001good evening welcome to the Wayne Westland Community School school board meeting I would like to start our meeting with the Pledge of Allegiance by calling up Lea Holloway and Logan tenant representing Sher Elementary School Al to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liy and justice for [Music] all thank you so much Mrs F you're coming up to share some information about our pledge leaders I thank you so much good evening my name is Emily fooa I'm the principal at Schweitzer and I'm proud to introduce Lea Holloway and Logan tenant to you all today both Lea and Logan are in fifth grade and Mrs Mo next this class and both of these awesome students have attended schweiter since kindergarten they
002both also just returned from Camp store from f grade Camp got on Friday right Logan lives in Wayne with his older sister older brother mom dad and two dogs at Scher his favorite subject is ma he likes writing he also loves gym and playing doball Logan is very athletic and plays on the Scher flag football and basketball teams he also plays baseball outside of school at schwitzer Logan is a safety and he has the important job of raising and lowering the flag every day and he's also a lunchroom safety Mrs molx describes Logan as very reliable and polite and he stands up for others and at viory Camp Logan received the I'm third award which shows he puts other in Middle School Logan is looking forward to meeting new friends and when he grows up
003he wants to be a major league baseball player and this is Le Lea she lives in Wayne with her mom at Scher her favorite subject is math specifically fractions and she loves reading she loved the new book that the class read from their new book Works curriculum called walk to moon Leila also has a safety job for second for a second class where she helps the teacher every day she's on student council plays basketball does dance and attends Bible Club Mrs MX describes Lea as helpful reliable and hardworking she is a dedicated student representative on student council and works really hard on her school work in Middle School Lea is looking forward to making new friends when she grows up she wants to be a nail technician and I'm so proud to have both of
004these students here today to say the Pledge of Allegiance and represent our school [Applause] right [Applause] next on the agenda is item 30125 roll calls an attendance Mrs hin Mr Ambrose present Miss Abney Mitchell present Dr Weaver present Mr Cox present Miss hin present Mr rashan present president may present 70 thank you so much next we move into 302. 25 recognitions and presentations I will pass it over to Mrs Curry thank you Kelvin do you mind stepping down here for a minute while I read something Mom you can can come too if you'd like to okay will you turn around and just thank you perfect we're going to celebrate you in a minute it is my pleasure to recognize Kelvin Bobo who is a sixth grader at Stevenson Middle School for winning the District spelling
005be on February 12th [Applause] 2025 Kelvin compet against 17 talented students from our three middle schools and emerged as the champion we are very proud to present him with a certificate in a trophy in honor of his achievements congratulations Kevin or kelvin I'm sorry Kelvin we'll get a picture mom would you like to join in for a picture as well I hope that trophy is either solid chocolate or solid gold NE will be good [Applause] welcome oh next is still me thank you so next I'd like to actually have Mrs faen come down and she has a presentation was something very exciting actually good evening president May and school board members I have the pleasure this evening of sharing about a partnership that we have from our Family Resource Center uh my name is Amanda
006faen I'm the supervisor of social emotional learning for our district and I'm joined this evening by Brenda Ozog who is one of our case managers at our Family Resource Center so this evening I wanted to talk about Jack dummer Ford which is located in Wayne um they have been supporting our Family Resource Center for the past 10 years um as you can see through these photos every fall they do a a very large donation of school supplies for students in need through our Family Resource Center so that they can be prepared and ready for school and to learn they also have also given a monetary donation every fall um around $11,000 and so this fall um that's what that picture is right there um this fall was that donation but um I got a call
007from um Paula Hunt who was here this evening actually I'd like to ask uh my Jack dummer friends here this evening is Rob dmer Paula Hunt Eric priest Richard wolf and Chris MC Peak if you guys could join me up here at the podium I'd like to recognize you but they had given me a call Paula did and said um if I could come to the dealership because they had a surprise for us and honestly I was thinking like wait a minute they already made Their donation that they normally do every fall and so um when I got there with interm superintendent uh Jennifer Curry we were very very overcome and just so appreciative for this very generous donation from Jack dmer so if you guys could lift up um your check they donated $10,000
008so this donation will go directly to Our Family Resource Center every scent of it will go directly to families in need um we will use this to purchase things like toiletry sack and underwear school supplies backpacks clothing whatever it is our students need um we will use this donation for and we would not be able to do what we do through the Family Resource Center without support of Partners like Jack dmer so I wanted to thank um you the Demmer family and all of the employees at Jack Demmer um for your very generous donation so thank you very [Applause] much thank you so very much thank you there you [Applause] [Music] go next we will have a building update from Miss faoa from triter elementary good evening again everyone my name is Emily faoa principal
009at Schweitzer Elementary School and thank you for inviting me to share details about Schweitzer Elementary and highlight what makes our school so special at Schweitzer I got it thank you I forgot to click the next slide at schwitzer our mascot the Stinger represents the hard work and positive spirit of our students and our school colors of black and yellow reflect the pride and energy that we bring to everything we do we are committed to fostering a positive and supportive environment with clear Behavior expectations for all students be safe be respectful be responsible schwitzer student Dem Graphics include a grade level breakdown of 59 kindergarteners 72 first graders 77 second graders 68 third graders 64 fourth graders and 63 fifth grade students a total of 404 students with 24% receiving special education services 1.5% multilingual students
010and a diverse ethnic representation including 27.5% African-American 58.3% Caucasian 6% Hispanic 1.5% Middle Eastern 6.5% multiethnic and 2% Native American Schweitzer Elementary has several um unique staff members who support our students we have an attendance monitor dedicated to improving student attendance two par professionals provide targeted support for literacy growth our teachers are leaders across the district half of the district's grade leaders for elementary are schwitzer teachers four of our educators are also graduates of the Galileo Institute for Teacher leadership Schweitzer staff also lead in specialized areas we have the activities coordinator for K5 Athletics our um physical education teacher our occupational therapist serves as department head and our speech and language pathologist also leads their Department many of our staff have been dedicated to Schweitzer for years 60% have been here for over 5 years
011years and 17 staff members have worked in Wayne Westland for more than 20 years together our staff bring a wealth of experience collectively they have served 352 years at Schweitzer and 625 years in Wayne wesland collectively oh wow and the most fun fact about Schweitzer is we have 11 uh Wayne wesland graduates from John Glenn and Wayne Memorial High School um we're deeply connected to the through the community and they've come full circle giving back to the district that helped shape them and Miss Horton is in the front row she's um that third picture of her senior picture right there too oh and and Steve Barber who's at Wayne Memorial now with his wife Jean Barber who works at Schweitzer their high school picture I didn't know you'd be here tonight Mr [Laughter] Barber at
012Schweitzer building and maintaining strong positive relationships with students is Key to Our Success supported by daily greetings community building activities restorative practices emotional support groups social skills lessons and proactive strategies like calm down areas and check in checkout our student centered approach focuses on building strong positive relationships creating a supportive environment that boosts academic success behavior and attendance making Schweitzer a great place to be on average our daily attendance rate is 90% we celebrate attendance throughout the year to keep students motivated our attendance has improved from 87% in December to 92% in February after 112 days of school five students have perfect attendance and additionally 21 students have missed two or fewer days we're proud of all of their dedication to coming to school schwitzer students are demonstrating solid academic growth with 49% meeting their
013nwea growth goal from fall to winter this year in Reading 49% growth and in math 51% because the nwea is a normed referenced assessment this means our students progress aligns with national expectations where roughly half of students reach their target and half do not however this does not mean the other 50% did not show growth many still made meaningful progress even if they didn't hit their specific growth goal at Schweitzer our PBIS program creates a positive and supportive School Culture by reinforcing good behavior teaching clear expectations and providing daily goal setting through check-in checkout we also focus on social emotional learning restorative practices calm down spaces peer mentoring and strong family engagement to help students grow academically and emotionally schwitzer students enjoy a wide range of enriching experiences from Hands-On learning at the stem Center
014at John Glenn to exciting field trips to the zoo Greenfield Village and the Ford Rouge Plant many of our classes walk to the State Wayne Theater for a community based field trip they also participate in school Traditions like the the Stinger Sprint Fun Run trunker Retreat and kindergarten kindergarden plays as well as Athletics music performances and community events that make their school years Unforgettable Schweitzer values strong family and Community connections through events like our back to school openhouse Stinger Sprint Fun Run trunker treat and bingo for books family night we have our Bingo for books event this week actually on Wednesday for this year and we also engage parents through literacy parent University popcorn days the ice cream social and volunteer opportunities in the classrooms as crossing guards and for fundraisers Schweitzer takes pride in
015strong Community Partnerships with organiz ations like the Wayne and Westland fire and police departments local churches and the Wayne Ry club which provided Scholastic book vouchers for all of our third graders this year our students also develop leadership skills through student council service Squad safety patrol classroom leadership roles and participation in Daily announcements and both the students that said the pledge are part of the safety patrol and service Squad there we go Schweitzer student council is making a difference they collected donations for the Michigan Humane Society provided winter Essentials Through The Giving Tree and raised funds for California fire victims with a penny War students also started a pen palel program with American house residents building connections through letter writing before meeting them in person this spring this year Mrs Madison's thirdd grade class is
016participating in the the Michigan dnr's salmon in the classroom project raising salmon from eggs to smol while learning about ecosystems water quality and conservation on April 28th they will release their salmon into the Rouge River at gudy Park beginning their Journey to the Detroit River Lake St Clair and Lake Erie and it's something that other classes come to visit Mrs Madison's class to see Mrs MX um in the front row her class uh weekly visits Mrs Madison's class to kind of check in and be engaged with them as well although the large tank is only in Mrs Madison's class March is reading month and at Schweitzer this year's theme is reading is food for your brain students enjoy daily activities that celebrate reading while staff bring the theme to life with creative decorations engaging activities
