November 12, 2025 - Regular Board Meeting

001To the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Mr. Secretary, if you could call the attendance role to get this started. >> Mr. Sunonnyburgger >> here. >> Mr. Powers >> here. >> Miss Burkemeer >> here. >> Mr. Mr. Venatelli >> here, >> Richards is here, Miss Knox >> here, >> and Mr. Green >> here. All right. Uh, let's start with our student congress update from Madison. Welcome again. >> Thank you. Um, good evening members of the board of education and superintendent Janowski. At today's meeting, we watched a short video about veterans and then our group came together to write holiday cards of appreciation for the veterans. Mrs. Gonzalez is going to deliver our cards along

002with Hershey candy bars to the Veterans Home on Sugar Bush. I have the following building updates to share with you this evening. All schools are currently accepting donations for Christmas for Ankor Bay. Ashley will be collecting new books for ages preschool through fifth grade. Great Oaks is collecting games. Lighthouse is collecting new books for ages 6th through 12th grade. Lah is collecting hats, mittens, gloves, and socks. Mac is collecting socks. Nldrid is collecting games. Middle School North is collecting middle school age gifts. Middle school South is also collecting middle school age gifts. Anker Bay High School is collecting high school aaged gifts. And the Early Childhood Center and McDonald Early Childhood Center are collecting hats, scarves, mittens, and gloves. Lighthouse, Nulra, and Lah will have a spirit week next week. Each day they will have

003a different theme. Lah and Nulra are hosting book fairs this week. Great Oaks hosted a book fair last week and Ashley has a book fair coming soon. At Great Oaks Elementary last week, there was a Goodies with Graham event, and Popcorn Days will be returning soon. Popcorn Days are a school fundraiser, and students can purchase a bag of popcorn for $1. Mac Elementary held an annual schoolwide fundraiser, their bear stroll, and it was a huge success. They raised over $9,000. For Halloween, all of the staff dressed up as candy. Their fourth grade teachers dressed up as gumball machines. Popcorn Day is this Friday and each student will be getting a bag of popcorn. At Ashley Elementary, the students are working on their annual holiday play performance. At Nulit, today was donuts with grown-ups, and they

004held their annual butter braid fundraiser, and delivery will be next week. Middle school North held a dance on November 7th for both their fifth and sixth grade students, and their fifth grade students will be visiting Starbase. At Middle School South, they celebrated Veterans Day yesterday by honoring Coach P with a book of appreciation created by the students. They will hold be holding kindness week next week and each day is centered around different acts of kindness. At the high school, we are currently celebrating kindness week. The drama club is putting on a performance of the Diary of Anne Frank Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Saturday will hold the vendor show sponsored by student council. DECA will be participating in a power trip next week and the girls swim team won their MAC blue division and are dual

005meet champs. Thank you. That is all I have for this evening and I would like to take this opportunity to wish everyone a happy Thanksgiving. >> Same to you. Thank you Madison. At [clears throat] this time uh moving down uh for an approval of the agenda. I would entertain a motion to approve the agenda as presented. I will make the motion. >> I will second. >> Oh, actually I would like to amend the agenda. >> What would you like to amend, ma'am? >> I would like to add to it. Um, Brian, I believe you have the language. You do not have the language. How about I fill in the blanks? >> Thank you. >> Uh I would entertain a motion to amend the agenda to add items four and five under the new business. The

006first is um approval of the superintendent evaluation. That would be item number four. And then the superintendent contract uh would be item number five. If you're amicable for that, ma'am, >> I will make that motion. Thank you. >> Mr. Vanitelli, can I still count on your approval for that? >> Yes. All right. So, I've got a motion by Miss Knox, supported by Mr. Venitelli, to add items four and five under new business. Comments, questions, or concerns? >> I do have um some questions about the agenda. Uh we're going into close session for attorney client privilege. >> Yes, >> I understand why. Um and I understand what we're going to be discussing. I guess what I don't understand is there's nothing on the agenda after close session that suggests that there's going to be um any

007discussion, any deliberation or any decisions on on what what's going to happen from that. Um we we have a very important decision as a district to make regarding a very large sum of public money and um even if we decide to do nothing that's a decision that we're going to have to make. So, am I to read this agenda that there's a scenario whereby we go into close session to have privileged discussions with our legal counsel and then we emerge from closed session silent uh on the issue and the public never hears any deliberation or discussions from this board about what direction the district's going to go on that matter. >> So, yeah, there are four options that our attorney is recommending. One of them is to stand silent. Um if you would like to

008add um an agenda item after the close session just for the purposes of discussion and if there's nothing to discuss we can you know we can not discuss. >> Well even even deciding to do nothing is still significant and there's significant discussions that the public should hear on what what that means to do nothing and they should hear why we decided to do nothing and why that's in their best interest to do nothing. I I guess I'm just not comfortable making a decision regarding those funds and the public not hearing anything from their board as to why we decided what we decided. >> Important of an issue. >> One, I will kind of highlight what the issue is in my like superintendent report kind of talking about that just because I know some people won't

009stick around for after the thing. But then basically whatever the the kind of the discussion is with the board, it's whatever action comes out of that or inaction based off of that then then you can still have a discussion on that. But and and maybe this is a procedural misunderstanding on my part. Once we approve this agenda under item 1D, that's that's our agenda of business for the evening. We can't come out down item three and say, "Hey, let's amend the agenda." Can we? >> Yes. >> We can agenda. We can amend the agenda anytime we want. >> Yes. Okay. >> Just take the stronger vote. >> It takes a super majority. Yes. Okay. >> Yeah. And >> um >> Yeah. And you can also comment like let's say the board takes the the no

010action during board comments, you can have your comments as well. The only other question I have about the closed session is by by going into close session and having these discussions with our legal council, does does that prohibit us from discussing things back out in open session? So, uh, you know, where I'm going with this is we we go into close sessions, we get our attorney opinion, we we talk about the four options, we ask our questions, we we go through that. If we come back out into open session and and Mr. Vendettilli says, "I make a motion that we go with option X and then we go to start having discussion, it's not going to be like, whoa, whoa, you can't you can't ask those questions. You can't have that discussion in open because

011we've already had those discussions in closed." I I want to be clear before I agree to that we're going to go into closed session that we're not going to be handcuffed on what we can discuss publicly when we come out of close session. And if we're not allowed to discuss those things in open, then I would not support having a closed session. And I would say we should we should have all those discussions out in the open. >> Well, I'll turn that back over to you, Mr. Jankowski. I believe he's correct. We can't >> No, you would be able to legal opinion. I'm not looking to discuss the illegal opinion, but if I have if I have an opinion on why the motion on the table is either good or bad and I had those

012discussions with our attorney in close session to to make myself comfortable with that, am I through through through law of what you can do out of close session, am I no longer allowed to discuss in open session what I discussed in close session? I believe technically you're not. >> No, not if there's going to be board action and all of that. So if it came out to that and and I mean you can you could put something down as board action. There's just you know whatever the resolve is if you wanted to add that now because of of basically there being four options there's you have a 75% likelihood that there's going to be board action. Okay, just on face value of that and you can the you would want to limit it to this

013is why we're taking the path that we're taking. >> I just want the protection that the seven of us are going to be able to come out of close session and explain to the public why we either took that money with all the strings attached and and accepted or we decided we don't want the money and here's how we're going to keep your students safe. I want the I want the safeguard in place before I agree to go into close session that the seven of us are going to be able to have those open and transparent discussions for the public to hear >> you. >> So then I would recommend we amend the agenda and add uh a bullet point after the close session >> for discussion of um well we can't discuss the closed

014session per se, but we can discuss our four options publicly. >> Well, you can actually technically discuss what was in the closed session. It's just that you don't have to. It's because it's legal opinion. I mean, it's we as a board have a closed session to get the legal opinion of our attorney and you don't have to do that in open session. That's it's an approved reason to be in close session. Now, if we as a board chose to then come out and share what that is, you can do that. Okay? >> It's just a matter of, you know, is it respectable amongst everybody, right, to like to do that? And then can you [clears throat] it's just a matter of if you if you want to, right? >> As long as we're clear that

015when we come out of open session is is is at least from from my standpoint, it's not going to be, you know, we make a motion to go with option two because that's what the attorney recommended. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Let's move on. Like yeah, >> the public is going to know why we decided what to do with this controversial issue. So then I would just recommend at this point that we as long as we're amending the agenda if you're open to it that we would add an item after the close session for uh board discussion and or action regarding what do you want to term this superintendent. >> I would just say 31A. >> I say be transparent and call it what it is. A decision on 31A funding. >> Right. I couldn't

016remember at the time. So >> So are you okay with amending the agenda and adding that after close session? >> You're talking to me or the motion maker? I gotta get it through the motion maker. >> Yes, I am. >> And the supporter. >> Yes, I am as well. >> Okay. Any other further comments, questions? Madison is like, "What is going on?" >> All right. So, I'm hearing none. So, let's do a roll call vote on u moving forward with the amenda. The agenda as amended. >> Miss Knox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Venitelli? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunonny Bberger? Yes, >> Mr. Powers. >> Yes, >> Miss Burkemeer. >> Yes, >> Mr. Richards is yes, Mr. Green. >> Yes. Motion carries. Moving on to the superintendent's update. >> Tim is going to pull up my

