001I would like to call this board meeting to order. Today is Monday, December 8th, 2025. We welcome and appreciate your presence at this meeting of the Grand Rapids Public School Board of Education. We respectfully request individuals silence their cell phones and refrain from clapping, cheering, or making audible comments during the meeting. If you wish to formally address the board, please fill out the comment card, which is located at the entrance, and place the completed card in the provided basket. Um, I will ask that tonight all cards be turned in by the end of our celebrations portion of the agenda and I will determine the time limit at that time. It looks like it'll be three minutes. Can I please have Trusty Rodriguez call our role? >> Absolutely. Thank you. >> Trusty Melton, >> present. Sorry.
002Trusty Moreno >> present. >> Trusty Rodriguez here. Trusty Williams >> present. >> Trusty Williamson >> present. >> Trusty Davis >> present. >> Trusty Kilpatrick >> present. >> VP Wade >> present. >> President Buchek >> here. >> We have a quorum. >> Can I get a motion to approve the agenda? >> So moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. First up is our legislative presentation. We're going to invite Representative Glennville to the floor. Hello. >> Hi. >> Good to see you. >> I owe you a text. >> Good to see you again. >> Hey, how are you? Good to see you. >> Good. Good. >> Good to see you. >> Oh, that's right. Do I have to push the button? Oh, no, I don't. Okay. Well, good
003evening everyone. Let me see what we got here. Look at that. So, um, thank you so much for having me here today. Again, uh, State Representative Carol Glennville, for folks in the audience, I don't know, are we we have folks at home, too? Um, are we on Okay. All right. So, um, and I I asked um to to be able to address you this evening to just kind of go over uh a high level vision of the school a budget. Um, and I I know there's probably going to be a lot of questions and my staff is here as well. So, if there's anything we can't um cover this evening, we're happy, of course, to um connect with you offline as well and answer any questions you might have or help you work through any
004of the processes. Um so what we're going to be looking at this evening is um you know right what it says here a little bit of an overview and the funding changes that we saw um some of the increases in new investments some of the reductions and eliminations um and a little bit of the boilerplate and policy changes that we are um confronting um at this time. So again, this is a very, as you well know, this is a hundreds of pages document and I tried to pick, you know, the the top line for you. So um let me see. So first of all, overview and funding changes. So budget makes appropriations for those um just in to the state's 537 local school districts, 285 public schoolmies which are our charter schools of course and
005the 56 intermediate school districts for a total of roughly 24.1 billion. And um what we saw this year um in the budget that I think uh everybody was very excited about was the foundation allowance increase. Um there was an increase a gross increase of um 59.3 or 593.5 million um which averages out across the districts to roughly $442 per pupil um which was the increase in the per in the foundation allowance. I know you all are very familiar with us because you've just been through your budget negot or your contract negotiations. Um and we'll talk a little bit more about that foundation allowance when we get to the boiler plate changes and some of the other things. Um but on paper and dollar-wise this what it looks like. We went from um 9,68 to 10,50
006per pupil. Um and that uh amount also went with cyber schools which in the past have not received the same amount also um our PS. So um we increased there was quite a significant increase for some of our um other schools. And then the Mipers funding reduction, and this what um kind of plays into this foundation allowance piece. Um we reduced the state support for MIPERS by 659.3 million. Um so so that weighed against the foundation allowance. Like I said, we'll talk about that a little bit more um later on. Another key piece to funding for our schools this year was the transportation aka road funding package. And um so the way that that worked out roughly for our schools is um the school aid fund took a $414 million hit overall. The general fund
007um which funds the whole rest of the state took a $458 million hit. And transportation um money got then moved into the transportation or road funding package to the tune of 1.18 1.1 billion almost 1.2 2 billion. Um, and for folks at home who aren't used to these kinds of numbers, um, it's really significant. Um, but also notable that the 1.2 billion for roads is not the amount that we need. We are still a couple of billion with a B short on what we need to fund our roads adequately or for the long haul, no pun intended. Um so some increases in new investments that we saw um of note um overall there was a $7.3 million estimated increase to funding um for GRPS um 203,000 for special education 684 for bilingual ed and 500
008about 510 for mental health and school safety programs and that's kind of what breaks down specifically for GRPS um additional funding coming into our schools in general, uh, universal school meals, we were able to, um, to hold on to that program, which I'm very pleased about. I think we all know the importance of meals for our kiddos, um, for their ability to learn, um, for behavior issues, um, you know, all of all of those good things. Uh, also helps with absenteeism. So, we know the value of school meals, and I'm pleased that we were able to continue funding universal school meals, and we did expand those out to our non non-public schools at all as well. Um, but I just want to note here that the non-public school portion of that does not come from
009school aid. Um, because school aid dollars can only be used on our public schools. Um, mental health and safety grants, 321 million, and I will talk about that again in a minute when we talk about some of the boilerplate stuff. Um, and this can go towards mental health, school safety resource officers and staff over four years. And again, non-public schools are invited to participate in this program. um they have to follow all the same um uh requirements for the grant funding and things that our public schools do. Um but again, they will have access to the same type of funding. And then um we did continue with the in infrastructure and consolidation funding um which again will be competitive grants. So, I encourage the board to um work with if we can work with you
010as as a legislative team across um all of the representatives and senators that we have in the area to make sure that GRPS um can get their ask in early um and we get all the supporting documents we need to um facilitate some kind of funding for consolidation because I know that is top of mind for you all. Um, additionally, um, we did have, um, some money spread out for, uh, CTE programs in underserved areas. Um, grow your own educator programs. There's been, uh, incentives to reduce K3 class sizes, particularly in urban areas, and, uh, some data integration money. So, move some things around there. Um under reductions and eliminations um there were reductions to MIPERS and the one-time reserve fund a lot of the rollups and so again for folks at home categories within