017and fun spirit days each week in March all classes are reading books from The Bad Seed collection which are books that deliver powerful messages about personal growth kindness perseverance and believing in yourself so in conclusion schleiter we are dedicated to fostering growth achievement and community and we're proud of the progress that we've made this year thank you to the board for your time and support and are there any questions thank you are there any questions from any board members yes M I like to say you guys are doing an amazing job and since March is reading month like if we want to come read to the kids like how will we set that up absolutely we would love to have you you could just show up we will always find a spot for you or
018if you want to schedule it you could just call the office and we could find a so if you were looking for a specific grade level or anything like that we would make sure to connect you with that thank you we'd love to have you thank you Mr Cox on the slide that said five kids had perfect attendance there was only four kids in the picture there was was no that is a mixture of perfect attendance and nearly perfect attendance it was a group of students I found um that were having lunch like it was their lunch period so I grabbed those kids I thought I caught you nope I promised those five were there at school that day are there any other questions or comments okay okay I would just like to say um
019thank you for your presentation very impressed with the community involvement that the kids are engaged in as well as the attendance and it just feels like it's looks and feels like a fun place to be so thank you for all that you and your staff do and I do have one followup question in regards to um the nwea if you don't know this you can get back with me but just the number of students that were proficient in both um reading and in math on the nwaa absolutely I don't have those numbers but I will follow up with you the chart was about growth but I can look at achievement for sure yep thank you yep I'll will send that to you thank you so much thank you thank you thank you um next up
020we have a building update from the Wayne Memorial High School administration team did everybody now put me in charge of Technology good evening everyone good evening evening thank you for having us it's an honor to be here with you tonight we have I am Cory Gildersleeve the principal uh proud principal Way Memorial High School and I'm joined tonight by my administrative team assistant principal Steve Barber assistant principal Amanda Ros assistant principal John Ross and athletic director assistant principal Mr Mark Woodson and Woody I want to say real quick before we get going uh seeing barber in that Wayne Jersey we got to find out if he's got any eligibility left we need that on our front line for sure okay oh yeah you see that's why I didn't want to do it yeah take a
021couple steps up and you go thank you our school demographics uh we have uh 319 freshmen 336 sophomores 282 Juniors and 258 seniors for 126 scholars in our building 58.8% are economically disadvantaged 59.2% get free and reduceed lunch ethnicity we have 43.6 African-American Scholars 40.9 Caucasians 7.8 Hispanic and Latino 5.9% are two or more races and 1.7 other for our average daily attendance we are at 89.7 2% for our students that are present for at least half of a day and our full day rate is 62.7 for our students with no absences or tardies and what we have found is our biggest hit on our attend end is coming out of our first hour many many of our Scholars are showed up to school just a little bit late in the mornings uh way Memorial's
02220% special education which does not include our new temporary placements that we received from the semester we offer 12 academic Support classes per semester 33 sections of uh co- talk classes as well and 50 uh multilingual students also in this slide we're very proud that we have a picture of our uh acknowledgement from our local community history where we recently completed our wall of Honor which is in our main entrance of our building that honors our service men and women dating back to World War II this project was actually taken on by one of our teachers and through our friends as well for the World War II Memorial involved in completing this project in our main entry if you haven't seen it come over to Wayne in the main entrance it's there upon your arrival
023for our student well-being we work very hard in mtss our supports of our students and then our social emotional as well with our students uh one of the things that we do through that uh is trying to improve our attendance as an ongoing effort and our student well-being efforts seek to help improve and remove some of those obstacles for our students with attendance we offer the zebra hope food pantry which hope stands for helping other people to eat which is managed by our counselors in our building and then we also have the zebra rack clothing closet which is managed by our students and our work-based learning program our positive behavior intervention supports our PBIS was rebranded this year led by some of our amazing Wayne folks that are here tonight so thank you for our
024work in that we appreciate you uh there our students are now earning their stripes and earning their stripes they're being safe being a team player responsible inspirational participating excellent and supportive and so our Scholars are now earning their stripes every day and when our adults see our students earning those stripes they issue them a certificate of excellence and then this happens all day any day if they see it they acknowledge it the the search for the students are then placed into our Stripes bucket which is in our cafeteria and then on a weekly basis we draw out on Fridays recognizing the Excellence that we have going from that week pump it up a little bit with some music playing and recognizing both staff and students where we give out prizes in those drawings now we
025are also in the planning stages of uh larger events to recognize and reward our Excellence through our Service Learning grant that we are working hard on so thank you Miss Kim p on that we appreciate you hello I'm here to uh share with you a little bit about some of our student leadership groups uh this slide represents our National Honor Society and our student council to tell you a little bit about our National Honor Society uh this year we inducted 18 new members uh into the into the organization uh one of the requirements for National Honor Society is that students have to uh complete service hours and so many times you'll find them uh volunteering their time in the Jefferson barns learning lab uh out at the Westland Historical Society uh and also within several
026churches throughout the community Additionally the National Honor Society students um they participate in fund rers um most recently they they completed a fundraiser for the American Heart Association and um right now they're actively planning a service learning project to wrap up the year our student council uh plans monthly events in October just to highlight a few in October they did the Spooktacular event which is a community outreach program event over a hundred families attended Wayne Memorial and uh they trick-or-treated throughout the hallways uh they also they got to do some cookie decorating make some crafts there was a haunted house we went through the haunted house we lost some sleep that night it was hard to go to sleep but uh you know so that was that was fun um in November they hosted Matt
027Aly from massp um and how they there was a leadership conference and they learned about team building skills they also helped develop their uh mission for their organization uh in December the student council traveled to Walker winter Elementary for their annual um holiday party and uh met with the students took gifts to the students and did different activities with them from what I hear Santa even showed up this year so um to you know go you know just looking forward to the rest of the year they they're still planning monthly events uh just like this and another you know program we have at Wayne memorial is champions of Wayne Uh champions of Wayne is a is a program where students are partnered with with a mentor working with their Mentor they set a goal an
028academic goal um you know and then meet with that Mentor throughout the semester to make sure they're on track to meet their goal and then at the end of each semester a celebration is held to recognize the students who made their goal uh so you can kind of see uh on the slide there there some of the the data surrounding the Improvement that students have made as a result of this champions of Wayne program um one thing we they definitely want to do is acknowledge all of their Partners who are Way Memorial alumni that are that enable the program to keep going good evening sorry about the froggy voice um my name is Amanda Rosy one of the assistant principles as well I'm going to talk about our Bright Futures program um has three main
029focus areas they aim to establish a caring and supportive and inclusive community uh for the students to be able to engage in after school they give students opportunities for enrichment such as social emotional learning stem life skills physical fitness and community outreach uh they also emphasized youth leadership by having students run large parts of the program including the youth Advisory Board uh that makes high school or high level decisions about the program uh in the past three years we've had students engage in youth dri youth driven spaces uh through the neutral zone They also work with the Emu um youth driven spaces uh collaborative as well participating in hiring committee and interview to Select Staff peer mediation and uh en list a variety of Community Partnerships to run enrichment activities such as coding game design
030St stage combat inclusive sex health education rocketry and other science and engineering topics sorry Upward Bound is excited to have attained all of their approved Federal objectives for the 2024 annual performance report another one of our amazing programs that supports our students within the building and in the community uh they focus on academic performance the GPA their performance on standardized tests and secondary school retention they're especially proud that in 2024 their students achieved objectives in high school graduation so the class of 2024 had a 100% graduation rate for Upward Bound postsecondary enrollment 91% of our Upward Bound graduates began a degree in the program in the fall of 2024 postsecondary education completion for the class of 2018 was 75% of the cohort had degree conferred within 6 years Upward Bound students supported our community by
031totaling 1,700 service hours in 2024 they also earned 10.5 million in college scholarships and grants Upward Bound students receive scholarships for summer of 2024 to attend the four dozen external summer programs including the ACLU National advocacy Institute in Washington the William and Mary pre-ol program in American history Michigan Supreme Supreme Court Exploring Careers in the law cinos aluro at George Washington University and Michigan Ross Summer Business Academy the Upward Bound class of 2025 has already received over 280 college acceptances and millions in scholarships this class includes two toride Association summer Scholars a bezo scholar a Horatio aler scholar and two gate scholarship semifinalist and the rest of them will be announced soon thank you and we're not done yet there's still more uh thank you m rosi I'm John Ross another one of the assistant
032principles uh so one of our other programs that we're proud of is our uh work-based learning program uh the work study class at Way Memorial High School offers students from the cognitively impaired and dual diagnosis programs invaluable real world real world experiences that bridge classroom learning with practical application by engaging in this program students develop essential soft skills explore various career paths and gain a comprehensive understanding of workplace Dynamics this Hands-On approach not only builds confidence but also enhances employability equipping students with the competencies needed for future success moreover the program Fosters meaningful connections between students and the community promoting relationship building and community integration through their dedication and hard work these students acquired the skills and knowledge necessary to thrive in their future endeavors um so I I come to these and I pay
033attention and people like to come and brag about salmon in the classroom we are the OG salmon in the classroom school um it's been running for four years at Wayne Memorial you might think it's one of our science teachers you'd be wrong it's an English teacher um he does does an excellent job of integrating this into his curriculum um his English classes have been um monitoring the salinity levels in the Rouge River for several years um and I believe he uses that as part of a persuasive writing assignment to local legislators advising them on policy that they should enact uh environmentally uh back in September the accelerated 10 English class spent half a day sailing on the Detroit River um they learned about the cultural and ecolog iCal history uh as well as picked up
