BOE Meeting 4/13/2026

001All right, I need my phone out. Where's my timer? I feel like I need the things. Hey, um where's my the timer? Is that what Julie where's Julie Julie is cheating Julie talking about? Hello down there. Oh, you know what? Let's keep it to where I mean That works. Is it working? I think he went to get he went to get water he said. 6:29 That's 1 minute. Good to go. Hello Eleanor. You seem further away. I saw you earlier today. Oh, this is new. Thank you. This is for keeping track of time. Wow, how am I going to keep notes too? If I can help you, let me. Hey, thank you. >> [laughter] >> Anything I need you to. It's going to be a 3-minute. Do we know that? I mean, based on the

002size of the crowd I think 3 minutes. Hey, it's looking full. Hey Mr. Garib, are you in the building? Yeah, he was just here. So, that seems to be He was just here a second ago. Okay, we're going to get started in just a few minutes. Um It's uh good to be back at Franklin campus and we're just trying to figure out the the timer. So, give us 1 second, please. I'll do three. But I don't know how to reset it. Y'all ready? Um Yeah. All right. That's okay. All right, folks. It feels it sounds weird. It sounds like this isn't even working. Y'all can hear me though? I can't hear me. Okay, so hey everyone, thank you for joining us this evening at the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education meeting. Um just

003a quick note. Um if you are or I guess please be mindful of of board parking in the front. Those are those spots are there just to ensure that we um have available parking so that we can get here on time and um make sure that we've got a spot there for us. So, so thank you. Just uh please be mindful of that moving forward um as we are back in our in our uh home. Um So, we welcome and appreciate your presence at this meeting of the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education this evening. We respectfully request you turn off cellular phones and refrain from clapping, cheering, or making audible comments. We invite you to make formal public comment during the designated times on either agenda item, non-agenda items, or if you wish

004on both. To do so, please fill out the comment cards located in the entry hallway um and submit it to the board assistant who is on her way down. She'll be seated over there or any uh public safety officer. Comments are limited to 3 minutes unless there are uh over there's over an hour um and then we limit it to to 2 minutes. So, that's 20 comments is when we limit that to to 2 minutes. All right. We will uh start with the roll call. Secretary Kilpatrick. >> Trustee Bucek Here. Trustee Kilpatrick, Trustee Melton Here. Trustee Moreno Present. Trustee Van Dyke Here. VP Wade Present. Trustee Williams Present. Trustee Williamson Present. And President Rodriguez Here. All right, we have a quorum. All right, next we are approving the agenda. Do I have a motion to

005approve the agenda? So moved. Second. All those in favor say aye. Aye. Any opposed same sign? All right, that motion passes. Um and before we get into celebrations today um just as we did at uh one of our last board meetings um just focusing on our Board of Education governance norms. Uh colleagues, I know we all do have them in front of us. Um last time we uh focused on governance norm number two valuing the voice, perspective, experiences, expertise, and opinions of others. Um and today I would like us to focus on staying student-centered in all of our work. So, in conversation and discussion from some of our staff um just working to uh to be student-centered. Um and then we'll at the end of the meeting just discuss how we did. All right, we

006are moving into celebrations with our winter sports scholar achievements. And I would like to invite Mr. Larry Johnson with our athletic directors down to give us an update. I'll just take the podium. These guys are will have a seat and because they'll do most of the talking. I'll just do the quick introduction. Uh first of all, good evening uh President Rodriguez and other trusted board members trustees and board members. Uh tonight uh the athletic directors from both of our high schools and then our middle school athletic coordinator will talk about uh some of the participation rates as well as some of our winter sports achievement by our varsity athletic programs. Uh they'll be available to just briefly talk about some of the participation questions that you may have as we try to continue to uplift

007the programs. I'll step out of the way. They can introduce themselves and and uh get going. Thank you very much. Uh thank you for having us today uh President Rodriguez, distinguished board members. I am Marcus Harris, athletic director at Ottawa Hills High School. Uh I like to take this moment to highlight the success of our winter sports athletes both in terms of compet- competitive achievements and student participation. Overall, winter sports had a strong showing with nine all-conference athletes and one honorable mention uh across all of our programs. Uh this res- reflects the hard work of our student athletes and both our coaches alike. Uh starting with bowling uh the program had three all-conference athletes and one honorable mention. Uh Daniel Gerber qualified for the state finals this year. Uh and our boys boys uh bowling

008team finished second in the OK White overall in the conference. So, they had a tremendous season. Uh our girls uh stepped up too in which they finished uh in fourth place as well. Uh in girls basketball, we had one all-conference selection and we saw individual recognition. Uh Miranda Maeve won the West Michigan Officials Association Student Athlete Award. And also along with her and Karina Wiling uh earned a B Cam Outstanding Senior Student Athlete Award as well due to their academics and their sportsmanship overall. Uh boys basketball, we had one all-conference selection as well. And one of our boys basketball players was featured in WZZM 13 as a student athlete uh scholar athlete of the week. Demarcus McKnight, you may have seen it. He had a 4.29 GPA and he's also on the Superintendent's Scholar Advisory

009Council as well. Uh so, that was great for him. Our wrestling program has taken tremendous strides over the last couple years. Uh we had two all-conference athletes along with two OK White champions in wrestling this year. Uh the team sent two wrestlers to regionals and we had a district runner-up. And also one of our wrestlers, Nick Latamonde Fisher, uh is going to be continuing his academic and athletic career signing a wrestle at Cornerstone University. Uh so, we'll be having that event in the couple coming weeks. Uh in boys swimming, uh they had another exceptional year uh under coach Eve Julian. Uh the team produced two all-conference swimmers and qualified two individuals and two relay teams for the state state finals. So, this marks the 15th consecutive year uh that we've sent swimmers to the state

010finals. The great job that coach Eve has done. The team also earned a bronze level scholar athlete award as the team compromise comprised of a 3.24 GPA. And so we had two academic All American All State seniors as well. And so equally as important we had continued growth in student participation over the our winter sports. Bowling we had 20 athletes 13 boys and seven girls. Girls basketball program had only had over 40 participants with over 50 of them trying out which we filled at all three levels of basketball. Boys basketball had over 45 participants as well and about 75 kids trying out. Wrestling one of our biggest increase in sports. We had 25 wrestlers this year which was up from 12. And they enjoyed a tremendous season in boys swimming we had 33 participants in

011our boys swimming program. So in closing our student athletes continue to work hard. Our coaches continue to work hard and we're going to strive to always get better. So thank you. Thank you. Good evening President Rodriguez and rest of our board members. My name is Justin Walker. I'm the athletic director at Union High School. It's my honor and pleasure to be able to come here today and share with you all a few brief highlights around athletic program at Union. Overall we saw a strong consistent participation and across a number of our sports with boys basketball, girls basketball, bowling maintaining full rosters with little to no fluctuation from the previous seasons. Definitely a consistent growth from showing consistency with our coaching staffs. But two areas that we are really proud and excited about is our continued

012growth in wrestling especially girls wrestling which is a growing sport in the state of Michigan. So last year we had three girls who started the season and finished the season. This year we had seven. So we look at that mark we're looking at tremendous growth. My coach is doing a phenomenal job of recruiting having open mat conditioning where it's just for the girls athletes giving them a space where the space is there they own that space. My staff is doing a phenomenal job with that. I couldn't be more proud of them for that. So with that overall we had a increase from 25 participants in wrestling last year to 33 this year and that is that looked to that number looks to grow some more with wrestling next year. We also with boys swimming this

013past winter went from 15 participants to 23 this year and one of the big achievements for our swim program is after some young men were cut from the basketball team the swim coach is right there encouraging these young men to try out for swim. Some of these young men I think it was like six of them did not know how to swim. Coach Travis did a phenomenal job working with them and not only did they join the season join the team complete the season they gained a life skill with where they can go to the beach and be in a pool and they're safer because of some of the work that our coaches are doing in our district. So super proud of coach Travis with that. In far as athletic recognition we did have some

014scholar athletes who really stood out this year with two bowlers being all conference. We had a swim and dive have one of the highest scores that a diver has had at Union I think almost 15 years which was amazing accomplishment. In boys and girls basketball we we were represented with two honorable mentions in girls basketball and honorable mention one in boys basketball. In [snorts] addition just to those brief recognitions this is the second year at Union we did our women's in sports day. The purpose of that event is twofold. One is to encourage and celebrate our scholar athletes who are earning in the programs at Union. We're also other using this event to recruit and any young lady high school age who's interested in sports and lives in Union attendance area is encouraged to attend.