017presentation. As while he does that, we'll go over it. Again, just um just a short piece on where we're at with the bond. We're kind of in in a lull right now. as we're wrapping up now what is basically all phase one at the middle schools. Um let's get him going here with the slideshow. There we go. Okay, next slide. Band room has been totally cleared, passed all inspections. It is ready for use at Middle School South. So um they can have full access to it and everything. So that is moving forward as well as this is we've completed this was approved two board meetings ago to get concrete sections replaced. We did at the high school which I shared before. This is now at middle school south. So we replaced the approaches and those

018turn out well. Next slide. So this is going to be before you. This is by popular demand I would say at Middle School North. This is a layout of the um playground. And so you can see the school is actually would be at the top. So where you can see the current Gaga pit is that octagon that is drawn right there. We the students is the number one most in demand. I cannot explain to you exactly what Gaga ball is, but there's a long line. And so they would basically on our estimates, we need like three more in order to um fulfill the demand. So the thought would be if you were right where they're in in the blue octagons, those would be three Gaga pits. So you'll have that later and that would pretty

019much outfit the playground we will be looking at. So right now just so you know if you were the right side of the screen that is used for football. The kids would kind of like ascertain that then on the other side of the gaga pits we will have soccer fields that they could play on and that will complete basically the playground as is. Any questions on this? Okay, next slide. Just while we're at where we're at with the bond, it's always good to kind of like look at we are just at the still at the very beginning of a long process. If you can just click the the mouse pin. So you can see that red arrow is where we are at now. And it seems like we've done a lot of work so far,

020but we are not even a third of the way through. So there's a lot more. We are just entering the next phase where it it's the largest phase of construction where we will have construction going on at Ashley, Great Oaks, Nalderret, Middle School North, and Middle School South. So, that's what we're we already have things out to bid for Ashley um Nulret and South. And then right now, just so we can kind of keep if you're keeping score out of that 170 million roughly, we've only spent 28 million. And that's 16 1.5% of overall bond funds. So we are we've accomplished quite a bit and we're still in a good spot on that. But now we are entering probably the largest phase of the bond construction. We are still on track as we mentioned before

021that the green bar that you see there that is for redistricting. The only thing that might kind of change that a little bit is depending on how our enrollment goes because we've been seeing um added enrollment at the elementary level. And we've also been seeing Next slide, Tim. Um well, let me touch on this and then I'll I'll touch on the enrollment question. So, this is Great Oaks. We're now starting to look at this in order to kind of free up four classrooms. We're looking to do a bump out of the office and and do dedicated science and um STEM labs as well. And so that's the next phase that we're going to start planning while we're waiting for the bids to come in on the previous section. And so then those will be set

022to go out to bid as soon as um we we kind of processed all the bids from the other three phases. Next slide. We're also at the point where this kind of goes back to like enrollment. We're going to do another utilization study where we're going to check our math on what our estimate was. Because if you recall, if you look at the far right, our goal was to try and hit an average utilization of 84%. Which again, the state likes to see 80%. This would put us between 80 and 84%. But now based off of the numbers, if if we're still going to match that, the interesting thing is based off of the projections that we had when we went into the bond, our enrollment was we were supposed to be about 5200. We

023are not 5200. So we have to we just want to check our math and make sure that we're still kind of staying ahead of that. Next slide. And part of that is something that we've because we've been doing things we've we've kind of seen this is um our school of choice enrollment over the last several years. We used to be the yellow line is the number of students non-resident students in our district. The blue line is the number of our students going elsewhere. We used to be in a negative um where we lost 150 more students than we gain. part of as we've been doing things, we are now 125 students to the good. So we we're bringing in 125 more students than we are losing in any given year in schools of choice. So

024we're tracking these two trends in order to do that to make sure that as we're doing this um the nice part if you look at it we've kind of as we structured that whole timeline with the bond is we know Lah's out there. So the initial bond was hey do we take Lahi offline there's also the ability that it could just depending on if these trends continue and enrollment trends continue to be strong that Lahi could just stay online and we could do that. So we do have the buffer for that but as we go along we are going to basically every two years just keep checking our math to see if we're on the right thing. The nice thing about the state budget was our estimates on preschool enrollment, early childhood enrollment have been

025right on there. The the estimates that they were going to continue universal lunch have been fairly accurate. So all of that that we invested into kitchens and getting those spaces ready um will pay off as well. Next slide. So that's it for the bond. just going into this is the 31A that everybody's talking about because I know not the board may or may not take action depending on what's in closed session, but we'll there's kind of a certain meta level to this where we're talking about things that include privileges such as closed sessions and things like that. So this is to put it diplomatically. This is what happens when you pass legislation at 4:00 a.m. Things get put into law that not were not necessarily intended. So I just copy this right out of the

026legislation. So basically, as they've done in previous years, the state has provided mental health and safety funding. They the change that they did this year is one, they're lumping it together. So you get two years of funding in one year that you're expected to spend over two years. But they also added this caveat which on its face doesn't seem all um that troublesome until you start digging into the details. So to receive funding under this section, a district, an intermediate school district, a nonpublic school, or Michigan schools for the deaf and blind must agree to be subject to a comprehensive investigation, must affirmatively agree to wave any privilege that may otherwise protect information from disclosure in the event of a mass casualty event. It must agree to comply with a comprehensive investigation. On its face,

027I don't think most people would have issue with it if you take the common understanding of a comprehensive investigation, wave privileges, things like that. It's the when you get into the details. So, next slide, Tim. So first of all the definition of mass casualty on this is very broad and not well divine defined because typically if you were looking at this so an instant resulting in significant injuries to not fewer than three individuals. So that could be you have three kids get hurt in a football game that's technically could be a considered a mass casualty event. An incident resulting in fatalities. So if you had something like that was to happen that that alone would constitute and these are not ends. These are all like if any one of these things happen an incident that

028exceeds the normal resources for emergency response available in the jurisdiction when the incident takes place. So, may have seen in the news earlier this week, there was a swatting incident at a at a school at the south end of the county. That alone would qualify to open you up to all of this. And lastly, an incident results in a sudden and timely surge of injured individuals necessitating emergency services. So, those are the four things, and it's just there's none of these are really defined in in of themselves. Next slide. So the next issue is privileges. What does that mean? It is not well defined. But these are just the ones that in just so you know all of the attorneys from all the different law firms have been working on this to try and get

029understanding. So first of all you have attorney client privilege which most people know that whatever you say to your legal counsel is between you. There's also the work product doctrine. So if they develop something that could be between you before it's released publicly. Um investigator client privilege. This is not necess this is between if you have an investigator comes in and they get information all of that you would wave that. So then anything that's shared with that investigator is also shared publicly. the closed session protections or open meetings act confidentially confidentiality under foyer exemptions because you have exemptions on certain areas um individual notes things like that for related protections we have parents who have signed off that they have certain information they would not like shared with the public on their students those as

030a district you would also wave those on behalf of those parents same thing with HIPPA that's medical information So again, there are things that people don't want out there publicly about their own health. Um, those would be waved as well. And then other and these are just the the major ones that come off the top of my head as you kind of like look through this. The other issue is like you have issues with insurance carriers and risk management and and so on because when you're handling these things, you have discussions on okay, what do you cover and how does it go like that? And the the main concern is that it it's already hard to find insurance companies for public schools. Okay? In fact, the largest insurance company, Setseg, basically that was a company

031that was created because you couldn't get insurance for schools. So, all the all the school districts like kind of banded together to say, "Let's create an insurance company and we're all part of it." But this could definitely impact it for the amount of money and for us our district $765,000 roughly. It might cost you more just in insurance premiums and all that if you opt into that. So, and part of it is because of the the tight timeline they put it on. I know I've shared with you before that generally the way the budget goes in a normal budget year is the budget's approved by roughly July 1. We get all the details out there. You get your first state aid payment because you don't have you don't get a state aid payment until October.

