Saline Area Schools: Budget Hearing & Board of Education Meeting (06.09.2026)

001Call the order of the board budget hearing on June 9th, 2026. We can stand for pledge allegiance. This is the opportunity for public comment and my mayor the public may address the board briefly for up to three minutes or requests to be scheduled on the agenda for future meeting Please note that students will be given priority and to speak on any topic The first public participation portion of the meeting will be limited to one half hour 30 minutes normally in Limited to agenda items a second public participation portion will be offered at the end of the agenda to allow for any other comments I don't see any Revisions and approval of agenda can ever recommend a motion to approve the agenda as printed I'll support all in favor aye Opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0

002the budget presentation presenter is assistant superintendent Miranda Owsley evening so for our budget hearing tonight as the title slide shows we are amending the final budget for fy 26 and we are adopting the fy 27 budget so we go to the next slide This shows you all of the different funds that the Salina area schools kind of manages. And so we talk a lot about the general fund and what that does, but we have lots of different funds throughout the district. And so we see in the special revenue funds, we see community ed, which includes the CARES millage, food service, SRDC consortium, student activity, fundraising. And then in addition, You can see on the debt funds, this was the process that we went through this year, and you had a couple different approvals come across

003your table. On the refunding, we used to have a 2016 debt fund, but we had refinanced due to the market and the interest being what it was. We were able to save some money, and we have a 2026 refunding bond or debt fund that we're paying. And then everything else kind of is situated as similar. On the next slide, so what is tonight? We have an action item for both of those budgets. In addition, I am showing an FY28 as kind of an illustrative purpose of if I roll these forward, what would those kind of trends be? And again, in school finance, it's kind of one of those things that's very early on in that process to kind of look at that, but still to try to look and see what trends that we would

004see. So the budget approval is a requirement by Michigan law, and so we have to do this before July 1st annually, and then no amendments after June 30th every year. And we see at the bottom of this bar, it kind of shows a physical illustration of the complexities that this happens. At this point in time, you're adopting a budget for next year, which a large portion of the revenues comes from the state in our general fund. And with that being said, they do have not passed their budget. So we are just taking our best stab at what it will be. A lot of things that are in some budgets and not others just are left off. And as we go throughout the year, we'll amend our budget as we know more for certain from them.

005This kind of also goes into the complexities because we are modified accrual accounting purposes. So our July state aid and August state aid, our revenue that comes in from the state, does get accrued back to this fiscal year as well as... teacher salaries, because they've earned those salaries, those get accrued back to the year. So we're in this time period in the finance office where two fiscal years will be open. We're auditing the one as well as as things come in, if goods are received or services provided before June, even though the bill comes later, we're still booking that back to that fiscal year and where they were received. So it's kind of that time period. We're really trying to close the books, and there's a lot of different things that happen in that year-end

006close process, like a lot of businesses do month-end close process. schools do a full fiscal year process. On the next slide. We are also, the action that we need tonight as part of this budget is also the L-49 tax document. We are approving 100% tax collections in the summer, and then we send this out to all of our taxing authorities, Bridgewater, City of Saline, Freedom, Lodi, Pittsfield, and Saline Township, and York. And so with that, we see two numbers on the top of that that was in your packet. that l-4029 you have the taxable value for all properties and then you have the the non-homestead property tax so as we see the operating millage that is pain non homesteaded so we think of things like second homes businesses etc and then the other taxpayers all

007taxpayers pay on all of those three debt sinking and the cares millage and we do see that this year headley rollback did affect both of our sinking and our cares millages as our tax value goes up the mills goes down and so that's all set by the the taxable value by all those properties and then also then goes out to the county and then comes back to us for that information. So what is exactly a mill? Every $1,000 of taxable dollars equates to a dollar of tax. That's kind of an easier way to think of it. On the next slide. We kind of talk about the general fund and how we get the dollars into our general fund. So one of the things that's complicated is that even though we take in that 18 mils,

008That does not equate to if that goes up that we automatically get a higher revenue the state dictates how much we get and then how much the local tax versus how much the state pays is then fills in that bar so as we see on this bottom bar is this example the yellow is a local tax portion and the blue is the State portion so if we were to collect more local dollars for our local tax That yellow bar gets bigger, but our total revenue that we get does not change. The state just has to chip in less for what they have decided. This was all a funding model that was set back in 1994, Proposal A, and so that's really how our general fund operates. So it's a really important thing to remember, and

009each one of our funds and taxes work very uniquely, so it is kind of complex in how those revenues do flow to the school. And on the next slide, this zooms into our general fund revenues. And so we see in the white columns that those are the actuals for those fiscal years. And then in the yellow is our current June amended budget for this past current year, so 25-26. In the kind of purple-bluish in the middle, that's our original budget we are adopting for next year. And then we have an illustrative year for 27-28 in the farthest blue column. So one of the important parts that I wanted to show this year was we talk about the unfunded liability, 147. See funding that that is a funding that comes from the state we recognize as

010revenue But then we turn around to recognize expense and pay it back to the pension system So the state pays us and we turn around and pay it back We have to flow this through our revenues and also all across all of our salaries and our expense side of things but it's very one of those things where It does skew our budget as you can see a lot across this line. We were at five million nine million six four five That's all a net zero Changed to our district, but also makes our numbers kind of up and down throughout the years So I kind of wanted to show if we remove that what does that revenue look like over the years then in the next column? You see on the top. We are taking out

011some of those one calling out some of those one-time sources for the state and federal Sources and then that's the number here at the bottom Line is taking out the 147 and the one-time kind of grant things we see in the yellow column For this year's budget we did get so we were recognizing some Grants for state and also federal for some of the electric buses that we purchased numerous years or approved numerous years ago But they just finally arrived this year So this is the year that we actually recognize those grant revenues and those expenditures the same thing with filter first is another grant that's sitting in our general fund that normally would be a project we would do out of bonds, but we have revenues coming in to cover those costs So it

012kind of shows kind of backing out some of those one-time things that skews things. Another thing that rolls through our revenues that are a large portion of purpose is our enrollment. So obviously a per-pupil allotment is how the state dictates our funding. And in this budget for this next year, I am budgeting a negative 10 student loss. So in general, we are seeing a little bit of trend in our class cohorts. improving so that in some of the other years we had budgeted a deeper student loss and last year we ended up being slightly above that so we're following that trend again this year and what our numbers are in the current and then the following year i have it actually as a complete zero of the remaining flat as for the foundation this current

013year all three budgets the house senate and legislative have um... or the executive have two hundred fifty per pupil student increase and so that's coming to a ten thousand three hundred um... in total but the two hundred fifty is across the board i caution a lot of times there there has been years that they've all been the same and still at the Consensus, it comes out different. So it's not a for sure thing, but it is what we're working off of at this point in time. The following year, I have built into that one a 200 per pupil increase, bringing the total foundation up to 10,500. Some of the big things also in this year's revenues is that I can continue to budget an increase for our intermediate sources for our special ed act 18

014dollars and then also some of our CTE millage funding that will flow to us to offset some of those teacher costs that are in there. And as I said in the budgets are not settled so there's no new grants and things like that that's illustrative here Those will be something we would pick up as our amendments come throughout the year when we know which things Which things they have decided on? And if you go to the next slide, as we kind of go between revenues and we'll switch over to expenditures here in a moment, this slide really shows a long history of two different things pulsing at the same time. So on the left bar, we see the foundation. allowance the per pupil dollars and that's in the blue bars going along in dollars on

015the right side we show the retirement rate and that's in red that's the percentage that we pay for every dollar salary how much we have to pay to the retirement system for those that employment and so you'll see that over time that there's been a lot of fluctuations and though they are different scales here you can see as they kind of are changing throughout so we do see a decrease in the ors and i'll kind of talk about that a little bit later this is just one of them the rates there is multiple rates but i and to keep this history consistent we just use the one basic rate so we go to the next slide So this is kind of how the budget is presented and the different categories that in your packet kind

016of has a deeper explanation of each of those and how they kind of roll up from those function codes that you get these reports in monthly sort of shows out those categories. But I want to go to the next slide. This is the same exact data as that you just saw in categories and groupings in a different method. So in general... Inside of every one of those categories basic programs added needs etc. They are salaries benefits purchasers materials These are all within them. So it's just pulling the data out in a different way And as you see, we're 87% of our general fund budget is on salaries and benefits. And so I really wanted to break out the benefits part because we say benefits, well, what is that talking about? We are talking about health

