Um, a big part of that is at our elementary level, we serve breakfast in the classroom. So, we get a lot more of those students being as it's part of the school day, whereas you can see the middle school and high school level, the breakfast numbers are much lower. Uh, it's
011served before the school day starts. So, it's a struggle to get students to come to school early for breakfast. uh and that early in the morning. I think that's our our biggest challenge is a lot of students just aren't hungry that early. Um also with our lunch participation numbers, the elementary number is quite impressive, I would say, compared to just school food service in general to be in the 70th percentile is pretty strong. Um and then moving up to middle school and high school, you usually see somewhere the high 40s to low 50s. So, um, we're pretty right on par for what we want to see there. Still room for improvement, but, um, definitely the participation rates we're looking for from year to year. Uh, I also wanted to highlight some um recent investment just
012in food service overall throughout the district. Um, these numbers here are from the previous bond. Uh, I started in the 202122 school year. So, um, all these schools listed here went through the most major renovations, uh, during that bond work. And these totals here were direct investments into the kitchens. Um, replacement of pretty much all food service equipment in those kitchens and the serving line, kind of the whole serving area in general. Um, one thing I'd highlight here is I would say like the biggest issue we had when I first started was um, our elementary schools the cooking equipment just really wasn't up to par for what we were expecting to serve or more of our expectations to be able to serve. Um, most of our elementary schools didn't have a real convection oven. And
013all of these uh remodels change fixed that for us, adding convection ovens and hoods and the proper equipment to serve the right food in a more efficient manner to all of our students. See here. Oh, I also have some pictures of a couple of the kitchens. Um, this one here is Schweitzer Elementary. We also just recently updated our marketing scheme in this school building. You can see all the uh pretty colors that we added to the serving line and uh milk coolers there. This is uh PD Graham Elementary. They went through the most recent uh this was last school year was the first year after their bond work. Um, so not quite they don't have the pretty colors quite yet, but comparatively to what the kitchen looked like before, it's definitely night and day there.
014And then finally, this is Wayne Memorial High School. Um, their kitchen was remodeled before I joined the district. I've heard several horror stories. I'm sure there's some people that were a part of that um that building when the we used to have actually had two separate cafeterias and we would cook food and then have to move it to our basement cafeteria I think it was referred to. Um so this kitchen now is light years I think compared to what it was four or five years ago. >> Uh okay so finally um a couple new things for this school year. Um, I just wanted to highlight a few new menu items that we're adding to, uh, menus throughout the district. Um, they are listed on the left and then as well some of these pictures on
015the right. Uh, this is a program we started doing it last year. It's an airmark program called LTO. Uh, stands for limited time offerings. So, every month a special menu item is placed on the that menu during the month. one. So, one of these items would be picked for each month. Uh, and what we do is is we take a week in that month and we will sample it for a day and then make that actual item for the rest of the week. Um, the whole point of this process is to kind of test these new menu items at the schools. Uh, I would say last year we participated in it and we I would say about half of the items that we served are now on our regular menu. So, it gives us a
016chance to kind of test those menu items both in the kitchen from a making and cooking side as well as to see like how the kids like it and if it will be well received for like future menus or even in the spring. Um, they are a little more on the labor intensive side. I guess I would say they're more dishes you would see on a restaurant menu. Um, so the kids tend to get pretty excited for them and they're very uh the names are they pop out a little bit these pictures that tend to make me hungry every time we have to prepare these things from month to month. Uh, and finally um student viewpoint survey. So uh this is a newer process for air as well. Um it is a annual process. Um,
017in the early spring, we open up a survey for students and families to participate in. Um, basically asking them to rate our overall food service uh, experience or just food service in general. There's two different surveys, one for elementary age and one for secondary age. The elementary age is geared more towards parents taking the survey with their students and then the secondary is more towards the students actually taking it. Uh the idea is that it's brief so we can get high participation rates and um from the basis of it I would say it asks questions like your favorite dish or least favorite dish and then kind of ask for a little feedback about what you think about food service, what you don't like about food service and then in turn um we take the survey
018results and create a plan of action um to make updates or changes for the following school year. Uh we we pushed this out the first year that that Airmark introduced it. Um we didn't get great participation and I think after talking with Mr. Toko about this I I feel our our best ally in this would probably be our student groups. Um I I think in a previous meeting some board members had talked about including our student council. Um, I think that's a great idea and and we kind of talked about maybe trying to create this into a little bit of a competition and incentivize the students to take the survey. Um, don't have quite the details figured out, but we have some time to kind of work through that. And I think this could be
019a great asset moving into the school year to understand what um what the students really think about food service and kind of work with them on some new ideas or changes. And that is it. Thank you. Any questions? >> Yeah, hundreds of questions. >> Sorry, a lot of information. All >> first, first of all, talk to me a little bit uh off subject about what some of the challenges are in your industry. What are what are the big problems that you have every day trying to keep the show on the road and everything? What is what are the big problems for you? Um, you know, I would say like it's kind of a typical answer like it feels like it changes every day. Um, but I would think in school food service it's really just