015There's a meal we have guest speakers come in just to encourage them and show them that this is their space. They belong. We want them there and they are going to be a focal point in our athletic department for our growth and they're going to be major factors in that. So with that I'm looking forward to next year already but we could not do it without supportive staff from you know from Mr. Johnson to the principal to our building level staff and to our board. So we say thank you for that. Thank you. Thank you so much. Good evening President Rodriguez and the board. Brody Larson Middle School Athletic Coordinator. Coordinate all middle school athletics throughout the district. Middle school is a little bit different. We do not have individual awards as not all of

016our as not all of our sports participate in a conference. So we're going to focus on the participation levels. Um The big number over the last two years we've seen middle school participation increase by 156 athletes. Throughout all four seasons of our sports. This year with spring just starting the number is at 1,768 athletes. Fall, winter one, winter two and spring. Excuse me some of the largest jumps that we've seen from last year to this year only track and field is up 69 athletes from last year a year ago at this time. Tennis is up 28 athletes and golf is up 23 athletes. Those programs were added just three or four years ago. Starting with eight to 10 kids only. So seeing that in some of those non-traditional sports is is is amazing and the

017goal is that those kids will then go on to play and field at the high school. The cheer teams we've increased our numbers from last year by 30 this year. Cheer cheers during the winter one season during basketball. We've also seen increases in both boys and girls swimming. Up 10 to 12 between the two from last year to this year with our girls team topping out at 70 kids this year. Boys are at 52 with an increase of 12 from last year already. So participation is going strong. We've also seen volleyball. Over the last two years we've had an increase of 33 young ladies participating. And then the the biggest one wrestling we had nine kids last year wrestling. This year we had 30. We were able to for the first time we were able

018to field and score in every dual meet that we had. And it's both young men and young women participating. So the the future is bright with the with the high school wrestling programs gaining momentum the middle school is there to feed them. And then I did just want to touch on the elementary numbers. Last year we had 1,315 elementary scholars participate in cross country, soccer, basketball and track. This year with a little over a week to go in sign-ups with track we're at 1,320 elementary scholars that are participating in in athletics. So the goal of middle school athletics is is to continue to offer the opportunities as well as build sustainable programs both at the middle school level and to feed the high school going forward. Thank you so much. Colleagues is there any comments

019or questions for our athletic directors? Christine Moreno? Thank you so much for those numbers and I'm really excited. I'm always excited when our kids are being active in experiences. I don't think this is a question for now but I'd be really curious on some of the challenges y'all are experiencing. I know this this moment is to capture and uplift celebrations and those positive highlights but I'd love to hear some of the challenges. I feel like we've heard from some of our families in the last month or two about their students engaging in sports and so I'd love to hear from your vantage point maybe some of the challenges especially as we're thinking about budgets and I'm sure other other experiences that I can't even think of at the top of my head. So again nothing

020that needs an answer unless you're thinking about something. I see you some like writing down probably already. So thank you. Thank you. I know I will say thank you for the presentation. I really appreciate the numbers as well. How our students are showing up in different spaces in school. So The increase in numbers and also just how does board can support athletics as a whole is something that I'm interested into. Thank you though. And congratulations. I want to echo what VP Wade just said as well and and how can we support elementary and especially elementary and middle school, right? Folks get they they they get into sports in high school, but I remember even in my experience and maybe similar my colleagues had a similar experience. We didn't offer much at the school level in

021in elementary definitely in middle school. I think it was like eighth grade we could start participating. So it's amazing to see us start so early and so I really appreciate that and I know that this board is excited to continue to support the work that y'all are doing. So. Any other comments, colleagues? All right, seeing none we're moving on. Thank you so much, gentlemen. Thank you. All right, next we've got the scholar representative updates. We will begin with Mr. Beasley. Is not here? Okay. All right. Miss Fitzpatrick. Yes. I just want to uplift that today the myself and the rest of the superintendent scholar advisory council had the opportunity to have a legislative brunch. So we sat down with some of the you know lawmakers, legislators and senator a senator and we were able to

022have discussions with them on issues that we feel are important to us. So I just want to say that we're really grateful for that opportunity because it's not something that every student gets to do. Thank you so much. And we really value the student voice that you all provided at that legislative lunch. And so thank you for being there as well. All right, next we're moving on to our secretary's report, Secretary Kilpatrick. It's brief. Our finance committee meeting is scheduled for the 27th of April. It'll happen at 4:30 over in the administration building. Thank you very much. Next we're moving on to our committee chair reports and we are starting with trustee Moreno for finance. Well, our last finance meeting was pretty short but gratitude to Miss Bursma for stepping in for Miss Cribbs. I

023think the big topic of conversation was regarding the general fund item around supporting materials and services. A quick quick note about it. Currently we're you we were utilizing Otterbase for the last several years and because of timing and contract ending we're already planning to explore a new relationship and partnership and so the team did some work to find a company that aligns with with our needs and so the finance team did have a little bit further discussion and we agreed to to approve it to come to this team. And then in the special fund items there is items related to summer school supplies, pre-K furniture and then an increased contract for extended day program through project Emma. And so those schools have two windows of applications. So there's a clear process on how those schools

024get identified. So again another item we decided to move forward. Thank you. And I don't know if you got to a chance to look at the your email before this meeting. Did you see the budget 101? It's okay if you didn't. I can add I can say something about that at the end of our meeting. But thank you for that update. Next we're moving to academic achievement committee with trustee Melton. Yeah, we met for the academic achievement committee and there are some detailed notes that anyone can access but just to make sure we kind of have the big picture laid out here. The academic achievement committee was you know in was active all the way until the beginning of last year, 2024. And at that point we decided we actually value the academic academic information

025so much we would bring it to work sessions rather than a committee. So the idea was to sort of elevate it. But we found in practice that it became really difficult because there were so many things tending you know needing attention during those work sessions that to some degree we felt we needed to reinstate the academic achievement committee. So we did. And at this point the goal is to have that only three times each year. So basically once well, I'll say three times a year. And our job is to sort of organize what is the information we're getting, why are we getting it and in what format is it coming to this team through work sessions. So in other words we're there really to support and make sure that that academic information uplifted and in

026ways that are digestible to the team and that it matches the information we feel that the team really has has asked for. So hopefully that makes sense. Some of the exciting things I will share is that we did have a chance to kind of review that elementary curriculum that we had talked so much about and approved a couple weeks ago. We got a better glimpse of how that came about and just for this team to know the information coming from the state level is that there were only seven elementary curriculums really highlighted and incentivized across our state which really complicated the process for a lot of districts across Michigan. Because of that incentive that incentive it means you're getting money to stick with the seven that are already out there and that made it a

027little difficult. But we still have the the district itself still has the committee it's called a instructional council and that is GREA members are leading it this year and they go every other year. So one year GREA leads it the next year the district leads it and it's a combination of at least 14 people sometimes more than that who go through things like course changes, shifts to grading, things that are related to instruction especially. So yeah, for more details look at our notes but that's the highlights for you guys. Thank you very much. Colleagues, is there any questions for academic achievement? Or finance? I realize I didn't give trustee Moreno that chance. All right. Before we move on to ad hoc facilities, please if you have not already turned in a public comment card, now

028is your last chance to do so before we move into the superintendent's report for count day enrollment. So please turn that in to our executive assistant right over here. All right, now we're moving on to our ad hoc facilities committee update. Thank you, President Rodriguez. We concluded a long and vigorous discussion of about a lot of topics just recently before this meeting. First thing we discussed was our electric bus project update. Very exciting news. Those buses are going to start rolling out next week. There's going to be about half of them of the 15, seven of them will be ready to get out on the road next week. Just to contextualize it for our board, um there are 136 buses in our fleet or in Dean's fleet that we use. 15 of these buses are

029electric buses. That means 15, you know, dinosaur fuel gas buses are going to pull off the road. So we'll replace those with electric which is really exciting. And then again we have the infrastructure. We contain the charging infrastructure for those buses as a district as those buses are used. And then yeah, they they're going to be equipped with the cameras along with all of our other buses. So great movement there. The next thing we discussed just getting an update. As we all know with Stocking and Alexander schools, we've now received proposals after we put out that request process. There are four for Alexander and three for Stocking. The district team is going to be reviewing those proposals and grading them on the rubric that we previously as a board approved. That meeting is going to