017insurance that we continue to see all the parts of that increasing year over year. And then the retirement is what we do pay. That we receive some offset for in some of the revenues, but then it pulls out that 147 UAL on the expense side So you'll see this number matches that revenue on the other side So that is that part of the flow through but as you see it kind of pulses and changes year over year And then obviously employment taxes. There's a couple other benefits like workers comp and some things like that that some state grants for things over the years. As you see in our purchase service and materials, they're very small parts of the budget. We have 8,000 in purchase or 8% in purchase services, 5% materials and utilities. I like

018to call that out because electricity, natural gas, those all fall into those categories in our accounting codes. With those, you'll see some of them, same thing in the other category. You'll see that in the FY26, our final amendment, that one jumps up a lot. That is due to those one-time grants that I said we're doing. We don't normally buy buses through our general fund, nor do we do construction projects like we're doing with our filter-first grant. So we kind of are seeing some construction things. We don't normally have construction as much in our general fund. So those kind of pulse up. But as we see our trending forward, If you go to the next slide some of those Expense side of things our salary increases as per our negotiated contracts as we Settled on multi-year

019things so we roll those those employees forward special education needs increasing and that drives our staff numbers by our requirements the ors reduction now it is about 2.4 percent is reduction but it is important to note that that is no longer the majority plan it is only representing 45 percent of our staff now so in general There's about seven different rates that ORS is. There's some of them that aren't changing that are flat rates, but those, so it just is important to note that it's not all the same. We are seeing, continuing to see insurance and utilities be significant increase. Those are national trends that we're seeing as well, and then we're always kind of thinking ahead on what we can do to our buildings. continuing to lower those utility costs. And we're hoping to

020see as we mitigate future costs in things like solar and things like that that we're doing throughout our buildings. School and district structural position changes are reflected in here, and we've seen a bigger increase in our subbing costs. So those are all things we're kind of watching and working through those as the year goes on. On the next slide. This kind of summarizes the years and the revenues and expenditures to see kind of the net result for the year and then what it would be to fund balance if you calculate it as a percentage of revenue or a percentage of expense. I have them both on there because one... Point in time, the My School data, where it's online that you can see it, they use one number, and then I know in our audit

021presentation, they'll use the other, they'll do it off the revenue. So I kind of have both there, so you can kind of see when other people are using different numbers for us, that could be a reason. Are they doing the fund balance as a comparison to this or to that? So it kind of shows you kind of that depending on how someone would calculate that might get to a different number. So then that shows you those three years. Like I said, in our June budget here, it's not settled. There's still a lot that still goes into the rest of the year in the budget. And so we will work through that. And then as that audit presentation comes in the late fall, then we'll kind of see where all of the things ended up. If

022you go to the next slide, this kind of gives the same thing. It goes back in history quite a bit, all the way in 98. Kind of shows where Selene. Schools has been and in terms of fund balance and like I said in the before we kind of have a starting point for this budget this gets the year starting gives the school an authorization to kind of move forward but then we'll also make changes as we go as we continue to see what the state rolls out for us and adjustments that we make throughout the year to kind of continue to to work through this so that we do not land in exactly the downward slope that is shown here and the next slide This is just kind of reiterating that you also are passing

023not just our general fund But we also are passing budgets for all of these other funds Sometimes it doesn't make perfect sense that a 630 year and for some of them especially when we're in the middle of bond projects and a lot of things are going so I take a stab at what bills will come in at what points in time because we have Projects out there for millions of dollars and it's not exactly certain which year it will fall in so And the debt fund, you know, that has a low fund balance because it is required by law to have that, and you're trying to continue. You don't pool resources there. We're just trying to keep it at exactly what we need for the following year and not run a fund balance in there.

024So that kind of goes through each one of those and where they ended up last year, plus and minus their revenues, expenditures, and where they're set to be. Next slide. And this is time for any questions. I just have a comment or two. First of all, I liked the net zero line. I think that's new this year, right, on slide six? Yes. All right, that was very helpful, just eliminating the strange variances we had. I just want to say to you and the board and anyone, I really appreciate your budgeting skills despite the fact that we're waiting on a lot of information at the state level. And I also want to comment on... That we really appreciate the fact that you are so intimately aware of what's going on in the district that you can

025make such that you can take care of the estimates of costs really easily. I mean, what did you say? How many hundreds of lines you had to go through to thousands? I noticed that there was no bridge check required this year. Correct. We are fund balances allows us for cash flow to not need to borrow and not pay people to for it. pay interest, we are actually now investing our funds in a different, in my left, it's a Michigan-based services for schools, and so we are actually earning interest, and that was one boiled into our local sources. We are now seeing an increase of the interest we are earning now on those funds. I appreciate that you're leveraging that money so well. Thank you. That's all I have, really. Miranda, you had a slide that

026discussed local tax versus state tax for the funding. Can you explain a little bit so we can have a better correlation as if local taxes increase, property values increase? The state will reduce money to the district for overall funding. Can you explain that a little bit? Yeah, yeah this so this slide here if the state dictates that are set for the year and they as of now we don't know this for this year, but in general if they pick us per pupil amount in our we have 46 million if we collect 14 million for in that yellow bar in state taxes we we don't see anymore the state will just pay us the difference all of our taxes get reported to the state and they will assume that you are collecting 18 mils on that

027regardless if you do you don't and so the the big outside red piece on that slide it is what it is because what the state says where i get that sources from can vary but the state dictates how much in total that that is that is yes so if They dictate it's there. We gain more taxes. The state just pays less, and we are still what the state says we are. So if property values go up, projects go up, the overall funding stays the same. Still is dictated by the state, correct. Thank you. So thank you again, Miranda. You do a wonderful job on this, and you put a lot of time and effort into it. I do want to say, like, what... Trustee Tizadez was mentioning the local taxes and there's been a lot

028of comments about the data center and that just moves that yellow bar further. It does not move our dollars. And that's the misnomer that people think, oh, it's all this money coming to these schools. Taxes are much more nuanced than a global statement. Yep. And also the, oh man, I can't remember what I was going to say. Well, it must not have been that important. So, thank you. So, at this point in time, any other questions? Thank you. Can I have a recommended motion to adjourn the budget hearing on June 9th, 2026 at 6.24 p.m.? So moved, Tessidees. Support, McVeigh. All in favor? Aye. Opposed, hearing none. Motion carries 6-0. Thank you. Called to order the regular Board of Education meeting of June 9th at 631 p.m We did the Pledge of Allegiance at our

029last one so we won't do that again So I will quickly I have the pleasure to introduce our next Board of Education student representatives Jennifer and I interviewed a handful of people and they were all really good candidates and but we are super excited to have Carly Smith and Winston Baalbach and so if you guys want to come here you can kind of just give a quick little Thank you so much for this honor to be joining the school board. It is a pleasure just to be able to represent the Saline District to you all. And then it's also such an honor just to bring that back into Saline. So thank you so much. And I can't wait to be a part of more meetings in the upcoming year. Thank you. Hi guys, I'm Carly

030Smith. Like Winston was saying, I'm incredibly grateful for this opportunity. We already have been throwing ideas back and forth about how we can make a positive impact on our community and really amplify student voices. So I'm really excited and eager to get started. Thank you. Thank you. And I sent an email out and just kind of highlighted some of the high-level things that were in their applications. And they're really impressive. And I think we have two great representatives. So if we want to get a picture together, that would be great. Thanks. Good to know. Good to know. You could stay for the whole meeting, I suppose. Or leave it will you don't have to stay but you're welcome to if you want to This is a first opportunity for public comment and remember the public

031may address the board briefly for up to three minutes or requests to be scheduled on the agenda for a future meeting Please note that students will be given priority to speak at any topic The first public participation portion of the meeting will normally be limited to 30 minutes, one half hour, and will be limited to agenda items. The second public participation portion will be offered at the end of the agenda and allow for any other comments. Individuals addressing the board should observe the rules of common courtesy. Public participation portion of the meeting cannot be used to make personal attacks against board members, district employees, or students. And we have none. Response to previous public comment. There's none Can I have a recommend a motion to approve the agenda as printed? So move 7 support Berwick

032all in favor Opposed hearing none motion carries 6 to 0 and administrative and board committee updates superintendent update Hello, everyone. Happy June. Last week, I had the time of my life. Now, you might think that means watching last day clap outs or possibly the beautiful and wonderful Saline High School graduation, watching our seniors cross the stage, and that was a very truly beautiful day. But I wanted to highlight what... Got to do last week with some Woodland Meadows students The highlight that really surprised me the most was our second graders at Woodland Meadows I got to have lunch with them and if you've never had lunch with a group of three second graders you are really missing out One of the families had won a lunch with the superintendent experience and so the winner of