034some sailing skills there we go um we also have our art Club Art Club meets for uh 90 minutes a week hosted by Wayne Memorial's three art teachers and consistently serves between 30 and 35 students uh they have two annual art shows students display and sell their work uh they are interactive displays for guests the spring art show will be on April 17th for from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. we are inviting the board and the community out to that event if anyone's interested uh for the past 2 years club members have been awarded the opportunity to have their artwork uh appear in the Wayne County high school art exhibition hosted by the Detroit Institute of Art uh Art Club has collaborated with our performing arts program to create props for uh theatrical Productions there's a
035couple pieces up there that were used in our school plays uh as well as that giant hourglass you see was part of uh barching bands performance I believe this past year next we have Mr Woodson I would just like to say uh good evening to everyone and I'm going to talk a little bit about some of the success we done had uh this year in our winter sports teams uh but before I do that I just would like to just say thank you each and every one of you board members Mrs Curry you and your your team and your staff for giving us support uh that we needed for our coaches and our kids to be successful because without your support and backing we wouldn't have the opportunity to travel to other states to compete
036against other teams in other states for our kids uh the facilities we have are not uh short of the the best that uh our kids could participate in and I just want to thank you all again cuz if it wasn't for you we wouldn't have the success that we do at Wayne Memorial uh Athletics as well as academically and uh just thank you all all right I want to talk a little bit uh about some of our teams first I want to talk about our our boys bowling team uh they made it to the States this year and they wind up to the final four uh which is awesome I know a couple years ago they did win the state championship but we came very close this year but they did make it to the
037final four want to talk about one of our sophomores Lyman Derek he won the individual state championship this year so we looking forward to him coming back the next two years and continue to get better and better so uh uh that's a great accomplishment for that young man want to talk about Coach Christina day she's a bowling coach for the boys and the girls team uh she was named division one boys coach of the year uh by the bowling coaches association uh they just had a phenomenal year and again a lot of those kids are coming back so we expecting more and better uh bigger things next year uh I want to talk about wrestling we had two young ladies this year Mariah Simpson and lupy uh Shapero they both qualified uh for the state
038finals this year at Ford Field first time Wayne in Wayne Memorial history had we ever had uh young ladies to qualify for the state tournament so that was a big ACC compliment for those young lady in our women's wrestling uh program also I'd like to talk about uh Coach Dave coobo he's a boys uh uh coach as well as the girls coach uh he was named this year to the regional coach of the year uh by the Michigan wrestling Association coaches association and as you know there's no greater honor I feel than being named to that type of uh position by your own peer so that was a great accomplishment by coach uh Dave uh coobo want to talk a little bit about uh our basketball team before I talk about our boys and girls
039but I do want to say something about our unified boys and girls Co-op team that we had with John Glenn this year they had a lot of success they were in the top three this year and we know when we talking about unified uh basketball is not about the wins and losses it's more about those kids competing and having those opportunities to play basketball cuz those are some The Experience they experien out on the court they will remember for the rest of their lives and their parents and soul so uh it's a great opportunity I don't know if you have had a chance to come out and see a UniFi uh basketball program but if you can next year just come out it's amazing the parents are there the kids are just so exciting if
040they score a basketball ball uh but that's a great thing we do for our unified uh kids uh so we want to continue to keep supporting that uh now I want to talk about our boys and girls basketball team both teams were Nam uh they won the K division this year the boys uh and the girls won the district and regionals and the boys last week also uh won their quarter final games and uh tomorrow hopefully the girls can win their quarterfinal game which they would be playing uh tomorrow night at University of Detroit Mercy uh University uh the boys team uh as we know this past weekend they was a state finals runner up uh they ran against a great team and uh East Lancing but uh you know our our boys held they
041held up uh heads up high and they competed really hard and we are so proud of those young men a lot of people didn't even think we would be there uh at that so that was a great accomplishment uh we had a big uh uh welcome reception for those guys uh this past Saturday the mayor came out and spoke to them so it was a great thing and they told us from coach Brooks that they wanted me to thank you all for your support and uh everything that they accomplish this accomplished this year uh as I mentioned the girls will be Comm meeting tomorrow and uh hopefully like I said they can get a win uh tomorrow night in the quarterfinals we playing against temper Beford and then we were repeating the same thing that
042the boys this uh did this past weekend this Friday we will be going back up to East Lancing uh competing in semi uh finals on Friday afternoon uh and last I want to talk about the girls uh basketball we did have a senior Colleen Bryant she is a finance for the Miss basketball uh this year so we wishing her well in that journey and hopefully maybe she can come home with that uh honor as Mrs Miss basketball and uh last thing I do want to talk about two of our young men on the basketball team uh jayon Allen as well as Carlos uh Medlock both our Juniors but the both of those young men scored over a th points this year for their total career uh scoring and the good thing about that we both
043have them both coming back next year so that was a great accomplishment to score over a th points in one season when you have two uh players doing that so that was a great tribute to those young young men okay pretty much that's it I just wanted to W wrap that up right quick with uh winter sports season and right now we are in uh the spring season so we started practice last week so that's underway right now and we hoping for big and better things uh from those student athletes as well uh I want to talk a little bit about our band right now uh I have that duty to uh talk about them as of right now we have3 37 current enrolled in music courses throughout the school day we have 70 uh
044members in the marching band uh one of the few programs in Michigan to offer both band and Orchestra courses uh they qualify for the mcba Michigan competent competent band Association state championships at Ford Field for the past two years that is a great accomplishment for the band and Coach mdy what he's doing with those kids uh perform they perform at the national anthem they have performed the national anthem for the Detroit Tigers uh twice in the last couple years uh they consist in first division ranking in the msboa marching band and band orchestrate Festival uh they uh have whole site for the District 12 msboa band and Orchestra Festival annual serving as performance site for 10 to 12 schools across Wayne County uh they have partnered with the Wayne Rotary Club to launch for the
045love and music instrument donation and uh repair project and lastly uh and lastly they have did host a uh District concert uh last Thursday night it was a great success and they had a great turnout last uh Thursday night at the concert Spring Concert uh performance again I just want to thank you continue all your support and we appreciate you all so much thank you thank [Applause] you any questions are there any questions or comments from board members Mrs H I'd like to say congratulations I'm proud to be a fellow zebra um it's just nice like I was able to uh be an upper B in high school and it it's life Chang in that program we were able to go to Toronto we went to marth's Vineyard and even like my degree in criminal
046justice they had a criminal justice Camp you know through the upper bound that I was able to you know be successful so these programs are amazing I appreciate you guys' hard work I'm super excited about the teams you know we've been you know really promoting on our social medias and just the excitement even like in the newspapers and stuff I've been seeing different things with the state of Michigan you know congratulating Wayne Memorial and it's just been phenomenal so thank you so much for your support thank you any other comments Mrs Abney M I just want to say thank you for presenting about your school today and and the team effort up there it says a lot about you guys and your school and your principal he said if I'm going everybody going don't even
047think about it yes thank you so very much thank you thank you anyone else Mr um as a parent of Wayne Memorial of a Wayne Memorial student and and two graduate thank you for everything that you have done as a staff for for our kids I've seen a lot of great changes over the past few years at Wayne um just from talking with some of the teachers and and some of the students that are are friends of my kids and when we first started going to Wayne um I think my son's first year it was just over $5 million in scholarships that was awarded to our our students and to see that grow over the years speaks a lot to the hard work that our staff there has put in in educating our children thank
048you anyone else Mr Hax is your hand up please no yes no thank you everyone thank you yes I'm sorry Mr ran I didn't to see you um I want to thank you guys for all the hard work you guys have done um as a parent of two uh former students of uh Wayne Memorial um it was I was really proud just to represent Wayne in the sports uh Fields all of the uh accomplishments and achievements from the bowling team to the wrestling team of course the basketball team women uh girls and boys uh I have a one question about that because we we have so much momentum uh with our sports team uh state State wide I had family uh calling me like hey aren't you a part of Wayne Westland absolutely come down
049the East Lancing um I was able to attend um last four games from um at the school to um um uh U to uh both days in uh in East Lancing I stayed over got a hotels and I'm I'mma Be Here bright and early for our students uh just to sit with the students cheer with the students I even felt like a student I said let me calm down I'm a board member I have some dignity I'm cheing nevertheless uh my question is is are there things in place for us to promote our our sports program um within the district uh I know we have talented Elementary School students middle school students to to retain and uh continue to to uh grow on the success that we have I know we have a few 11th
050graders they're coming back next year um so we'll have a great sports team are we doing anything to recruit outside of the district um because of our success and also retain uh who we have recruiting outside the district be a little careful that one right promoting our distri one of the biggest things that we talk about is you know locking the back gate to the the backyard because we have so many great student student athletes here right ka8 and so we can make sure that our coaches that are running these phenomenal programs are getting into the elementaries getting into the middle schools and we can make sure that our folks aren't sneaking out the back door right that they're going to continue to come up through our Wayne Westland schools and our programs and then
051come right up in the Wayne Memorial and we're very proud of the fact that you know we're we don't have have a lot of those types of outside transfers coming in right because our coaches are working so hard with our elementaries and midds and building those programs so you can see that consistency and stability that our kids are homegrown kids right and so we're very proud of that fact as well thank you Dr Weaver oh I'm sorry Mr Woodson just gonna say too and we did we were planning on having uh this year for the basketball a middle school night you know we were going to have all those kids come up the boys and the girls basketball at the last minute it was C council do some things that happen down at the middle