011the state budget that go towards specific funding um there's a large group of funding that falls under something called section 99 and those tend to be things like um funding for uh math like those where we get statewide licensing. So into those at a much free rate, those were rolled up instead of naming individual groups or individual programs that are being paid for. there's now just a bucket of money um that can be as folks may as folks may see fit or may request it. So it's not automatically do going to a specific vendor um but rather money might be available to um get into a competitive grant and so we can again um discussion around that if that's something that you all need to understand better or investigate more for how we can how
012that benefits GRPS um we can dive into that maybe not tonight but as we get into those conversations. >> What was the name of that? That is hang on. Um it's just onetime fun. It's section 99. >> Yeah. So um section 99 for the most part. There are other areas where we rolled up some funding. Um but for the most part it's section 99 that carves out for all of those independent types of programs. Um some of them are through vendors, some of them are just uh maybe some nonprofit partnerships and things like that that are specific to different areas in the state. um in my opinion valuable programs that got rolled up or removed from the budget. And we'll get to those in just a minute. And here they are. Programs were cut by
0131.8 million. College and career preparation for MCAN, which is a college access network, lost a million dollars. Um our completely wiped out uh 7.6 million. Um which is a pulling down other money. And so I believe of funding for STEM education. Um, locally grown produce program was cut completely, so 4.5 million cost that I thought was difficult um, given the, you know, the push for healthier foods for our kids. Um, and then also hoping to lift the um, education of agriculture and how it impacts us and of course the partnerships we had with local farms, all of our schools statewide. Um so that partnership um you know for the moment um is no longer the West Michigan Teacher Collaborative and the Michigan Education Corps were both cut um 7 million 5 million. I know that's
014a place that um folks here on the west side of the state um and particularly in our urban school areas. So GRPS um you know you're losing access to teacher pipeline um and folks who are being specifically trained to work in urban education areas. So again, um a loss that we're hoping to uh regain in the next um cycle. So some boilerplate and um Oh, see, yeah, this wasn't the updated version. Okay, I missed a slide for you all. So I'll I'll I'll um make sure that you get it and explain it out. Um but a couple things I wanted to about 31A. So 164K, this is a really important area to pay attention to when we look at funding for our schools because you see that it says MDE will withhold 5% of the
015recipient state aid payment. So that's the for non-compliance in any of requirements and those are requirements regarding school meals. So, anything that the feds if you're not um your state school aid that all students complete the federal I'm not sure that's a problem here in Grand Rapids but in many districts we have parents filling that out um you know privacy reasons information reasons and things like this and so that is um something I would caution you be aware of that piece There's a prohibition against student financial incentives for attending on count day. So, you can't, you know, pay kids to come to school on day, which I know some schools have piloted to, um, to success. Um, a requirement that student survey questions be public. umment that districts not using MDE designated um don't worry
016about this one >> things that are taking place across our nation and people supplying information >> yes >> can you unpack that a little bit and even suggestions what that means for schools that they don't is there a requirement of 100% 85% what look like >> yeah um from from what I understand um that is a 100 requirement however I know me number of districts that have concern that um like you said I mean there's there's always a group of parents who are uncomfortable sharing information with the government um for whatever reason and um you know regardless of the climate of the country and we've seen that you know increase recently but there you know or there are parents who say well I don't need it so I don't need to fill that out the
017government doesn't need my information because I'm participating in the program and things like this. So, there's been a lot of push back um across the state. So, I'm not 100% sure where that has landed. To my knowledge, there's no active litigation, but I'm not uh it's not clear for me. I'm not sure that the rules have actually been written through MDE yet. Um so, uh I that's follow up on and and as a reminder, we just, you know, completed this couple of months. So, um, some of these pieces are out, but I know there have been certainly have been questions and I'll be happy to come back with a little bit more information around that for you all and how that how you can handle that. [snorts] Okay. Um, the new compensation requirement. [snorts] So,
018this is a this is another interesting one. Um, it provides that pri provides intent and I'm not sure what that means, but provides intent that districts make permanent increases to educator and staff compensation with prioritization for starting salaryation allowance is increased. So again, I know you just went through your contract negotiations. Um, and I know in a year like this where it looked like dollars on the budget were a significant 64 request request these earmark funds that GRPS has counted on in the past and would like to continue to see request. We need to start working um and on time prior to the budget would be what would that be? April, late April, early May. Yeah, because June 30th is our budget deadline. So, just making sure if there's anything um in there that we
019like I said again have that requested. Not a guarantee of course, but that we have everything lined up. um all the paperwork we need for that. And then the last one um and I'm sorry I added this slide a little bit late in the game, but I wanted to talk about 31A um just a little bit here. So um just a little bit here. So let me um let me get to that one. That's what happens when you do your homework at the last minute. Hang on a second. I said I'll make sure I send this over to you so you have it all. Um the 31A that is the um school safety dollars that were um kind of a new category this year and so currently those are in litigation, right? Um and the
020most recent um the most recent decision on that was that schools would have until December 4th. They extended the deadline from the end of November to um December 4th, which of course was last week. Um my understanding is that all schools are currently opted in and that the court um will be making a a decision by December 19th. And in the event that their decision, you may resend your opt-in if you so choose after the decision on the 19th. Um, and just to make sure everybody understands, um, the concerns here are that in the in the language for the boilerplate for 31A, um, it forces the schools to wave quote any privilege that may otherwise protect information from disclosure in the event of a mass casualty event. And the intent of course is to um