030happen this Friday and then from there um they'll share with us as a board you know the results of those, the proposals themselves, the rubrics. And if necessary there'll be interviews if not necessarily there won't be interviews but with these organizations that made proposals to to better inform the process. Meaning if two proposals are very similar that might necessitate some interviews. So we as a board and the district itself can differentiate as we have to make a decision. There was discussion um this isn't concrete but there was discussion about having an additional committee meeting to discuss and formulate any questions or follow-ups that will need as we continue to review these. We haven't as a board set a deadline to accept or reject any of these these proposals that have come in but you know

031we want to move with all you know with all speed to get through these for these two properties. And then after that discussion we also talked about the next properties on the list and a lot of good discussion around a what is our process kind of two discussions. So the first discussion around the six properties total that we're considering, the timeline for moving those up. As we are nearing this process with concluding this process with Stocking and Alexander, we're going to be able to onboard these next set of properties. The district team is looking at that and will have a recommendation for us on how many and what that looks like. But then also we had a good vibrant discussion around in the future when we go through this, uh, process again, how are we

032identifying these properties, um, that, uh, are no longer being used as schools? We have a whole list of criteria that, um, happy to report out on more. Um, so, yeah, just what are we doing with those? And then finally, um, we had a discussion and there's just encouragement that as board members, um, as we are doing bond projects, even with Stocking and Alexander, as those properties are, uh, you know, as we're making decisions on those properties, but particularly around our bond projects, uh, that board members schedule site visits to those to see the great work and the great construction that our district team, uh, and partners are doing to, uh, you know, fulfill the goals of the bond the bond, um, that, you know, we're all supporting. Uh, you know, I the example I give

033is after Southeast Career Pathways was completed, walking through there and seeing what an incredible job that, uh, has been done there and how we now know that it's serving our students well and being able to see those before and afters, um, so just an encouragement that board members visit those cuz we're continuing on to, uh, phase two. Oh, sorry, I did skip over that. So, with phase two of the bond projects, um, great discussion around, uh, the pools and aquatic centers at our at Ottawa and, uh, uh, City High and then also, um, the there's continued discussions with the families and staff connected to our Montessori program, um, and just preparing to start moving that process forward and come to some, uh, agreement on what we need to do there. And then also just generally

034with the, uh, phase two, uh, for the bond projects, um, collected the district team's collecting scope of work and programming information so they can begin, uh, putting out bids for those, but everything is on, uh, track and we're doing a good job. Thank you. All right, thank you. Trustee Williamson, colleagues, is there any questions for Mr. Williamson? All right, seeing none, um, Ms. Anderson, you got all the public comment cards? All right. We are moving on to our superintendent's report. I'll Sorry about Good evening. And so, I'm going to invite Mr. Mel Atkins to come forward related to our certified enrollment count for the 25-26 school year. Good evening, uh, President Rodrig- Rodriguez, uh, Superintendent Robey, members, uh, of the board. Again, Mel Atkins, I'm the executive director of community student affairs. Today I have

035a brief, um, presentation as I represent our student data systems, um, department today regarding the, uh, spring pupil enrollment count process. Um, and so, as we always do, when we're connected to our strategic theme, connect to strategic theme six, creating a culture of trust, collaboration, and stewardship. And so, what you're going to see on the next couple slides is is a few dates. And but it it centers around, um, first I'm going to start with the second one. Um, we have really have two count days. We have a October, um, the first Wednesday of October is a count day, and we have a spring count day. So, fall count day, spring count day. And for for this one we're going to it's it was February 11th. But it really starts, um, that process starts just

036a week before. And so, our our school-based teams begin running synergy reports the week of February 2nd. Count day was February Wednesday, February 11th. And then after that, two days later, buildings begin reviewing count day absence reports. And that's important cuz we it's really going to be three dates that's listed in orange in the on the next two slides. When you think about a 10-day window, a 30-day window, and a 45-day window. And really what that is is if uh, scholars, if they, um, happen to be ill, um, whatever it may be, um, you have if you have 10 days if you're unexcused, 10 days to come back to count. After that, what you have if you're excused, you have 30 days. And so, that day was March 13th. And then if there was if

037you were absent, um, for being suspended, you had 45 days. Those are the big the big three. That So, the So, the 10, the 30, the 45. In between those days, you can see we had, um, um, count day packets were sent, um, back to student data service uh, uh, student data services, initial certifications and, um, what what they upload in SEPI. And then general data collection that happens also, uh, at the end of March as well. And so, what happens right now is you can see the general collection was 13,200.67 um, scholars. That's FTEs. And so, that is not, um, that's that's not an audited number yet. And that takes, um, you can see it really goes May through July. So, that number goes from certified to audited. And then what happens during, um,

038this window is between, um, at the ISD, there may be questions about certain, you know, certain scholars or certain certain data points and it goes back and forth. But then ultimately what happens is you get you you're going to get a audited number at the end of the summer. And so, that is the process. Open for questions. Thank you, Mr. Atkins. Colleagues, is there any questions or comments for Mr. Atkins? All right, thank you so much for that update. Okay, next we are moving into our public comment section. Um, we will have 3 minutes, uh, for public comment this evening. And so, we're going to have Secretary Kilpatrick read us into public comment. All right, good evening, everyone. Um, I've drafted a new read-in, so I'm going to try to memorize it in time, but

039tonight I'll read it off my paper. All right. So, first of all, to those of you who have signed up for public comment, thank you. Uh, we want you to know that your presence We realize that your presence here reflects your your care, your commitment to our scholars, to our community, to our staff, and to the future of our district. So, thank you. Uh, please also know that while we will not respond to you during public comment, we are actively listening and we are taking notes and we are making sure that you receive appropriate follow-up through proper channels. Finally, I would just want to note that showing up to speak in public is courageous. And so, whether this is your first time at a board meeting or you've been here many times before, I want

040to acknowledge we want to acknowledge the strength that it takes to step forward and use your voice. And especially when that voice is on behalf of our children and our community. So, with that, each speaker will have 3 minutes. And when you step up to the podium, uh, please state your name clearly so we can add it to the official minutes. Thank you. All right, thank you, Secretary Kilpatrick. Um, we are starting with a scholar this evening. Um, I apologize if you could state your last name as well so I know it. Um, it's Amelia F. And then on deck we've got, uh, Matt Marlow. Uh, hello. Um, Amelia Florenzi. Thank you. Yes. Um, I just have a quick comment. Um, I am working on my senior capstone project at the Museum High School. Um,

041last year over the summer we applied for a grant from Safe Routes to Schools, um, which we received sometime over the summer. Uh, we've been waiting for access to that money this entire year. Um, I spoke to our principal this morning and she said uh, something has recently been signed, but she's waiting for a contract to be back to her so that we can finally have access to that money. Uh, yeah. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, Matt Marlow. Jane Neman on deck. Hello, my name is Matt Marlow, president of GREA. Uh, just like to thank the superintendent uh, President Rodriguez and the rest of the board to allow me to speak tonight. Um, I just want to say thank you. Uh, thank you for your service and your fortitude to be, um, on

042the board of education. It's not an easy job and, you know, it presents a lot of multi-faceted challenges. Um, I can just remember back when when you started this role, it may have been different for you coming in not knowing what to ex- expect. Um, but over the past 4 years as president, I've noticed, um, a tremendous amount of growth. Um, each of you learning and understanding the role. It's a complex job to do. Um, I'm seeing you build capacity within one another and getting better and better each time. And there's a lot of goal setting. So, I think you guys are on the right track and it's been great to see. Um, I'm noticing things more that you're asking questions. You're knowing what questions to ask. And you're also sharing more information, which is

043very helpful to the public. Um, and some of you are asking tough questions like a board member Moreno. She's like, are there any challenges? Like, uh, that's, you know, something that's not a lot of people would, you know, choose to do or say. It's just cuz they really want to know to make things better. So, thank you for being brave and asking tough questions. Um, I just want to say thank you for, you know, working hard to add to the educational experience experience of all of our scholars. I think that's always front first and foremost on your minds. Um, and also thank you for having confidence. I just see more that you're you're coming to the board meetings with confidence. There's more efficiency. And, um, just thank you for being the leaders of the district

044and also having that vision to lead where the community would like you to take them, um, as leaders of Grand Rapids Public Schools. So, thank you very much for your time and all your hard work. Appreciate it. Thank you very much. Next, we got Jane Nieman. And we got Lisa Lee on deck. Good evening, Dr. Robey, uh, board president Rodriguez, and other trustees members of the board. Welcome. Um, I mean, sorry, good evening. You know me, I'm Jane Nieman. I'm the vice president of GREA and a teacher at Union High School. Um, I wanted to address a couple of issues with you today. Uh, number one, uh, if you may have seen our social media and we also brought this before the board in a previous public comment, we would seriously like to challenge the

045board to change the public the board policy of 6100 to, um, make sure that a experienced educator is the chief bargainer for the district. We will be going into bargaining soon and preparing for those, um, meetings. And it would be great if we could meet, uh, before we get a lawyer involved to talk about our interests, both the district's and the bargaining unit's interests, and then bring the lawyer in when it comes down to actually bargaining the actual language. Um, I think that that would build trust and transparency. I think that that would be a better conversation and perhaps might bring us to bargain more quickly and more effectively in the best interests of students, staff, and families. Um, the other item I wish to bring to your attention are the 27L2 funds, I believe.