033that brought along two friends They showed up ready to share a lot We covered some of their proudest moments of the year their favorite teachers and their favorite animals, which quickly turned into a conversation about dogs, so I could get on board with that as well. And they were kind, and just it was a wonderful experience. And then as they were leaving, one of them, I don't know which one, had the idea to potentially repeat that experience every year, so I look forward to joining them every year at the end of the year for lunch. So I've committed myself to many future lunches. Winston and Carly, you'll bring a diverse set of experiences and connections, and so welcome to the Board of Education. I know you'll represent your peers and classmates with all the great

034things you bring with you. So tonight I also wanted to talk about a couple of presentations we have this evening. Our first presentation is from the Foundation for Saline Area Schools. The foundation reaches nearly every corner of our district, every facet. They raise funds that open doors for students and staff that our general budget alone could not simply do. So tonight does mark a meaningful transition, and I want to just say thank you to Stacey Rumspa, who has served as the executive director with extraordinary heart and passion. Under her leadership, the foundation has grown in reach and impact. And so at this time, and to make it less awkward, I've asked for some help just delivering a little bit of a gift to you and presenting you with some outgoing Hornet gear and a certificate.

035This is less awkward than me jumping up and going over there. Thank you, Ms. Davis, for doing that. So congratulations. And Stacey, on behalf of our entire Saline family, thank you for all you've done. And it's also a pleasure to welcome tonight, I think you're delivering an update together, Angela Pruski, who steps in with great energy and vision. And so we're looking forward to hearing from that presentation. Additionally, we have a second presentation from our athletic department. Athletics, as you know, are more about wins and losses. And these are very visible expressions of our culture and how we build it every day with our teams, our coaches, families, and student athletes. And so I'm looking forward to Athletic Director Ashley Mantha and Jeff Pike, our Assistant Athletic Director, who will deliver that tonight. I have

036a few additional updates. Just a reminder that on August 4th, voters will see two renewals on their ballot for the CARES Recreation Millage and our Sinking Fund. As I've mentioned before, and again, just a little plug and reminder, these dollars do real visible work across our community. This millage supports our Senior Center, the Ellen Ewing Performing Arts Center, and the Community Pool Recreation, and all kinds of other things that happen at Liberty here, like our after-school, before-and-after care. preschool and our sinking fund in conjunction with that we're bringing both for renewal lets us care for our buildings security technology and helps keep classroom dollars and general fund dollars right where they belong close to students and classrooms Additionally, as promised, I want to offer a brief update as I committed to doing so on the

037due diligence process for our early childhood center and the future of early childhood programming. The work continues. It's moving in the right direction. Since we last met and I last provided an update, we have been laser focused on the needs of students and meeting with our partners to begin developing what the building will look like and simultaneously working through that due diligence process. Diligence process and again as we've shared we continue to work towards closing later this summer on that property And working in the work ahead On our agenda tonight is our annual budget, and I just wanted to just talk about a couple of things regarding that. Our district continues to be on strong ground. We are always navigating changing landscapes of public education funding, for sure. Right now, we have one of the

038healthiest fund balances in our history that was built with intentionality, and this year's budget draws on some of it purposefully. So we are planning from a position of strength, and while we continue to make good decisions and build structures and systems that are proactively addressing costs along the way. Lastly, summer does not mean the work around here stops, and for that, I am grateful, too. I will spend a rare stretch of quote-unquote uninterrupted time the same way continuing to dig into the feedback of our community and to continue to work on our policy with our policy committee and our strategic planning process, which will be wrapped this summer. So I'm looking forward to some of that time. A special thank you to our community education team, our summer staff, and those in buildings who will

039work quietly, and maybe not quietly, all summer to get us ready for August. And I just wanted to say, as I close my book on the first year here, I keep returning to just two simple words, and that's thank you. Thank you to our students, our families who have embraced me and the leadership that I bring to you. our teachers, paraprofessionals, and all of the people in this district that do great things for students. Thank you to the board for your study guidance and partnership. And truly, it has been an unforgettable school year. Thank you. General and committee updates. Just a quick update. Not much to update from policy. Our next meeting will be July 13th. The summer makes it challenging to find some time to meet. We are expecting some of the first sets

040to roll up to the board here within the next month or so. So we're making good progress. large project. So that's it. And just congratulations to all the graduates. First time I got to be on stage for that. That was exciting. I also think that Dr. Kowalski's plans as we move forward with graduation and the other events that we'll have around graduation I think are very exciting. So a lot of good stuff to come in the upcoming years. Happy summer. I know it's not officially summer, but when the kids leave, it kind of seems like summer to me, and it's very exciting. On the policy committee front, I'm pretty deep in work on AI at my day job. So I'm beginning to pull policy at the university level and sending links and potentially pertinent information

041to Jason to kind of review. as we seek to continue to talk about our AI policy in the district. And I actually got to have coffee with a school policy expert at the University of Michigan this morning and specifically dug into cell phone policies nationally, as well as state of Michigan. So I got some interesting tidbits to share at our next meeting when appropriate. I wanted to say something to Carly and Winston since they're sitting here. I pulled up my notes from our meeting and just wanted to share a couple of things in addition to what Tim already shared on email that really spoke to, I think, me, us on the why they're sitting here. But I want to pause and thank Tim and Teresa Stager for the partnership on that day. We were pretty

042much there all day. And then we ended up going to a retiree event. So I think Tim and I were pretty much smiling all day, which is a good day when you're around the people that make this district work and the people that we are in this district for. So it was a really good day. So thank you, Tim. So I remarked on their potentially complementary working styles, and I think you can see the easy demeanor and kindness and openness. So that was something that was really attractive to me. But they really had one similar extracurricular, but it was a very diverse background, and so I think that they're going to be able to reach a lot of students, and so that was really good. I think overall the storytelling in their interviews was really

043impactful for me. Carly, you really have a nice, competent humility to lead and always continuously improve with your story that really came out. And you know it's about the students, and that shined through as well. Winston, I really appreciate you using empathy as a leader in different situations that can be having calm in situations and having empathy in situations that can be kind of triggering is a really, really good leadership skill. So good for you. I also liked your comment. You said, I enjoy understanding how a student body and a governing body exist and work together. I think you're going to do great things with that in your future. So welcome. Welcome very much. And then I just wanted to continually reflect on what a wonderful day graduation is. And thank you to all the

044hands, especially buildings and grounds and our high school friends who put that on. I got a lot of feedback from the community about what a good day was. And they were thankful when the shade came over the stand. So really, really beautiful, beautiful day. Thanks. So I have no Committee updates, but just Say it again. Thank you to Carly and Winston. It was a it was a good day on Wednesday and It was nice to see all the talent at the high school. It was really it was really impressive. So that was good and then also Can't say enough about the graduation. It's always that's probably one of the best days to be a board member to be up there and see the smiles come across the stage and the different they're moving on to

045a different stage of their life and so that's pretty neat and thank you to Rachel for her first year and her team you guys did a lot of work and you did a lot of things thank you I just wanted to say congratulations to all of our recent retirees may you fill your days with more things that bring you joy Also congratulations to our recent graduates and as well to everyone who made graduation such the amazing event that it was. I would like to say welcome to our new two student reps and everybody, staff, students, recent retirees, everybody enjoy your summer as much as possible because it will be over quickly. Yeah, I got to sit through that process of selecting student representatives. It's wonderful to meet you all. You're going to do great. Don't

046hesitate to reach out to any of us and ask the hard questions. May 27th, I was at the retirement celebration at the STEAM Center. Great venue. We're really using that with Tim and Jennifer. I have a couple of retirees on my street, and they used to call me Dr. McVeigh. Now they call me Mikey. So on May 28th, I attended the groundbreaking at Heritage. It was a great experience. The fourth graders came out to assist the fourth grade leadership group, and they were excited about that. May 30th, we were all invited a few weeks ago, and I don't know if I'm the only one who went. I went in the morning, but I attended the trap shooting with the Sleen trap shooting team. I was so impressed. I learned so much. It was a new