021I mean and what they mean really by mass casualty event is some kind of um school shooting or event such as that. Um but because there's no actual definition for mass casualty event, um it could also encompass routine but serious incidents. Um, for example, if there are multiple injuries at an athletic event, let's say a portion of bleachers were to collapse or which would never happen at our new field, but um or if there were a bus accident or something like this, right? Um and then it also jeopardizes um the compliance that schools are supposed to follow in terms of things like Furpa, FOYA, and the Open Meetings Act because you're being forced to provide all of this information that would normally be protected under these federal laws. Um, in addition with the Open Meetings
022Act, anything that you were trying to do in a closed door meeting, if you were responding to some sort of emergency event, um, that you may not want to share the details with the general public until you have the details, um, that would not be you would not be able to do that. So there are some significant concerns from our school district leaders, our ISDs around um this and they are currently um working through the court system to have that clarified. Um but again it could it it could result in a very difficult decision for you all as as board members because if the um ruling does not come down in the favor of our school districts then schools are in a position where they will have to decide to either give up the privacy
023rights or lose millions of dollars, tens of millions of dollars um for school safety and mental health. Um So that's the situation today. Hopefully before we for Christmas, we'll have some resolution on that. Um and things will be a little bit clearer. Um so that's that's kind of the overview I wanted to give. I'm happy to um answer any questions you might or attempt to answer any questions you might have. Um explain things a little bit more if you want even some questions about the process. I'm happy to dive into that a little bit. I do serve as the minority vice chair on the school aid committee and MDE. I was also on what they call conference committee this year as part of the appropriations committee. Um so I was part of the team that
024passed the final budgets on to the floor for a vote. So a little bit more in the mix uh maybe than some others. So, if you have any questions, >> I don't know that it's a question, but um we've talked before about wanting some clarity as well on what a survey entails for that portion of I think it's in 164. >> Yeah. Okay. I will get on that. >> Like how do we define student survey? Yeah, that's a great question and I really appreciate the surveys that we do here um around the school around mental health for our students um and what makes them successful. So, um I would hope that we can continue that with some privacy, right? Anonymity maybe is the better word. >> Well, thank you for this presentation. Um it's always
025good to know more about the the budget and what we have to work with and have to contend with as well. Um, [clears throat] so you mentioned that we're about $2 billion underfunded for our roads >> and Michigan Education Justice Coalition and maybe you also agree that we're underfunded by about four and a half billion for our schools. >> Yep. >> So when we talk about things that are underfunded, right? Are we are [clears throat] we talking about prioritizing the wrong thing? Are we talking about not enough money in our Michigan state budget? Are you talking about both? Can you clarify for me? >> So I mean you have to understand for us as a state we're responsible for all the things. Right. >> Right. So we are responsible for making sure we have adequate
026infrastructure adequate schools adequate health care adequate um environmental protections that our farmers and our veterans and our state police and our corrections like we have to. So when we talk about priorities, >> I would say we have to really approach it from the sense that all of those things are our priorities. That is the job that we are elected to do. Um and then what we need to figure out is how we do that. Um and what um you know, so then I and I don't want to necessarily say it's a priority, but what we what the collective has the willingness to do. Um, and as you all know, I am a I am um a fervent supporter of education and funding for education, and I am not afraid to say that you can never
027spend there's no such thing as spending too much money on education. So, I would be the first to line up and say, "Let's do it." Um, but it's not about my willingness, it's the collective willingness. Um, and so, you know, where there's a will, there's a way. If we wanted to fund our schools, we could do that. Um but it would be mean making cuts in other places or it would mean ra raising revenue which is raising taxes. Um so it's not just our willingness but also the willingness of the people of the state of Michigan to chip in or to buy into that system. So um that's where the difficulties lie is in pulling 10 million people together >> and get us all rowing the boat in the same direction. >> So I appreciate
028the work that you all do and your advocacy. Um, and you know, the more that you can continue to um, collaborate with us, share with us, um, that constituents can reach out, um, you know, regardless of whether you agree or disagree with what's being done, we need all of those voices in order to help make the help make good decisions that people will, you know, for the most part. If they don't agree with them or they're not happy, at least they understand why. I think that's at the heart of it. So yes, and the 4.5 billion um yes, we are on fun annually. That's part of the school finance research collaborative. Haven't dug into the SFRC, that's a good place to get some information about um funding for schools across the state of Michigan where
029we're deficient. Um some ideas for where we can move some money. Um you know, things like that. the impacts of Prop A, how inflation has impacted our school dollars, all of those things are included there. >> Thank you. >> Any other questions? >> I just want to say uh Representative, thank you so much. This budget uh had its challenges, but thank you for being a strong advocate uh for public education and GRPS in particular. So, thanks for coming and presenting to us and all the work you're doing. >> Yes. And I appreciate your diplomacy there. [laughter] Yeah, >> but certainly like I said, do not be shy in speaking up. Um, one thing that I would love, um, you know, you may have heard that there's been, I don't know if you've heard there's been
030some talk about a supplemental. So, supplemental add or change the appropriations bill and some. So, we're kind of tweaking it on the back end. It can involve additional investments. Um, it can involve changes to boilerplate. Um, I don't know that we have extra money this year that we would necessarily be moving money in, especially as we're looking at what's coming down from the feds. We need to protect, you know, we don't know what's coming. So, holding on to whatever money, you know, and we do we have money in our rainy day fund. The state's not broke. Um, but, you know, maintaining that. But what I mean to say is I think there is a lot of opportunity to clean up the boilerplate language in this budget, not just in the education budget, but across the