046In the previous state budget, money was allotted to the district that was supposed to be given back to bargaining unit employees to help offset the costs of health care, uh, retain employees, and, uh, that money as yet is still being bargained. We recently received, as of last Friday, a finally a response to our LOA for 27L funds, but I'm questioning whether or not the amount is correct. Uh, if you would please investigate how much was actually given by the state, how many employees are eligible for that, and if that actual amount in the LOA is accurate. That are those are my requests. Um, if that could be brought to the board's attention and Dr. Robey, if you could look into that, that would be great. Um, I know Michelle Dexter's on leave. So, um, I

047was going to be reaching out also to Michelle Singleton. I had a wonderful phone conversation with Shirley Taylor. Um, I've had some great conversations with Kelly Green, our Northwest Executive Director. So, I want to uplift them and their willingness to partner with GREA and GREA members. Um, I really appreciate having that positive working environment and being able to talk, uh, about issues. Uh, we have a lot of great employees in this district and they're intelligent, smart, and they want to make our process and our systems more effective. And I just want to uplift those people that we have in the district that really do a great job. Um, thank you for your time. Thank you very much. Lisa Lee is up next and then Micah Perkins is on deck. You you can start now. >>

048Okay. >> Yeah. Three minutes feels like a Christmas. So, I'm so excited. Um, I'm Lisa Lee and I've spoken to you briefly before, so thank you for hearing me again. Um, I am here to talk again about our vacancies in GRPS. Um, I did some research today on our website. Uh, there's 173 openings today. 67 of those are for special ed. Um, this is a recurring theme. They were not filling these positions and we're not getting people to support our students. Um, for the past 2 years, we have not had an executive director of special education, although Aaron Purdy has been a wonderful interim. She's really supportive. And as of the first year, we haven't had a director of special education. Um, that's a problem. We are asking people in supervisor positions to take on

049more workload. Um, as of March 6th, we have also not had a director of early childhood education. Um, we were supposed to get support from Dr. Lovelady Mitchell on the 13th. She was supposed to come in our PLC for early childhood. Um, we've been rolling out some really big incentives in early childhood and special education and doing a lot of inclusionary work, but that's kind of taken a pause because we don't have any direction and the people that are supposed to be doing that is pulled in so many different spots because of these vacancies. Um, there was 37 openings in staff. 26 of those are classroom teachers and then 30 of those are special education aides. Um, a role that is impossible to fill. Um, currently, compared there's only 29 vacancies in general ed staff,

050eight K6, six music, art, and PE, and 15 6-12 openings. It's a huge discrepancy. Um, we also have 22 openings in support staff, five instructional paraprofessionals, 10 English language learners, um, four bilingual parapros, and three behavior coaches making 89 student support vacancies for kids with disabilities, for special needs, uh, behavior management help, and, um, English language learning. These are our most vulnerable kids and we're consistently not supporting these by recruiting and making this a priority. I urge you as a board that you take this huge crisis. There's not There's a teacher shortage, right? There's always been a special education teacher shortage. It's huge. You have to go out and get these people. They're not going to come here. And right now, we're not the optics not great. Like, as in the news. Like, we need

051to get people to come here cuz our students are amazing and the people that are staying have a huge workload. And I have 3 seconds, so please help me. >> [laughter] >> Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, Micah Perkins is up next. Elise Horak is on deck. Good evening. Good to see you all again. My name is Micah Perkins. Um, I just wanted to say I have a deep sympathy for some of the work that you guys are doing as a as a trustee at a different institution here in town. Go up. All right. Challenges of being tall. Um, as a fellow trustee of another institution, I definitely can empathize with the challenges of being a board member, but also having a real job most of the time in your other time that really

052takes you out of a lot of stuff and doesn't give us a lot of time to get deep in the weeds in a lot of things, but one of the benefits of being a board member is that your purview is as deep as you decide it gets to be. Um, because ultimately, you are the custodians of this institution, the elected representatives of this community, and you get to decide where your purview ends. Um, I'm on I'm here on behalf of Dr. Lovelady Mitchell. Um, her voice has been conspicuously absent in the in the public conversation around her termination and around her separation from this institution. Um, we've definitely heard the institution side in the media. We're not getting the other side. Um, I think it is incumbent upon the board to hear her perspective on

053on how things are going. Uh, it does, and I can say this as a as a board member, it leaves you in difficult legal ground to have in the media one side of the story and not the other side of the story. It appears as though this decision has been made in public without input from everyone involved. Um, so my request to you, board members, is on the 27th to include that voice. Dr. Lovelady Mitchell has decades of experience in this district in this area. She's a leader in more than one way. And to deny her the opportunity to represent herself, uh, leaves you as board members, in my opinion, uh, without a complete picture. Thank you. Thank you very much. Um, Elise Horak and then Marcus DeAsia on deck. Hi. Sorry, I'm Hi. I'm

054Elise Horak. I'm realizing I forgot my paper I printed off of what I was going to say. So, I'm going to try to find it real quick and And I can't, I'm going to win. Thank you. Um good evening. My name is Alisa Horak and I am the seventh and eighth grade science teacher at CA Frost Middle High. I'm here to speak about the decision to cut teaching positions across GRPS next year. My school is being told that we're losing a teaching position that won't be replaced and I've heard that other schools are being told they're losing up to double digit numbers of teachers. Um at Frost, our enrollment is not declining. We have 19 teachers total. Um there's no extra positions. I'm the seventh and eighth grade science teacher, so one of a similar

055I'm being vague to respect their privacy, but a similar position that is the only position for a core tested subject is just not going to be at our school next year. Um so that means that um it's This is not a minor adjustment. It's the removal of a critical function from a functioning school. It means that everybody is going to be overworked. Almost everybody is going to be taking on new preps at the same time. We're going to have larger class sizes. That creates chaos, instability, and worse learning environments for students. Um I we're kind of panicking that next year looks like a mess for our school and I think we're affected um much less than some others. Um we already spend a smaller percentage of our budget on instruction than comparable districts. And now

056they're we're shrinking that even further. This is not a necessity. It's a choice to put students last. Um as I mentioned, although I share my personal experience at CA Frost, this loss of staff is going to impact other schools much more. Um at a recent board session that I attended, um board members uh Sarah Melton asked a question that um about how the cuts would impact progress at schools like Ottawa and Campus and Alger, how they're in that acronym and they're one of them was moving out of an acronym and they're all improving. Um and I really appreciate that you asked that question. Thank you. Um Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell's response was that teachers would fill in the gaps and take on more work. Um that's not a solution. That's the problem. That's the the problem

057that this causes. These staffing cuts will sabotage the project the progress being made at those schools and all GRPS schools. As board members, you are not passive observers. Accepting this is a failure of your responsibility to our children. You are supposed to advocate for students, not enable decisions that harm them. Because this will harm students. They are losing trusted adults. Teachers are being stretched beyond capacity. This will impact every school in this district. Um I have I have a hard time believing that with everything that we do that there's that removing this many teaching positions is the only option for our budget. I have a young son. I want him to attend GRPS schools. I believe in these communities. They are strong and unique and worth fighting for. And right now it feels like they

058are being actively undermined. Um this is not inevitable. It's a decision and it is the wrong one. Thank you. Thank you. All right, Marcus up next and then Lucas Leverett on deck. Good evening, everybody. Uh my name is Marcus DJ and I'm a mathematics consultant at Kent ISD. And prior to that uh I worked under Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell's um the last 2 years when she was a principal. So I'm here today to speak to my experience working under her leadership. Um when Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell arrived at our school, the culture was at times loosely structured um in ways that didn't consistently serve students. She brought a new level of clarity and accountability that centered students' best interests and she really was the grown-up in our room. That wasn't always easy and some staff chose to