020the everchanging landscape. Um, I mean from year to year like these regulations that we talked about the USDA that seems to change every two to three years and we basically have to adapt to that every time that it changes um without very much control over it. Uh so as like from a management standpoint that's tough because it's hard to speak to it not really having much input on it but we have to adjust year to year. Um I think dayto day though uh it's really tough to say we really have strong staff here at Wayne Westland. So I don't want to use the typical answer of staff like low staffing because in my three years here we've had great staffing levels and our our staff is willing to do really whatever we we want to
021do. Um but like main challenges is really just it's a tough it's a tough department food service. We serve so many kids every day. Um there's almost just not enough hours in the day to be creative as we want to. Uh but it's really I think kind of a reflection thing of looking on ourselves of how we can really find ways to do that and not procrastinate those fancy ideas or lofty ideas that we may have. Talk to me a little bit about the cooking process. When when you talk about cooking, is this a process where the raw ingredients are assembled right there in the kitchen or is this pretty much a warming type and assembly type of a um a little bit of both? I would say over the past like 10 to 15
022years, the change in school food services really placed a large focus on uh fruits and vegetables. So, a lot of our main entre or the kind of main foods that we serve, those are a lot of items that are you're more just heating and serving them. Um, I would say a lot of our prep work is focused on cleaning, cutting, um, and working on those like fresh produce or fresh fruits. That's where like a lot of our labor in the kitchen as with those regulations that we have to offer so many fruits and vegetables. Um there's definitely been a recent focus or a trend switching towards getting more scratch cooking in our kitchens. Um so we're kind of doing our best to to do that as much as we can. Um but I would say
023from my experience in food service is that the students our students want to eat. We have so many students I feel that eat the same thing every day. So, we try to do our best to introduce creative dishes, but at the same time, we have to focus on serving the food that the kids like because our main goal is to make sure they're fed every day. Um, so it's a tough balance, I think, of making sure that we're still focusing on those more creative things, like I said, or lofty goals, I guess, the more intricate dishes that you can serve, um, while still making sure we're offering the things that the kids love to eat every day. You know, if you're trying to keep salt and you're trying to keep sugar out of the diet,
024it's hard to do when all you're using is processed food >> and a big giant vat of macholi would be a lot better in my opinion than almost everything I saw there. Um, you know, all the bread and all the the process, all the salt. That's that's kind of what I'm trying to get away from it. How are the kids when you're cutting up vegetables and fruit and giving and making that available? Are they choosing that? >> Um, it's tough. I I would say that the food education side of it is a little um can be tough at times. Kids, as you can imagine, are pretty picky about their fruits and vegetables. >> Most of the kids I know that are in, you know, my immediate world, they don't go for that. They go for
025the good stuff. They would rather eat the good stuff. >> We definitely see like I would say the consumption rate is high in those fruits and vegetables. It's definitely the same five to six fruits or vegetables every day. Um, so it's a tough battle to try to introduce new ones because being the food service department, it's tough to serve the exact same thing every day. But a lot of times, like I said, that's that's what they'll eat. The apple slices, the bananas, the fresh oranges. We go through a crazy amount of those, which is great to see. Um, and still trying to also introduce other vegetables, if not fruits, that we can. How does the USDA look at bananas? Do they look at it as sugars? >> No, not quite. >> Yeah, it's probably for
026the administration. So, we get a certain amount of money to provide this service and we have to provide it according to the dictates of the law. We have to stay within these limits and that controls. But, so we can't spend we can't do anything else. you can't on uh Wednesdays like two weeks before the end of school walk through school and give everybody an ice cream sandwich because there's too much sugar in it. Is that what I'm understanding? just to and I know that um you've been um an advocate for this um and as as myself in regards to where we're at with food and I've sat down with Brian now since the when I when it was first brought up at the end of the school year last year a couple board members and
027we went through the whole process and his to be honest with you and and he's you know from a when he talked when you asked him what his frustration was the the USDA has the regulations have almost limited what offerings we can we can serve students which is kind of frustrating. I know cuz you talked about wouldn't it be just easier to get together a whole bunch of masoli put another thing. >> Well I I think it's diff I don't mean to interrupt you but it's difficult to meet the requirements when you're dealing with nothing but processed food. Correct. Like open up every can and try to get low sodium. You're not going to do it. That's not how they make it. >> You have to make it in order to >> and I agree
028with you. I I know that's an and we we talked in depth um and that's why I asked Brian to come in and speak tonight to try to answer some of the questions and I was actually when he when he left feeling like I would be frustrated in his position as I am even with our kids to be so strapped and he's not the only one. If you went to any other school district and you asked your food food service director, they'd say we're more limited by the federal government on what we can serve and and the frustration with Brian uh and just being in when I was in a building is you'd love to give the kids different offerings, but just like you said, you could put that out there and then you got
029the the kids probably 80% of the kids that eat lunch eat the same thing every day. So you take that off and then they're stuck not eating. So, you know, you're stuck between a rock and a hard place when you start talking about school lunches and and the ability to do uh you know, special uh items for them. I I one thing I do want to compliment Brian on too and that food service department is we started I think it was right when you got here three years ago, our afterchool feeding. Mhm. >> So, we offer uh after school meals for um at Wayne um and at um at John Glenn and I think our participation and Brian can tell you more, but I think it's been very good and they they're they have been
030able to be I'd say because I've seen the menu for first two years creative in that space. >> Um where the kids uh whether you participate in an extracurricular activity or you're just there after school, they can actually come in and get a meal. Um, and I believe most of the time it's a it's a hot meal and the only time we go to the bag meals is in the spring when uh kids when the participation is as high. So when you have your winter and fall sports, I I think that was a game changer because I just go back to some of the buildings that I was in that you know some of the parents aren't getting home. Um sometimes kids are not eating till the following the following morning at school. I believe