031board. Um, so I I I would hope that we are going to do that, but I have not u I don't I have not had word that that is going to happen. So again, if that's something that you um think is important that we clarify some of the things here, um please reach out to representatives um to folks who can advocate for you in Lancing outside of just your elected officials um to push forward that um you know that desire if that is something that you would like to do as a board or as constituents here in the district. So >> thank you so much. >> Thank you. Well, I appreciate your time this evening. I really appreciate what you do. I know it's not easy being an elected official, so >> thank you for
032your service. >> Yours. >> Okay, we are moving into negotiations team update. >> So, Trusty Rodriguez, if you could read us in. >> Yes, ma'am. Yep. So, uh, I move that the board go into close session for the purpose of a strategy and negotiation session connected with negotiations of various collective bargaining groups at the request of the superintendent as permitted by Open Meetings Act section 81C. Now, we'll do a roll call vote starting with Trustee Melton, >> yes. >> Trusty Moreno, >> yes. >> Trusty Rodriguez, yes. Trusty Williams, >> yes. Do we need a second for the >> Oh, I'm so sorry. >> I'll second the motion and >> Thank you. I appreciate you. Um, Trusty Williamson, >> yes. >> Trusty Davis, >> yes. >> Trusty Kilpatrick, >> yes. >> VP Wade, >> yes. >>
033President Buchek, >> yes. >> That motion passed. I was just so excited to get into this conversation. Thank you. >> Okay, we will move into close. of this portion of the agenda, please. Thank you. >> Dr. Roby, if I can have Mrs. Kelly Green and Mr. Dan Vanill come forward to talk about the holiday card. Good evening. >> Hello, >> Dr. Roi and President BHK and esteemed school board members. I am Kelly Green and I am the chief area instructional leader for the Northwest as well as the fine arts um health and PE departments. And this evening it's my pleasure to introduce our director of the fine arts and health and PE departments, Mr. Dan Vanill. And Mr. Vanill is going to present the school board and superintendent's holiday ecard. So I'm going to turn
034it over to Mr. Brand Hill. >> Hello, Dr. Roby, President Buchek, other members of the board. It's my uh pleasure to present the So little of us can get together when it's nice and cold. >> [singing and music] >> I can hold my baby closer to me and collect the kisses [singing] that are me because I got my love to keep my [singing] love to keep my love. >> [singing and music] >> I like him with the star. What do I care my love to keep me with my life of So let's get when it's [singing] [music] me. I love the spring. >> [singing] >> Happy holiday. [laughter] >> All right. Thank Thank you all for your continued support of this uh annual tradition. We appreciate you. >> Thank you. That was fun. >> Thank
035you. Our next celebration will be with respect to our fall sports. And so if I could invite Mr. Larry Johnson forward and also our athletic directors um from both Union and Ottawa Hills High Schools. And I guess I should have said their names. I'm sorry. Mr. Justin Walker and President Buchek, uh, Dr. Roby, superintendent, and other board trustees. I think these two gentlemen don't really need an introduction. uh Marcus Harris, the AD here at Ottawa Hills High School, and Justin Walker, the athletic director at Union High School. They're here tonight to give an overview of our fall sports and some of the accomplishments of some of our scholar athletes. So, good evening, Superintendent Dr. Thank you. I'm honored to be able to be here and present a brief athletic report which reflects not only the
036accomplishments that our scholar athletes had uh in the field of competition, but also the impact they were able to make uh in the classroom as well in their community. This fall season, we had 10 allconerence athletes and five honorable mention athletes. In soccer, we had over had five uh academic all all district student uh scholar athletes and then four first team all district uh scholar athletes. In volleyball, we had one one honorable mention and then in tennis we had two conference uh all SC allconerence scholar athletes as well as an all region uh team selection. The tennis team as a academic all state. Uh this year they were second place out of 327 teams. We are number two academically across the state of Michigan for division one schools. So that is a huge accomplishment. For
037cross country, we had a honorable mention uh as well. Uh football, we had uh two allconerence and one honorable mention. In swim and dive, we had one conference all uh conference athlete, nine conference finalists. and Taniah A who was a state qualifier for dive for the Red Hawks this year. Lady Red Hawks also set 25 personal best records this year uh in the in their competition. Um lastly, before I turn over Mr. Harris, this fall, uh the Union scholar athletes have compiled over 400 hours of community service amongst our student athletes. So that is a great accomplishment to the the work that they are doing both again in the classroom and competition and in their community. Mr. >> Thank you. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Roby, President Bek, board members. Uh, thank you for having me
038here today to talk about the Ottawa Hills Bengals and some of the highlights from the fall this OK White Conference. Uh we had all conference selection, two honorable mention. Cross country coached by Ebrite had another successful season in which they had four student athletes that earned off conference. Uh we had a uh a state qualifier. Uh Meline who had qualified for the state. Uh she ran a personal best and finished uh much higher than her uh than she was ranked this year. Uh this was Meline's second trip uh to the state finals and uh this marks the 11th year in a row that Ottawa Hills cross country has had someone compete at the state finals. Uh so Danny Rice has done a a wonderful job. Uh volleyball we had one honorable mention athlete also our
039volleyball program coached by Molina Stlo. uh this the uh GRPS youth volleyball program third grades third, fourth and fifth. Uh also the middle school program and this year we had 75 girls that came out for volleyball program white where there state ranked teams all across but our girls uh competed very well uh this year. Uh in girls swimming, we had five all-conference athletes uh in girls swimming and we sent uh nine swimmers to the state finals uh this year uh and they competed very very well. Uh also we had one soccer player, one tennis player and two football players uh made all conference and one honorable mention. Also, Katie Kerr uh also broke two school records at the state finals in the 50 free and the 100 free. And the Ottawa Hills women's team uh
04020th in the in the division one state finals tying their highest history. Uh so I thank you for having us here today and we're off and running with winter sports now. Uh got basketball games what today and tomorrow and so hopefully uh we see you guys out. Thank you. >> Any questions? Do you want to talk about um the upcoming Union um Union Ottawa Hills game over the winter? >> Yes. Uh December 23rd at Van Ando Arena. Uh the the Union Red Hawks and Ottawa Hills Bengals will be competing against each other at the Vanando Arena. Uh this is the first time they play each other at the uh arena. And so we're just encouraging all of our families and friends and staff to come out over the holiday break uh to watch that game.