059leave, but from my perspective, those changes were necessary to create a stronger uh more student-focused environment. What stood out most was not just that she held people accountable, but how she developed leadership. She intentionally created opportunities for us as staff to grow as leaders. And through professional learning, um especially around collaborative thinking and leadership, she didn't just train us, but she gave us the space to practice, reflect, and apply those skills in real time. Our staff meetings became places where we learned how to think together and not just receive information. She distributed leadership in ways that was both empowering and purposeful. And that experience fundamentally shaped how I understand systems change and leadership today. And it directly contributed to my path into my current role. So in my experience, Dr. Love-Lady's Love-Lady Mitchell is a

060leader who both holds high expectations and invests in people's growth, always with students at the center. So thank you for the time to speak tonight. Thank you. >> Thank you. All right, Lucas Leverett and then Francis Neville on deck. Lucas Leverett. Well, well, well. What a difference 2 years makes. Leon Hendrix was fired 2 years ago. A factor at the time was the conduct of Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell. And now her apparently boundless toxicity may finally be getting addressed. And let's not leave diversity unmentioned. We're also seeing Bridget Chaney in the headlines. It's a start, but the story just gets more disgusting with each layer of the onion. Here's what's funny about all this. A small vocal set of sycophants have always tried to paint all of us as racists when we question bad leaders. We

061have one of them running around pitching a wild-eyed conspiracy that somehow people like me, President Rodriguez, and others are secretly working for the DeVoses as agents to attempt to destroy public education. Truly loony stuff. It's much simpler than that. As you can clearly see by just comparing two other leaders of color. One, Larry Johnson, has been allowed to get away with almost everything, including threatening a parent. The other, Leon Hendrix, was fired for not being a loyalist. It's not about race. It's about misdeeds. And who's getting ignored while lies are conjured up about others. I recently went viral on a TikTok from a guy in Kansas City. With over 4 million views of me taking racist police to the woodshed, it included tens of thousands of invitations to the cookout in the comments. While I

062appreciate the sentiment, that's not my cookout and I don't need to eat. I'm just here to cook. I don't have anything to prove and I never did. I don't care what color, shape, or gender corruption presents with, only that they stop shortchanging our educators and our kids. Together, we in the community are demanding a GRPS that values the fleeting time our kids get in school instead of slow-walking change for the sake of egos or election cycles. A GRPS that ends self-segregation as a habit and allows kids in neighborhoods to partake of enriched education in their own community instead of denying them that privilege just to preserve bragging rights and placements on superficial national ranking lists. A GRPS that isn't run by people whose first question is what sorority somebody attended or how to protect and

063favor family members. A GRPS that doesn't give retro raises to leaders that are up for dismissal, especially when they already make five times the median income of our residents and our teachers. We're finally seeing the cracks in the power struggle. Accountability emerging for bad ideas and expensive failures. Progress is happening, folks, and I encourage everybody to keep up the good fight. And to the board members that have our back, thank you. Francis Neville up next. Yvonne Jackson on deck. Can everyone hear me? Am I okay? All right. Good evening, Dr. Roby, President Rodriguez, and members of the board. My name is Francis Neville and I appreciate the opportunity to speak with you tonight. I would first like to thank Chastity Bell for calling me at the end of last summer asking me if I wanted

064to teach global technology studies. And to thank Eric Vander Leest for his time, our conversation, and emails. And finally, a thank you to Jennifer Brock for sharing district goals and state standards. I'm grateful for the opportunity to write the curriculum for this course. Not only because of its impact on students, but because it allowed me to contribute to the broader instructional direction of GRPS. Over the past several years, my work has moved steadily towards district-level systems, alignment, and long-term strategy. Whether I'm designing curriculum, supporting early childhood transitions, or building hands-on learning experiences, my focus has consistently been on creating structures that support coherence across buildings. I'm deeply invested in the question, how do we build a district where every student in every school experiences stability, clarity, and high-quality instruction? That question is what drives my

065work. I've had the privilege of seeing firsthand the strengths of our students and the dedication of our educators. What they need and what they deserve are systems that are predictable, aligned, and supportive. When we create these those systems, our staff can focus on what they do best, teaching. And our students can focus on what they do best, learning. As GRPS continues to navigate change, growth, and new opportunities, I believe the most important work ahead is strengthening the structures that hold the district together from early childhood through graduation. That means alignment of curriculum, clarity of expectations, consistent instructional practices, and a shared vision that is felt in every building, not just in a written document. My commitment is to that systems level work. I care deeply about the long-term stability and strategic direction of this district,

066and I am preparing myself to contribute at the highest levels of leadership. The work I do now in curriculum, alignment, and early childhood systems is part of a much larger trajectory toward district-wide impact. I'm grateful for the opportunities I've had to serve GRPS, and I look forward to continuing to support the district's vision for strong, coherent, and student-centered systems. Thank you for your time, your leadership, and your dedication to the students and families of Grand Rapids Public Schools. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Yvonne Jackson, and then D [snorts] Jones on deck. Good evening. Can you hear me okay? My name is Yvonne Jackson, and for full disclosure and transparency, uh Dr. Brandy Love-Lady Mitchell and I are related. We married into the same family. Uh however, aside from a few milestone celebrations, most of

067our familiar relationship has been limited. I'm here to talk about my professional relationship with Dr. Uh Love-Lady Mitchell and what I observed before we became family. I saw uh Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell way back in the Kentwood School District years ago, where she created a space for students that could not learn in the traditional way. In her own time, she created an after-school program that was evidenced by some of the friends that I had in the district who said, "Had it not been for Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell, that their child would have been left behind." I also became familiar with the work of Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell when I sat on a committee at Kent Intermediate District for about 4 years, where I was able to observe her up close. The passion that she brought every day for

068the students, even before she became a leader. I also watched her become a leader and work in a leadership role and saw some of the changes that were implemented at Kent Intermediate District. I also saw Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell in a social justice setting, where I served on a committee, and she was highly sought to be a panelist and a speaker, and someone who advocated for children. She has a proven track record in the work that she's done, and the work that I hope that she continues to do. Every credential, every accolade that Dr. Brandy Love-Lady Mitchell has, she earned it. I can also tell you that upon completing her doctorate degree, we talked about some of the opportunities that have presented themselves. She held steadfast that she wanted to come back and serve in the

069community that she was from. That was her goal. I didn't try to talk her out of it because I knew at some point that it was useless. That's where her heart was, and that's what she wanted to do. So, you can imagine that after seeing a media campaign for someone that I have watched up close for years be tried in the public was very uh disturbing. Another point is that I would hope that the district saw some of the things that I have seen. >> that's time. I'm going to appeal to you that when you make a decision that is not made on one incident, but on the totality >> Thank you, that's time. All right, D Jones. Marshall Booker Jr. on deck. How you all doing? I'm D Jones, pastor, entrepreneur, and visionary. I

070like the uh thing that the older lady said about curricula and uh global tech. Sorry, I don't mean to call you older. Just I I just don't know how to address it. But, uh I like what she was speaking about global tech because as you guys know, I spoke at the United Nations I see myself as a global leader. I I do know I'm going to be a global leader around e-sports gaming as I spoke at the United Nations about e-sports gaming and how it can actually get our districts and people out of poverty. Uh just recently, I was at Ferris State University. Uh I know the coaches as uh we hosted the largest e-sports regional finals, and I used to go to FSU. I spoke directly to those coaches about scholarship opportunities and being

071able to connect GRPS to Ferris to be able to build a sustainable, eco-friendly pipeline for uh e-sports and gaming. Also, I was able to go to Western Michigan University. I spoke to the uh assistant director who controls all of the programming there, and they are also trying to partner with the district on e-sports programming, curricula, all of this stuff. So, I've been going around the community, around the state, driving to different colleges as I'm canvassing and collecting signatures to get cash out of politics cuz I'm tired of our big politicians being bought, and I'm tired [snorts] of just the uh corruption in our system. And so, I've been able to connect with these colleges and universities to really be able to help our schools because I'm very passionate about e-sports. I just learned that we

072have 11 high schools. I would love for us to have e-sports at all of the high schools. Even connected with uh Brody Larson, who's the coordinator for our middle school. Uh also, uh there's a middle school program. There's literally elementary and K through 12 e-sports, and I am literally trying to be sure that uh fifth graders through 12th graders can actually have an opportunity to grow into this ecosystem because kids play the games as a young people, and I want them to be able to as they can dribble a basketball and they can throw a football, that they can actually be able to do the same thing with e-sports and gaming as some people aren't as gifted as others, and some people have health issues. And so, e-sports is an alternative. I'm a very good