052schools but that's some of the things we trying to do get those kids get those parents up there so our coaches can meet them they get to meet the parents get to meet the kids again it's about retaining our own kids right now keeping them and keeping them from leaving our own District but those are some of the things we are doing at the high school I know next year in the football season I'm going to have the football uh the Middle School come up there we're going to introduce the middle school kids football football flag team as well as the cheerleaders at halftime get them out there get their parents up here uh right now right after the spring break we starting in the middle schools we busting them up here we're going to
053have them working out with our football team football coaches in uh strength and conditioning uh program right now so those are some of the things we have in place and we're going to continue to keep getting better and growing on there but recruiting our own kids more so and our parents we do it like on those uh basketballs on the Saturday Elementary we do have our coaches going down there again talking to those kids getting to meet those parents having them up there seeing our facilities and so forth and we planning on big thing in in August what's that we're going to have all them up here on that what's that the EG kickoff yeah we're going to have a kickoff in August have all those uh tie into to our uh orientation you know
054with our kids and their parents in August and have them coming up there taking tours of our athletic facilities and throughout the building an open house and so forth but yep those are some of the things we are working on right now putting those things in place again thanks thank you Dr Weaver uh thank you for your wonderful presentation this evening just very quickly could you tell us just a little bit more about the earning your stripes program I thought that was very unique so um basically we're just looking to reward students right on the spot right is to make sure that they understand understand they have something tangible in hand that a teacher staff member kitchen member custodian anybody can just say hey thanks for thanks for picking that trash up today thanks for
055helping out your classmate today whatever that might look like and it's across the board anybody can hand them out you can get as many as you want in a day um and really just looking to reinforce and reward our students for doing good every single day thank you absolutely I thank you Miss Milana abne Mitchell um I had a question mark it was about the attendance you said that is a challenge with the students getting there on time in a.m so is there any way anything that we can do to support you guys or what you guys have in place to try to nip that in the butt so some of the challenges that we have is we have quite a few students that are school choice um and oftentimes when I go to treny
056court and I'm working with the courts and with wayu Services um it is students that are out of District that are coming in because their home district is not kind of what they're looking for so really just trying to figure out what those barriers are um and some students that don't actually know about the bus or don't understand how to access that information so really true just trying to partnership with our students and our families so that they don't have those barriers um and that they understand the value of that education because every single class period counts and as we all know in high school that gets a little bit tricky um because they're kind of used to moving moving through school and school so really just trying to figure out how to support them
057and removing barriers and making connections for them to get them to school asking right asking them why well if there's anything that we can do to support you let us know and my other question was your seniors 258 what are we looking at for graduation hopefully 258 all right thank you thank you so much for your [Applause] presentation next we are moving to item 303.2 five citizens comments on agenda items do we have any agenda it not cired oops thank you um Mrs Tanya kinsky kensky sorry good evening I'm here tonight on behalf of the Wayne Westland mea unions to to express our support of entering into contract negotiations for the appointment of Acting Superintendent Jen Curry as the permanent superintendent of Wayne Westland school for the past 9 months she has led this District
058through challenging times including critical contract negotiations and a significant financial crisis that are not far behind any of our memories throughout this period Miss Curry demonstrated unwavering dedication to the district its employees and most importantly Wayne Westland students rather than seeking an outside candidate we firmly believe that she has already proven to be a leader for our schools Acting Superintendent Curry has not only provided stability but has also worked collaboratively with our Union leadership engaging in monthly meetings with the leaders and frequent discussions to Foster transparency communication and a shared vision for the future we are hoping to see this continue as we move forward into our next round of negot Neo iations for all of the support staff unions in Wayne Westland as we reflect on the past we recognized that the last two
059superintendent appointments did not yield the stability nor the progress that this District desperately needs we know firsthand the challenges of bringing in an outside leader who may not be the right fit at TH at this time we simply cannot afford to take another risk or additional time time when we already have a proven leader who has demonstrated success commitment and a deep understanding of our District's needs we urge the board to prioritize continuity and proven leadership by offering the permanent superintendent position to Miss Jen curry with the same faith and confidence just a few short months ago that you offered to miss Claire in the CFO position for this District we know that the future of our district is stronger with a leader who has already invested in this district and shown a desire and
060dedication to move forward with the staff community and students thank you for your time and consideration thank you our next speaker is Amy gley I just wanted to thank um president May board members Miss Curry um for letting me speak today um I am an employee of the district and I was going over the agenda today and I noticed that there was a thing for to initiate a a superintendent search but I believe Miss Curry has served as Acting Superintendent than interim superintendent since June 5th and has helped the district through the finan financial crisis has led us through a cyber security attack and has led us through finalizing the teacher contract and has and it's led us through healing as a district but we are not done healing yet and we need a leader
061to help us do that she has DED she is dedicated to the students and the district and the staff I think it would be best interest for the district if you could promote if you would just promote J Miss Curry to the permanent super as a permanent Superintendent at the very police table the superintendent search and put out a survey asking all stakeholders if they seem to agree with how I believe that she would be best to serve as superintendent of the district and not search for somebody that does not have the faith and dedication of this District in mind um so I you know over the past 10 months her performance has showed that she should be our super superintendent and we shouldn't be searching elsewhere thanks thank you thank you next we have
062Mrs Sher Grove good evening tonight I stand at this Podium for the first time in my 30-year career here in Wayne Westland not as a a teacher principal or as one of your executive directors but as someone who has dedicated my entire life to this community and District I grew up in a tiny duplex in nor Wayne across from Wayne Memorial the high school my mom graduated from 20 years before I would ultimately graduate from John Glenn High School directly after college I returned to the halls of John Glenn as a young bright-eyed teacher and after 18 years of teaching a superintendent took a chance and granted me the opportunity to serve as an assistant principle of that High School although he and I didn't always agree on everything we did both hold dear to
063our hearts a genuine love for our community and the community we call home Wayne Westland has always fought for and taken care of their own supported one another through the strg and celebrated through the victories I think that's clear to anyone who comes here from any other District it's abundant strength that surpasses most odds and is why so many stay despite those odds I've grown up with many of the people in this room and we've seen a lot of people come and go but those who stay they stay to be a part of something special something that includes loyalty Unity dedication and a bond that carries us through those moments they stay because what we do each day is hard but it matters and we make a difference in lives that superintendent who took a
064chance on this girl was the longest standing Wayne Westland superintendent under his leadership we had our best years in Wayne Westland why because he knew this community he grew up here he worked as a teacher in this community and loved and believed in the people of this community since his departure we have had four external superintendents come through our doors one took her three years and left with no Legacy to speak of the other two resigned under less than desirable circumstances leaving pain and damage behind we finally have one of our own again and we finally are able to focus on kids teaching and learning again Mrs Curry it has been an honor and a privilege to work under your leadership you have returned Faith trust hope success increased enrollment lost funds and most importantly
065Joy again Mrs Gro that's your time thank you thank you so much next we have Miss Mona mad is it mad or mal Mallet Mallet sorry thank you Mallet good even president May good evening board members um I'm here today to respectfully and wholeheartedly support and ask for the recommendation of Jen Curry for the position of Wayne Westland Community School District superintendent during my time in the district I have witnessed the instability caused by the turnover of superintendence Miss Jen Curry has been the one steady presence first in the assistant superintendent space and now in the interim superintendent role she has consistently provided stability and Leadership while restoring calm she leads with intentionality care and composure inspiring all those around her to do their best for this reason I am speaking alongside those who have
066and will speak today in support of Miss Curry she has earned this opportunity so again I respectfully share my support for Jen Curry to be the next superintendent for Wayne wesland thank you thank [Applause] you Miss Nancy Schultz good evening thank you for a few minutes um I'm here today to talk about about not just continuity but the fact that every day I come to work to talk about and educate our staff around data and best practice and letting that drive what we do each and every day I try to present it at every meeting and bring it in every presentation possible but sometimes um it's important to take other factors into consideration so data would show you as the other people have already discussed today that Miss Curry has done an exceptional job job
067at leading us through some very difficult times um at re giving us time to regroup and best practice would support your decision to indeed do a candidate search and open it up to a Nationwide search however um I would say that sometimes it is best to put best practice aside for a moment by what is working for us and taking a minute to think about what is the data showing what's working for us here if I had done what I wanted to do and what I thought best practice was with our literacy work in our elementary schools we wouldn't have the progress that we had today I had to stop and listen to the staff I had to stop and listen to the experts in the room so my hope today is and my request
068of you is that you listen not just to the people here tonight but take a minute to listen and ask the staff and the community what it is that they're looking for what it is that they want as opposed to making that isolated decision cuz sometimes once you open a p path and go down a certain Road you can't always regroup that time that you've lost and so I just want to appreciate the time that I've had here and encourage you to really communicate with the stakeholders as in this community thank you thank you Mr Dennis MCB hello president May board thank you for allowing me to speak I'm Dennis McBride Wayne Wesson central office administrative Association president I'd like to state that on behalf of myself and our board we are endorsing Jen curry