041I believe it's you guys are up at five >> uh varsity girls 5:00 varsity completion. >> So it's great opportunity to get our kids some great exposure playing on that on that particular court. >> Where do you get tickets for that? >> Tickets can be purchased from the Vanando Arena. I believe you can go online as well and purchase. Yeah, you can uh purge Matt Vano, but we're also working with our communications office who's getting has a flyer with the link for ticket sales as well. >> Cool. >> Yeah, they will not accept any of our passes uh for this particular event, but tickets are only $5, so we'll make those available. >> That's fun. >> Congratulations on all the success of the players. Um, these aren't questions I want to ask today, but um,
042I'm I'm interested in athletics, of course, but I think that, um, for a lot of reasons, I think athletics are some something that can drive people to our district. And so, some of the things as a board member I wonder when I go to the games, one of the things I always wonder is like how like what schools are represented on this team. And um, so that's some things interest me as a board member are like when like what schools are playing where, what students are um I guess choosing and how they choose a school to play for, how it's offered to them. Is it because they go live on this side of town or go to school on this side? And also um um I guess I like to hear about successes outside of
043the the court per se or the field, but things that our um athletics is doing that I hear about is a major fundraising success. I watched on Facebook where a um a group of people did a a huge fundraiser basketball team, their girls basketball team. I thought that was really good. I guess I'm reporting out. Um and then um by just hearing about community support around our athletics and how community can be uh more supportive of athletic teams specifically or as a whole for the school and then um like different fundraising initiatives I guess um whether it's a email or something like that. But that's something that I think I would like to hear. I'm not sure about everybody but um it interests me because it's a way that we can support and know about
044athletics that's going on? >> Yeah, >> that's a fair question and I think that uh tonight they were prepared to talk about the celebrations and we can put together a comprehensive uh a list of activities that the teams all teams been involved in and some of the things they're going to be involved in >> and the and I was and I was glad to hear about the community service. Love to hear more about that too. >> Yeah, I I loved hearing about the um elementary volleyball program and the numbers that we get from things like that. Um, and I agree with Miss Wade. Celebrations aren't just about school to all conference. I think I see the of ways through my kids participating um throughout the years and um I'm just proud of things like the
045elementary. I think that that gets a lot of kids involved and it sounds like it's growing our um secondary teams. So those are huge celebrations in my mind. >> I do want to add that I love that the band is coming to the football games is bringing out the crowd. I noticed I don't remember last year if they were playing at all the games, but the games at the football games that I've come to, the band was there playing. I think that really added a a great spark to our our football games and getting people out. So congratulations at your football games. >> Good job, guys. Other thing I add and this is sports adjacent. So I'm saying it's sports adjacent. We had um on Thursday of last week, the GR Monasuri Elementary Choir got
046to sing the national anthem for the GR Gold and they were super excited to be on the floor of the Vanandal and um and watch kind of the beginnings of the the warm-up drills and I just wanted to kind of lift that up for how um we're seeing lots of different things that are again related to athletics but not necessarily a direct correlation. >> Thank you. >> Our final celebration is with respect to and allowing our our staff to experience other cultures and communities. And so I will bring forward Dr. Love Lady Mitchell. Good evening. Good evening, Dr. Roby, President Buchek, distinguished board members. I have the distinct honor of amplifying our Nelly H. Stevens Award. It is usually awarded once a year. It is through partnership with the Grand Rapids Community Foundation where we
047award an educator who has the intention of traveling abroad usually during the summer months who has the intention of bringing back the learning and exposing their students to the wide vast world. And um what's even sweeter is that sitting beside me I have a 29year-old seasoned teacher all Grand Rapids public schools. I think that alone deserves a round of applause. 29 years. >> I'm not 29 though. [laughter] I didn't tell anybody. We didn't know. So, 29 years of teaching a Kent County native, just to clarify. Um, she teaches some of our youngest scholars. Um, grandma was prophetic insane. I think you should go into education. Grandma was right. 29 years later, we have Ms. Chris, Mrs. Christy Raymond in front of us and um she's even um giving birth to another generation of educators and
048her children or at least her daughter. And so without further ado, I'm going to ask her to talk a little bit about some of the things that she's thought about related to how she's bringing back her travels, share a little bit about where you went and the award, if I was not uh clear about that, $1,500 in reimbursement for the trip that she took this past summer. So, what might you want to share? So, I do work at Southwest Elementary, Academia Belingu, and this summer, my husband and I traveled um on a cruise, but we did leave from Venice, Italy, and then went to Athens, Greece, and Santorini, Greece. We also went to Croatia. We went to Dubna and Zedar, Croatia. And yes, I do work with some very young children, but they love to
049learn about the world. They love to learn about far away places and flags and maps. And one of our standards is actually to learn about the American flag, but I can take it a step further and we can learn about different flags of the places that I've been. And because we are a language school, we can turn tie it into the languages that they speak in those different countries and about empathy for different cultures and the different foods that I enjoyed while we were and my husband enjoyed on the cruise. Um, It was kind of fun that we did. We learned about different traditions, different cultures. And I'm starting a photo book. I'm almost done with it. I' I've been through about three cities. It's taking a while because it takes so many pictures, but
050I'm planning on bringing that in, showing it to the kids, almost like a little video presentation um to, you know, take them on a trip with me because I can't take them with me there, but the photo book will bring that to life for them. So, I'm excited to do that. >> So, thank you. So, um, we do this annually and while I can't pinpoint how long it's been happening, I have seen some things that would suggest at least for a decade. And so, we hope to do it again, um, this upcoming year. And we've talked a little bit about how we ensure we get even more folks um, eager to do this very thing. What questions might you have, if any? I don't have a question, but I knew I remembered your name and