047experience for me. I learned about the safety and I was extraordinarily impressed. I understand that Jason has some background in that as well with the safety issues. I was a celebrity guest at the after school UNO club at Heritage and it was great. They played wonderfully until the... muffins kicked in, I think. Well, the sugar hit. June 4th, I was really saddened to miss the clap out at Heritage. I've gone to the last seven years. But I was judging at the National Invention Convention at the Henry Ford. which was kind of a great experience. EMU Invent was represented. And as I was leaving, the reason I'm bringing it up now is that a former Saline graduate, Suhani Gandhi, had been flown in to serve as a student representative, an ambassador for the program because of

048the work she had done supporting the program over the years. And I'd like to see more inventors from Saline in the future, but it was quite good. For the first time, last few years I was doing grade 10. This year I actually... I did kindergarten. Oh my gosh, they were great. I won't belabor the great inventions that came out. Finally, on the 5th, I rolled off my three-year term on the Governmental Relations Committee. So if you get a chance, please join the MASB committees. This was a great one, three years of really interesting conversations. And finally, the Desk WWC students created this game called Foreclosed. And I actually did take a shot at playing it. I don't know if any of you else did. And I got about... Two minutes into it before I gave

049up, but it was an awesome game office awesome experience And these guys are doing this this team is doing wonderful work. That's really all I report. Thank you Not a whole lot of updates on the athletic committee. I'll let Jeff and Ashley take care of that this evening However, I did want to just mention how important it is to have trust in your colleagues And I just want to share a interesting story with trustee Stevan On our recent flight back from Paris to Detroit, we ended up being on the exact same flight, and it was just one of the highlights of my aviation career. It was just such a wonderful experience. And I did make the joke that I hope we're not going to have to appoint two new trustees and we make it safely

050to Detroit. The good news is we did find our way. But you're not telling the public in case they don't know your actual profession off of the table is you were the captain of the plane. No, that was an intentional omission. all right so anyways I look forward to the update from the athletic committee tonight thank you we're gonna move on to action items can I recommend a motion to approve the food service management contract from with Chartwell's for the 2026-27 school year as submitted by Miranda Owsley assistant superintendent of finance motion to these support make they any questions on that All in favor signify saying aye aye opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 never recommend a motion to adopt the amended general appropriation act of 2025-26 final amended budget the 2026-2027 original budget and

051the 2026 l 4029 tax rates as submitted by As submitted by Superintendent Owsley, Miranda Owsley, Assistant Superintendent of Finance. Motion, Verwick. Support, Enson. All in favor? Aye. Opposed, hearing none. Motion carries 6-0. Can I have a recommended motion to move to approve the 2026-2027 MASB membership renewal in the amount of $8,654.78 as submitted by Superintendent Kowalski. All in favor signify by saying aye. Opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 Can I have a recommended motion to approve the Michigan High School Athletic Association 2026-2027 membership resolution Resolution as submitted by superintendent Kowalski This is required to maintain membership for junior high middle and senior high school for and most of the Must be formally adopted by the Board of Education I still move Steben support is it is All in favor? Aye Opposed hearing none motion carries

0526-0 can ever recommend a motion to approve the Michigan High School Athletic Association application to form and support the boys and girls swim and dive cooperative team with to come see beginning in 26-27 school year as submitted by Ashley Mantha director of athletics So moved Steben and support McVeigh Any questions on that? I actually would like Ashley to, if it's okay, to come up and say a little. I did read the email, but verbal explanation for the community would probably be great. If you or Jeff could do it. Thanks. I was on maternity for most of this. I'm going to let Jeff kind of take point on this, but in submitting and approving and support as well. So this is definitely a rare thing, but Tecumseh had their pool condemned, and then it was closed,

053and then it has either been torn down or is being torn down. The Tecumseh students, therefore, were asking their athletic director and superintendent, where can we participate in swimming? And they had asked all the other schools in their area in Lenawee County that had pools. None of those schools were willing or able to accommodate them. And so the athletic director at Tecumseh, John Zajac, asked us. And though logistically we had some questions about it, we thought in being good neighbors to try to allow their students to continue to participate in sports. So our girls and boys coaches both are on board, pardon the pun, with that. And so hopefully this is something that we can help Tecumseh students do. Thank you, I appreciate the explanation and the Support of other students because they want to

054make memories too. So thank you. Absolutely Will they be doing all of their practices here? Yes, there's negotiations still to be had as far as how they're going to do it because swim and dive is typically a morning and after school sport. And so especially considering the winter season is the boys season and driving to and from to come see twice a day, that might be something that we figure out. And there would be some flexibility from both of our coaches to allow the kids to participate. But good question for sure. Is this similar to the skiing, the ski team and so forth? Yeah, it's a different reasoning, but the same idea. Yes, just in the ski team, it's lower numbers and allowing other schools to join, to have a team for both of us.

055This, our teams would still be participating in both girls' and boys' seasons. It's really to add an opportunity for the Tecumseh students to join us. Any other questions? All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none, motion carries 6-0. Thank you. Can I have a recommended motion to approve the following new courses to be added to the 2026-2027 Sleane Middle School course catalog as submitted by Kara Davis, Executive Director, Teaching and Learning, Beats, Bytes, and Books Middle School Elective, grades 7 through 8, full year course, A-B schedule. I would like to make that motion. Support Tisabuse Any questions on that? All in favor signify by saying aye Aye Opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 Can I have a recommended motion to approve the adoption of amplify science as the grade 6 science curriculum beginning in the 26-27

056school year as recommended by Kara Davis executive director of teaching and learning Support Hanson Any questions on that no all in favor see you missing tonight I opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 I recommend a motion to approve the recommendation of Train US Inc. to provide the HVAC mechanical equipment for the Saline High School pool renovation in the amount of $696,197.40 as submitted by Rex Clare, Executive Director of Operations. This will be purchased through the OMNIA. purchasing cooperative number three three four one So moves Devin All in favor soon. I seen I I pose hearing none motion carries six zero in the last one Can I have a recommended motion to approve the purchase and installation of new custom cargo box and liftgate for the 2027? Ford e450 cutaway chassis the amount of $24,456.25 as

057submitted by Rex Clary executive director of operation the truck purchased was previously approved by the board on May 12 2026 so moved Berwick support is Support or all in favor signify by saying aye aye opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 we will now move on to scheduled reports the foundation of Saline Area Schools update yeah Stacy Rumbis the executive director outgoing and Angela Well, thank you for your time and for letting me address the board and provide a year in review for the foundation. Betty asked me when I came in if I was gonna be able to hold it together and I said yes. And then I already fell apart. I appreciate the gift. So that was very nice. As you know, I'll be retiring at the end of this month after an incredible. four

058years with the foundation and the previous 10 years working at harvest it's been a true privilege to work alongside so many outstanding partners here in this room and the community who support the foundation's mission i am deeply proud of the foundation and the salinary schools district and of the meaningful opportunities they provide for our students including my own two children who are now proud alums and they left the district very well prepared so i leave with so many wonderful memories and knowing that the foundation is in Excellent hands. So now I would like to introduce you to Angela Hello everybody. I just want to say thank you for giving us some time and having us here this evening. I'm Angela Brewski I live in Saline. I have three girls in the district I have an

059incoming sixth grader and twin and crumb incoming fourth graders and I want to also thank Stacy she I Started I think May 11th and she we've been working alongside each other through the end of June So it's been a really nice transition for me learning the ropes and Stacey has been a wealth of information So I thank you Stacey and then I just I look forward to continuing the great work that the foundation has done for so long We're celebrating 40 years this year and the wonderful partnership with the district. So thank you very much Yes, I feel very blessed to be in this situation and to have had the time with Angela so that she could see what goes on the last few weeks of school and then to provide ample training the rest

060of this month to ensure a smooth transition. And I know Angela's gonna be amazing. So, next up. You see here, this was our past year's executive committee and board of trustees who did an amazing job, but we are getting ready for some role changes. So coming up, changing of the guards with presidential news, I'd like to give a heartfelt thank you to Carolyn McFarlane for her outstanding leadership and dedication to the board for the past three years as president and introducing Lindsay Schultz as our incoming president starting in August. I'd also like to give a shout out to our senior student rep, Bryce Nadig, who just graduated, and Brooke Jean-Marie was our junior rep who is going to be moving, and Katie Nadig, Estrella Lilly, and Ann White for all their time and service. They've