069without the utmost respect and Trust in the superintendent leadership position she has taken the lead when the district was having significant struggles her leadership has calmed the tension between the community in the district along with getting the district back on track we feel the district excuse me board of Education to see the asset we have in Miss Curry and move forward with formerly hiring her as a superintendent of Wayne wesing Community Schools thank you thank [Applause] you we now move to item 30425 consent agenda do I have a motion so Mo supp Bo so moved by Mr Co support by Mrs Abney Metro yes discussion the vote Please Mr Cox yes Mr ran yes Miss Hines yes Dr Weaver yes Mr rrose yes Miss ABY Mitchell yes and president May yes motion Carri 70 thank
070you moving on to item 305 point 25 Board of Education committee reports Mr Ambrose with the finance committee Finance of facility committee report sorry uh the report for the finance financial and facility committee meeting report for March 6 2025 the financial and facility committee was called to order at 5:31 on March 6th with the following in attendance Mr Andrew Ambrose Miss Lana abne Mitchell Miss melan Hines Miss Jennifer Curry Mr Daryl BBE and Miss Kim Marky Mr BB presented to the commit committee the following proposals to be voted on at tonight's board meeting first is the installation of additional cameras at Taft and Graham Elementary schools and Stevenson Middle School the school principls reached out to Mr BB that after Bond work was completed that there were many open areas on these properties without adequate
071camera coverage they were finding that students of all things were finding uh finding gaps in the in the coverage um an inspection was per at performed on the properties in question with moss uh the uh the supplier that did the work in a team from the district to determine what was needed to fill the coverage gaps the district was able to use Consortium pricing through the state which would cost the district just under $488,000 and the funds to cover the costs would come from the sinking fund also Mr BB stated that he may approach the board for additional cameras as the remainders of the buildings are being reviewed but this needed to be addressed as soon as possible uh questions were asked by the board members about the cameras um one question was are the
072cameras connected to the internet no the cameras are hardwired uh through a a monitoring system and have battery backups that allow the cameras to still record in the event of a power outage um is there a grant that could cover the purchase of these cameras unfortunately at this time there are no grants currently available uh what are the chances the price will increase after if after if the board approves approved um the price is locked into uh Consortium pricing which was negotiated by the state and how fast would installation start if the board approves installation uh would happen within a few weeks of our approval the second topic uh Mr BB talked to us about is the renewal of the Genentech Advantage support for licensing of our cameras and badge badging readers um the district
073looked at three different suppliers and he recommends Moss at a cost of approximately $29,000 with funding coming from the general fund uh Mr BB stated that with the district recovering from the recent Cyber attack that the district would be better served using moss the company currently providing the service uh going on to number three uh updating our Fiber Optic Cables within the district um part of this funding uh would come from the from e- rate funding uh we have until March to spend the uh the funds that are allocated to us from from the e rate and our technology department believes the best use of these funds is to replace some of the fiber optic cable lines which are between 25 and 30 years old our e rate uh would funds would cover 85 5%
074of the costs within the district and the district would cover the final 15% uh the district received two bids and Mr BB recommends that the district approve uh mcom to do the work the total cost with a contingency of $7,400 built-in would be uh $14,000 uh 824 where e rate would cover $1 31,600 and the remainder um 23,2 23 would be paid through the general fund another discussion happened around this around this surrounding this quote and the possible cost increase Mr BB stated that amcom is required to honor the quote if approved by the board following Mr BB we had a discussion talking about our State a report um new items uh within the state aid report uh was for February was local produce this is a grant given to the district to get more
075locally sourced produce into our food service program and uh 147g funds uh will be reimbursed to our employees for overages paid in the retirement healthc care fund uh the check register was refed and expenses across all funds total just over $3.2 million for the month and during the investment report Miss Curry stated that the interest rates are down on our mil laugh cash and our mil laugh Max funds um Chase interest rates are down also uh the change in our direct District cash position is due to the bond fund decreasing as the district is making the final payments uh questions were asked about how the payments from our bond fund were being made and Miss Curry stated that no payment was being made to a contractor until Mr Toco reviewed the work performed and signed
076off after a sign off the invoices are then being processed for payment our meeting was then adjourned at 6:20 p.m. thank you are there any questions discussion all right thank you next we move on to the policy and procedure committee report Dr waver um yes thank you Madame President doc Dr Weaver welcomed the committee at 9:01 a.m. in attendance Dr Weaver Mr Roshan Dr oili Miss Curry Miss Hines and Miss Mary as the note taker we reviewed the changes uh that we are recommending for the board operating procedures as a matter of fact Madam president some of those have been changed for a long long time but the board president has not called the committee to share these and I'm not speaking about you but I'm talking about even previously so we need to get
077these on the agenda for the full board to hear it thank you um we talked about policy goals should be established with the uh student achievement committee working with them as the current data is being collected uh we talked about new guidelines and executive orders that will need to be followed by Miller Johnson our legal firm um has made some changes that are coming down from the state level also to get feedback from the finance committee what changes the board operating procedures will show when budgets will be presented currently the committee is recommending in uh quarterly uh presentations to the budget of course that will be up to the full board we talked about um election policy that members should not verbally support other members of the board for positions um as was done the
078last year we heard from our uh Brad bassic that the only thing we can do is um uh stop all board comments which is obviously over the edge and we would not even suggest it uh so either we make a ruling about that or um or we it's open season for the next time um we talked about intracounty uh School of Choice that our um information all information should be received uh by the school design with confirmed behavior um history established our students are being brought in and not necessarily the behaviors are known until they are in the district and so we need to work on that major incident must be defined with Mr Bess um phone uh the board suggested that we work on implementing implementing a cell phone policy uh usage policy um
079because Miller Johnson has told us that the state um is coming up with something so I think um I think that they will disallow cell phone usage um in the schools except for lunchtime and passing times so um we need to look at that again miss Curry um talked about April 10th training for central office and board by Mitch Michigan virtual to look into AI policy after the training uh Michigan virtual will also share regarding policies as well um happy to announce that we are looking at facility dogs for the district and um I believe that uh I have beli for a long time that um that we need this um they'd be housed at Hamilton and used in crisis times we have a Handler and some other buildings have therapy dogs that come in
080again the Miller Johnson policy manual um we will be looking at these um one of the things that is important is that the superintendent is to develop a threat assessment and management team for our district uh there are other I could bring in but I I would just say that Dr o reviewed the updates that Miller Johnson provided interim superintendent comments Miss Curry had no comments uh board member comments Miss H shared the following comments thanks to everyone for coming and congratulated Mr rashan on being part of the policy committee Mr ran shared the following comments would like to have a board Workshop uh regarding regarding and surrounding cell phone usage I had no comments and the meeting was adjourned at 10:13 a.m. thank you Dr Weaver at this time I would like to um
081call for a five minute recess is that okay with the board members okay thank you we will be back at this is it 820 so 8:25 thank you i' like to call a motion to call us back in so thank you Dr waver support support thank you all in favor hi awesome thank you so um my apologies we missed a um citizen comment for an agenda item so I'd like to pause and go back for just a moment to um allow Mrs Sue Robinson to speak please good evening everyone um I'm an employee but more importantly a stakeholder in the community um before I begin I'm just going to go ahead and finish Mrs Grove's uh last paragraph here if you proceed with a superintendent search you will lose Mrs Curry as a potential candidate
082for our superintendent you see she has already interviewed for you this community our staff and students for the last nine months she stepped up in a worse of times and overcame those odds it would be dishonorable to even consider asking her to go through the motions actions are evidence and she has proven as history continues to that our best strongest and most I'm sorry most successful leaders aren't sought out but grown right here in the community they love and they believe and trust I hope you will allow us to continue teaching learning and succeeding by instilling inating Mrs curry in the position she has earned as superintendent of Wayne Westland schools thank you that's Mrs Groves um in regards to the search for a new intendent superintendent if is not a requirement then I feel
083that Mrs Curry has proven herself on many occasions that she is a perfect fit for our district I began in The District in 1997 as a p Pro back in two 2007 I left to pursue a career as a monor teacher retired from that and came back as a Wayne Westland parpro once again for the past three years since I have returned I have witnessed our school district go from one of the lowest points to currently making a comeback I feel this is 100% the result of Mrs Curry's leadership and her dedication to our district her painstakingly dissection of each department and figuring out who or what is working um and who and and who or what is not working um sa valuable do dollars enter Timeless meetings with not only employees but also the
084public has given our district back the respect we have lost so I ask you please look no further as we have our superintendent right here thank [Applause] you thank you our next agenda item is 30 6.25 review and approval of business and finance Mr oili we're looking at recommendation to install cameras at Taft Galloway Taft Galloway Stevenson and PD Graham thank you president may as darl BB executive director of technology and Innovation presented at the March 6 2025 finance committee meeting the district would like board approval to fund security camera installation at Taft Galloway Stevenson and PD Graham I recommend that the Board of Education approve the payment of 47,9 $89. 35 to Moss Technologies which will be covered by the syncing fund to ensure comprehensive monitoring and the safety of our students and staff
085there is no impact on the district's general fund thank you for your consideration recommend approval support Mr H you call a vote Yes discussion oh I'm sorry discussion Mrs H we please call vote Mr rrose I miss ABY Mitchell yes Dr Weaver yes Miss Hines yes Mr Cox yes Mr rashan yes president May yes motion carries 70 thank you Dr o recommendation to purchase gch Advantage support as darl BB executive director of technology and Innovation presented at the March 6 2025 finance committee meeting the district would like to renew gen Tech Advantage Security camera support for camera systems throughout the district I recommend that the Board of Education approve the payment of $28,946 56 cents to Moss Technologies which will be covered by the general fund to provide connectivity for our camera and card reader