073basketball player. I led my team to the state championship when I was a hooper. So, I'm very, very good. People don't have to tell me about sports, but I know how e-sports can bring synergy. I know how I can actually it does full ride scholarships, and as students are getting into streaming and gaming and all these other things, we're trying to enrich our community. Uh also, with the e-sports stuff, I'm just really excited that you guys listened to me and that Union High School's e-sports program is actually bigger than Ottawa's. They actually just started, but their lab is being substantially used and substantially used, and it just puts a lot of joy in my heart because I've rode bikes here, I've walked here, I've lost cars, I've lost a lot of things, but I never

074lost the vision to increase and enrich our students at GRPS, and I'm just very happy that you guys have listened to me. And this year, we're looking to bring 80-plus schools to the DeVos Place at the end of the year. So, I would love you guys' sponsorship again as you guys sponsored the last regional finals. Thank you. Thanks, D. Thank you. Marshall Booker Jr., and then Frederica Brown on deck. Good evening. My name is Marshall Booker Jr. I'm here to uh to fully support, first of all, our scholars, Dr. Roby, Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell, and as well as you guys, our Board of Education. Um In closing, I'm asking that uh you consider giving Dr. Love-Lady Mitchell another another opportunity to continue to lead our Grand Rapids Public Schools. Um And lastly, thank you all for

075your dedication. I know the things that you do is not easy, but just thank you for your time, your talents, and your efforts to continue to build GRPS. Thank you. Thank you. Frederica Brown, Halia Thompson Hardy on deck. Hello. Where's the timer? There it is. Okay. Um good evening, Board. Um I would like to um greet you all. My name is Frederica Brown. I'm a proud proud parent of Shawmut Hills and Sayer Frost um students. I would like to talk to you about the power of of parents. Um We have parents in this district that are really, really dedicated and are powered up and ready to make change. So much so, um I would like to introduce you to PEPPER. Um that stands for Parents for Education, Power, Action, and Change. We are parents and

076care- caregivers who care about education. All aspects of education. Not only for our children, but the education of our parents and community. We are educating our parents on the power of their voice. We're educating them on how we can make change together. We stand in power and we are powered up. Ready to disrupt policies and practices that do not that do more harm than help our children. We also stand in purpose. We are dedicated to purposely be present and to use our collective voice and experiences to help create the change we want to see. And lastly, we are about action. We will stay the course. We will stand together in solidarity and take actions to have our voices heard. I invite you all to come to see get to know I'm sorry. I invite you

077all to come get to know more about us. Um we will be hosting a spring mixer at our U of C offices on April 30th, so mark your calendars from 6:00 to 8:00 and invite you all to more about to know more about parent our parent committees. Which are special education, but I would like to say education and special services cuz I don't want to say the first thing about my child's education is special. Um family engagement and community outreach is our second committee. Black families and lastly, school boards, budgets and education. We have parents. We have We have heard from parents and the caregivers in community. We now ask that you listen to us. We ask now ask the district to hear and listen to what we have to say. Thank you so much.

078All right. Aleah Thompson-Hardy and then Lawana Agnew on deck. Hello. My name is Aleah Thompson-Hardy. It's okay. [laughter] It's all right. Yes. Um I come to you today as a concerned parent of a student that attends one of your schools, Kent Hills. As of March 25th, I had an incident that my child was assaulted by a pencil. This blood broke blood. My mother went to pick him up from school. I was never informed of this. I didn't receive a phone call from a principal, from a teacher, from anybody on the playground, and this occurred on the playground. Um my [snorts] mom noticed dried up blood on the side side of my child's head, so of course at that time she questioned him what happened. He informed her that he was on the swing. A child

079came up to him, asked him to get off. He said no, then the child chose to assault him with the pencil. I emailed the board on the 25th of March. I got a response from Sarah Melton on March 29th saying, "I'm sorry this is happening. We take this seriously. If someone has not reached out to you about this situation in the next day or two, please let us know." Here we are today on April 13th. I still have yet to hear anything. I followed up with Sarah on April 6th. Still have yet to hear anything. She said she was going to put it on the desk again. I have reached out to Kelly Green as being the director over Kent Hills. I still have yet to hear anything. As I stated, my child was assaulted

080with a pencil and this caused blood >> [laughter] >> to come out. So it wasn't just like, you know, a simple kid to kid thing cuz I understand that. But I also reached out to Larry Johnson because of him being, you know, in charge of safety. I know from my experience when I attended school, we always had, you know, officer, a safety office, something of that sort. From my understanding, his school lacks that does not have that as an option. And now we have a student running around assaulting with pencils. And the reason why I am extremely concerned because the prior year the same student, he poked three other students, including my son, in the classroom with what? A pencil. So, you know, this situation continues to occur and I'm starting to wonder like how

081is GRPS dealing with this type of situation? Like do we have behavior techs inside the school? What are we doing to make sure that these type of things don't occur and then get swept under the rug because I feel like nobody's following up with me. Nobody's listening to me, even the principal of the school. When I told him, "Okay, if you're not going to do your part, well, I guess I'm just going to have to press charges." His response to me was he's a Honestly, I I don't care how old a kid is because we have seen incidents on the news where a minor and they hurt multiple people with weapons. And I mean, I just feel like if somebody is displaying that type of behavior, it could go further, so we might want to

082stop it while we're ahead. And I appreciate for you I appreciate you listening to me tonight and I hope that I'll be hearing from you guys. Thank you. All right. Finally, Lawana Agnew. Hi. My name is Lawana Agnew. Good evening, board. Um I'm just here to advocate for my grandson. My daughter was just talking about his situation and then I was the one that picked him up. I wrote the note. They told me the president I mean the principal had a meeting and he had to get kids on the bus. Next day, no call. I'm just worried about the kids' safety and, you know, just wanting to go to school and feel safe and I don't want my grandson to feel like he don't want to go to school. I just want him to feel

083safe and happy on his school days and I feel like he's being bullied. I think it's something that should be done and the parents need to be talked to. It's just something that has to happen. I just want my grandson to be happy and learn. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And we will we will be reaching out to you, too. We don't usually make a habit of responding, but I wanted to just ensure that someone will be reaching out to you. So, thank you. All right. And that is it for public comment this evening. Next, we're moving into our action items, uh which include first is our purchasing agenda. Uh colleagues, is there any discussion on our purchasing agenda this evening? Questions or comments? All right. Seeing none, uh do I have a motion

084to to approve this purchasing agenda? So moved. Support. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed, same sign. All right. That motion passes. Next, we have the KIAAB annual election and we've got Secretary Kilpatrick with that. Oh, great. Uh here we go. Hang on 1 second. That's okay. All right. So, I'm just presenting the ballot of Board of Directors. Um and we will vote yay or nay on this ballot. Um the four from We'll select the four on the list. Uh they are Aaron Lebots of Kenowa Hills, Ann Hamming of Kent ISD, Bill Saxton of East Grand Rapids, and Kelly Kermode of Forest Hills. Um being that our own Trustee Boucek served last time, I'm wondering if there's anything you'd like to share about this opportunity or what we're voting

085on? Um two of the people we are voting on tonight are serving currently, so they have experience. Um I don't know the other two that are on that list. I All of these people are on current Boards of Education. Um and just for the future, knowing the timing of this, I would encourage um members of our board to try to get on this board. Um I feel that since we are one of the biggest schools in the ISD, it is meaningful to have one of us represented on that board. And I know they're quite often looking for people to step up, so um next cycle, I would just encourage one of you to step up if possible. Thank you for that. All right. All right. So, then I think we can probably do Do we

086need to do roll call or Voice vote. I I can make a motion if you want. Yeah. I move to um elect Aaron Lebots, Ann Hamming, Bill Saxton, and Kelly Kermode to serve on the KIAAB Board of Directors. Do I have a second? >> Second. Thank you. All right, folks. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. Aye. Any opposed, same sign. That motion passes. All right. Next, we've got our consent agenda groupings. Um is there any questions or comments on the consent agenda, colleagues? All right. Seeing none, we will move into a vote. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So moved. Support. That was Williams. Thank you. Okay. All right. All those in favor, say aye. Aye. >> Aye. Any opposed, [clears throat] same sign. All right, the consent agenda passes.