061been amazing. And welcome four new trustees to the team. We have Ashley Moran, Matt Hoffman, Trent DeBruin, and Katie Reynolds. So we welcome them. introducing our new junior student representative is Morgan Walker and she is going to be mentored by our senior representative Dante Costanzo so we're excited to have her Our financials, we had a great year. So far as sponsorship went, we had $75,000 committed in sponsorship. That also includes in-kind for a total of 39 sponsors. So I want to thank the businesses around here for all of their support and what they do to help us focus on our mission. Our events, our fall luncheon and the dueling pianos event are our biggest ones. combined total we brought in a hundred and fifteen thousand dollars in net profit so we were very happy about

062that and how did we engage with the community this past year There was a lot. We continued to do Summerfest. We do the Homecoming Parade, the Holiday Parade. We participated in the Chad Tuff Run, the family portion of it. Of course, our Hall of Fame, which I'll get to in a minute. The Fall Luncheon. We recently did our District's Young Five and Kindergarten Open Houses. We were so happy to be a part of that. And our superintendent circle dinner, thank you to Dr. Kowalski for hosting that as well. And then we had our big dueling pianos that were so much fun. I know many of you were there. And it was a good evening. As far as our grant budget, this year the Board of Trustees approved $110,000 in grant funding, and we were able

063to award 36 grants in total. And you can see here I had way more pictures than I figured I could put up there. But you could see some of our grant presentations where we got out and visited the schools and were able to provide the official grant certificates to the teachers who were awarded them. So that was a lot of fun. Next up is our Hall of Fame. So you may have seen an announcement briefly. This is our 2026 Hall of Fame group of inductees. Dolly Collins, who is Distinguished Educator. Scott Tyson, also Distinguished Educator. Dominic Dorsett, who made his big debut on Broadway about a month ago as Distinguished Alum. Jeff Nadig, Distinguished Alum. Lisa and Greg Rentschler both for distinguished alum and service as you all know Lisa's business is new to you

064again which is amazing and the foundation office is moving so TBD on the exact location we were talking to the grant about where that possibly is going to be so more to come on that as soon as we have official notice so that is exciting And then our future fundraising and outreach. This includes our upcoming alumni golf outing, Sling Summerfest. I won't read off all the dates. You can see them. But the homecoming parade, Hall of Fame, which I didn't want to mention is October 2nd. Starting off at the high school auditorium at 5 o'clock. Then after the ceremony, everybody moves over to the patio for a light dinner. And then the inductees are awarded on the football field with their plaques. The fall luncheon location is TBD, but the date is set for October

06529th. Of course, the Celine Holiday Parade and Dueling Pianos, which is going to be a big birthday party in February. Date TBD, but that will be coming out. And as I mentioned, happy 40th birthday next year to the foundation started in 1987. So there's gonna be a big shindig, I understand. It should be a lot of fun. So more to come on that. And I would just like to thank all of you for your support over the years, the Board of Ed, the district. It has been an amazing ride and I cannot thank you enough. So I'll stop there. Any questions? Can I give you a hug? Oh Yeah Thank you, thank you our gift is no questions because we know Moving on to the athletic department update Ashley mantha director of athletics and Jeff

066Pike assistant athletic Now that a perfect it was great. I think I touched it by moving it so appreciate it. So I said we're presenting and then you go the next slide please. We appreciate the ability to kind of shine some light behind the carpet. the curtain, I was gonna say, of athletics. And with that, I know a lot of the questions the community kind of presents to you, to us, an opportunity to provide some updates, some upgrades, and just kind of a little bit of everything all over the place because of the questions we get. So I'll currently go back for a second, Ben, thank you. Currently, this is our athletic department. Myself, Jeff Pike, Allie Littlejohn, and Ashley Howes. Allie Littlejohn is part-time in our athletic office and then also is in HR.

067And then Ashley Howes also plays that dual role of community education as well as our athletic department, mostly at the middle school specialists. So that's kind of our athletic department and how we're made up right now. Thank you, Ben. A lot of people kind of have those questions of how are we classified, but as you guys just passed the resolution from MHSAA, we continue to be an MHSAA school at the middle school as well as the high school. And so for the foreseeable future, we'll be classified as Class A, which means if you look at the enrollment numbers, it's based on how many students you have at the high school, we're above 788 students pretty easily. So we're gonna be a Class A school for the foreseeable future. Our MHSA number is gonna be 1579

068next year, and that's just the ability of how many kids we can draw from that can play our sports. And so Class A is like a nice little easy way to look at it, and then I'm sure you've heard of Division I, Division II, Division III. That's the next step. That is broken down by sports. Not every school has a gymnastics team or a field hockey team or a swim and dive team, and so we talk about all the sports that are offered. Once MHSA comes together with how many schools offer that sport, they break each sport down by divisions. So there's 755 MHSA high schools next year projected. I know it's a big number, so Selina's one of 755. And so as you look at the slide, lacrosse only has two divisions. So you're

069the division or division one, division two. But swim and dive has three divisions, golf has four divisions, and football has as much as eight. Most fall within that Division I through VIII. And so most of them are Division IV, but Selena's Division I in every single sport except for girls' lacrosse, which we are Division II, because we fall below the enrollment line for that. So when someone says I'm Division I champion, Division III champion, it's kind of a nice little explanation of why things lay where they do. So, and we use our numbers collected in February for student count day to then submit to MHSA. Usually it's due the day after and that gives us that number for the future, for the next year. So kind of like the why behind. So we're class A,

070division one for most sports except for girls lacrosse. So, thank you Ben. Talk about all those sports. I know it's a lot on this screen. I'm gonna pause for a moment here So you can kind of take in that Everything I'm gonna break it down a little bit though. So we are fortunate to have plenty of opportunities at Salina There are 37 high school programs. So 30 different 37 different sports when actuality we have 39 seasons Fun fact rowing which is a non-MHA sport actually has two seasons. They can do fall and spring, they're the only sport that's allowed that. I know a lot of people are like, oh, I wish I had two seasons. MHSA doesn't let you do that. So, but rowing, so technically there's 39 seasons, but we don't, for rowing purpose,

071or for program classification, we have 37. So we kind of get that number there. If you were to break it down by freshman, JV varsity, there's 75 high school teams. So how about how many head coaches? There's 75 right there for the high school. We also have nine middle school programs. You break it down by grade level, there's actually 27 teams. So an example of girls volleyball, we have two seventh grade teams, two eighth grade teams, that kind of thing. So that's four teams right there, but it's girls volleyball. So that's kind of a breakdown of where we get those team numbers from. Looking at the color of that as well, we have it by high school on the top, middle school on the bottom. So we have by season, fall, winter, and spring. The

072gray area, those are fortunate to be district subsidized. No one is fully funded, but they are district subsidized. And so we cover a lot of those operational costs, such as coach salaries, transportation, officials. The ones that are in yellow, they are self-funded. So teams are required to fundraise for coach salaries, transportation if they needed. So it's kind of a breakdown of that. You can kind of see there are 15 high schools currently that are self-funded. And there are 22 high school and nine middle school that are district subsidized at this moment. So plenty of opportunities. We also added boys volleyball this year as well as girls ice hockey. So when we presented a year ago, there was only 35. Now there's 37. So you can kind of see that number has changed. We've added, like

073I said, girls ice hockey and boys volleyball. So they're now part of our family, so to speak. So, yeah. Thank you, Ben. And I think you're... So I'm not going to read all the numbers to you, but you can see our participation level is pretty impressive. The fact that we have the number of high school and middle school students participating to that level is incredible. And that's thanks to the students themselves, the coaches, and their families that are willing to and able to help support them in doing all that. Needless to say, we would not be here without our coaching staff. That number of coaches is grown. Since 2023, we have about 41 more coaches than we did at the time. Part of that is staffs have increased with numbers of students increased. But also

074we have a lot of volunteer coaches, which is pretty incredible to think about that people are willing to give their time quite literally at the middle school and high school level. And though our student enrollment numbers have decreased slightly over the past couple of years, the same number of athletes, both at the high school and the middle school, I think it's minus two for both of them since 22-23. So all of this speaks to the emphasis and ability of all of our families and our student athletes. Speaking of emphasis and abilities, this is pretty impressive. If you look at all of these, and it's obviously hard to see all of the numbers, but what is pretty clear and consistent is overall our student athletes are performing very well, not just in the athletic field or

075pool or gym, but in the classroom. And that's obviously what is most important. We have countless teams that are academic all states. countless individuals who are academic all state and this is something that we hold as a very very big point of pride and we thank our our coaches for emphasizing this the number of times the coaches will look at grades and if kids are in any type of dangerous area, they're gonna emphasize, hey, you need to meet with your teacher. Hey, maybe you're gonna sit out of practice today to make sure you're taking care of work so you remain eligible. And then the next slide, Mr. Goodman, please, just adds all of this up basically. And it shows two things. One, again, the pretty impressive that it's all above 3.5. With that, in general,