031and if you talk to our coaches and the people who are involved with our kids, it was a complete game changer and I can compliment Brian and his staff for being able to do it because it was a full year of trying to figure out what unions we didn't have to, you know, put in a bad spot and so on, but they were very gracious and how they uh and the people who served during that I can tell you I commend them because they really care about what our kids are eating and I think that's an important meal that a lot of our kids were missing. So, I think they were they've been creative in that space. I think it's a little bit easier. I don't want to keep talking for Brian, but I think
032that space is a little more it's easier to create um some creative dishes um because you have >> Are these are these kitchens uh more just warm-up kitchens? I mean, is it possible to to to put a whole meal together back there? >> Oh, definitely. We I I would say over the last couple years with the bond work that's been done, all of our kitchens are fully capable of more of a restaurant style cooking, I think, is what you mean. Um I think school food service doesn't really encompass that because we try to serve as many kids as possible in a small time span, but the equipment is the ability is definitely there for sure. >> Brian, they started prepping meals well advanced before kids arrive at school. >> Uh for sure. Yeah, we have
033we have ladies who start in the morning as early as 4:30. >> To to conclude with this, my frustration with talking to Brian was based on the regulations that his that the hands are are tied. And it's not just here. Like I said, a lot of districts are their hands are tied on where we're at with that. [Music] I think that's all the questions I have tonight. I uh I'd just like to say that I I continue to wonder whether we can you know this is the best we can do given this set of parameters. >> So maybe that's not the best we can do. It's just the best we can do under these circumstances. >> Okay. >> All right. Do we have any other questions? >> Okay. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Thank
034you so much. So, we need a secretary. Who would like to take the minutes for the meeting? Any volunteers? >> Are you gonna lose your job? >> What do I have to do? >> If I get if I screw it up >> for the roll call >> for voting. Thank you so much, Mr. Cox. So, next we have 17.26 citizens comments agenda items only. And so far, I see one from Miss Michelle Sample. Is there anyone else who would like to make uh comments agenda items only? Please fill out one of these blue slips. >> Good evening. Um I forgot which one I was talking on. You have it written down, but the superintendent search >> like it was seven. Oh, sorry. 226 >> superintendent search basically. Um currently I am thankful and very pleased
035to see that the board and the district is taking the steps finally to begin the superintendent search. Last month I was not here but watching the video um seeing you had two presentations that were given to the board seeing that you made a decision that you're going to wait and started in September at that meeting to do it. I like that there's a time frame. One thing I do want to question or call out is um the difference between the HYA and the MLI. Um don't just go with the cost. I was shocked that one is like 10,000 cheaper, but don't just go we're going to go with the cheapest. Cheapest might not always be the best. Okay? Go with what you really want. I do like that both are a fourmonth timeline. It's not
036going to go quick. Um the search is in specific areas asking for input from the stakeholders. I like the hya's presentation and he mo talked about it two times about that high school students will definitely have an input that he likes to be in charge of that. We want everybody across this to give input whether it's I like them or I don't like them. But I do like that each one is going farther into getting more asking staff asking everybody. We need to get more input. It's not just the board. Yes, you are the ones that are going to hire the one employee, but asking everybody else is important. Um, as per tonight's agenda that this will move on in se September 22nd board meeting, we need to get this moving. We need to have
037our the board needs to have their one employee that's in place. Thank you. >> Thank you, Miss Samples. Any other comments? Agenda items only. Okay, we're going to close that out. So now we have 118.26 consent agenda. >> Move approval. >> All right. Do we have a second? >> Second. >> All right. Roll call vote, please. >> This is where I shine. >> Mr. Ambers, >> yes. >> Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, >> yes. >> And I vote yes. Okay. Resolve. Motion. >> Motion passes. >> Passes. Thank you so much. Now we have one 12.26 board of education reports. Uh we have the finance and facility committee report. Mr. >> Ombres. I'm sorry. >> Review approval. >> Oh, I'm sorry. >> It's easy. So sorry. So sorry. It's my first time. >> Okay.
038So we have one one I'm sorry. >> Go. Okay. So we have 119.26 review and approval of human resources. We have one miss and per second. Okay. And then so we have 119.26 review and approval of human resources. And we have Angela Jefferson, ED, Assistant Superintendent of Curriculum and Instruction and Assessment. >> Thank you, Miss Science. >> Dr. Philly. >> Good evening, board and community members. I'm thrilled to share a few administrative recommendations to fill leadership positions in our district, starting with Dr. Angela Jefferson, who I will recommend for the position of assistant superintendent of curriculum, instruction, and assessment. And she happens to be in attendance tonight with her family. Before I share Dr. Jefferson's work history. I'd like to highlight the extensive selection process we used to fill this executive level leadership position. A
039total of 61 applicants applied for the position. Of the 61 applicants, 11 were selected for a screener virtual interview which our executive cabinet conducted. From the 11 applicants, six were selected for an in-person committee interview. The interview committee consisted of members from the union leadership of WEIA representing our teachers, WABA representing our principles, and Wakoa representing our central office administrators. The committee provided feedback to our executive cabinet regarding the interviews of the six applicants. After reviewing the feedback from the committee, two applicants advanced to an in-depth leadership analysis interview, which our Human X consultant partners conducted. The final two candidates were interviewed by the executive cabinet with questions based on human X feedback from their analysis and their vision to increase student growth districtwide. After this exhaustive interview process, we are highly confident that Dr.