032Why is that? Because it's your first count day. So you get count day. Then they figure out how many students. Count day is really count month. Just so everybody knows it just starts on the fourth Wednesday. it goes through that gets wrapped up in November. Then in your November state aid payment, they start putting what's these are called categoricals. And so you'd get those. What's happened in probably I'd say four the last five years. The categoricals have not been getting out until late. I mean like the last categorical um I think I shared it was in 10 days before the end of the school year. we had to pick what our reading program it had to be from the list and we had 10 days to do it and everybody's like we can't do a

033pilot and finally the state relented. Um but we ended up getting $600,000 because a lot of other districts didn't sign up for that and so and then the state finally relented and gave us like some breathing room on that. So now we have until January to make that decision. So they put in there that this has to go out by the end of the calendar year. The problem is when this was put in there, they didn't anticipate the budget not being done until October. So now we have to make a decision. Originally the first that they put out was tonight was the decision had to be made to the state. Then they said, "No, no, no. We'll give you an extension November 16th." And finally, because they wanted to get on November 8 payment. And

034then finally after such an uproar it's November 30th. So we have to make the decision by November 30th. So next slide. So basically that kind of um summarizes all of the different um decisions that you have to make. As by law only this board of education can wave attorney client privilege. So that's where there would have to be action if that's the the case if you decide to go that direction. Otherwise, if you don't apply for it, there doesn't necessarily have to be board action on it, but there's some other varying things which you'll see. We'll put it other options that you can look at. So >> Mr. Jen, have a couple of questions about that. Maybe this is something we could wait until we speak with our attorney to get a better picture on,

035but with regards to fur hippo regulations, can we even legally accept this terms? Uh because it sounds like we obviously as a district we have to protect that information. We can't let that get out there. But if we sign this, we agree to these terms, we're basically now legally required to let that information be brought out there, too. So, it's can like I asked, is it even possible? >> No. What well I what I'll tell you is basically and this is after long long like briefs from the all the major like law firms is is this probably unconstitutional as it's written. Yes. Okay. is the but until somebody sues and all that, none of that will happen before you have to make the decision. And it'll take basically a situation where this happens and then

036somebody's going to have to sue and say, "Wait a second, I don't want my kids um health history to be out there in the public." >> Absolutely. >> And that's that's again that's the offshoot of when you when you they make decisions because originally this was not everybody kept saying this is going to be in the final budget. don't worry about it. And then when it finally got to the vote and it happens at 4:00 a.m., then they said, "No, no, no. There's going to be a supplemental. Don't worry about it. We'll fix it." Well, none of that has happened. So, here we are. >> Right. Um, that's unfortunate. With regards to the uh insurance that we have, uh, what specifically what part of the insurance package I like I assume don't I don't assume

037this is a general liability issue. This is not a workers comp issue. It's more like u I guess cyber security. I would argue it's general liability. >> It would be general liability. That's a >> because to us the the thing is nobody there's so many unknowns. So basically what happens is if there's any significant legislation that's passed then you wait on case law. Okay. And case law typically in all my law classes has basically been it takes six to eight years for that to play out. And because you don't have that and you have to make a decision before that it who knows how it would play out because there are there are scenarios like I gave with the swatting one where that happens. Now let's say there's a swatting thing and somebody gets hurt

038while you know there's this massive response because you know they they fear that there's an active shooter in a building or something like that. Well, then that would you could have there's what could be considered a private right of action based off of that that it hit some of these things. So therefore, an individual could say I you are not protected by this. You took those funds and this even though you didn't do it, this is just the result of it and and but nobody knows until it actually goes to court. >> Okay. So, the insurance companies don't know how much the insurance premiums will increase. At this point, we're sort of just in this unknown. >> It Yeah, it's basically unknown. What I'll tell you is um yesterday they had a long um we

039went through like the ins and outs of all of that is basically what'll probably end up happening is is the prediction was there'll end up being two pools. Okay, there'll be a high risk pool if they took the funding because now you don't have all of those protections and you're open to more lawsuits because now all of that it's not just shared anything that's shared and this is the foyer privilege. So anything or the investigator like privilege as well. If you're sharing it with the investigator, it's now it anybody can foyer that and take it out. Mhm. >> So now you're opening yourself up to more outside um basically lawsuits or anything like that. And the other part of it is this doesn't even touch on because nobody it's not seen as a privilege but

040the whole concept of governmental immunity which because a lot of this comes back from Oxford that's what what is stemming this but governmental immunity is basically the if you are in working in good faith in your role as defined you are immune from prosecution basically people can't sue the state Okay. Unless they're allowed to sue. So, does that violate that as well? Now, there's exceptions that gross negligence is is the main one, but it has to be like you knew and you didn't react to that. And it so that's hasn't even because is that a privilege or is that like a legal right? How do you how do you phrase that? And that's where it's poorly written. So, it's not defined. >> Understood. Thank you. Anybody else? >> Yeah. >> Um Mr. Jacoski, um when

041we talk about the bond at the high school, is there a certain date yet that um where construction will be over at the high school this year? >> So most of it they're finishing up like the very last things there. I know they're tweaking some things, but like over over like completely done. Um no, because we'll go back to the high school and we're going to do the a lot of the exteriors and um Whatever we pick up towards the end of the bond, we'll do parking lots, we'll do athletic fields, we'll do things like that as well. >> The interior wise, >> interior wise, unless we add something, for the most part, that's complete and then they're just wrapping up the last loose ends on the punch list items. >> Okay. Right. Thank you.

042>> Anybody else move? >> I just have a quick question about the um the student count chart you put up there. It looked like The count of of in district students we have today is really no different than it was 10 years ago. That all of our growth the last 5 years has been fueled by by school of choice coming into Ankor Bay. Is that accurate? >> No, that the the one chart is >> it was the blue and the the blue. >> The blue that's just that's just school of choice kids. Kids who are either leaving or coming in. >> I'm sorry. I thought I thought it said in district. Never mind then. >> Yep. All >> right, that takes us to item F, >> safe routes to school presentation. Mr. Wthbone, if you

043would. >> Good evening, board. Um we're going to present an update tonight on the safe routes to school. Um this has been a long process and so we'll talk a little bit about that, but this started all the way back in 2023. So um Tim, I'll let you go to the next slide. So the good news is that the grant was approved by MDOT in October. Uh the city of New Baltimore is the agency that was awarded the grant. Um they are an act 51 agency which means um they only act 51 agencies are allowed to receive this grant. So um you'll notice that although we're having some projects done in Chesterfield Township, the city of New Baltimore has been awarded the grant. Um and uh Chesterfield because they're not an act 51 agency could

044not re could not even apply for those funds um they had to work with m uh the department of roads through Mcome County also an act 51 agency. Um the infrastructure grant was awarded a little over $1.8 million. So those are projects that will take place within our district boundaries um and be paid for uh by the grant. So that includes both New Baltimore and Chesterfield Township. Uh there's also a non-infrastructure part of the grant for about $90,000. And what we'll use that for is really to work with our students, our parents, um to talk about uh safe routes to school and implement those and make sure that um the community is aware of those. So, it's it's really an outreach uh program for us to work with our uh community. Also, we can have

045bike rodeos and things like that to train children on how to properly ride a bike and safely ride a bike. So, we'll be putting that to good use. Um, and but I want to be clear about the infrastructure projects. None of these will none of the ground will be broken until 2027. So, it's going to be a little bit of time and we'll talk a little bit more about that, Tim. So, here's kind of giving you a little bit of history on the process. So, we started back in the 23 24 school year. Um, and really even a little bit before that, we got we received a preliminary grant to investigate whether or not this was something we wanted to do. I think it was like $10,000. So, we uh utilized that. We also um

046as many of you will remember, we uh conducted surveys of our students and our parents. uh we had to track uh students comm how they commuted to work at school and how they went home every day for a week or so. Uh we formed an safe routes to school committee um of stakeholders which included not only building administration but parents, teachers, students, um local municipalities, the board. Uh there were a number of folks that were involved in that committee. Um and then we also conducted walking uh audits of the various schools, all the schools you'll see here tonight. We walked those properties and tried to determine areas where there were opportunities to improve those safe routes to school. So if there was a gap in a sidewalk or if there was a a curb that

047needed to be repaired and make safe or a walkway to make safe, those are the kind of things we were looking to identify. in 2425 um we were working with our uh committee to kind of identify those projects. There were a number of not probably I don't know 50 projects that were identified during our walk walking audit. So that committee along with again some of the stakeholders from the municipalities we had conversations worked on what are our top uh priorities for the grant. What do we want to use the money for? And so we identified those uh there had to be engineering for all of those um as a part of the uh grant application. We also had cost estimates and projected budgets of how much each of those projects would cost. Um really the

048the amount that we were awarded you get a little bit more but it's about $300,000 per school. So we had six schools between Chesterfield and New Baltimore that were eligible for this grant. Um and then there was also an agreement that we had to work on to craft to talk about okay once all those improvements are done who's responsible for taking care of those who's responsible for maintaining those and so uh that particular agreement was hammered out between Chesterfield and um the city of New Baltimore and it basically boils down to if it's within your jurisdiction you're going to take care of it. That's kind of the long and short of it. Um, and then the grant was submitted to uh MDOT in 2425. So that's kind of been our process. Next slide, Tim. And

049then these will really be our next steps. And after this, I'm going to jump in and show you some of the projects that we're doing. But really now, what we need to do is define how we're going to implement, what is going to be our strategy to implement. So, um, the first, uh, bullet under the federal funding talks about there's really two distinct processes and we talked about a little bit, the infrastructure and the non-infrastructure piece. So, for the non-infrastructure piece, which is that 90,000 that the school will receive, um really we're in the process of talking about what projects we're going to do and then we will ultimately execute a contract with um Michigan Fitness Foundation for that money. Um we're kind of in the process of right of that right now. We've submitted