076at Saline and at most schools, when students participate in athletics, they generally are doing better in the classroom than the average student who is not. And so to consider the amount of time that our students are spending during the day and then at practice or at their games and then at night doing homework and then they start it all over again. pretty impressive stuff and very thankful to all the students and teachers and families for what they do. We got some other fun numbers. So with finances of it too, a lot of people wonder, like, you know, athletics gets everything, there's millions of dollars. It's not just us, right? It's a district's commitment to that. It's facilities, it's bonds, it's the care grants. There's a lot of things that go into it. So just kind

077of showing those numbers of what is actually allotted and where that kind of goes from our end. So around 2% of the general fund is taxpayer dollars. That is basically what this past year we were budgeted for $1.48 million. And so that's what we kind of used for all of our big operational costs, which I'll explain on the next slide. But there is something called the Athletics Student Activity Counts. Not many people are familiar outside of our purview of clubs and activities and athletics of what that is. But basically each team is in charge of their own. activity account, which is basically a checkings account. So it's basically fundraised dollars, right? So all those things that the general fund can't pay for, that gets to come from there. So each head coach is in charge

078of that account. So there's a baseball account, there's a golf account, there's a soccer account. It's not just athletics. So if you're talking about we're going to do hotel rooms or team meals or uniforms, spirit gear, all that kind of fun stuff, that comes from individual teams. And right now... It fluctuates by season. So but right now when we kind of check there was 1.2 million dollars through all of the athletic teams. That's how much fundraising is going into those extra things that the fundraiser, sorry, the general fund money cannot pay for. So kind of a quick little big picture and I'm gonna break down athletics even more. So on this slide, you can see that, as I mentioned, that $1.48 million for the general fund. Our biggest thing, like I said, we talk about

079field maintenance or bond work or care grant, like I kind of mentioned, all these sinking funds, all these different money that comes into it for the whole district, we work in collaboration with others as well. It's not just athletics mowing the grass or fixing the basketball rims that break, right? It's a collaboration. But where that $1.48 million goes to, most of it, honestly, is salaries and benefits. That's $1.1 million right out the door just to pay our coaches, our department as well. So that's a big part of that. Just like with anything, teachers also, right? They talk about the biggest thing is your salaries, so with budgets. But with that as well, we have athletic trainers that take care of all of our student athletes. We have officials and game workers to make sure the

080games go on, transportation. Security and police for our larger events invite internment fees as well as miscellaneous other things that kind of fall into this What happens that year? This is a scoreboard break kind of thing. Those port-a-johns near the baseball and softball, right? General equipment as needed. We try to help out. Maybe it's a wrestling mat. Maybe it's a new cheer mat. Those kind of things that need, as they come up, that we try to support our teams for those bigger purchases. But the big thing is no team is fully 100% funded. There's always this misconception that one team might get something more than the others. That's fundraising. There's not enough money for everything we would want. to do and that's just it is what it is for any district when you start talking

081about that so we try to make sure that it is our big things are taken care of for our teams And then we look to other ways of doing it. So for example, we spot some new wrestling mats. Those are $25,000 right? You don't just drop that kind of thing. So we look into cares grant We look into the community ed education to help support Athletics might donate a little bit the wrestling team might fundraise so it's it's a it's a group effort just to get one thing versus just Throwing money at it. So it takes a lot to make this place run so to speak. So I Think that next one as well So here's some other common things that we've kind of touching upon as well That 2022 bond that we passed 180

082million dollars a lot of people in the chemistry you guys hear it all the time, too Why don't you just throw money from that towards teacher salaries or towards coach salaries or ABC whatever kind of thing as we all know that bond money is slated for certain projects So our new weight room for example, which is amazing That was bond right, but I can't put that money towards coach pay And so that's just one of those common misconceptions by people that aren't living in the educational world. Just putting that out there because we get that a lot of times too of why don't you just put money towards this, right? Our pay to play, a lot of people say where does my money go when I do these pay to play, right? So the high

083school, it's $325 and you get to play all three seasons. It's not just one sport. If you want to play all three seasons, it's $325. At the middle school, it's $275 and it's actually multiple seasons, four seasons at the middle school. We approximately bring in about $270,000 per year. So it sounds like a lot of money, but in the scheme of things, it's maybe a sixth of our budget, right? It doesn't cover all of our costs, but it does help offset some things. So when we talk about, you know, I should be getting a bus, I paid for it kind of thing. There's other things that go into it than just did you pay your participation fee, right? We also have waivers, whether we work with food services for free and reduced lunch. for hardships

084for those that can't afford to participate we do have alternative ways for everyone to participate so And the other one, too, if you've been to our games, you've probably seen a ticket taker asking for money or a credit card. So we do charge for some of our big gate events, and generally it brings in about $75,000 to $110,000 per year, and that is dependent upon how many home games we have. There's a lot more. If we have more away games, obviously less ticket revenue, but we do offset some of our department costs as well. And if you were to look at those that big transparency report when you go to the district website you would see hey athletics is you know 1.5 million dollars per se right But we won't see is that there's revenue

085that we're bringing in so our true cost is generally around 1.1 million dollars depending on the revenue we bring in so We're not a net zero, but we do try to bring in some revenue to I guess that offset those bigger costs All right, there's a lot going on in this slide. But this is from the Southeastern Conference website, and what we do at the end of the year is they put together all of the conference champions. And so first to point out at the bottom of this, you have the red division and the white division. This past year was the first year we had seven in each division. Lincoln had been in the red and slid over to the white. And the other thing that might jump out to you is the number of

086times you see Celine on that list. So of the 27 sports that the conference has championships for, we won nine, including a pretty dang good spring. So very impressive from our student athletes. And with that, the next three slides highlight season by season not only the SEC championships, but if a team won districts and went further. Sad to see Carly leave, but I didn't have her in the volleyball picture, so that maybe is an okay thing. But to try to highlight what all of our teams do is a constant thing, and we're lucky. We have, again, the commitment from the district and from parents and the kids. And with our success from the fall, then on to the winter. We had quite a ride. If you go to the next slide, please, Mr. Goodman. Thank

087you. We had quite a ride with girls basketball, led by Coach Ream and a great group of seniors. And swim and dive this year finished third after their state championship last year. So two pretty impressive achievements by our teams. And then lastly from the spring sports, pretty long list there. Track team doing well, ninth in the state. Boys golf just finished last weekend, seventh in the state. And as of Saturday, that was the end of our season. Last year, we had gone a little bit further into June with our teams. And this year, not quite as deep of run, but the success and the achievement should not go unnoticed. And then the next slide sort of summarizes the individual achievements by our kids. What we used to do for signing day was sort of three

088different signing days, and this used to be a much more formal thing. Students literally used to be signing a contract to attend the school, and the school would be committing, if you're going to Division I or Division II, they were committing scholarship funds for you. A lot of that has changed in this crazy college landscape that we have now. But what we decided to do for the first time, and I think it was a pretty big... Success was to have a larger event There were a couple of teams that wanted to do their own thing earlier in the year. They didn't want to wait until May So while we had 29 students represented in May we had an additional three teams with 17 students so 46 students Committed to playing at the next level which

089is pretty impressive for the seniors who just graduated last last week All of this with that last text box there, the NCA change in letter of intent. Some of you might be familiar with where this is going, and it's kind of difficult to follow if you're not a big sports enthusiast. But, again, the commitment by our coaches to get our kids to the next level if they want to is pretty impressive. And it doesn't have to be Division I with scholarship dollars. If you want to play at the next level, our coaches are going to help find a spot for you. And, again. with playing a sport comes academic success. And so that applies at colleges as well. All right, I can't take credit for this is Rex and the bond and district and our

090core group and superintendent This is this is you guys as well. This is but just kind of showcasing it because I know sometimes they get like it's lost We hear a lot of people come to us like what's going on at the middle school I see a bunch of dirt or you know, can I go can I go on it? Right and you're just so I kind of want to take an opportunity to showcase it that obviously it's not athletics It's PE. It's community ed. It's it's it's all of us, right? But our weight room did open this past August, which is beautiful if you've not been in there yet. It is amazing. Our PE, our athletics, it's a great space. If you ever drive by late at night, you'll see a nice purple light.