086connections thank you for your consideration thank you motion so move support discussion Mrs H you please call Miss ay Mitchell yes Mr umbr yes M Hines yes Mr ran yes Mr Cox yes Dr Weaver yes president May yes seven zero motion car thank you Dr o recommendation to update fiber optic cabling as darl B ex Daryl BB executive director of technology and Innovation presented at the March 6 2025 finance committee meeting the district would like to update the district's fiber optic cabling and replace outdated fiber optics throughout the district recommend that the Board of Education approve the payment of $3,223 60 to amcom which will be covered by the general fund to enhance our data transmission speeds allowing for quicker access to information which will in turn improve learning outcomes thank you for your consideration
087thank you motion so move support support thank you discussion M hes please call RA Mr Cox yes Mr rashan yes Miss H yes Dr Weaver yes Mr rrose yes Miss ABY Mitchell yes president May yes 70 motion carries thank you Madame President yes sir I claim the attention of the chair tonight it is my privilege to offer a substitute motion for item 30725 The Substitute motion is I move that this board vote tonight in a straight up or down vote to hire Miss Jennifer Curry as our next permanent superintendent if I can get a second I would like to speak to it boort thank you discussion I'd like to speak to it Miss Curry has had exceptional buyin by our by both the community and our Union teachers and administ ministrators since becoming interim superintendent
088Miss Curry has managed in such a way that there is now Harmony and inclusion among our ranks board members need to know that Miss Curry if a superint uh superintendent uh search is um uh finalized tonight will not apply for the superintendent search as been said tonight it is felt that after 10 months it should be apparent that she has done the job and should not be subject to a search Miss Curry let us not forget has been working too full-time jobs for the district not only has she been acting as superintendent but also top administrator for the curriculum and instruction Department When Miss Curry was appointed interim superintendent the community uh and and our workers immediately calmed down and followed her leadership at this point in our development we do not even want to
089take a chance that another outside superintendent would bring perhaps a toxic envir environment again to our Shores this board was never called together for a Frank discussion about this issue uh and um I want to point that out as well during our closed session several board members tried to speak in favor of Miss Curry but uh but were uh Clos but were stopped from doing so miss Curry has introduced several programs such as letters and others to increase test scores in literacy and Math Miss Curry's totally devoted to our Wayne Westland Community School District she has spent most if not all of her career right here finally a search for a new superintendent would cost this District between 15 and $25,000 to hire a new superintendent therefore I off offer The Substitute motion so that
090board members can publicly vote on this discussion after what they have heard tonight from our community and workers to keep Miss Curry not as Acting Superintendent or interim superintendent but to actually be our superintendent I have sent a copy of the motion to you again the motion is substitute motion is that this board vote tonight on a straight up or down vote to hire Miss Curry as our next superintendent thank you thank you Dr Weaver is there any other discussion I'd like to make a I'm sorry chair is recognizing Mr Cox and then you thank you you asked was there further so I just rais my hand let you know that yeah so you didn't have to come but then you started talking yeah you ask have to cut off disrespectful yeah disrespectful no no
091oh you can go you know I've given this issue so much thought I have personally been involved in the superintendent search for five superintendents and three interim superintendents that's eight leaders of our school district and I've served on the board a total of nine years throughout the course of all of that it became very evident to me that having continuity in leadership is very very important each of the names I wrote them down when the meeting before the meeting started I was thinking about it each of the people that we appointed in these instances were qualified people very talented they had great ideas uh of course uh and for one reason or another it didn't work out maybe they got opportunity somewhere else maybe the chemistry wasn't right one person got up tonight and talked
092about the longest serving superintendent in our school district and that was Greg barsy and Greg barsy actually said the night that the cafeteria was named after him that it was me coming up and asking him if he would please put his name in to be superintendent because the continuity now I'll level with everybody on the board the last time that I appointed a superintendent that is not what I wanted to do I uh what I wanted to do was have some time because when a board of education loses a superintendent in that little window of time then they go out searching for the right person and the only people that are candidates for the job are people that themselves their own experience has made them available at that particular length of time honestly it's like
093it's it's like hit hitting a moving Target with the blindfold on it's just it's just dumb luck if you find somebody what we really need is time we need time to conduct the search we need time first of all for the Board of Education to really get clear on what they think is important for the school district long term and we have to think about long term we have to think about 10 years you know the Mrs Curry isn't in the infancy of her career with the Wayne Westland school district so as a board the only real thing that we have to do is to hire and monitor our superintendent so now what the community is doing is coming up and saying don't even look at someone that might be available we're we're all not
094up in arms right now so don't even look but we have a responsibility to look absolutely this is there's a lot of money involved but more important than the money are the children we need the children to have the best opportunity and it seems to me that the board is in a very very good position right now we do have a leader that's doing an excellent job what everybody said is true but we also have a responsibility to look for someone so I say what we do is both I am in favor of a professional relationship with Miss Curry I'm in favor of sitting down and negotiating a twoyear contract with her right now that works for her and works for the school district and at the same time using this time to go through
095the process of a super have Miss Curry help us with the time we need to do a proper superintendent search you know the months go by like that in this school district two years seems like a lot of time it's not a lot of time and what the community said tonight is we do need to find the right person we do not need more turmoil so I want to achieve some different results with our student performance and I think other members of the board do too and I think we could get there if we can get together with the community with everybody for who we want longterm to lead our School District so I think we need to do both thank you Mrs he yes um I'd like to say that I've been on the
096board almost about 12 years and um Jen Curry has been on with the school district almost 20 years going through Dr Bary Dr Hara Dr hope four or five superintendent in between Dr Digman and again we've been through a lot of turmoil you know when we had you know the missing $7 million we were able to get um Miss juwel to help us find that money when we had those issues with the teachers the bus drivers the strikes you know it's a lot going on and even with the Cyber attack so she has been there she has CH she has proven her her her job here and even too with the superintendent search first of all there's a superintendent shortage it's over 19 spots and again there's no guarantees and right now with all the
097stuff with the Department of Education being shut down there's a lot of things coming down from the federal government um and all these you know funds and GR being at risk we have to make sure we have a strong leader that can get us through this terrible time so um I am in favor of hiring Dr um Miss Jen Curry and at the same time as it was said before she is not applying for the position so we will lose a superintendent if we go further and I do not want to take that risk um Jen you know that I support you 100% I've seen your work over the years the community appreciates I've had several elected officials reach out to me personally that said that they wanted to keep you on more so as
098a board member you know I really feel that right now we need strong leadership because we don't know what's going to happen today we had the legislative breakfast uh this morning with our Senators our state representatives our lobbyists and we had a lot of tough questions that we went through today you know about the financing the funding what's going to happen to our students and we were able to get some really good you know advice but you know with these termoil and things going on I would like to keep U Miss Curry and hire her as our permanent superintendent because going and search and and spending the money and just like what the employees are saying that they want her to stay that's what they're saying so I'm on board with the employees and I
099want to keep you and make you the superintendent if we can thank [Applause] you Mr Mitchell yes also I agree what everyone said um I have had conversations with Miss Curry about the position and um and and as um Mr Cox said we do have to employ somebody that's our job to employ a superintendent but I would like to um we have new board members I'm a new board member myself I haven't participated in a search for superintendent so it's a lot of language that need to conversation that need to go on for us to even know exactly what we looking for in a superintendent and um so I would like to make a motion to table this you can't do a motion I can't do a motion now discuss okay that's all I have
100okay Mr ran or Mr Ambrose do you have anything you like to say and I'm G come back to you I just want to give some I'm actually torn on this discussion um I understand the community's desire uh to to have Miss Curry uh continue to serve as our in as our superintendent on a full-time basis instead of a an interim I take a look at a lot of the work that she's done absolutely and it has helped this District move forward but on the flip side I don't know if we're doing our community a service by offering her a job without interviewing a few candidates to to have that comparison I I look and I I'll just go from my own example at work I work in product development at a manufacturing plant we
101have a manager that we report to as Engineers this manager served as our supervisor for three years without getting a promotion to a to become a manager when he the slot finally opened for us to have a manager over all of us he still had to go through an interview proc process with four other managers SLS supervisors who applied for the job it just wasn't given to him and so I've always had this belief that we just don't give a job to someone who's who's doing a great job which you are but we we owe it to our district to our voters to make sure we have the right candidate and the only way we can do that in my opinion is by see by interviewing one or two others I would certainly hope that
102Miss Curry wouldn't take herself out of the consideration but I think we owe our voters and the people of this District a search to find what we need and we don't have to do the search right now we can take our time we still don't know what we're looking for thank you Mr Tax through the chair at Dr Weaver Dr Weaver if you amend your motion to include that the board would undertake a superintendent search with the idea that that search would be conducted so that it would be culminated in 24 months in other words let's take advantage of this once in a career opportunity to have competent leadership while we look for our long-term person that's that's what I'm if if you can't amend the motion I understand but I have to vote now