087All right, finally we are moving into our into my board president announcements. So I want to just follow up on what I brought up with uh Treasurer Moreno um for finance. So um I'm excited to share um and I know this is work that we've all been kind of working towards especially the finance committee which is a school budget 101 workshop. And so Dr. This did go out earlier today. Yeah, I got it. >> it? Okay. Okay. All right. Um so so it did go out I had to look. Yeah, yeah. >> [laughter] >> It did go out today. So it is a a parent workshop about school funding. So school budget 101. It is through our our family and community engagement office. It's going going to take place Wednesday April 29th from 5:30 to

0887:00 p.m. at GRPS University. Um and so this will also be in our our minutes if if folks well on YouTube for those watching live as well. But this is just a great uh time to get involved with what you know all the budget entails get more familiar with the process and it's it's honestly always a work in progress right throughout the year. There's never really like a a good place to to start and stop. So you just kind of got to dive right in. So I'm excited for the school budget 101. And then secondly we are colleagues um planning our next board retreat and I know that Trustee Bucek had a conflict for June 13th. Um which is the the date that I suggested. And so I am wondering um if Sorry, I'm pulling

089up my calendar. I'm wondering if that following um Saturday the 20th would work for folks. I just thought it'd be easier to just kind of go through and see if the if doesn't work for you. Oh my gosh. We all have busy lives. Okay, I understand. Okay, so I let me do this. I will put out another doodle poll and I would love for all of us to participate. I think it's it's near impossible to have nine 10 more right Dr. Barajas included in that as well to have all of our uh schedules align. Right, the stars don't often align but we'll make sure we we get a date and if someone happens to miss it just like Secretary Kilpatrick will catch you up. But I just want to make sure that we all have

090a chance to to do that work. And then thinking ahead we're going to start looking at some uh some firms to start our superintendent search. I know some folks have had thoughts on you know looking at at multiple partners. I know that Ray and Associates has been great to us in the past and and currently but I know that folks want to have some agency and some choice in in who we're choosing and I think that's great. So I will put that on a upcoming board meeting or work session excuse me. And that is all I have. We're >> Excuse me, sorry. Could we look at weekdays too? We could. Yeah. Yeah, thank you. All right, so next we're moving into our superintendent comments. All right, so good evening once again everyone and welcome back

091to the spring of our school year. We've had kind of a busy day today. We've had lots of really interesting activities and I hope our superintendent scholars spoke on the opportunity to talk about um the the conversation the really rich conversation around AI and implications of it. And what I have always appreciated about our young people is their their thoughts and how they think about things very differently and push us as adults to think about things in a different way. And we were hosting our elected officials including several of our board members and many of them commented on the just the transparency and things that young people say about how AI has many many benefits but then also some of the detractions and how do we collectively go through this process together as this is

092a um technological revolution as we are experiencing. And I even learned some things today around the implications of um how where those plants and information centers are and that was a new learning for me. So I'm always appreciative of that. For our general public we are also working on this with a consortium of other school districts because as you know AI is very layered and in the last two years it's been on the forefront and it gets more and more advanced as um and and harder to tell what's real and what's not. And some of the things that we are trying to make sure that we know from systems work what are the policies, what are the laws, what are the things that will support education and that thirst for knowledge but then not put

093children or even our staff in vulnerable positions. And so we are hosting actually tomorrow four other districts and we've been working together for the last six months around AI and we have everybody from teachers to administrators to technology to also legal support services because as you can imagine AI is not just a one-size-fits-all and it has multiple kind of entrails that impact our our work. Um thank you for lifting up the school funding budget 101. And as this is basically from the request of our board and our community to have a better understanding of how school budgets work. They are very layered and there are some things that you are required to do and then there's some things that are where you have flexibility. And budgeting does not just start in the new year in

094January. We're doing budgeting all year long and it actually begins with our fall count. And I don't know that people always realize that that that fall count and then there's several kind of mile markers between what happens in the fall and then that final budget that's proposed in June that gets to a school budget. And sometimes there's lots of flexibility and sometimes you have to make some difficult choices around budget. And so what we would like to invite people in there and as my team shared the flyer did go out tonight. It's April 29th 5:30 to 7:00 p.m. This is the first time that we're doing this and we really do do want to encourage people to come out and learn more about the budget process, offer feedback and so that we can get better

095about how do we share information with community and not looking to make people CFOs or any of those other kind of things but just to really have a better understanding of what is school finance, how are decisions made, where our dollars encumbered and unencumbered because I think that's hugely important and that's also part of the learning and growing for our community. The other thing I want to lift up this is our first day back in our auditorium. I am excited to be back and I hope that people have noticed how beautiful this auditorium is and this um was not done outside of our own GRPS staff. And so I want to give kudos and a shout-out to the millwork of our own staff. Mr. Kevin Abrahams, Mr. Brad Leonard and Brian Stan Sanborn created right

096in our shop the this new podium and barrier to offer both safety and for our staff and as well as our board as well as our community. We also have listened to our community to have more open spaces so that we are more um handicap wheelchair friendly. And so we've taken out a couple of the first couple of chairs so that if people do have some additional needs that they can also participate and be here. But lifting up those those staff members I thought was important. It did not cost us much. I mean if we had bid this out it would have been several thousand dollars. But this was right in house and so it speaks to the talent of our staff and it it's beautiful work. Um citywide art fair. That is coming up

097next week and we look forward and invite our community to participate in the citywide art fair. It's scholars from across our district displaying their talents and from variety of mediums um both paint and sculpture and other kind of mediums digital medium and it's fascinating. It's downtown at Western um on the Western campus. And so I wanted to make sure I lifted that up as well. And that concludes my announcements. Thank you so much. All right, next we are moving into board member comments. Secretary Kilpatrick do you want to call them off the roll? >> Sure. Trustee Bucek. No comment tonight. No comment for me either. So moving on to trusty Melton. Yeah, I just want to thank the people who are coming to give us um feedback and for the board for all the work

098that we're doing right now. It's just a lot of extra, a lot of things going on. Um and I'm looking forward to this season of busyness because it's also one of celebration. Trustee Moreno. Um just echoing uh upliftment of the legislative brunch we had today. Speci- uh plus one to everything already said, but I think uh I want us to continue to push uh and think about, you know, how do we involve our scholars uh in opportunities for for action and leadership and a lot of conversations around potential policy even. Uh and so I'm really interested to figure out, you know, how do we get our scholars in those spaces. Uh they're the ones living these things. Uh and so I really would love to have their voice more centered uh in a different way.

099Uh and so I'm really interested in that. I think that speaks a little bit to your friend today with uh kid speak and so I'm excited to participate in the second year for that and then I'm just also reflecting on uh the presentation from Key Connect. Yeah, I've been uh just kind of musing in some part of my brain around uh the information that Sal shared with us uh and really thinking around the prompt um you know, what what's one item that we're going to choose to move forward especially for the next school year. Uh I think that data we saw was was really hard and rough. Uh and so I'm really interested for us to kind of move something forward based off of that that learning. So uh Sarah, you know, I really appreciate

100you talking about uh academics committee and so how you know, how do those two things meet together with the rest of our discussion. I'm sorry. I want to also just use this time to talk about uh how we did in uh governance norm number one so we can we can start again, but Eleanor or Trustee Moreno, I'm going to call you your first name. Um I think you showcased exactly what that governance norm is by everything that you just said. If you want to add more, please feel free, but I think you hit the nail on the head. Uh no, I actually like I said last time, I really appreciate this practice uh and I think for myself I was thinking about like, oh, how do I use a norm to like uplift you know,

101the thing we're practicing. So uh always think student centered for sure, but you know, I I hope that effort all of us. I know we're uh dealing with other, you know, outside factors that influence the experience of our scholars, uh but if we can continue to uplift and center them, uh you know, that that's our work. Mhm. All right. Did you want us to start again? >> Yeah. Okay. Trustee Bucek, did you want to speak to students centered? >> have much to say. I do think that just stating it at the beginning added to what I was kind of listening for if that makes sense. >> Mhm. Yeah. Um I I think I do want to add just a little bit of based on what we heard from our athletic directors um and and personally

102speaking to the swim teams, uh my son does participate on the swim team and he he's been working at this very hard. He did make it to state this year, but he was one of a group of 30 who made it to state, right? And that those young men who were also on the team working hard and some learning how to swim all forged a beautiful family and brotherhood. Um and and so I think it's just important that yes, we're celebrating those who may make some milestones and accomplishments, but every scholar athlete on our teams deserves celebration. So glad they were sharing more about that tonight. Um back to you, Trustee Melton. Yeah, no, I'm I'm good. You can go on. >> Yeah. And then Trustee Moreno all set. Trustee Van Dyke, it's your turn.