050a budget and they're in process of reviewing that budget right now. um for the infrastructure project that's a little bit longer process. That's why we won't break ground until 2027. Um so basically what has to happen is the uh although the initial application has been approved, the city will have to file the project planning application with MDOT program and development documents necessary to kind of detail out exactly what those projects are going to look like. So that's kind of the next steps for them. um and then getting approval on those and then breaking ground in 2027 to implement these projects. Next slide. So this is the first project and I'll have Tim kind of try and help me here a little bit. I'm going to start up in the far left corner. So this is

051and I'll have to look on here. So this is right out outside of Ashley, right across the street from Ashley. So this is the corner of Ashley and basically Schnore Drive. You can see there. So up in the lefthand corner you can see um three white crosswalks that will be implemented there at Schnore. You can also see white lines that are kind of I'm going to try and do this, but I don't know if I can shoot that far. You can see white lines here on both sides of Schnore. So those will be sidewalks that we're putting in. Um and then also down here on Shnore, there will be sidewalks. [snorts] You can see why I wasn't a surgeon. Shaking all over the place here. And then right here across right here, there will also

052be a crosswalk at Schnore and Ashley. And then there is a little bit of concrete right down there, but that will be taken out. and they've moved the uh crosswalk down uh a little bit east of Schnore. So that will be kind of some of the things we're doing at Ashley. Next slide. This is just a little bit closer showing you the sidewalks that are coming in down the um crosswalk there across and then the crosswalk across Ashley. And that will tie right into the Ashley uh sidewalk that runs uh adjacent to or parallel to Ashley. Next slide. So this is um a little bit further to the west I would say of uh Ashley. So this is at the corner of Ashley and Madison. And uh so kind of where that purple area is,

053that would I believe be the uh middle school track and field. And on the other side of the street um the other way, Tim, across to the east, no down and across would be Ashley over um on Ashley. So this is at Madison though. This is going to be closer up near um that area. They're putting in new crosswalks there as well. Next slide. All right. So, this is at the corner of 24 and Ridge on Washington. You can see there that they're going to at the bottom here, they're going to add some sidewalk. They're going to have a painted yellow reflective paint uh crosswalk that crosses across Washington. And then they will also uh have some new sidewalk there on um that runs parallel to Washington. You can also see at the bottom there

054on 24 mile they're going to be adding a crosswalk as well. And it will also have you can see the signage here included. They'll have signage here and you'll be able to um see that. Next slide. This is harder to see. I apologize, but I couldn't really get a a good slide for this. Um, you can see all these white spaces here. What they're doing is they're filling in all of the sidewalk gaps. So, along Washington, it's all dependent on when your business went in or when your house went in. Um, early if it was quite some time ago, you didn't necessarily have to put in a sidewalk. Now, if you put something in, you have to put in the sidewalk. So there are gaps in there. This will fill in everywhere. You see these

055white um lines will fill in those gaps so that there will be a complete sidewalk from Ridge Road all the way down to uh Green Street. Actually, next slide. Um, this is going to be at Gotta make sure I'm at this correctly. What's the location? Oh, okay. So, this is right near um Lighthouse. Um, this is going to be Bedford. And so, they're going to add some sidewalk here and then a a crosswalk at Bed Bedford. And then you could come down here. This will be new sidewalk here and a new cross across uh Willie to access um lighthouse. Next slide. This is also in that same area. You can see um this is right at Washington and Willie. There's that same crosswalk we just looked at, but they're also here going to add that

056same reflective uh yellow paint that they're going to have um painted. There will also be flashing beacons at that particular location. And you can see here they're also adding some sidewalk there at the bottom uh of the yellow triangle or yellow rectangle. Okay, next slide. This is what did I say west of uh middle school north. So this is there is um Harrison Street is in the sub there and you can see so what we'll be doing is right there they'll be adding a crosswalk across Harrison and a little bit of um sidewalk there and then tying that into we have a path that runs across our property all the way to north. So, they'll be tying into that pathway and then uh re redoing that pathway. Um so that all of that area that

057you can see here that runs all the way to Middle School North, that will all get paved. Next slide. Uh this is at near Great Oaks Elementary. So the 24 mile road at between Sam Lane and Birch Road. Um, so this is further like uh if as you're going away from the city, I guess to um Sam's Lane right now, you can see they're going to be putting in, it's harder to see on this, I apologize, but right here they're going to be putting in sidewalk um that will run parallel to 24 mile from Sam's Lane, which is a a development all the way down to the Heatherwoods development. Um, and uh, so it'll go up to Birch and then beyond. Next slide. You can see here how that it would be right here. It's

058tying into this sidewalk that's in front of Heather Woods here. And then here at Forest Glade, which is the entrance to Heatherwoods, um, they're going to put in a uh, crosswalk there. You can see they're going to have also have the flashing beacons. um there crossing crossing signs and so forth. And so that will be uh right there and tie into the existing sidewalk. Next slide. This is uh Great Oaks. This would be um before you get to Great Oaks actually. So this is um between Satan um and Great Oaks on uh again adjacent to or parallel to uh 24 miles. So, it starts right down here at Seatan Road and it will repair a sidewalk. It was put in many years ago. It was just asphalt and it's kind of cracked up. So, they're

059now replacing that whole thing. And then you can see here it will continue on and then tie into the sidewalk here at Great Oaks. So, that will allow safe passage for kids coming from that part of the uh subdivisions back there. Next slide. So, we're now moving on to middle school south. Um, this is a crossing walk that we'll put in. There will also be a little bit of sidewalk to tie into the existing sidewalk, but this is right at Peggy Lane and Sugarbush. So, you can see Peggy Lane here, Sugarbush here, and they're putting in a crosswalk right here. Next slide. This is at Nulit Elementary. So, this is Sugarbush Road and Remington. Um, so you can see that they're going to add Got to see here if I can. They're looking to add

060a crosswalk right here going across. These are existing sidewalks, so there's no new sidewalks there. Um, but, uh, they will be adding a crosswalk again with those flashing beacons. Next slide. This is um Nulit Elementary School and this is really the parking lot here. This is the main parking lot. They're going to be adding a uh sidewalk that runs along along the back of that parking lot. So the parking so the sidewalk will run AC along Sugar Bush and then take a turn and come all the way down and then tie in with with our sidewalk right here so that kids can come right down and then enter towards Meldrid. Okay. Um this is at Lahi Elementary. So there's quite a bit going on uh in terms of sidewalk here. So you can see they're

061first of all going to put a sidewalk in here that runs across the front of Lahi. They're also going to add at Bay View or very near Bay View a crossing walk with the flashing beacons. So those will be there at that location. And then Tim, I think one more slide maybe. Yeah. And then this is another piece of the sidewalk here. You can see that they're going to be adding in there across. And then that will essentially tie into the existing sidewalk here. And then you can see, it's hard to see, but right here there will be another piece that is um tying up into the uh pavement for Ashley right in front of the school. So that kids will have a safe route there. They don't have to go through the parking lot.

062They can be on the sidewalk the whole way. Okay, I think that might be it. So, those are the projects that they plan on doing. Um, again, that those won't break ground until 2027. I'd be happy to take any questions from the board at this time. >> Mr. Wthbun, did the granting agency give any consideration to, I don't know, supplements or anything to fund additional crossing guards that we'll probably be needing, >> especially at the elementary level? Yeah. >> Or have we thought about how we're going to handle that? No, unfortunately that is specifically not a cost that they will cover. So, they will do the infrastructure but won't won't pay for personnel. >> Anyone else? >> Todd, couple questions. Um, is there a reason why we didn't or maybe we did, but did we

063do any valuations on the sidewalk for the high school? And did uh New Baltimore and Chesterfield participate in this application for this bond at all or is this predominantly just a uh school district uh bond? So I'll I'll try and address those in order. Um the reason the high school and Mac were not included is because they do not sit inside of Chesterfield or New Baltimore. Um and it would have to go through St. Clair County. They they weren't necessarily doing the application. So we didn't have an opportunity. We cannot directly apply for these grant monies. We are not an act 51 agency. So we have to work through an agency that is chartered under that particular act. So um we couldn't do them at middle or at the high school or Mac elementary. Um

064in regards to your second question, help me again. Sorry. >> No problem. Um I just curious if uh the city of New Baltimore or Chesterfield had participated in this bond application with us or is that something that that we've done solely? >> So um yes they absolutely have. I mean it it really takes um all three agencies the school uh city of New Baltimore and Chesterfield Township. Um all of those folks were involved in the planning and the selection of projects. Uh they were a part of our safe routes to school committee and uh they were intimately involved with the with the school district in getting this application filed with the state and they will be essential to um affecting the application and then getting all of these improvements that we just shared with you