051I don't think you had my kids at Southwest, but one of my kids really wanted to be in your class. I don't know what grade it was, but I'm like, Miss Wayne, I know that name. So, you must be a really cool teacher because she was like, I wanted Miss Wayne. It was so cute. >> Thank you. >> Um, again, I think that the fact that she's been in education 29 years, all Grand Rapids public schools is a celebration. Uh and it's so a round of applause for our 29year-old veteran. Thank you. >> Thank you. >> That concludes our celebrations. >> Okay. Scholar representatives report. So we have R.J. Beasley with us. R.J. do you have anything you want to share? >> Uh the only thing I got to share is the superintendent uh scholar
052advisory council will be at kids food basket this Wednesday. Announce that I won the junior giants awards. >> [applause] >> Thank you. >> Okay, moving on to our report outs. Secret have one tonight. >> Nope. >> Um, city board liaison, that's me. So, um, thank you. Things from our meeting a couple weeks ago. Um, hold on. I gotta Okay. Uh, Alex Smart gave an update on the work that we are doing with JLL and shared that with those representatives from the city who were there as well. Um, the work on Alexander and stocking specifically. Right now, staff's going through um all the interested parties thus far and JL has broker opinions of value for those buildings. Um a draft RFP is in review and he shared the progress that they're making with community engagement process.
053um January coming up in about a month thereity meetings for each building where people can come in and inquire. Um I believe stocking will be held at stocking but Alexander will be held at MLK uh or at Franklin campus. >> I don't recall the location but we'll make sure. Okay. Yeah, you share that >> because that building um isn't upstanding for the community meeting. And then RFP submissions will be due in early April. Uh we also had an update on the turkey trot, but that was prior to the turkey trot. I heard it was very successful. It >> was. And um the city gave just some details about their strategic plan efforts, just an overview of their values um and their new community master. Uh they emphasized the equity lens that they're taking into all
054city operations. Um the land use collaboration with the schools. uh emphasizing housing affordability initiatives and strengthening their communication and engagement. Um there was some discussion be with all of us at the table on concerns um within the immigrant community regarding ICE and how we can acknowledge the valid fears in the community without causing unnecessary alarm. And so just affirmed the commitment to each other to keep information timely, to be sharing what we know and um coordinating responses when things do come up. And then we also got um our community's children report and there was a video shown on the grow 1000 program. There is much more details in the minutes if anybody's interested. Okay. Uh finance committee update, Miss Williams. All righty. for finance committee. Uh few of these items are coming before the board
055tonight such as the purchasing agenda and um understanding of the uh bond refunded resolution is also part of the uh our discussion from our finance committee. Uh we also talked about uh donations again um from different uh entities that I believe are coming up on our uh agenda later. And then lastly, it was fairly short and brief, which is um we didn't have a whole lot, but um we also talked about our October 2025 financial statements. At that um meeting um Miss Cribs not um October memorandum had been added to um a chart for increased um I want to make sure readability for us. So um that is um the work that we did in our finance committee. So those items are coming forward today. >> Thank you. And facilities committee update. >> Okay. >>
056I know you just had that meeting. >> We did just have that meeting. So in that meeting we had a presentation from both uh plant mer and uh JLL. We uh in our facilities master plan, we received some updates with regards to our bond use dollars uh activities that are completed as well as activities that are still ongoing and underway. And then um there was um a presentation from JLL which talked about um kind of uh our buildings that are functionally obsolete. they are just buildings that um we just really can't do what we would like to do with them. So um the property can't really be changed or updated um um too much and so that's a part of um our reduction. Um we also uh eight particular um a board has kind of
057laid out there that we can do and proceed with um utilizing uh this process that we are working through to try to look at for all eight of the properties. We um are not set on what a timeline looks like on how we'll continue to bring properties forward, but we know for sure that we're starting with um stocking in Alexander. Uh we also talked about uh updates on leases. Um so we know that of some of those buildings, those eight buildings, we do have in those buildings. And so there um are conversations that are being had with those tenants as to um what we will be use utilizing the properties for in the future and they will be clauses added to any updated leases that will give us an out if we need to move
058forward faster with those properties. And then lastly and I think really important uh we did receive uh some thoughts with regards as to how to proceed with river uh the monastery um and uh so there uh is a proposal and there'll be some communication with to try to get some feedback from families um around um what we will do with the monatory program specifically uh Riverside um and whether or not um kind of um keep the elementary separate and then do a high school situation. So, it is some um initial wonderings underway and we're trying to receive some feedback, but there's no decisions that have been firmly made in that regard. So I I do want to be clear about that. But there is um going to be some um letters going out to try
059to seek some uh feedback around this initial kind of thought about what we can do to make sure that we provide our monastery families with a separate space um that will allow them to grow as well as allow innovation central to grow. >> Thank you. Thank you. Um, I also have on here an opportunity for you, Mrs. to share any of the learnings you gathered at the MASB leadership conference. >> Well, go ahead, Miss Williams. >> Got a lot of notes. Um, but I'll try to keep it brief and concise. Um I found this to be a very much a a learning conference with regard to classes. They were very this was my uh attending this particular conference. So it was a lot of uh of classes that I have signed up for. So this