040Angela Jefferson possesses the knowledge, experience, and skill set to honor the current work being done while pushing Wayne Wesland forward to higher student achievement. And now I would like to review her job history. Uh Dr. Jefferson comes to us with a bachelor's of science from Grand Valley State, a master's in education from Grand Valley State, and a doctorate of educational leadership from Eastern Michigan University. She holds a professional administrative certificate. Um, previously she's been a high school uh, social studies teacher with Thornapple Kellogg Public Schools, an elementary principal with Thornapple Kellogg Public Schools, and most recently she's been a deputy superintendent with uh, Thornapple or I'm sorry, with Northview Public Schools. Um, at this time, I would like to make a recommendation to the board of education for Dr. Angela Jefferson to be our next
041uh, assistant superintendent of CIA. >> Move approval. >> Support. >> Okay. Roll call vote. >> Oh, this is me again. Cox, yes. >> Miss Hines, >> yes. >> Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> And that's it. Mr. Douglas, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> We can get a couple more people here, it'd be seven. >> Thank you very much. I won't take up very much time, but please know that um the importance of this position is not lost on me, and I will do the very best that I can for Wayne Wesland students, uh staff, community, and I'm really excited about this opportunity. So, thank you for entrusting it to me. I did bring two of my four kids with me. That's Tiana and Taylor, and they will be moving here with me. um our older
042two uh go one's in college at Aquinus and one is has graduated from Michigan State and she's gainfully employed. So um y >> yes so I just appreciate um my teenagers up for this move and we're really excited. So thank you so much for the opportunity. >> We are too. >> Congratulations. So resolve that the board approve human resources item one as presented. And so we have um Nick James, principal at Stevenson Middle School. Dr. Oily. >> Yes. And I would now like to make a recommendation for Nick James to be the next Stevenson principal. Um Nick comes to us with a bachelor's of science from Eastern Michigan University, a master's of arts from Eastern Michigan University in educ educational leadership. Um he holds a professional education certificate and a professional administrator certificate. He's been
043with us as a social studies teacher in Wayne Westland. He worked in Belleville as a world history and sociology teacher. He also has been a social studies teacher in Whiteford uh agricultural schools and he's held he's been a social studies teacher in Westland Community Schools along as he's also been an instructional coach and most recently he has been the assistant principal at John Glenn uh High School. At this time, I'd like to make a recommendation for Nick James to be the next Stevenson Middle School principal. >> Motion. >> So move. >> Second. >> Support >> by support by motion by Dr. Weaver and support by Mr. Cox. Roll call vote. >> Dr. Weaver. >> Yes. >> Cox, yes. Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, >> yes. Motion passes 40. >> Congratulations. Would you like
044is Mr. Nick James here? >> Okay. Well, congratulations. >> All right. So, >> 120.26 board of education committee reports, finance and facility committee reports. Mr. Ambers. >> The finance and facility committee meeting was called to order at 5:30 p.m. on August 7th with the following attendance. Mr. Ambers and Miss Hines from the board of education, Dr. Cost, Mr. BBE, Miss Claire, and Miss Marky. Um, with a community member present, uh, for being proposed tonight for a vote, um, we heard first from, uh, Mr. BB regarding the request to purchase 25 iMac computers for our digital media class offered at our career technical center. The current computers used are outdated and are in need of replacement. The cost for the replacement for these computers is $47,950 and does include three years of uh Apple Care service
045with a life expectancy of 5 years. and the funds for the purchase uh would come from the CTE equipment grant account. We then heard from uh Miss Claire who is filling in for Mr. Vela about a request to purchase a new refrigerated box truck. Our current box truck has a high cost of maintenance and is uh in need of replacement. It's been in use for for quite a few years. Um it this new truck will be uh primarily used to transport food items daily to our schools and it also can be used to uh to help preserve our food items in the event of a of a power outage or equipment failure. The cost of the vehicle um using consortium pricing would be $157,000 uh roughly with the funds coming from the food service account.