065done. >> Great. Thank you. >> Yep. Mr. Ratbun. Um, what's the total square footage for this project of a sidewalk being put in? Do you have that answer? >> I can get that for you. I don't know off the top of my head. >> And, uh, it looks like you showed a series of maps with ARGIS, uh, property lines overlaid. Um, I'm assuming that this is not anything we'll need approval from residents to put in, but it's uh, sort of like the public road access property. No, as a part of this process, they did have to contact, in fact, that was a letter that had to be submitted with the application. Anybody who's going to be impacted or potentially impacted by the construction had to be notified of such >> and that letter was a

066part of the application. >> Thank you. >> Yep. Todd, can you just um explain what the process looks like for for who selects the contractors to use and and who who enters into those agreements? >> Yeah. So, it'll be uh likely Chesterfield and New Baltimore that are entering into those agreements. The the school will not be a part of those. >> We will not be a party to any of those contracts. >> What's that? >> We will not be a party to any of those contracts. >> We will not. >> Okay. Um and you know in terms of I I would imagine they have to follow a similar um bidding process just like we do as they're using public monies to fund well grant monies that I imagine will have to be bid. >> And

067then the only other question I have is um I'm assuming there's no ability through this grant for a municipality to recover funds that they spent previously on sidewalks that they probably should not have. If you know where I'm going with that. I I I think maybe [clears throat] I do. Um, no, these would all have to be new projects. There's no ability to go back and recover for projects that were prior to the application. >> Thank you. >> Yep. So the only comment I have Todd is uh thanks for spearheading this and despite how you just described how the other municipalities and everybody were involved. Um they were but I was at a couple of the walks and certainly you were spearheading the project in terms of organization uh and working directly uh I think

068the two that I attended the grant awarder if that's such a word from the state of Michigan was there and you guys worked really well together. So, I know it took a lot of effort, a lot of a lot of your time and a lot of coordination because you did have to work with the other uh two municipalities. Um, I I appreciate it. I think it's going to make a big difference in and if our kids decide that they want to walk or ride a bike to school that they can get there safely. >> Thank you. Yep. It it was it was a it was a team effort. No doubt. There was a lot of lot of time and effort put into this, but I I think it's going to be very beneficial for our

069students >> and probably Corey, too. I need to thank her, I'm guessing. Yeah, she was definitely >> She probably got far more phone calls than she wanted about the sidewalk process. >> Yes. >> All right. Any other questions? Anyone else? >> All right. Hearing none, we're going to move on our agenda to item G, hearing of the public. Those who wish to address the board on agenda items must complete a brief request stating their name, address, and the subject of their comments. Remarks about specific employees should be directed to them personally and not included in the public forum. Administration will follow up with concerns within 48 hours of the board meeting. Participants will be limited to three minutes per speaker. So I have Richard M. There we go. All right, good evening everyone. Uh my

070name is Rich Malik and I'm here to talk about the uh health education standards framework that will be voted on tomorrow. Um so I quote their vision is the goal is to develop an individual who is health literate unquote. Literacy allows communication via set of universally accepted rules. In language those are phonetics and dictate spoken sounds. In health, the scientific method is used to gather objective evidence and to support or oppose a hypothesis. [snorts] Neither of these are based on subjective inputs such as feelings, which according to Webster's dictionary is what gender identity relies on to define oneself. PubMed asserts that 99% of the world's population has either XX chromosomes genetically female or XY genetically male. The others have a wide spectrum mix of both and are interex. [snorts] Encouraging the majority to believe they

071can change their sex is not a form of literacy. It favors subjective testimony over objective evidence. Guiding principle seven on page eight says quote health education programs develop students skills for critical thinking and decisionmaking unquote sex health educ um objective two on page 53 of the framework calls for a student to locate and support policies about genderism. Critical thinking requires open outcomes. You evaluate evidence, consider perspectives, and form a conclusion. If the end goal is already fixed at supporting policies, then the process isn't truly critical. Rather, it guides a student towards a specific stance. This is a hallmark of indoctrination, not education. Children's freedom to reject or critique the policies of genderism are constrained. Even if you support teaching it, you should reject the framework because it reduces parental transparency. The state of Michigan Department

072of Education confirmed they will follow the Massachusetts whole child model. This embeds this embeds gender ideology and social activism into all subjects. The ability to opt out of sexed becomes an illusion of choice. Like when I offer my daughter an apple, whole or sliced. Either way, she's still getting the apple and children will still get gender ideology. Since a byproduct of this framework is reduced transparency for parents and increased institutional control of curriculum, a right-leaning office would have the same ability to embed Jesus, creationism, and other principles that the extreme left typically rejects into the curriculum. Remember, 2026 is an election year and the implications of this proposal could come back to surprise those who drafted them. >> I need you to wrap it up, sir. >> Okay, this is the conclusion. Um, this framework

073does not belong in schools. It encourages health illiteracy, more closely resembles indoctrination, reduces parental transparency, all while allowing the state greater control of what stops children. And then I just have two questions. Um, so on November 1st, I filed a foy uh foyer request and I understand they get five business days to get responded to and can be extended to 10 days um in addition to the five. Um I haven't heard anything back on that. So I was just would like to follow up on that. And then the second question was oh sorry about that. um if anyone's aware of funding that is attached to this framework um because I know that if it passes which I expect it to that it's up to the district to implement or not. Um so my question is

074is there funding attached to that that we would get or not get based on its adoption. >> I will uh defer to our superintendent to get back to you within 48 hours >> on both of your questions. >> Okay. And then the last one is if you know whether it's adopted or not um what would be the strategy with having parents involved um and anything like that what would the process be? >> So thank you everybody. >> Okay. Uh Richard uh just one quick question. Can you please clarify uh funding tied to what exactly? You mentioned that there's a vote with regards to I think you said health occupation program. >> Yeah. So, it's the Michigan Health Education Standards Framework. It's being voted on tomorrow at the state in Lancing. >> Okay. >> And if

075it passes, it's up to each district to implement the framework or not. And so my question is, if the district decides not to implement it, would they um not get funding that's tied to the proposal? >> Thank you. All right. Item H, consent agenda. Items on the consent agenda are of a recurring nature and are voted on as a single item. Any board member may request an item be removed without a vote of the board and will be discussed and voted upon individually. So with that, I would entertain a motion to uh approve the consent agenda, including minutes from October 22nd, 2025, as well as the personnel report. >> I will make the motion. I'll support motion by Miss Knox, supported by Mr. Powers. Comments, questions, or concerns. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead, Lisa.

076>> I just had a question on the HR report. There were appear to be like two positions, two staff members. Are they like switching positions? >> Bless you. >> I I Are you talking about the instructional coach and all that? Yes. Yes. All set. Anyone else? Uh, hearing none. Uh, Mr. Secretary, could you call the RO? >> Miss Knox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Powers? >> Yes. Mr. Sunnyberger? >> Yes. >> Miss Burkmire? >> Yes. >> Mr. Vanitelli? >> Yes. >> Richards? Yes. Mr. Green? >> Yes. Motion carries. On the new business, our amended new business, excuse me. Item number one is a summer tax resolution. Each year, the board considers an ongoing resolution requesting that each city and or township collect the summer tax levy. This will continue from year to year until specifically revoked

077by the board. Business office is recommending approval of the attached resolution which provides for collection of 50% of the operating millage 9 mills and one half of the operating debt retirement millage 5 mills for the fiscal year 2025 2026 to be collected in the summer of 2026. administration is recommending the board of education approve the summer tax collection resolution for the fiscal year 2526 to be collected in the summer of 2026. I would entertain a motion to that effect if somebody is so moved. >> I'll make the motion. >> I will second. >> Motion by Mr. Power, supported by Miss Knox. Comments, questions, or concerns? All those in favor signify by saying I. >> Hang on. Question for you. Sorry, Mr. Jenusky. Thank you, Mr. Pro. I I think when we uh last spoke about

078debt millage, uh we said 10 was a little bit high at that point. Is that am I remembering that correctly? >> Yeah, but this is Yeah, this is operating. This is different. >> This is different. >> Yeah. So, this is the nine homestead 18 mills that that are on non- homestead properties. So you could do 18 all at once, but we split it into both the summer and the winter. So you're not getting hit by all 18. You're getting nine and then nine. >> Okay. It looks like you have uh what we have for >> Same thing. Yeah. Same thing with the debt. Yeah. >> 50% operating budget and then 50 >> Yeah. So instead of everybody getting it all on one and having to pay it all at once, we split them over the

079two. >> No, I I understand that. I I understand that point. But it's we're not just voting on the operating millage, we're also voting on the debt retirement millage as well. >> Yeah. you're basically you're you're just voting and how do we collect that, >> right? And and so I think when we decide when we spoke before we we kind of um had a little bit of a question about if the debt retirement millage was higher than other areas. >> Yeah. Is yes the the debt is higher than I would say the average district. Yes. Typically it's >> you know seven eight nine somewhere in there we're at 10. >> Yeah. Yeah. I mean and and I'm I'm fine approving that uh for this goound. But I think as we continue to put ourselves in