103um I would be willing to amend the motion to this extent that we vote for Miss Curry to become our superintendent and give her a two-year contract so I'm I'm not going to you're not going to add on uh that we're that we will under then then we can go into an extended superintendent search but that certainly would not interfere with the next two years that she has a contract we're not going to be hiring a superintendent until the end of that contract so are you so you are now amending your Mo I am trying my best to uh incorporate just so there's an understanding that the board recognizes its responsibility to find a superintendent long term and we're going to use the next two years to prepare the board for that and also to
104determine we've done it so many different ways we've asked masb to help us we've gone to outside Consultants we don't even know if those two ways of doing it are the right way we have to investigate this and we'd ask for the for the president leadership on this but take advantage of this time that we're being granted to actually do a search and not to be sitting at the end of two years now what are we going to do okay if I could claim the attention of the chair so my Amendment would include uh that this board vote tonight in a straight up or down vote to hire Miss Jennifer Curry as our next superintendent for the next two years while the board continues a process toward um our next superintendent can I ask a
105question that's up to her so I just want to make sure everyone understands the motion before we go into discussion does everyone understand the motion I think yes okay quick question while we're going through this process um did she amend H did did she uh support the amendment I don't know Miss Hines made the initial support no I just had a question yeah she just had a question no one has supported the amendment yet go ahead oh my question okay so my question is during this process what if we lose our superintendent to another District that's what I'm concerned about Jen is amazing um you know Wayne westan has had a lot of negative press you know and again there's a shortage of superintendent and on average they stay two years so if she's been
106here over 20 years and have earned in the community and the teachers are saying this is what we want I'm not understanding what the problem is there is no legal thing saying we have to do a search because you know I went through msab and ask a question just you know let her you know take the position she's been doing a good job she's earned it and what I'm afraid of is why we're going back and forth and she just leaves and we have nobody and we're forced to do a superintendent search so if uh then I'll support the the uh amended motion so we have an amended motion we have support any other discussion regarding the amended motion okay Miss s you may call roll we have uh Dr Weaver yes Mr Cox yes
107Miss hin yes Mr rrose yes Miss ABY Mitchell yes Mr rashan yes Miss May yes motion passes by the way do you want the job that was a good question thank you yes I do have some questions but we'll ask later thank you well we want to work that out with you yeah next we are at item 30825 citizens comments non-agenda item thank you I would like to call Ed McGovern [Music] good evening uh members of the community board of school board uh president May and superintendent Curry um I'm Ed McGovern uh wwea vice president and Way Memorial High School teacher um couple things I don't want to spend too long recapping everything that uh the Wayne Memorial High School administration um talked about this evening but but lots of wonderful things and I want
108to thank all of you who I've seen at events over the last uh few weeks or since the last meeting so um gentlemen on this side I know you were all at basketball games supporting the players and the band and one of the things that was forgotten um that I wanted to thank you for also is uh we recently had a college fair so while the academic I mean while the sports are wonderful um I also want to say that there's great academic things going on and um so thank you to coming to that and supporting it um I also want to thank you I don't know if we've publicly done this enough uh for the contract um we have uh Miss Highland over there who is a product of Wayne Memorial High School she's
109teaching uh she joined us from Garden City just this year and so she's going to be one of the recipients of um that grow your own sort of part of the language and so I think that's fantastic um the show your stripes program that some of you asked more about um and that's another person who started their career as a student here at Way Memorial um Miss Gwen fenor and both of them have come back to be teachers um and so I I think that we really do have a strong Legacy um Mr Barber was here right he came out of this District too and so I think we do have a great legacy of producing um quality people out of this district and um I want to thank you for um honoring uh Jen
110by encouraging her since she's had such Devotion to this District I think that some of our best people do come out of the buildings um and so I I wanted to um speak to not just the um extracurricular type activities but also some of the leadership that that maybe um I think staff members have been um anxious and striving and and and hungry for um these last few years with the turmoil um we we we've promoted the sports and the socio emotional part of things but um I think that at least my colleagues have been missing and and really hungry for the um the academic side of things and so I want to thank Jen and the central office um because I think we've really made great strides over these last few weeks both with
111um setting up a uh process of how to implement new courses and class and I think we've made some good work with that for um the um Elementary secondary middle um Representatives on the curriculum Council it it seems like good work is happening there so I want to thank those ladies and also just in terms of like putting in um some common policies related to like the academic so that we can get to the growth that I know a lot of you really want to see um it's great to like highlight the raw RW stuff but um we also want to have our students get better and so um you know later this week we're going to have a the beginnings of a committee on um standardizing some grading and what's best practice for um
112helping our students to reach success and so um I think a lot of that has come under Miss Curry's leadership and um putting people in the right places and giving them the opportunity to make some of those changes so I want to say thank you thank you Eleanor Trow tror true true child true true Shan thought that was a w sorry it's the baby my name is Elanor shushan my mom's is Harris he is also a shushan I am here because so I could support my mom my mom likes to support teachers my mom loves kids my mom is a is a hard worker thank thank you for helping my [Applause] mom thank you Eleanor thank you next we have Melinda Harris so I'm going to talk fast because that's the way this works so
113hi I'm Melinda wanted to start my comments with compliments first I would like to give Miss Kimberly May praise and Miss Jennifer Curry for advocating for me and helping open the lines of communication with the school I also want to thank the rest of the board for giving volunteers credit last week as far as the school I want to thank Miss babak principal for your hard work running the school and also rewarding the kids today with extra pizza and delivering it to them personally let's also give Miss Divine my daughter's kindergarten teacher a round of applause for having some parents help out in the classroom recently teachers like this open the path for a more Cooperative environment offer hope for our district to include parents more I would also like to commend Miss Patterson my
114son's teacher for having a parent help in her class good job teachers keep your mind open it was also mentioned to me that some parents will get chattery with teacher when volunteering in class this is easily fixed by teacher going over rules and etiquette before volunteering in an email I will not change my view kids love parent volunteers I want to give Mr FKA some credit I didn't get time last week previous assistant principal at my school I hope you hear this you did an outstanding job helping me obtain unique and fulfilling volunteer opportunities last year and also turning the junk food cart into a healthier food cart I hope you will do this for parents at your new school last time I forgot to mention that my daughter Elanor five at the time won
115the cookie fundraiser at Wildwood in an amount of 2,000 in which I believe the school obtained a th000 in profit if I'm correct my son is also a top seller selling Scout popcorn six in the nation or no six in the state 116 in the nation selling 13,000 two years in a row yesterday at the Red Wings game he was gifted time in The Penalty Box and was also riding go-karts at on the ice earning two Red Wings tickets so to close this out I need to mention that it was portrayed that my volunteer status would be reinstated and I was told by a district administrator that my I chat will only be expedited when and if the time comes for volunteering I have been told that the principal when the opportunities arise she will
116let me know towards the end of the year I asked the district administrator if we could forward my ey chat today and even offered to call the school myself she again told me it will only be expedited at the end of the year if volunteering is needed why can't my ey chat be put in today common knowledge any parent submits their I chat anytime and the school advertises through Dojo people in administration are supposed to help parents not hinder us anywhere on aware my situation tells me I'm being put off and parents out there they're struggling don't give up to stay in your District because that's what I did thank you thank you next we are at item 309.28 thank you for having the confidence in me and I as you would said too I
117truly love this District um other things happening you know March's reading month and our elementary schools are celebrating with activities school spirit days and special events so if you can stop by one of our elementaries they would love to see you or even have you read um last week Franklin Middle School hosted women's career day featuring presentations on Career Development and future opportunities fostering meaningful connections between students and the professionals congratulation again to the men's basketball team and best of luck to the Women's Basketball team as they compete in their quarter final game tomorrow um we are also proud to announce that several of our board members have completed individual leadership and board development courses through masb in 2024 congratulations to Miss Abby Mitchell Miss Hines and Miss May on your achievement we'll give you
118a copy of the official letter as well this week and lastly as we wrap up a great month we look forward to spring break next week enjoy a well-deserved break and save travels to those heading out of town thank you we are now at item 31025 review and recommendations Board of Education let's start with Mr rosan you don't have anything tonight thank you Dr Weaver yes thank you Madame President and I want to say that I do appreciate your presidency I um have been thinking about this for um a long time my substitute Motion in the spirit of cooperation um I accepted uh the 2year uh span and um for M Curry and um adjusted so that we could do that and make it work um I am uh as a board member impressed with
119what she has done she may be over there looking all little and small but um I have seen her in action and what she does is tell the truth and um sometimes it's difficult to tell truth to other people but you have to and uh I have seen her uh under a former board Administration uh to be very capable and I look forward to see what the next couple of years brings to us thank you thank you Mrs H I'd like to uh congratulate Miss Curry as our superintendent this is exciting again 20 years in the district says a lot you know you've been through every superintendent that we've had so it's quite impressive um I'd like to thank um all the new hires I like to congratulate all our winning teams um it's just
120so nice to have that Wayne Spirit even John Glenn High School is super exciting um I have a couple of events that I would like to um let people know in the community that's totally free um the Wayne Chamber of Commerce is started a partnership with the state of Michigan with the um Small Business Development Center and we have kids that's like in Deca that want to start businesses so we're actually having a free business class um anybody in the community is free to come at the Wayne Library it's going to be Thursday March the 20th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Wayne Library um they have the barcodes if anybody who has a business even our children who want to start businesses totally free um they can actually go register at the website