046Miss Claire then reviewed the state aid report, our check register and investment accounts. Um she mentioned there was a new item in our state aid report called the explore grant. This grant is toward targeted towards middle school students promoting teaching as a as a potential career. We as a committee also had a discussion about the district's financial position um with the lack of a state budget. Um there were concerns how the lack of our with the lack of a state budget of our foundational allowance um among other funds provided for the by the state and how this would affect uh programs within the district and and uh operations. Miss Claire stated as of now the district is in a good financial position and if the needs arise she will approach the board for approval to
047dip into our fund balance. >> Thank you Mr. Embers. Any questions from the board? >> All right. So we move to policy and procedure committee report. Dr. Weaver. Just to make this very short. Um the after the last meeting the policy and procedure committee decided to back up and take another look. Uh the state has refused to um put any law in place and uh there seems to be no appetite on this board to um to put this what we have done through. Um, and there seems to be no appetite for uh consequences. Um, you can put a law through all you want, but if they can do what they want to do without consequences, what's the reason for it? So, uh, there has to be some sort of consequence. Um, we're not saying that
048they should be uh kicked out of school or anything like that, but that there should be uh some kind of consequence. Another thing that strikes me is that I think we're getting to um I hate to say it this way, but a dangerous place. It seems like this board cannot make a determination anymore without all kinds of community involvement. Now, I know that sounds terrible, but what you get with a lot of community involvement is what they want at the time. So, we're put in place to do what's best for students. And I believe that's what we should be doing. I'm not minimizing the community. I'm simply saying that we seem to drag everything out anymore. Um, and so, uh, we're going to put a new policy in place and we're going to see what
049happens at that time. Thank you. >> Thank you, Dr. Weaver. Any questions? Well, normally I wouldn't make a statement, but that kind of veered away from a report and uh and so I'm going to make a couple of comments. I really don't think that the board uh doesn't have an appetite. I think what happened is that we have first of all, cell phones just didn't get here about seven months ago. So, we've had cell phones for a while and any disruption created by cell phones, certainly every educator in our buildings knows about them. So, this didn't just happen, but there's all of a sudden an immediacy to act because we're all trying to make something happen by the 1 of September. And all I'm saying, and I think other members of the board is saying,
050is this issue deserves some conversation, not just from a policy committee, but the whole community needs to know what we're doing. As evidenced by the fact that the governor, who had previously said that she was going going to take care of this issue and then backed away from it, she no doubt they're looking at the same ramifications as we're looking at. How How does this create more disruption in our school buildings as we try to take people's property away than it solves for us? And maybe you look at cell phones a completely different way. Maybe there's a way they can be used to assist us in our mission rather than be a point of contention. In any event, I said at the very first that I mean to do something as a board member. I
051mean, I mean to vote to limit this once I've got enough information that I believe it's that's what we should do, but I'm not going to do it so that I meet an artificial timeline of September. Maybe it means we don't make a decision that takes effect until January. Maybe it waits a whole school year, but I think we should get make the decision the right way. We're trying to get a new superintendent and we're trying to pass a bond and this is no time to stir up the pot on something when there's no reason to. There there's nothing broken somewhere that can't wait for us to look at this. And I I think the community involvement, lack of community involvement may have been why we've gotten in some of the problems we have. So,
052I'd like to go the other way with that, too. Thank you. >> Thank you, Mr. Cox. Any other statements or concerns? All right. So, we're going to go down to 1 point sorry 121.26 review and approval of business services and finance. Uh recommend recommendation to purchase IMAC computers. Dr. Oily. >> Thank you, Mr. >> As Daryl Bie, executive director of technology and innovation presented at the August 7th, 2025 finance committee meeting. The district is seeking approval to purchase 25 new 24 inch iMacs with Retina 4.6 displays and Apple M4 chips for the digital media class at the William D. Ford Career Tech Center. These upgraded devices are essential to meet the advanced software and performance requirements of the film and media program, ensuring students have access to the industry standard tools necessary for success. I
053recommend that the board of education approve the purchase of the IMAT computers in the amount of $47,950. This purchase will be funded entirely through the CTE equipment grant and will have no impact on the general fund. Thank you for your consideration. >> Thank you so much. So, motion to mob me all confused. Okay. Motion to uh >> approve. >> Okay. Motion to approve. Um Mr. Cox. Uh second >> support >> Mr. Ambrose. Thank you. Uh, roll call vote. >> Uh, Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, >> yes. >> Cox, yes. Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Motion passes. >> Thank you. So, we have a recommendation to approve the purchase of a food service refrigerated truck. Uh, Dr. Mr. Tokco. >> Thank you, Miss Hines. As Juel Clare, the chief financial officer, presented at the
054August finance committee meeting, I am requesting approval to purchase a 2026 Ford F650 refrigerated truck for our food service uh department. The truck will be used to transport food to each of the schools daily. Additionally, in the event of a kitchen equip in event of a of kitchen equipment needing repair, we will be able to utilize the truck to preserve the food items. Uh this truck will be purchased through Lefonta Lef Fontaine Ford and Flint. Um and will be utilizing the COPRO uh plus consortium bid. Uh I recommend that the board of education approve the purchase at the cost not to exceed $157,215. This purchase will be charged to the food service fund and will not hit the general fund. >> Uh any questions on the board? Well, I got a >> Motion. Okay. So,