080a good financial position. I think it's worthwhile to explore if we can start chipping down at the debt retirement millage and see how we could responsibly do that. >> I think Mr. Venitel I think we may have spoke about that at finance. Um I'm not sure if we've spoken about it openly in the public meeting but yes we did have that conversations. >> Yep. So, I'm actually Any other questions? I'm gonna have you call the role on this one, sir. >> Sure. >> Mr. Powers? >> Yes. >> Miss Knox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunnyberger? >> Yes. >> Miss Burkemeer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Venitelli? >> Yes. >> Richards? Yes. Mr. Green? >> Yes. >> Motion carries. Uh item number two is a field trip for our wrestling team to attend a tournament in Pitaski. Uh

081the tournament will be held January 2nd through 4th, 2026. Team will travel with three chaperones and 25 students via school bus. The recommended action is that the board of education approved the wrestling team tournament field trip on January 2nd through 4th, 2026. Again, the team will be traveling to Paskki, uh, Michigan, uh, via Anchor Bay school bus. I would entertain a motion to that effect. >> I will make the motion. >> I'll second. Motion by Miss Knox, supported by Mr. Benitelli. Discussion. >> I do have one request. Um, can we make sure and have nothing against the uh the wrestling team, but but can we make sure that the uh the students and parents uh read the athletic code of conduct >> prior to the going on the trip? >> Prior to going on the

082trip? Yes. >> Would you like to make that part of uh their motion? >> Well, we'll do it. That's fine. >> Yeah. Okay. >> Do we want to make that part of the motion? >> I trust Phil. Okay, we're both Any other comments or questions aside from that is a long ride on a yellow school bus. >> It is. >> Can we mandate Paskki stones? >> It seems like a bribe, but I I don't know if we can put that into the motion. We could make strong recommendations, >> but if some were to show up on our desk, >> that'd be okay. [sighs] You know, school board appreciation's coming up. >> All right. Anybody else? All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed. Motion carries. Next on our list is

083our change order. Uh pursuant to Superintendent Jan Janowsk's presentation. Uh the Anchor Bay School District has received a quote for three additional Gaga ball pits for the middle the playground at Middle School North. The purchase is funded through the Sinclair Recreations Contingency. It is the recommendation to award three additional Gaga ball pits to Sinclair Recreation in the amount of $34,37. The recommended action is to approve the purchase of additional Gaga ball pits to Sinclair Recreation as stated in the amount of $34,37. I would entertain a motion to that effect. >> I will make the motion. >> I will second. Motion by Miss Knox, supported by Mr. Vendetti comments, questions, or concerns? >> I had a question. >> Yes, >> I fully support the Gaga ball pits. Um, just reading through the um the cost summary

084and from what I remember when I visited North. So, does the do the walls just kind of sit on top of the flooring that they put down or do they adhere it or >> No. So there's stansions that go into the ground and so they go in, they're mounted into the ground. There's a I don't know, it's like a black rubber like flooring that goes in above the mulch and then those go in and then the wall goes into that. Then there's safety capping that goes on top of it. >> Okay, that makes more sense. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah, I have question on on the quote under the comments section. There's a there's some various kind of exclusions. does not include any bonding, does not include drainage stone, does not include subbase, uh installed

085on existing grade, does not include excavation, does not include site restoration or landscaping. Is any of that significant um in terms of potential surprises like we had um you know at the >> asphalt we just did at the last meeting where oh by the way the subbase is not >> not strong enough and now we're we're having another >> it's since it's that grade they won't have to Um, >> and then what can I if you go to the website that sells the floor, the installation is stated, um, where did it go? The manufacturer explicitly recommends installation on a property prepared and leveled for subbase, not directly on grass or soil. Not only that, but we're about 30% higher than the MSRP on that website. So, they're hitting us for an extra $700 per floor.

086And that's that's where I stopped investigating. >> That was uh one of my questions was is this quote um equivalent to >> the um Gaga pit that we already had installed. >> Yeah, this is actually the same company that did that. So they bid that part, but basically we're Yeah, there was Yeah, exactly. >> Brian, were you all set? >> No, I just had one more question. And can you just kind of explain like kind of what the impetus is for expanding this and creating like why are we doing this? >> Basically we so you know we did our best we surveyed students and this is what they want. So we put things in there and then we looking at where are kids not participating or where is there a traffic jam I guess for

087lack of a better term and it's the gaga pit that we have like the lineup at. So more students can get engaged in doing things because that's where right now that's where most people most students want to participate. >> So based on our observations of of what enhances the experience of our fifth and sixth graders at Middle School North, we're reacting to that and expanding this particular >> activity to to allow more of them to enjoy it. So we're we're responding to what kind of what our students are telling us they want more of. >> Yes. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Yeah. After I investigated price and it was a little irritated by that, it hit me that we have our own CT program that there's five or six standards that are

088met if we have our kids install these gaga pits in at the elementary school. Not only that, but you get um you get uh credit for volunteering. And I don't know why we wouldn't pull this in house and give it to our kids. It would be a great kind of learning experience and lesson. >> Well, to to jump on that, that was kind of the impetus for my question. Um because when I looked on the website, just doing a quick Google search, the Gaga pits themselves were pretty um [clears throat] warmedable to what you just found, like Google searching if you wanted to buy one on your own. Same. But um to me it was the installation and it appeared like you know to what Mr. Power said when it you say we're we're just

089putting it on existing grade. We're not putting a subbase. We're not excavating. We're not landscaping or restoring the site. And I was like well what are we doing? Are we just assembling the thing and setting it on top of this flooring for $10,000? Cuz that sounded insane. Um, but I know that that's the way sometimes things go when you're buying commercial stuff. Um, so I I mean I support that too. I don't know that I don't know if it's too late or you can't like separate that or say we don't need installation, but um you know to your point it sounds like there is something that has to go into the ground or be um secured. So um if it's >> Yeah. The only >> no I'll tell you the reason that we go with

090companies is basically it's it's insurance liability. I mean that they >> they do it so therefore it's covered. If one of our students was to do it and something was to happen then we have we carry that liability because it hasn't it needs to pass. It needs to be inspected and we get our playgrounds inspected every year. So that that's the the main reason that you go with it. >> So that leads me to actually two points. Um, one, I don't know if there's a warranty on this, so it might void the warranty if we did the installation. But second, we're talking about building houses with students. So, if we're concerned about having our students build a gaga pit, how are we going to build houses? Well, those you get inspected, then then you we'll

091also carry insurance on all of that. It's there's a reason that they have there's a reason that you have companies that put it in. We don't like playground equipment. don't don't get it and then have our students assemble it because if something goes wrong, you're just you're just covered. >> Well, you wouldn't have your elementary students assemble it, but I think a I think a class full of high school students that are going through a CTE program to actually do that for the rest of their life might be capable to do that. I I don't necessarily disagree and whether they can but there again you could save 10,000 and lose much more later on if there's an issue with that. >> Um you mentioned if we have students building houses they get that inspected that's

092covered by insurance and all that. What how is the process different than if we have them build gaga pits and then it's inspected by a third party >> because there isn't really anything that kind of signs off necessarily on that. I mean there's not like we don't have a building inspector that's going to come out and do that. It's like you have a company that is this is what they do and so therefore they cover all of that and so then they carry the liability. If there's something we can go back to them and say hey this is what happened. This is the thing. We there's a a defect in what you did. You know, let's just say they they didn't put a screw in that was supposed to be in there. If if it's

093us, and I would argue that the chance of that happening, if you were to have students do that, especially if it's the first time they've ever done it, goes up considerably. And and then that's it. We do have and we do inspections. We we bring out a certified company that inspect all of our playground equipment and all of that each year as as we go through that. Um like with the house building you there's actually they'll work alongside contractors. They'll work. So you'll have a licensed electrician that'll be there. You'll have licensed people that will be doing that and we can see if they're open to our kids to working with them. I I don't know if I would re I mean I can tell you I I would not recommend to have our students

094just do it entirely on their their own. It's again, you could save $10,000, but at what >> potential liability? >> All right. Any other comments, questions, or concerns? Hearing none, sir, could you call a roll call for the spending? >> I can do that. >> Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Mr. Vanatilli, >> yes. >> Mr. Sunnyberger, >> no. >> Mr. Powers, >> yes. >> Miss Burkmeer, >> yes. Richards, yes. Mr. Green, no. >> Motion passes. All right, moving on to item number four. Uh that is the superintendent evaluation. At this time, I would entertain a motion uh to approve the superintendent evaluation as it has been presented to you tonight. >> I will make the motions. Bless you. >> Motion by Miss Knox. Do I have a support? >> I will second. >> Support by

095Mr. Powers. Comments, questions, or concerns? >> Hearing? None. Could you call the role, sir? I can do that. >> Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Mr. Powers, yes. >> Mr. Sunnyberger, >> yes. Miss Burkmeer, >> yes. >> Mr. Venitelli, >> yes. >> Mr. Richard is a yes. Mr. Green, >> yes. Motion carries. Item number five on our new business agenda uh since we just approved his evaluation uh is to uh discuss an extension of one year onto his contract. And the reason for the extension of one year onto his contract is the rating of effective. And I want to remind everybody that the rating of effective is the highest achievable rating according to the superintendent evaluation instrument. So at this time I would entertain uh a motion to extend Superintendent Janowsk's contract an additional year from