060is a great conference for um board colleagues to really get the educational uh background and and a great networking conference. You are in this conference and in these classes with uh schoolboard members from all over the state. Um and then there are different uh things that are shared about the conference. But my quick takeaway was that um this is an annual statewide conference that provided us access to training opportunities that benefit the indiv board member as well as the district from us get gathering that learning. The conference topics included how we operate as a united team with the superintendent um understanding data priority prioritizing uh team development and um knowledge building about boards overall and our governance. Uh the conference was also um learn from fellow board members take time to build personal relationships and
061share lessons learned and best practices. uh two of the classes that I attended quickly were conflict resolution and uh community relationships. I was also a delegate and I wanted to share that the delegate assembly went well. There were um some small proposals that failed, but all of those proposals were around equity and access to um um marginalized communities and um um they just they they failed. There was a lot of discussion um from multiple different people, but in the end they all of those failed and we decided um to move forward with the bylaws language as it is currently written. Um and then again lastly, this was a conference that provided great tools for uh public education for us to be able to utilize here in Grand Rabbits and then also have a voice at
062the state level through MASB. >> Yeah. So I I wanted to just be able to add on from the details then the context of the of the um leadership conference was really positive. Um like Trusty Williams just said there was some disscent among some of the little individual components. we were there to vote on. But as a whole, the the the um all of the different sessions you could choose from and of course all the keynotes were really positive, talking a lot about uh where we are today in education. So, it was really helpful to kind of think within the context of this really difficult budget that had just been passed when we were there. Um and to still know that we have a vision to accomplish within school systems. and they talked a lot
063about um well especially one speaker spoke a lot about the idea of betterments that we're all here for the betterment of kids but that when we really hone in on what does betterment look like and how do we get there together it's kind of taking all these arrows that are all going generally forward and honing them into a specific direction and I just as you know that always resonates with me um and uh and another one one of the things that stuck out was that idea that we all know why we're doing education but the specifics about how are what we're working out together. Um, and what an encouragement that we're in a space where we all know why we're here and that's not true of most organizations that we're all here. Um, for the
064betterment of students and their future lives. Um, so yeah, it was really exciting to be a part of um to both learn the real specifics of some of the board work we do to vote on the big picture things that happen at the state and then to be inspired along the way. >> Thank you. Okay. Superintendent report. No report. Okay. Uh public comment. Uh up first we have Oh, >> I'll read us in. Yes. >> All right. Hey everyone. Today there's one public comment section on the meeting agenda which accommodates both agenda and non-aggenda items. Each comment period is limited to a maximum of three minutes unless otherwise directed by the board president, but today it will be three minutes. Uh we ask the speakers refrain from making abusive or disrespectful statements about board members,
065employees, volunteers, or contractors. Should you have a complaint regarding a specific board member, employee, volunteer, or contractor, please utilize the appropriate process outlined in board policy 9450. Speakers will be invited to address the board one at a time. Before be beginning your comment, please clearly state your full name for the official minutes. I will monitor your time with this beautiful timer that we have here, ensuring each speaker adheres to the allotted time of three minutes. You'll be asked to conclude your comments promptly when your time has expired. Board members do not respond during public comment. All concerns will be forwarded to the appropriate staff for consideration. We value your input and thank you for sharing with us tonight. >> Okay, up first we have Camir Brown followed by Federico Brown. Hello, my name is Bro.
066I go to elementary to talk to you about our playground when I was and second grade. >> Yes. Thank you. >> Loud and clear. I am in the third grade and my brother Niger is in the fourth grade. We have to play in the teal and the purple and blue and white zones. These zones are are not fun as the rainbow zone. We are asking the the school district to help us make our school a better place to play. And we h have a big field that we would like to use. We would like to have a soccer field and soccer equipment. We would like to have a place where we can play tug of war. bubble wands, jump ropes and chalk. We would also like to have equipment inside and do recesses days and
067have a ball club and a sha shop where our parents can buy things after school. This is how we would like to change our environment, my brother and I. but would like to help our school be a better place. >> Thank you, Camir. Can we have your note because some of us it was a little hard to understand and if you can give it to Mrs. Anderson, she'll wave her hand so that we can and we'll make sure that you get your note back. I just wanted to make sure that we caught everything. Is that okay? She's right there. >> Thank you. >> Federica Brown, followed by Yolanda. How >> good evening, madame superintendent, board chairs, and trustees. Um, my name is Frederica Brown. I'd like to speak to you this evening as a parent
068from Shamid Hills and St. Frost Middle School, a parent family organizer and a parent who knows what it feels to face antilack culture in our district. I first want to describe my experience and concerns as a parent at Charmit. As you may know, the drawn out contract negotiations have caused many of our educators and principles to leave our district. Our principal unfortunately was one of those principles which left us without a principal at the beginning of the school year. We were appointed two substitute principles who were there no more than a month and a half after school resumed. We then got appointed an interim principal that is now currently at our school. Parents did not have any input on the selection process. When this is done and parents do not have a chance to have
069a voice, it can lead to an anarchial culture where policies and practices are put into place that are the sole decision of an administrator or of an interim principal. In October, the interim principal at our school implemented a policy that required parents and caregivers to walk their child in if they are tardy. The parent organizer in me voiced my opinion that parents were not included in the imple implementation of this new policy. But being that I actually agreed that this is a great way to implement not only safety but also accountability for late students, I did not argue against it. It was the day that this policy came into into effect that I knew why parent voice should have been included. I pulled up to my children's school on the first day of this new