055uh we'd like to >> ask for a motion. >> So, moved. >> Okay. And second, >> support. >> So, we have uh approved by Ambrose and supported by Weaver. Dr. Weaver. Thank you so much. >> Have a question. >> Okay. Any questions, >> Scott? Does this truck uh a replacement, a duplicate of what we've had or is it a bigger truck? Does it afford more room? >> It's a I believe it's a bigger truck. It's a the technology in this truck is greater than the one we had before and we will be selling the other truck. Um >> I mean in terms of how big is it? >> It's a six if you know what next >> the same is it the same size? >> Yes. It's about the same size. An F650 if you
056ever seen a seen a food truck like that. It's a big truck. >> Yeah. >> Like it's it could transfer. >> And we have that now. >> We do. >> Okay. >> If if memory serves it's about a 26 foot box on that thing. That's Yes. And you would know, Mr. You dealt with that before. >> Yeah, I've >> The the old truck broke down last year um on a way to a competition for a band for one of the marching bands. Um and it was out of service for about six weeks waiting for a new motor. >> This is a refrigerated truck and we're putting kids in it. >> Well, we only have two trucks in in the district that are capable of hauling equipment. >> Oh, okay. >> So, it's hauling equipment on
057a Saturday. Yeah, it's uh we're we're we're uh we're due for a new new truck and and we look start looking at the prices because when I was thinking about the the shock value of $157,000, I was thinking a pickup truck now is $70,000. So, >> I mean it it sounds like a lot, but from what we're getting that that's the typical price for for these and we need one. As Mr. Ambler said, we're we're due for one. >> We're due for it. >> Okay. Thank you so much. So we are at one 122.26 review and approval of board of education super antenna search selection. >> No no vote on that last one. We got a first and a second but we still got >> we had discussion but now we vote. >> Okay. Now
058we vote. Okay. >> Thank you guys. It's my first time. >> Okay. So um roll call vote. >> Dr. Weaver. >> Yes. >> Cox. Yes. Mr. Ambrose. >> Yes. >> Miss Hines. >> Yes. >> 4. Motion passes. Thank you and thank you guys for your patience. >> You're good. >> All right. So, we have 122.26 review and approval of the board of education superintendent search selection. >> I'm going to uh make a motion that the board uh select Michigan Leadership Institute to handle uh to handle this search for us. And if I get a second, I'll I'd like to speak to it. >> Second. So, we have a motion by Dr. Mr. Cox and second by uh we Dr. Weaver. >> Okay. May I? >> Yes. >> I'd like to say that we had a
059resident come up uh tonight and talk about this specific issue. Uh Miss Sample, thank you. She's absolutely right. U I believe about don't make a decision because just price alone because the price might might not be the ultimate cost of something. And uh I also liked both uh presentations, but I've worked with Michigan Leadership Institute before and I know their character and I know everybody knows them. Everybody respects them. Um I'm I'm sure that the National Company does a great job. Uh no doubt of it. But we've said so many times in this room how Wayne Westland School District is a little bit different than every other school district and I think John and Michigan Leadership Institute knows that and I think that they would be great partners with us and that's why I'm like
060to vote in the affirmative. >> Any other statements or questions? I was uh I'm glad we held off on this vote last meeting. Um if I were to have gone off of what was presented, I would have went went with HYA, I thought their presentation was better. Um but as I reviewed the materials that were given to us and then I also called a few boards especially about uh Michigan Leader Inst in Institute and John people couldn't speak highly enough of him and and what he was able to do with their districts in in finding uh their candidate and and that and that's why I I'm glad we we we held off on that vote because it gave me a chance to investigate on my own to find out which direction we should go. >>
061May May I speak I may I speak one more time about it? I appreciate you doing that Mr. and checking that out because that I I'm no that doesn't surprise me a bit and I know over the years when you know school districts some school districts come uh and they have they have things that happen that create such an upheaval in the school district that they reach outside for some help just as we've done with Dr. cost and I will tell you John Sbury gets a lot of telephone calls when that happens. He's he's the solution to a lot of problems. So, uh thank you >> and I would like to say something as well. Um the Michigan Leadership Institute John Se has been a very good asset because we've done several superintendent searches in
062the past and it's been really good. They're very professional. They do a lot getting the community involved and they do a lot of surveys and even we can use them for other things like with our uh curriculum, our strategic planning and we can also use them with our bond work as well once that bond gets passed. So we can use them you know a few times and I like too with the cost being you know reasonable and then the same thing too with the guarantee if something happens we still be able to use them and not have to pay you know extra for outside searches. So um yeah I concur with some of my other board members. Okay. So, we're going to do a roll call. >> Oh, Dr. Weaver, do you have anything to
063say? >> No. >> Okay. So, roll call vote. >> Yeah. Uh, >> Mr. Ambers, >> yes. >> Miss Hines, >> yes. >> Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Cox, yes. >> Thank you so much. >> Motion carries. >> All right. So we are going to go to designation of delegates for the Michigan Association of School Boards. Uh MSAB 2025 delegate assembly. Do we have any recommendations? >> I recommend Dr. Ambress, Mr. Ambress and Melind. >> Thank you. I concur. I would like >> Sounds solid >> and congratulations on your promotion. >> All right. >> I get a PhD. So, uh, I do accept that designation to be a delegate for the MSAB 2025 delegate assembly. And would you like to accept as well, Mr. Ambros? >> Sure. >> All right. Roll call vote. >> Two alternates
064as well. >> Oh, two alternates. Okay. So, who would like to be the two alternates? >> Let's see. I think Mr. Roshan and Miss Abney Mitchell. >> Okay. And Dr. Weaver, would you like to be an alternate as well? >> No, thank you. >> Okay. So, we have >> Oh, yeah. He's here. >> You can't do that to him. put our president on the block. She can do it. >> She'll be attending the ALC, the annual leadership conference. So, you may want to consider Shannon and Kimberly May because those are four people we know are going to be >> Oh, okay. Okay. All right. That's a solid team. >> Yes. So, we'll put um President May and Mr. Rashan down as alternates. >> Okay. Do we uh just talk about that or do we vote
065on that? >> You need a vote. >> You need a motion. >> Okay. That's the motion. >> Okay. So, do you need a second? >> And I'll second it. >> Hines. Roll call vote. Okay. Miss Hines, >> yes. >> Mr. Ambrose, >> yes. >> Dr. Weaver, >> yes. >> Cox, yes. >> All right. >> Congratulations, Dr. Weaver. >> Thank you. And we have 123.26 citizens comments, non-aggendum items. Do we have anyone in the audience that has any citizens comments, non-aggenda items? And just fill out this little sheet. Would you come up? All right, we have none. Thank you so much. Um, now we are at 124.26 in superintendent reports and comments. Dr. Cough. >> Thank you, Miss Hines. Um, I want to thank our food service uh department because of the hard work they did