096where it currently sits. >> I'll make that motion. >> I will second. Motion by Miss Vendetti, supported by Miss Knox. Comments, questions, or concerns, any discussion. >> I would just like to thank Mr. Jenowski, and I can't remember the gentleman's name. Green. >> Thank you. He forgot all of our names. Um, >> fair enough. If you're out there, Rod, sorry, bud. >> I just want to thank uh, you know, both for putting their time and effort in and helping us along the the evaluation. Um, you know, Mr. Jenowski, thank you for putting together your your uh proposal to us with, you know, evidence and things like that. So, I know it takes a lot of time. So, thank you. >> Anyone else? >> Um, just to reiterate what you already said, Patrick, is that the

097highest rating a superintendent can receive is effective, which is uh there's one, two, and three. And so, Mr. Jankowski did receive effective. It's different than in years past where there was a highly effective the tool has been retoled and no longer includes um four as an option. So just to make that clear >> just to add on to that that was a retooling and a change that was completed by the state uh not by you know anchor base specifically. We're just being following and complying with what's been provided as the instrument for the review. >> Anyone else? I would echo um Mr. Richard's thoughts. Um you know, I think things have gotten substantially better over the last few years. Uh I think that um you know, the bond the bond work is challenging, but I

098I think you're probably finding it pretty rewarding uh to watch doors open and watch students have other opportunities that we may not have otherwise had if the taxpayers didn't support that bond. Uh and that work is ongoing, including three new Gaga pits that are going in. Uh, apparently whatever Gaga Pit is. Um, anybody anything else? We do a roll call vote if you would be so kind, sir. Sure. >> Mr. Vanitelli? >> Yes. >> Miss Knox? >> Yes. >> Mr. Sunnyberger? >> Yes. >> Mr. Powers? >> Yes. >> Ms. Burkmeer? >> Yes. >> Mr. Richards? Yes. Mr. Green? >> Yes. Motion carries. Congratulations. Thank you. Got you for another year. That's right. Um, next up is our close session attorney client privilege. The board of education um moves to close session to review opinion from

099legal counsel pursuant pursuant. It's been a long day to 81H of the open meetings act MCL5.2681H. So at this time I would entertain a motion to move into close session for that purpose. I will make that motion. I have uh a motion. I sounds like I may not have a support. I'll support it. All right. Um motion by Miss Knox, supported by Mr. Richards. Um comments, questions, or concerns? Hearing none, sir. I will move to a roll call vote if you would. >> Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Richards, yes. Mr. Sunonnyburgger, >> yes. >> Mr. Powers, >> yes. Miss Burk Meer, >> yes. >> Mr. Vanitelli, >> yes. >> Mr. Green, >> yes. Motion carries. We will move into close session at 8:53 p.m. >> That again, we weren't live. >> Sure. I would entertain

100a motion to go back into open session at now 9:39 p.m. Still 9:38. >> So moved. >> Second. >> Comments, questions, or concerns? Hearing? None. Roll call vote if you would, sir. >> Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Mr. Venitilli, >> yes. >> Mr. Sunnyburgger, >> yes. >> Mr. Powers, >> yes. >> Miss Burker. >> Richards? Yes. Mr. Green? >> Yes. Motion carries. Uh, moving on our agenda. Uh, I am going to read into a the record a 31A resolution. Uh, and then I will solicit a motion uh to uh confirm or deny the resolution. Whereas the Michigan legislature has amended section 31A of the school aid act MCL 388.1631A to appropriate funds for school safety and mental health initiatives. And whereas the amendments to section 31A condition the application for and receipt of such funds

101on a public school district's agreement to one be subject to a comprehensive investigation initiated by the governor in the event of a mass casualty event. Two, affirmatively wave any privilege, including attorney client privilege that may otherwise protect information from disclosure during such an investigation. and three, comply fully with the com comprehensive investigation. And whereas the board of education recognizes that attorney client privilege is a fundamental legal protection that ensures confidential communications between the board and its legal council and that waving such privilege could expose the district to greater liability, including higher insurance costs, frivolous lawsuits, potentially impacting legal strategy, governance, and risk management. And whereas the definition of a mass casualty event under the statute is vague and poorly defined and could be subject and could subject the district to frequent and intrusive investigations. And

102whereas the legislation has no time limit on the waiver of district privileges nor is providing clarification on whether such language is retroactive. And whereas the board has carefully considered the legal opinion provided by councel, the potential implications of waving attorney client privilege, and the associated risk to the district's governance and operations. Now therefore, be it resolved that the board of education of Ankor Bay School District hereby declines to apply for or accept funds under section 31A of the state school aid act for the school year due to the statutory requirement to wave all privileges and the potential adverse consequences of such waiver. and be it further resolved, the superintendent is directed to communicate this decision to the Michigan Department of Education, any other relevant authorities, and to ensure that the district continues to pursue alternate

103alternative funding sources and strategies to support school safety and mental health initiatives without compromising legal protections. >> I'll make a motion to adopt that resolution. >> I will second. >> Motion by Mr. Power, supported by Miss Knox. comments, questions, concerns, discussion. >> I have comments. Um, I want to start out by making sure that that the public is aware that by opting out of this and not accepting these funds, um, will not impact our ability as a district to fund school security. We will not spend one dime less on the security operations of our district by not taking this money. So, that will continue uh, as it's been. I want to state my personal reasons for why I think we're making the right decision by by opting out here. Um my my main two are

104are first and foremost the precedent that it sets. I I think the state of Michigan is going to be watching very carefully to see how many school districts line up uh and just willingly give up their rights in exchange for funding. And if a majority of districts take these illotten funds, this this will not be the last time that school districts are faced with making decisions in terms of in terms of giving up rights or giving up things that are in their best interest in exchange for money. Uh it'll become more and more that that the government will isolate funding into categories and and attach strings like this to it. and it's completely inappropriate and it shows just how unserious our state is about funding education and funding public schools that they would take something

105as serious as school security and put districts like us in in this position to have to make a decision like this. Uh my my second main objection to this is I I feel this is an attempt to erode the governmental immunity that a public school district and more importantly our teachers, our staff, and everybody that works in this school district enjoy. And by by opting into this and giving up all of our rights, we would essentially be be giving away potentially a playbook to allow for somebody to come in and strip away our employees rights and protections if god forbid something something did happen. Um, so I think we just need to be very mindful of that that this is absolutely a litmus test by our government to see um if school districts will essentially

106do anything for money. Um, today it's security funding. Um, but tomorrow it's going to be something else and the next year it's going to be something else. And uh, we just need to be very mindful of the precedent that it sets. Um, you know, there's a there's a famous quote attributed to uh George Bernard Shaw where he approaches a lady and says, you know, madam, would would you sleep with me for £1,000? And she says, £1,000? Well, yes, of course I would. And then he turns to her and says, how about£10, madam? Would would you sleep with me for 10? And she says, well, of course not. What kind of a woman do you think I am? And he says, well, we've already established that. We're just negotiating price at this point. So, it's a

107crude example. I understand that. But it it's meant to point out that once you decide you'll do anything for a price, that's who you are and that's who you're how you're going to be treated. And so, um, we just need to be very, very mindful of that. And I think we're making the right decision here tonight. Um, part of what our discussion was was the the funds that were tied to this can't even be used for our private security. It could only be used to fund SRO among other things. So, for us, we've been budgeting wisely. Our assistant superintendent and superintendent have been very conservative with the funds that we had from previous grants for security so that we are able to carry on our four discards. um in yeah giving up attorney client privilege

108putting I mean basically waving the rights of not only our teachers but our students and and anyone involved in any event and um like the resolution says the the language is very loose very vague and we don't think this is in the best especially for our school security um grant it's it's not in the best interest of keeping our students and staff secure nor safe. Anyone else comments, questions or concerns? >> Mr. Green, I do have a couple of comments I'd like to share as well. Um I I I do like to echo a lot of what Mr. Powers says uh has said. He basically took a lot of what I was going to iterate and I'd also like to add on um Ankor Bay does take school security very seriously. In a lot of

109ways, uh this district has pioneered what school security looks like. uh how to harden, how to cooperate with uh the local municipal uh police stations, how to organize your system. Um and I think that there's a lot of districts that could be using these funds in a productive way to start emulating a lot of things that we're doing and also certain actions that they could take as well. And I think it's shameful that the state is using this as a tactic to make school districts wave away their protected rights. uh because unfortunately that would actually do more harm than good and that it's unavailable to those who are unwilling to take these actions and do things that are reasonably what any reasonable district would reject when otherwise those funds paid by taxpayers not given by