091I don't know if you guys have seen that yet. It's disinfecting. It's a really cool kind of thing. It cleans bacteria. It's next-level stuff. I'll let Rex talk more about that. He's smiling over there because less custodial cleaning needed. What's that? There we go keeping kids safe, yes Along with that too right now. There's bleacher construction again last summer the big size of bleachers the east and the west side I got replaced and now right now the north and the south so our gym will now be Beautiful bleachers as well. If you ever walk in there right now, they've been taken out and the construction should be starting shortly. So just kind of like a nice little what's going on, so to speak. Obviously the middle school and the Liberty complex, that's going to be

092a beautiful thing when it opens in the next couple of weeks. We're very excited. I'm sure you all are too. But with that too, like baseball and softball fields, the turf fields, track, pickleball, tennis, the walking paths, it's, you know, it's pretty exciting time to be part of this district. And like I said, I just wanted to showcase that. Like I said, it's not really athletics, but it's something. to be shown for this time that we have with you all right now um with that too coming oh ben if you want to go back appreciate you one more thank you um with that um i think in the next week if not now brex can correct me but the stadium hornet stadium the ticket area the concession area there'll be new fencing new concrete those

093pillars are being removed just more seamless and beautiful looking for our fall sports and a lot of cracks. We're not having some elderly or wheelchair fall as well. So you talk about safety implications as well as just it's gonna look beautiful. So our pool maintenance, spring break, we're starting construction with that. So some upgrades to the pool. Which would be very exciting for our swim and dive or water polo or SST all the groups that are in there are rentals us swim And then finally our high school baseball and softball complex, which is gonna be starting in 2028 So just some kind of amazing things that will be coming and then if you'll go to the next slide It's the same photo as a small one here, but it's just one of those just kind

094of blowing it up I'm sure you've seen this before but once again just putting it out there so that we can kind of see What's coming in a few weeks that our community is gonna be able to access? really exciting times and I'm just gonna say I'm really excited again kind of thing so I don't know if you got anything with that one but like I said all these things it's you know the bond it's sinking funds it's it's every it's amazing to see all these different resources come together for these facilities and we're gonna have access to them so I think the next one Some other updates, athletic handbook, which also correlates to the extracurricular handbook. So clubs and activities, community ed. We put some focus groups together a few weeks ago. We got

095some input from our coaches, our students, parents, administrators, kind of getting some feedback of what we might have missed or what needs updating. So there's been a lot of, I think a couple years ago, Jeff and I, in 2023, we did a whole revision. It had been 10 years since it had been touched. So we did a big overhaul a couple years ago, but now we're kind of... of getting into the weeds but more updates that need to be looked at some of those things are just kind of aligning our clubs athletics community ed you know whether it be what's the structure of it the realignments Basically making sure our sports systems are more efficient and compliant for our district As well as offering some more social and emotional resources for our student athletes our

096coaches And then kind of laying out even more expectations from family and coach communications as you saw before 226 coaches they're doing amazing. It's a volunteer or paid. It's a lot of time People assume, you know, oh, even if you're paid, it must be like a salary kind of thing. No, they're getting paid like a dollar an hour maybe kind of thing. It's a part-time job and a lot of times thankless job. And so our coaches, you know, just having that protection, that's our job in our department. We're looking out for the safety of our students, but also our coaches. So trying to find that, you know, collaboration between our community, our parents, our kids, and our coaches so that we can kind of, when concerns arise, how can we work through these together, right?

097It is getting harder and harder to find coaches especially really good ones I guess it's a part-time job but I'm gonna support them and make sure this community keeps growing and puts an emphasis towards that so What else we got oh next one here we go, okay So with registration, I think too from all those of her big teams before it's our registration scheduling website They got bought out by Arbiter recently So we're doing a big overhaul this month. We're so come July 1st registration is gonna open you're gonna hear event link and final forms I mean to say is using final forms. So we're connecting with them. It's gonna be a lot easier for transfers for registration It's a lot more collaborative. So instead of living different systems, they kind of sync up nicely

098Especially they sync up with power school as well. So and hopefully eventually our scheduling system Elio which might be switching to another organization I'll let the community talk to that perspective. So we're excited for this, but we are working on that diligently this month. We can roll it out come July 1st because that's our fiscal year, and that's when pay-to-play starts and registration and fall sports start. As you said, summer goes by too quickly. I think it was you're saying it goes too quickly earlier, right? It does because it just ended, but registration starts in like two or three weeks for us. For fall sports start August 10th, and that's for all fall sports. So we're trying to make sure we're ready to go. collecting physicals and student safety and all those resources as well.

099So Ben, next slide please. Another fun topic that I'm sure you've heard about, not just at the college level, you know, what's done, I'm gonna say wreaked havoc at the college level and there was a big worry of it coming to the high schools, it's here. January, MHSA approved personal branding activity, so that's what PBA, or you might have heard of name, image, likeness, so NIL. A lot of things are out there, like what do we do, how, what is it, I just kind of give a moment of what that really means for the high school. On the benefit side, it has nothing to do with us. And I mean that as schools are not supposed to be involved, our coaches are not supposed to be involved, it is the individual student and their personal

100brand. So what that means is that... As you can kind of see, it's their individual enterprise, so there's no arrangement like, hey, can I use your facility? Can I take a photo with the Hornet? You can't use our uniforms. You're not able to use our facilities unless it's a blank backdrop. If you're on a grass field, live your best life. But you can't pose with anything that is, and they can't be doing a live stream during one of our games kind of thing or promoting in our uniforms. Funny enough, everyone thinks it's going to be this huge blow-up thing. We have three students at Salina Area Schools right now. Out of our almost 1,000 athletes, we only have three that are actually receiving some kind of compensation. Most are getting free smoothies, or no one's

101making that $2 million. So it's like this huge thing of, oh my God, it's going to ruin amateur sports. But as I mentioned, there's only one or two kids right now in the state that are actually making money, like real money that could actually help. The rest are kind of doing the small stuff or pizza, smoothies. So it's kind of the worry that we kind of had has not been shown yet, but it's still something that we need to consider and keep up to date. Ben, if you can go to the next slide to kind of show a little bit more about what this is. So as I kind of mentioned, there's no school logos, no trademarks, no team uniforms, no school facilities. We're not posting it on Sleen Athletics. It's their own social media,

102their own entity, basically. So Ben, the next one, too. Some of the things they can do, just like I'm just promoting it out there, they can do commercials, endorsements, they can do signing autographs, merchandise, social media influencing, personal appearances. These are all like, it's basically a part-time job that has nothing to do with us. Like yes, it might be our kids, our students, but it's not representing Saline area schools. And that's the big thing, it's an individual personal branding. I just want to put that out there because I said it's new and it's like, how do we live into this, so to speak. So, I think Jeff. Another one with a lot of color on it. Sorry about that. So this story of our merger with the KLAA actually starts in March of 2025. Annually,

103athletic directors get together for a conference in Traverse City, and a handful of folks from both of these conferences started to talk about a potential merger. And how this all came to be, the KLAA had three of their members leave. The three Livonia schools went to a different conference. and they started to look for other schools to add back in. And one of those schools was Monroe, which is obviously in the SEC and is in our part of the SEC, the red. Once that discussion started, then we started to think, hey, wait a minute. We have a lot that we could do if we aligned. And so here we are. roughly 16 months later. And we have combined, and tomorrow, in fact, Ashley and other athletic directors are getting together to actually schedule this. This

104is not for the next school year. It's for 27 and 28. And so what you see on the right there is we have four divisions. The blue division is six schools from the KLA, was the KLA West. Then the red division, which is ours, Monroe, shifts from the red division. to the next division over there with schools that were in the KLA East. And really why Monroe wanted to do this was geographically and competitive for their kids, really. It matches up better for them. And so by them shifting over to that, and then we have the White Division, which also adds Jackson Northwest, which was not part of the KLA, but had applied to join. And so what we have are two divisions of six, one of seven, and one of eight. The goal of

105all of this is to offer more opportunities to our kids. And especially for us in the red and in the six schools that are in the blue division, you're going to see a lot more competition amongst those schools. We're still going to have the classic SEC matchups with our Ann Arbor rivals up the street and Dexter. But also, if you look at those six schools in the blue division, we match up pretty well in a lot of sports big and small and by offering more opportunities to our kids and a higher level of competition and by them seeing different kids and different scenarios and kids from different backgrounds It's only going to benefit them both on the competition field and in life. So this is a huge undertaking it's now that we're actually scheduling it