066in serving over 22,000 meals to our our students this summer. What a great What a great active love. That's that's all I'll say. You know that they they take care of our children. Um I'd also like to thank our uh maintenance department uh who have been deep cleaning schools once everybody left and uh they are squeaky shiny clean when you look down the hallways and they're waxed. You can see the reflection of the lockers on each side. Um, we've had our our secretaries and our uh our leaders, our principles, assistant principles back and they are working on scheduling. Our counselors are back making sure conflicts get resolved and you can just feel things getting ready for students come August 26. So, uh, we're going to welcome teachers back, parapros back, um, next week and we're
067ready and it's a very exciting time. All right. Thank you so much, Dr. CS. Now, we're at 125.26. Review and recommendation of the board of education. Um, Mr. Cox, >> uh, two things. I would like to say that delivering 22,000 meals over the summer months meant that that was needed in the community. I'm so glad that that resource was there for those kids. I'm going to say one more thing about the cell phone policy. policy committee worked awful hard on that and really believed, you know, they did a survey. They they believed that they did take into consideration everybody's opinion and made a recommendation that believed was in the best interest of the kids getting a quality education. And frankly, I that will probably be the way this thing goes when it does go. But
068uh I just needed more time on this. And I'm not a guy that always drags my heels out the car door, but this is a big thing and it's just got red flags flying all over it. He's just thinking we're doing uh the right thing and we create a tremendous calamity and commotion that's unnecessary. And uh I might be wrong about that, but that's my honest opinion of it. And I didn't mean any disrespect to the work of the committee or the work that you did. and I certainly didn't mean it as an affront to you because I didn't vote in favor of this. So that's all I have tonight and thank you. >> Uh Dr. Weaver. >> Yes. Thank you, Madame President. Prom >> I am so glad to see that Nick James after
069all of his great work is getting a um almost said presidency. I'm promoting everyone tonight. uh principal position at Stephvenson also for Angela. Um that is um a great hire for us I believe. I did have a question. The two children that she brought with her, are they school age? >> They are. >> Okay. So that's $20,000 into her salary already. Um, as we go into a superintendent search, I just want to put that out there. You don't have to agree with it at all, but as we um go into superintendent search, I don't think it's all about what we want. It's about looking back and seeing what has not served us well in the past. And um I think that we need to take uh a good look at that with past superintendent uh
070before we go forward. I also wanted to say Dr. Cost is doing a great job. I believe she has pencils and erasers flowing in her bloodstream and uh she's just all about um working with our district and I appreciate it. If there are any parents watching tonight, first of all, I want to say welcome back to school uh for all of our kids. But I would ask any parents that are listening tonight to have a chat with your kids. Let's make this the best year that we've ever had. Fighting to and from school or in our buildings is not going to solve anything. Bringing a weapon to school is not going to solve anything. Bullying on social media is not going to solve anything. and disrespect toward teachers and administrators is not going to solve
071anything. What will solve things could be to actually hear what another person has to say, to take a breath before you react because your reaction many times gets a student in trouble. So also I would like to say if you can't get along with someone avoid them as much as you can and to think before you act. So thank you and that concludes my comments. >> Thank you Dr. Weaver, Mr. Ambrose. >> Earlier this month I had a nice sitdown conversation with Dr. Cost. It was my my first time having have any meeting um since we hired her to to be our uh interim super acting superintendent. And one of the things we talked about was how she feels this district is in a position to do some great things. And lo and behold, I'm
072on social media this morning and I saw that one of our teachers posted uh sharing something that was on Wayne Memorial's Facebook page, an article from Money, Inc. listing 30 of the best high schools in Wayne County. All three of our high school programs in our district were in the top 30. Wayne Memorial was at number two. Our innovative academy was number five. Still trying to figure out though who Westland High is. I know of Westland John Glenn but and they came in at 20 and that's due to a lot of hard work from our educators. This past Thursday I got to see a little bit of that in action. As some of you know, um my kids all went to Wayne Memorial. They all participated in marching band. I no longer have a kid
073in marching band, but we went and watched their uh their band camp performance that was at that they held at the high school. and to see the hard work that these these kids put in uh with a dedicated staff that came in starting in June to help these kids learn their music and and put on this show was incredible. And this wasn't just a a band performance. They they got the school involved with it. Um, one of the props that'll be used was actually built by the art department there at Wayne. Um, and so it's nice to see how school spirit is coming together and and working and is bringing kids together. This past weekend, um, Miss Hines and I, um, along with Mr. Roshan and Miss President May who aren't here. We spent the
074weekend up in Lancing uh at the MSB um summer institute where we we received training. I had a chance to uh talk to a few uh board members uh from other districts about their cell phone policy. Um a lot of these districts have implemented it and their policies were a pretty much in line with what our policy committee came up with. Um, but they all had various degree various uh enforcement actions and I and I I think that for me is is what we need to figure out more is how are we going to enforce? I think the policy itself was was spot on. In fact, it was more forward thinking because two of the board members I talked to said their policy was just cell phones and now teachers are coming to them about