121with the Michigan Small Business Development Center and we also secured another free class for the community and the children anybody who wants to do it in April at the Wayne Library it's going to be called for of your LLC uh Thursday April the 10th from 5:30 to 7:30 p.m. and this is a great opportunity for families um my son he started a business at like 16 you know so anybody can start a business and I was super impressed with our kid PS that we had they had the different business at the farmers market over the summertime so I think this is would be a good you know free uh educational class for our children um I was over at hype earlier today and they wanted us let the community know they're doing a marshmallow drop
122it's totally free to the families it's going to be Friday April the 18th 2025 um they're having three different drops they're still looking for sponsors as well but it's just nice for the children um we also um have the Wayne won Kanas club we meet uh the second Tuesday of the month and the fourth Tuesday of the month at the way uh West Westland library at 12 o'clock um and I did have a ask uh we have some kids over at John Glenn the Key Club but they're looking for some sponsorships um we did have a organization donate $400 to get the kids in the club but unfortunately a lot of kids can't afford to pay like the membership of $25 du so I'm working with other business and organizations that can help sponsor the
123kids I had one of them reach out to me today that's going with the DECA and they needed the $400 so if anybody knows anybody that can help support the kids over at Glenn that would be really helpful um I was able to go to the legislative uh breakfast this morning it was quite quite informing um because there's a lot of things coming down with the executive order ERS the school districts the Board of Education a lot of confusions so we were able to get our Senators to come down and you know really tell us like what's really happening and it was really good information so I was glad to attend that and something else I had wrote down March 25th oh y so um again um just being a part of the Wayne Weston
124community and I really appreciate everyone STS and you know our opinion on what we want to do in the future to move forward and um right now we're in the healing field you know it's a lot going on I'm really uh glad to see where we're going with the district even you know with our curriculum and achievement we have different uh committees and chairs and I'm really excited about the bond that's coming up 2025 so we're going to be really getting that out especially with no cost to the district no cost to the family so that's really impressive and uh I yield thank you Mr Cox thank you and I'd like to Echo what Dr Weaver said I also appreciate your leadership president May Fact one of the things that you uh asked me Dr
125Weaver you mentioned through the chair to Dr Weaver you mentioned that when we were talking previously in closed session uh Miss Curry was uh was receiving some accolades well we weren't supposed to be talking about such things in closed session they need to be spoken about here and even though it was uncomfortable for you to be here tonight in the middle of this I appreciate that you understand that we have to talk about it here uh so that everybody can hear what we're saying one of the things that you asked me to do Miss May is to take an active role in seeing if we can find a solution to the problem in Transportation uh Miss Curry invited me to attend a meeting with uh staff and also the transportation director we spoke for probably
126uh an hour and a half it was tremendously informative and you know when you're on the board of education you're like a child in a in a high chair if you want something you just have to scream and cry until you get it you really don't have any authority to make it happen you can ask for it to happen you can put pressure on people to make it happen but actually being there um it taught me con conclusively that the transportation department is not the fault of us not being able to pick up kids everybody's doing their job over there absolutely okay and and so I say well the trans ation department is not responsible it's got to be the administration not really they're doing their job too in fact everybody's doing their job thinking
127it's enough and it's not enough and it was made very clear to me that all is really required is for the Board of Education to give a little bit more in the way of resources to make sure that we don't end up with these problems uh I think that based upon what what the transportation director shared with me I think that once every member of the board uh sees what their new plan is it's going we're going to have another meeting I think next week uh I think we can fix this problem frankly and I appreciate um having the meeting and appreciate your direction and that's all I have tonight thank you thank you Mr Ambrose I want to uh the past uh two weeks have been a quite busy in my household uh on
128the musical side um it started two weekends ago uh with our Bandon Orchestra Festival which was hosted at Wayne Memorial Friday I had the opportunity to watch uh some of our middle middle school students and also the students at Way Memorial compete um and see the excitement on their face um in the cafeteria we had uh Mr medy set up some smart boards in which their scores were posted and they hear the kids cheer as they they got their ones the orchestra kids all had their backs turned and when the scores were finally put up they turned around and they cheered the wind Memorial band kids were facing the board and there were five boxes and as each one went in they cheered another high school got tired of waiting for their score they followed
129Wayne and what did they do they crossed out Wayne memorial on the Smart Board rode in their school and then took a picture in front of that board wow Thursday night was a fabulous concert watching all of our middle school kids and our high school kids John John Glenn and Wayne Memorial their banded orchestras got together each for for a combined musical number the first time they practiced was together was that day we top it off with our Athletic program going to have the opportunity to sit next to Mr Roshan on Friday watching Way Memorial play unfortunately Saturday I had a another commitment trust me I wish I would have been up in East Lancing no offense Miss May for your no taken I wanted to be there off but we celebrate the successes of
130our students I don't think you're going to find a bigger cheering section outside of the parents and the teachers and the administrators than the people up here I know next month um before our next board meeting we have some students going on to compete again this time for Career Tech it's going to happen uh Friday the 11th uh and Saturday the 12th up in Grand Rapids and I wish those kids luck too as they represent our Career Technical Center and and going up against some of the best kids in the state that's all I have thank you Mrs abne Mitchell yes um first and foremost I'd like to um congratulate Jan we have had several conversations around this and what it look like so um you know I appreciate you and I know that you
131are doing a great job and I wish you much success and you know a a great working um partnership and speaking with Mr amb I can't ESS ESS said about our kids competing we got kids right here that's going to and I just read it and I was like wow it's a field trip and they going to the um Orange County Convention Center in Orlando Florida three kids going and I believe it's for wrestling I may be wrong nope I can't see this small right but you know we have so much success with our children in the district and and like the principal said homegrown you know even though I'm from the city of iner um the district that my community Go is is Wayne Westland so I consider myself homegrown and I went to
132Detroit schools but that's a different story but my all of my grandchildren all 11 of them went through the Wayne Westland school district so home homegrown and um and I just appreciate everybody I appreciate the union I appreciate the students the te the our Educators our professionals our community our parents you know I was at the spelling be when the young man won back in February that was and he was competing one of the people on the one of the kids on the panel one of the people kids that was competing was one of my church um a young lady to go to church with me her family do everything in the church Taylor and when she sat down I was like oh no we ain't going to win but we won you know and
133that's the good feeling that we get when we support our kids when we go to events you know me and Andrew has been at many um musical um flag and band events together even before he was on the board even before I was on the board before we even recognized each other and it just brings the students bring us so much joy and I just thank you guys I thank you Teachers Community J president board members thank you thank you um so I'd just like to take a moment to say thank you to Lila and Logan for leading us this evening in the pledge appreciate that yes and to congratulate um Calvin for his win in the distri um spelling be and a big thank you to jack dimer for for their support um just
134recognizing the Partnerships that we have in this District having hype here at the last board meeting it is just awesome to see so many um Community organizations Community businesses supporting our students supporting our teachers supporting the work that we're trying to do so thank you for that um definitely congratulations to Wayne Memorial boys or men's basketball team very exciting um tried to rework my schedule at work to get up there on Friday and just couldn't pull it off and Saturday I had the pleasure of spending the time with Mr ambr ambris so that man I couldn't get to frent Center but I had people in place texting me sending me pictures and videos so I was definitely there in spirit um I also want to say good luck to Our Lady zebras in their game
135tomorrow night um hoping and cheering them on that we're there on Friday and I've already reworked my calendar so um and then next I want to just um acknowledge Jen in her new role permanent role for next two years I guess um congratulations um but with that I also just want to highlight the um Community engagement events that she and her staff have put on there have been five if I'm not mistaken and they have been slowly increasing in attendance right so it's kind of like that as the word is getting out more people are coming out the conversations that we have been able to participate in has been absolutely wonderful it's just been nice to be able to sit at a table break bread and just hear from our parents and our students so
136understanding that students are present and they're talking and they're sharing their experiences and what they're looking for in this district and so thank you for leading that work I know there's been some conversations around um doing some things a little differently but it's always that piece of like you have to go out you have to try it you have to do it and then from there you look and say okay what are some things that we can do differently right so I just appreciate the effort being put forth because that it was very very nicely done um love the fact that it was throughout the communities right so recognizing that we are waying Westland serving six different cities and and acknowledging that and making sure that um everyone had access right so I appreciate that
137um I do appreciate the discussion that took place at the table today around um superintendent I think it's very important for us to have those discussions I want to um just lift a point or make something clear that one of the things that we talked about as a board over the last two years was being being transparent making sure that things that we did took place at this table and not behind closed doors so that is why the item was on the agenda so that we could have the discussion at this table that discussion should not take place behind closed doors it should take place at this table we should be allowed to um share our varying perspectives we should be able to share our thoughts and have the opportunity to process and respect each
138other's thoughts so I just wanted to lift that so that people understood why that discussion took place at this table and not behind closed doors and why it was on the agenda it was all in the commitment that we made to the public that we would be a more transparent board and so with that that concludes my um comments we have another agenda item 311 yes I'm sorry he said no okay sorry unless you changed your mind okay we are now at 31.25 follow up to board of VI question do we have any followup no not at this time all right now we're at 31225 adjournment do I have a motion MO