103Yeah, thank you. Um so a couple of things, um I talked last time about being excited to get to read in a couple of classrooms um and I was able to do that and so just to shout out to the teacher the individual teachers who invited me to do that as well as the um K-5 coordinators, several of whom organized that as well. Um it was it was so much fun. Um I also wanted to thank um teacher um Salen Turan. Um she invited us to um the Grand Rapids Montessori senior showcase um and I wasn't really sure what to expect walking into the gym um but it was really cool to hear specifically how the students chose their projects. Um so if you're not familiar, um they they get to do a senior project

104that you research and then they're prepared to present it and so you just walk up to their table and they're like, let me tell you about it. Um and so I heard from students about um AI which I mentioned today. Um another student who um who experiences a lot of social anxiety, um they just had kind of a note and then you got to look through their um graphic design work that they did. So just really making it really accessible for them to be able to participate in a unique way. Um and there was a student who um was just really interested in cars and I asked him, um you know, are you going to do something with this in the future? Um and he said, no, I just got to do this with my

105grandpa. He taught me about cars. Um and so I wanted to, you know, I wanted to share that. Um and so it was it was just really interesting to hear the students and what what they were interested in. Um so just just really grateful for opportunities like those. VP Waite. Thank you everyone for showing up tonight. Um So I got to I got the privilege to go to the Econ Club luncheon today and uh hear Ron Clark speak, but most even more exciting was there was a essay contest that five of our GRPS students, five out of was maybe 13 students there uh across the city, but five of our students were there getting honored and one of them won first place. So I want to shout out those students who were there today. I

106was happy to represent our our board because everyone else was probably at the legislative luncheon. So I got a good picture and got to meet some of our scholars. Um I also learned about a partnership with Huntington Bank and Ron Clark Academy with our city. I'm looking forward to hearing more about that. I know Dr. Obi can't wait to tell but I got a little snippet. Um Shout out to D. Jones for not losing the vision for e-sports. I appreciate every board meeting he has attended. He talked about it and I'm I'm just proud to see our district working alongside him and others to um to make that happen for our students. Um and I do want to shout out the athletics. I really loved the story about the basketball term swimmers. Um Mhm. That's

107dope. That's That's like one of those sports movies that I want to see. Like I hope it's at least in my mind it's one of those sports movies. Um and they're going to win a state championship and they could Okay. >> [laughter] >> And um last I I thank you Dr. Obi for talking about the woodwork. Now I thought y'all probably ordered this from like I don't know. I'm like, damn, this is nice. Until I learned that our educators built this. Um I'm really impressed and I'm thankful and I did well on my norms. I stayed student centered in my thoughts about, you know, my notes that I took um when I'm hearing public comment and um I want to uplift that the on the other side where it had kind of bullets the norms.

108Um just monitoring student progress. I thought hard about student progress when I thought I heard about athletics because our students do show up to school to learn, but no, they don't have option to go to school, you know, but once they get there, they they have agency in how they participate in their education. And that does show up in our extracurriculars, in our sports and to see the growth in our programs is it really speaks to um our district's works to to make children feel welcome and comfortable to take out like take those um big steps to try not only try out for sports, but participate and just see themselves doing things like wrestling and things like that. So I'm I'm happy today to just hear about about that. Thank you. >> Thank you. Trustee

109Williams. I'd like to thank everyone for coming out sharing public comment with us. We understand that um uh um you all may be getting part of the story and we can't always address it for you, but um thank you for coming and share your opinion with us regarding the things that you are hearing um whether 100% true or not, we appreciate it and um uh I want to um uplift uh DeMarcus McKnight. I had that noted at our previous meeting. Um so salute to him and all of our student athletes. Um and then with regards to our norms, uh particularly with regards to tonight's norm, I want to uplift how we were very uh student centered with regards to our budget. Um we we talk about our dollars, but we spent dollars um and approved

110dollars tonight specifically around support materials, um around summer school. We uh approved funding with regards to instructional supplies, equipment and services. And then um additionally, uh our bond project dollars which actually go to improve the spaces that are students and our our staff are in on a daily basis. And then lastly around our uplifting of the sports tonight, that again addresses the well-being of a child when they come into our um institutions for learning. So, I appreciate that. And then lastly with regards to our norms, I do want to encourage our uh board members to remember that under point three and point seven, we do say that we will have um we will share information and no surprises. I do think we sometimes forget about that and I encourage us to make sure that all

111board members are informed as we are making changes and that we are doing things. And so, um I I do want to uplift that as well. And lastly, Trustee Williamson. Thank you. Um two things on my mind um that do focus on our our board norm that we're prioritizing tonight. Um just a lot of appreciation that we have the academic committee again. Um so much of what we do there's so many things in that we do, but the academic standards, the academic expectations, ensuring that the curriculum and the practices that are reaching our students are as great as they can possibly be. Um I don't think we never spend enough time on that. So, I just want to thank the I'm not on that committee, but I want to thank the members of that committee

112and the district staff working on that uh to make sure we're we're realizing the vision and the hope of what this uh committee will be now that we've restored it. Um and then the other thing I just want to I don't often do this, but I want to thank the the comments uh that we heard tonight around special education staffing in in terms that uh we the in terms of our employment in the district isn't for the sake of itself. It's all it's all for the well-being of the students and in particularly in special education, ensuring that we we have the staff capacity, we have the support um for those educators to stay and grow and continue with our district um all for the support of our students as they come come through our our

113institution as they go on to great success afterwards. Uh making sure that we have that foundation for them, I think is really important. So, thank you for the comments and uh around that tonight and reminding us of it, but that's all. Thank you. Thank you. And um I'm going to just say one one more thing. Um I'm going to speak on our norms as well, but um I guess just in in the in the spirit of of openness and transparency and honesty, right? I I think when I think about being student-centered in our work, of course, it's it's athletics. Um and of course, it's you know, all the money that we spend with our facilities as well and um you know, our curriculum. But I also think that you know, we we talk about our

114our vacancies and we talk about all of these things that GRPS has to improve on and and I I don't disagree. But I also think and and I think we we can be honest about our challenges, but also uplift GRPS at the same time. And I think what we see right now on social media and in the news, it's all sensationalized and it's all kind of you know, I wouldn't say blown out of proportion, but it's just to Trustee Williams' point, it's half the it's half the story, right? And so, I think we all have a responsibility to just be mindful of what we say, what we do, how we promote GRPS, how we fail to promote GRPS because the reason we have so many vacancies is yes, there's teacher shortages, but people hear what

115what you know, folks say about GRPS and they say, "Oh man, it's got all these problems." So many districts have problems. I work at a different district and we have similar problems, right? We have similar problems in terms of of budget cuts because funding for schools is just it's not getting any higher, right? And so, it's not just a uniquely GRPS problem, but the way we talk about it makes it seem like GRPS is the only district that has these issues. And so, I just want us to be mindful in in the excuse me, in the spirit Hello. Oh my gosh. Who did that? Um no, just in the spirit of staying student-centered, right? I think the way we we present GRPS is absolutely, you know, tied into that, right? Because we want to stay

116student-centered, but we can't stay student-centered if everything we say is well, you know, it's not good enough for our children and and we're working on it and I I'm really proud of this board. I'm proud of Dr. Roby for doing the work that we're doing. Um but it takes all of us, right? And so, how are we promoting GRPS out in the community? Um and so, that that's just something that I wanted to share as well. And I know Dr. Roby had one more thought. And so, um please forgive me. I I wanted to make sure and checking with um Principal Nelson, we were at the same event um which was why I was delayed this evening. Um Trustee Wade mentioned that the Ron Clark Ron Clark was here today in Grand Rapids and representing

117Ron Clark Academy. Um if you're familiar with Ron Clark Academy, it's in Atlanta, Georgia and um has done transformational work with um achievement and culture and climate. And tonight, we were awarded three of our schools, Burton Elementary, Burton Middle, and U Prep approximately 25 teachers with the experience of going down to Atlanta, Georgia to the Ron Clark Academy. One about it is that they didn't know it until tonight. I I didn't get a chance to stay because I knew I had to get here for the board meeting, but I wanted to lift that up. And if you just look up Ron Clark Academy, he's a little off the beaten path where he stands on tables and chairs, but it is a phenomenal experience and it's about how do you connect with kids in a way

118that looks different and how do we reinvigorate education and get excited about education. And so, more information to come, but that was just announced this evening um downtown. And so, we are excited for those teachers. I wasn't sure if they had made the announcement, but um Principal Nelson did share that they had made the announcement. So, those 25 educators will have that experience for professional learning. And so, thank you to Huntington Bank as well as the Wege Foundation that is sponsoring this. So, it will not cost GRPS anything. So, I want to repeat that. It does not cost GRPS anything. So, we're excited for those educators and I thought that would be a good way to end our our meeting. All right. With that being said, we are adjourned for the evening. Thank you everyone.

119Say it again. No, if like Like yeah, you are not [snorts] the only one. Yeah.