075Chromebooks and other distractions that as a district they are providing their students and they're finding workarounds. And so our policy was at least forward thinking in terms of all electronic devices. And so I think once we get the enforcement side figured out how we're going to enforce the policy and we are going to need some input on that because we are talking about someone's personal property. I think we can we'll have something that will be beneficial for everyone. So Dr. Weaver, I do want to thank you and your committee for the work that you have put in for it so far. and I hope everyone has a good school year. Um, school starts up in just over a week. Um, I plan on being uh at some football games. I hope to see Wayne Memorial
076at least win one game this year. And uh I just won't be attending Wayne anymore. I'll also be attending John Glenn. So I get to see what the other side looks like. So, thanks. >> Thank you. So, I definitely like to congratulate Miss Angela Jefferson um for the assistant superintendent of curriculum and instruction assessment. Um I'd like to also congratulate Nyx James for being the principal of Citizen Middle School. Um so, I'm super excited about this being a brand new year. It's going to be so much fun. We're going to do a lot of things. We got our bond coming out. Um I just talked to Jenny. So, we're going to be going out to the community. Um going out to the city council meetings. You're going to go to the businesses. We're going to
077go out to the neighbors and just let everybody know we got this bond coming out 0% increase. That's going to be a really good thing and we're going to be able to support our students and staff over at the Walker Winter. And I'd like to thank everybody who's helping on that as well. Um, also, as my com colleagues have said, we had a really great time in Lancing with the Michigan Association of School Boards. Um, I was able to take some really good classes, advance law. Um, so it had a lot of things because there's so much going on in this environment when it comes to education. Um, and one of my favorite classes I'm definitely going to do a lot of work with here with the school district, it was the um, strategic um,
078it was the district strategic plans and goal setting. So, this was going to be really awesome because with us being in the middle of doing the superintendent search, new curriculum instruction, and doing our goal setting, like what do we want to see the school district do in the future? So, we need to as a board all our people sit down. We have two new board members, so we can all sit together and figure out which direction the school district is going into. So, this is like the right time for that. And I was able to take another class called leverage leveraging fe uh feedback and it's talking about more like listening like you guys were saying with the community like seeing like what's going to be the best efforts for us and different things coming
079down the line with the school district. Um, and I want to say too, I'm super excited. Um, I was actually able to uh invite a special guest. Um he is a a famous author, journalist. Um his name is um Mr. Banklay Thompson. He's there in the audience and he's been with the Michigan Chronicle and the um Detroit Free Press. So he's here right there. Mr. Banklay. Yeah. So I was really excited to bring him down. One thing I like to do is I like to bring different people into our community to our school districts when it comes to like journalism, author, um different resources for our children. you know, like, you know, with him being an author, might be some kids that might want to say, "Hey, I want to get into that career." And
080we just approved all that money for our career technical center for our IMAX. So, just really bringing people down like I have some really good relationships with people in the movie industry. So, I'm super excited about, you know, school starting up and just bringing people together. So, thank you so much for coming down, Mr. Benlet Thompson. And like this book, Fiery Conscience, is super awesome and it talks about a lot of things that's going on in like education, like poverty. He has the Pulse Institute which is really good. I've been to quite a few events with that and just meeting some phenomenal people and just building relationships. So, thank you so much uh Mr. uh thank for just coming to our meeting. And then we have Miss Monica. She's amazing. Um she applied uh for
081the school um board and we always are looking for people, you know, we always got to build that stream up and she does a lot when it comes to children when it comes to tutoring. So, if you have some kids that's in high school that needs help with their ACTs, um like college prep, she does like curriculum, all kind of stuff. She's really good. Miss Monica over there and she's very helpful. She's subbed in the district a few times and I just really appreciate everything. Um and even Miss Sample, um definitely appreciate your concerns because you're right, sometimes you can't always look at costs when it comes to things. Um but just being on the board for a while, I really felt super comfortable with the leadership group. Um again, um with the Wayne Chamber
082of Com, actually it's the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce. They're having a special golf event if anybody's interested. September 5th at Gateway Golf Club. Um I've been down in Wayne. They're having the annual concerts in the park. They're free over at Gouty Park on Wednesday night at 7. Um the city of Westland are still having their um jazzy nights over at Central City Park. Nice place for the families after the farmers market. Totally free. Um I know the city of Westland's got a event coming up like Wow Women of Westland coming up. Super awesome. been at city hall totally free and it's just a nice way to bring the community together and oh one more thing so today I was down at AKA sports because I'm really big at like if you want to go
083to a football game where do we get the gear like the clothing and stuff like that so AKA sports out in Wayne they actually can make certain things so I was even talking about maybe talking to the schools because everybody likes their own gear you know like having them go there they can get their t-shirts made sweatshirts and stuff like that maybe we can figure out something so that way people can buy clothes because they used to have it over at Kmart like some years years ago and and John like the John Glenn clothes and the Wayne memorial for the games and stuff. So because it's hard to find clothing there. So if you're looking for any type of apparel for the school district, definitely uh hit up AKA sports and um I like to
084say Dr. C, you've been doing an amazing job. I'm so proud of you. I brag about you all the time because you know the school year is starting. We have to come together as a community and give her as much support as she can to help us get these kids ready for school. And that's all I have to say. And do we have a motion to Oh, no. No. I'm sorry. There's one more thing I looked at. Sorry, there is a um a 126.26 followup to the board of education questions. >> There were no questions. >> All right. And so we have a 1.2726 adjournment. Do we have a motion to adjurnn? >> So move >> and second >> support. >> So so moved by Cox and support by Ambros. I'm a