106is kind of daunting but it's it's really exciting and Looking forward to seeing a lot of these new new schools coming in to to play our teams and then lastly is a thank you we and our department could not do this with without all these people and A couple years ago when when we listed this We were worried we were going to forget somebody, but we want to almost say thanks to everybody, everybody. But it's the folks like the game workers and the public address announcer and the officials that put all these things on for us. All we do is try to help with the logistics. But anything we can do, our job is to help the student athletes, and our job is to help the coaches. And so we're very, very thankful for all

107these groups that contribute in various ways and with lots of dollars to make all these things happen. Thank you. Any questions from anybody? I've got a couple comments and then one question. The first is I really applaud you for the Tukumsi. swim and dive because clearly you had every opportunity to say no and that's just kind of an easy way out and sometimes you just got to have the mindset I got to figure out a way to say yes to this because it has such a dramatic impact on those students but not only that Look at the reputation and look at what it says about Celine. I mean, that's a man. That's a big impact item the second is I was really moved by the Slide with the GPAs. I had no idea it was

108that impactful. I have a strong passion that Athletes are well prepared with life lessons to go out in the world because there's just lots of highs and lows So I really appreciate seeing that slide of what a big deal the other item that I noticed was It looked like almost 50% of the high school participates in athletics so with that being said Athletics matter and it's important to recognize these student athletes and it's important to recognize the Families that are supporting them. My only question is I really like the fact that you've put together this focus group What kind of feedback have you gotten or are we too new into that? Have you gotten anything tangible? That's kind of signaling anything or what's your take on the feedback you've received or what has happened and

109how is that do you find has that have been a real positive experience so far I'll bring up I met with some of our social workers for example You know our chemical policy needs updating because now that Shuby's been in different positions So so just kind of like our behavior our chemical policy that even like things that we were just like oh We weren't even aware that had changed so to speak a lot of the students were asking for mental health resources Not that that not that we're social workers the ones that can but how can we get you to someone that can support you? And you know besides just the okay to say or you know actually providing those A lot of them wanted some outside input whether it be nutrition, you know eating

110disorders It's more than just the mental aspect of it, but they wanted more support with that a more clear chain of command. So when I met with a couple of the kids, they're like, we know we're supposed to go to our coach first and then you, but like, what happens if this happens? Like, can you lay out more of situationals or can you give us some resources on how do we talk to and how do we advocate for ourselves? Because I mean, yes, we say kids should do that, but at the end of the day, they're still kids and how do we give them those resources to have those hard conversations that are not just playing time and why am I not playing, you know, that kind of thing. So it was very intuitive. The

111kids were, when I met with them, they were, they, read the whole handbook and I was very impressed with them of like I haven't read the whole handbook in a while kind of thing right so there's just a couple things that come to mind right away that they were going to be looking into to look into revise First of all, go Hornets. That was an incredible presentation. Thank you very much. Yeah, I have to lead with the grade point average as well. Those two slides were so impactful. I mean, I knew the average, but to look at the teams and to really dig into it, it's so important because... it not only shows their student athletes student first, it not only shows their commitment to their team, but to their teachers, and that creates good

112culture. And so I think that that's great. Yeah, I want to come back to your comments, and thank you for that, around mental health, but physical health as well. Shout out trainers. It's incredibly important, and I would very much like to also see us continue to think. holistically in the district about mental and physical health for all of our students always of course but when you look at those gpas and you understand the story behind that data and what classes those are that are those are that's hard so this competitions are hard. The sports are hard. Classes are hard. Number one AP test pass rate and state. I'm like, it all adds up to what do they do? What are their coping mechanisms for, to soothe themselves and to, you know, help themselves and to

113physically stay safe when you're running that hard. And I don't just mean running. I mean, I mean going that hard. Any thoughts around like what else can we do? What can we do? What can we all do to kind of, I know we're talking about athletics specifically here. I mean all students, but like in this lens, what do you think? I mean. Some of our coaches have been, I mean, if you talk about cross country, you said running, but it just made me think of cross country. We brought in a speaker for that, for nutrition and like iron deficiency, because it's very much a runner issue or eating disorder. Like a lot of people are fueling their bodies. Same with wrestling. They're actually required to see a nutritionist. So like some of the sports are

114already doing it, but athletically focused, bringing it maybe like a seminar for all kind of thing. It's not just by teams. We know we're kind of taking care of. are hundreds of athletes. I mean, obviously, I know we have health and PE classes, and hopefully that's being communicated in those classes, and the learn to breathe and all those. But from athletically, just adding more support for our student athletes would be something we could look forward to. I don't know if you have any. Yeah, that's great. Maybe we can talk about that in the future on an agenda For the athletic committee The other question because this was something that we talked about in our athletic committee last time. How can we as a board? and as Parents in this district not just at this table

115who have student athletes What can we do to better support the students but also the coaches that are supporting them because to your points throughout the presentation, being a coach is hard, being a student athlete, very hard. Let's talk about the coaches. How can we, as a board and as parents in the district, better support those coaches for, again, back to a more positive and healthy culture? Not an easy answer, but an important one. One thing to think about as far as who is coaching our kids. 30 years ago when I was hired in this district, about two-thirds of our coaches were SAS employees. Now we're at about one-third. And that's not anything that the district has done. It's just a shift in what teachers are doing and who is coming in to coach these

116sports. As a result of that, I think sometimes there is some unfamiliarity between families and the coaches that they see on the sidelines. And with that, perhaps I don't think they're giving them enough credit for wanting the best for the kids. And it turns into, for some, and this is certainly not a majority, a very small number, but I want the team to do well as long as my kid is. part of it and starting or playing a role. And sometimes they don't give the benefit of the doubt to the coach that the coach wants the best for everybody, everybody. And as a parent, you know, you have a hard time if your kid is not starting or playing a role and to be able to step back and hopefully realize that the coach is

117doing what's best for the team. With that, sometimes we have to learn how to lose and how to cope with disappointment, and that's adults as well as kids. And I don't know if our environment now, and I don't want to blame social media and all of that, but there's a need for immediate gratification and extreme positivity. And instead of stepping back and saying, wait a minute, I failed. What can I learn from my failure? And therefore, next time I can be better. Um, and. You know, I could ramble on. I don't know if that really addresses what you're saying. But back to what Ashley said earlier, you know, the amount of time that our coaches give for, you know, not a lot of pay and not asking you to increase that. But we have to

118keep all of that in mind. And as a parent, you would hope, I know that my coach is doing their best for their team, and my kid is going to learn and hopefully love their sport when their season is over. That's the best we can ask for. Questions? Quick one. Go ahead. Blame social media. I do. I just want to thank you for the clarification about the NIL and the PBA. It hit us at Eastern, of course, and I was wondering how we were going to deal with it, and it sounds like we have it well in hand. So thank you. Smoothies, huh? Smoothies yeah. Tropical smoothie. I know there is one district with a world class athlete in diving isn't it? Cross country. Oh yes right. She's one of the ones I was referring

119to that is making actual money. I was talking about two years before we had an issue. And the parents if we do end up with an outstanding athlete like that I know You'll be right on top of it and training not only that the parents but anyone who may have influence on them So thank you. I have great faith in you. Thanks Thank you Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you Ashley and Jeff. We appreciate your leadership We're gonna move on to the consent agenda Can I have the consent agenda is listed as in the agenda will not be read aloud the motion No, no noted will allow for the authorization of all listed items without discussion unless a member of the board Request why any one of the or all be considered individually?

120Can I recommend a motion authorized consent consent agenda as printed so moves tub them support is All in favor aye opposed hearing none motion carries 6-0 and items scheduled for the next agenda Well, very excited to bring you a special education department updates on a very collaborative Presentation that's already being built. So I'm excited about that It does seem like the policy committee will be able to bring potentially the first reading of our anti-bullying policy So we'll be working with the policy committee in the interim to make sure that that's ready to go and then per the MASB Superintendent evaluation model. There's a mid-year practice report that would be conducted in closed session Thank you This is second opportunity for public comment Remember the public may address for briefly for up to three minutes or

121requests to be scheduled on a future agenda and we have none Next Board of Education meeting will be held on July 14 2026 at 6 30 p.m. In the boardroom here Can I have a recommended motion to adjourn the regular Board of Education meeting of June 9 2026 at? 749 p.m. motion to seize separate Berwick All in favor? Aye. Opposed? Hearing none. Motion carries 6-0. Thank you and see you all in a month.