110the governor given by the taxpayers of the state should be used for continuing to harden our schools to protect students from malicious harm. And so I think it's unfortunate that we're even here in the first place. Uh I intend to uh vote for this resolution to do not to deny this uh this application and uh it's unfortunate that we should have to do this. Anyone else? So as uh someone who has sat on as the vice chair of the school safety and mental health commission for the state of Michigan, I'm quite frankly appalled. um you know, we we create commissions and struggle to get those commissions funded and and and then we are really given a choice to continue to protect the safety and welfare of our students. Um or or wave privilege. And privilege

111is a big deal to me. Um I I I don't like the thought of of waving that. And it it's not only waving, I guess, my own privilege and the board's privilege. I'm now waving a superintendent's privilege. I'm waving my students privilege. And that brings in to furpa, which is, you know, protection rights of a student in terms of school. And HIPPA is also on the table, which to be quite frank with you, I don't know how I can wave anyone else's rights. I can make a decision for the board. That's what we do. We make decisions for the district, but how the hell do I get to wave a parents rights or someone who's not an employee of this district? So, it's a I would agree with Mr. Powers. is just a a complete

112abuse. And like I said, I'm shocked and appalled that to Mr. Vanitell's point that we're actually having this discussion. I could see I could see where there could be a positive angle, but for me that they're all just kind of negative. I'm I'm taking away everybody's rights and I'm hurting, you know, the people that I want to protect. And now I don't have the money to protect them any further. I do because to your point, you know, we just signed an extension for our school safety officers. we added a full-time SRO um in New Baltimore at our dime versus the the part-time. So, I will reiterate as long as I'm sitting here on this board to Mr. P's point, we're not cutting our security. We we need to find a way to keep our students

113safe. And I think we do a great job of that. The tough part is is that some of this money could have been used for mental health resources instead of the state focusing on, you know, the the outrageous ratio of students who actually uh have suicide ideiations. And it's a large percent like alarming percentage of high school students have considered harming themselves. We're here arguing about privilege when we just you should be funding these students and taking care of my of my students with my money. It is my money. It's your money. It's my money. Um it's it's crazy that we're we're having this continued debate. So that's my two cents. Uh anybody anything else before we we move on the motion the resolution? So sir, if you could call the role, I would appreciate

114it. Mr. Powers, >> yes. Miss Knox, >> yes. >> Mr. Sunnyburgger, >> yes. Miss Burkemeer, >> Mr. Venitelli, >> yes. >> Mr. Richards is yes. Mr. Green, >> yes. Motion unanimously passes. I thank my fellow board members for for for their vote. All right, moving on. Let's start with points of pride. We're going to start with Mr. Richards. >> Thank you. >> You're welcome. >> You guys are all tired of listening to me talk anyway, so we know that. Send this. It's funny. >> This one's kind of short since you just had a meeting a couple weeks ago. Uh, Anchor Bay is hiring multi- trade a multi-trades helper. Come join our maintenance team that supports a variety of building repair and maintenance projects across the district. The Anker Bay Performing Arts Center production of The

115Diary of Anne Frank will be Thursday, Friday, and Saturday at 7 p.m. at the high school. Tickets are sold at the door. Congratulations to Middle School North Captain of the Month Dan Quinn. Dan Dan truly goes above and beyond to keep middle school north safe. He works hard to build strong positive relationships with students. The career pathways open house and skilled trades fair is January 29th at the high school. All 17 CTE programs will be open for tours as well as local career employers, colleges, trade school representatives will all be here at the high school. I'd like to thank the transportation department for attending the new Baltimore Trunk or Treat. They also ended up taking first place in the spirit award. Good job. I'd like to thank the Anker Bay band boosters club for the

116invite to their auction dinner. I'm sure they were glad I attended. I spent a couple dollars. Uh thanks to Mr. McKenzie, Miss Kenward, Mr. Holen, and Mr. McDonald, and Mr. Sunnyberg for attending. I had a couple laughs at our table. Um Bill didn't attend. Your wife wasn't there, so I couldn't really help gamble things away this year, so maybe next year. Um I was able to visit middle school south. I want to thank Mr. Latona and the staff for proudly showing me some of their bond updates, the new band room. Uh Miss Sheridan showed me around her room as well. Very excited uh on some updates. I want to thank them. Um I was also able to stop by the high school today. Um Mr. Yono was there. He showed me around the uh the

117updates of the school of this new store/c coffee shop. He's very excited for that. Um it was great to see the student involvement as well. They, you know, filled out the permits. um they know the punishing part of dealing with um different applications for different things and um I thought it was pretty cool to see them kind of in real life scenarios on on the uh project as well. Um and I had one more that I heard from the student update. I want to congratulate the girls swim team um on their championship as well. >> Very good. >> That's all I got. >> Miss Burky, >> Miss Knox, >> um I guess my point of pride is is really just the board tonight. Tonight we got to do all the things that we're supposed to

118do uh and feel very accomplished this evening. We did our superintendent evaluation. That's our main job is to oversee the superintendent. Um we got to pro protect the privileges of our students, staff, and families. And we got gaga ball for the for the kids, you know. So it was it was kind of fun tonight. We got to kind of do all the things that were meant to do um and not so much of the kind of mundane stuff. Uh, so that was pretty cool. So, I think I'm I'm really proud of us as a board and it was uh more light-hearted than last time. >> Yeah, true enough. And it sounds like Miss Knox is fishing for an invite to the Gaga Ball Chris opening or whatever we're going to do there. So, >> do

119we have a Gaga Ball league? >> There you go, >> Mr. Venatelli. Uh, not no uh no points of pride today. More of a comment questions. Uh, with regards to the individual came up, Richard M. uh he spoke about a health occupation program. I >> tried to write down the name as quickly as he said it, but I my hand does not move that fast, but he said >> it's health standards. It's a new health standards. >> Okay. I do have a number of questions about that. Not tonight. I know there's a lot of implications with regards to that and I I we spoke earlier today about Mahoud v. Taylor >> and I'm curious to know a little bit more about perhaps how that will kind of fit in with the framework that we're supposed

120to implement if what the individual is saying is correct. And so I think you know if when you respond to him within the 48 hour time frame >> if you wouldn't mind please CC seeing me on that email. Okay. >> Um and then we can have further discussion seeing how we're going to >> Yeah. We'll we'll see how what action the state takes as well and then it'll be after whatever we get from them. >> Okay. Mr. Powers. >> Yeah. Um, I so I guess for starters, um, in case anybody did not like the, uh, the George Bernard Shaw quote, I do have a more wholesome quote from Benjamin Franklin, um, that people who >> It's not even 10:00 yet, and you're, you know, I thought >> people who give up their liberty for for

121security deserve neither liberty nor security. So, if if you didn't like the George Bernard Shaw quote, you can you can refer back to the uh the Benjamin Franklin one. Um, Veterans Day was this week. Uh, I just want to take an opportunity. I, you know, with our proximity to Selfridge and all the, uh, the defense industry, uh, corporations we have in the area, we have a ton of veterans, uh, here within the footprint of our district. So, just want to take an opportunity to thank them um, for everything they do and everything that they allow us to do, not only as a board, but as a society. um couldn't could never do that without without the sacrifices that they make. Uh Thanksgiving is coming up uh which means we're uh somehow at the end already

122of our first trimester. So we're a third of the way there. And uh just just wanted to recognize the students and the staff that that made it through a lot of changes uh so far this year and and keep plugging away and and keep working hard and thank you for everything that you've done to get us here uh this far in the year. >> Mr. Cinear, >> I don't have anything prepared. Thank you. >> All right. Uh, I guess uh my I guess my point of pride um is probably going to involve the Shoreliner. Uh if you follow them on social media, there is an opportunity uh I think tomorrow and Friday are the last two days to come in sometime between maybe 10:30 and 1 uh and have a Thanksgiving turkey dinner at lunch.

123Uh I think it's 15 bucks ahead. Uh I think it's buffet uh which is good for us guys that like a little more than the normal person. Um but uh welcome to uh you can go online, you can sign up for a reservation. There is reservations just so they can keep the flow going and you know make sure they've got enough food prepared. So, um I will be there tomorrow hopefully hopefully if things go well um for lunch and I would love to see any of you guys there that are interested in enjoying uh myself maybe around 12:30ish. Uh I think that's it as far as committees. Um you know I know finance met last week >> finance >> we covered a lot of that ground today um especially with the presentations and then the

124Mr. Wrathbun's presentation of the uh safe schools uh safe school route see whatever the title was apologize late don't remember uh so I think that's all I've got if anybody has anything else I'll open it up one more time around if not I will entertain a motion to adjurnn >> motion to adjurnn >> I thought you guys wanted to stay here a little longer do I have a second >> I'll second that >> any comments questions or concerns >> uh do question do we have to uh Is there a legislative update in between points of pride and closing? >> Did I miss something? >> No, we haven't put it in there because nothing has passed. So, okay, we'll add it as soon as there's something that >> there literally nothing has come out of the

125legislature. So, >> gotcha. All right. >> Anybody anything else? >> Hearing none. All those in favor signify by saying I. I. >> All those opposed. Meeting journed at 9.