070policy and the interim principal decided to take it upon himself to open my car door and commence to tell me I must walk my children into school because they were a woman late. I was first appalled that he would have the audacity to even open my car door. Also, the fact that I was not greeted with any kind of humility made me made me to walk had me walk in my children's school in pajama shorts and a t-shirt was also embarrassing and triggering for me. I am urging the school board to consider an addendum to our school board school board rules and policies to not only incorporate a parents bill of parents caregivers bill of rights but to also make it practice and mandatory for the parents and caregivers and staff to have an equal
071amount of voice when key administrative staff such as principles and executive directors are considered for our schools. Now I would like to speak for my position as a parent organizer. I feel that information and communication are only accessible to parents, caregivers like myself who look for information. It would be nice to give robocalls or reminding us to attend schoolboard meetings and how to give public comment and inviting parents and caregivers to come out. Thank you. >> Yolanda How followed by Eliza Moody. Hello, I'm Joelanda How children How parent of two um GRPS students. To Dr. Obi and school board members, thank you for bringing us closer to a new contract agreement so our teachers can count on health insurance and a modest annual raise in salary. The recent GRPS news reported this proposal as a
072historic investment in educators, but according to the salary chart, the majority of our GRPS teachers will still be paid at the lowest level in King County. Dr. Roby said, "We are confident this agreement will help retain our exceptional teachers and staff while also attracting new educators to our district. Unfortunately, I don't share this confidence. How can we retain or recruit recruit great teachers when surrounding districts like Northview, Kamak Park, Kentwood, Sparta, Wyoming, Lel, Godfrey Lee, and others continue to offer higher pay. It's worth asking how we fell so far behind in teacher pay that we must dip into the fund balance to cover raises that still won't give our teachers or our district competitive advantage over others. The answer has been consistently voiced by teachers during public comment time and was called out in the
073Eureka report. We are overspending on executive level positions. Money spent on redundant executive administrative level positions might be the missing piece that would allow our district to robustly invest in staff salaries and classroom support, including more interventionalists. I urge you to carefully evaluate the roles of central office staff and ask, is this already being handled at the local school level? I'll highlight some examples. Our schools already have principles and administrative teams. Why do we also employ executive directors? These roles were specifically called out by the exe Eureka report as lacking clear purpose and value. Similarly, family engagement is already handled by principles, teachers, and PTO's through regular newsletters, family nights, and coffee with the principal. There are some central roles that are essential like supporting English learners and ensuring access to transportation for students with
074unstable housing. Roles that increase equity and directly support students should absolutely remain. But it is unacceptable that we re rank at the bottom in teacher salaries and vacancies while also ranking at the top of administrative and executive staff compared to ne nearby districts. That is a problem you need to solve. The board is responsible for thoroughly evaluating the budget and making necessary cuts. Please make it your top priority this year in the coming year to identify and eliminate redundancies in administrative and executive positions so salary increases can continue and sustainable ways without relying on fund balance. I do not take this request lightly, but I see teachers stand before you consistently saying they lack not only salaries but also resources for classroom support to help students, our kids thrive. Please do the hard work of
075determining which roles are essential and which need to go so we can invest in our students. Thanks, Eliza Moody. >> Hello, my name is E. Lisa Moody. Um, I am coming here because I had a concern about the staff of the athletic department and it's specifically Coach Shannon and how he tore my son down. Um, I work hard to make sure my son is respectful and listening to his teachers, making good grades. He attends City High Middle School, but he plays sports here at Ottawa. Um, Coach Shannon is I really feel like he should not be leading our children for the simple fact that instead of lifting them up and doing what coaches do, helping them where they are weak at, strengthening their skills, he's tearing them down, telling them that they're not good enough.
076And if I'm that's contradicting to what I'm building in my son for him as a black young man for him to come to a school to play sports and a man is telling him he's not good enough, yelling at him, humiliating him when he hasn't done anything disrespectful to that man or said anything. Um, so that was just my main concern. I don't know if I addressed you all correctly. This is my first time coming here. But um yeah, I just wanted to put that out there that I really don't feel like coach Shannon needs to be leading our children if he don't know how to properly coach. When I spoke to him about the situation, he told me that the reason he yelled at my son is cuz my son asked him a question
077twice. He um I asked him to apologize and he told me that there is no need for him to apologize because that's what coaches do. So when I told him that's not what coaches do, I have dealt with plenty of coaches that my son does track, football, basketball, and I've never heard of any of them tearing him down or telling him he's not good enough. Wherever he was weak with the skills of the sport, the coach, you know, helped him to come better or strengthen him to come better in the position that he played. Um, I just really I feel like he's a good fit to be leading other children because if he did that to my son, I'm sure there's multiple other children or scholars that he has done this to. >> And that's
078it. Thank you. >> Thank you. Thank you. >> Okay, that completes our public comment for tonight. We will move on to action items. First up is the acceptance of the EOP. I do know that we got some emails regarding this um throughout the week and I just wanted to highlight that um we as a board did get quite a detailed um information session presentation on this during a closed session. It was held in close session because of the sensitive nature of the emergency operation plans. There are details in that that we don't want um all of the public to be privy to in order to keep our staff and students safe. Um, if this is accepted by the board tonight, um, I know the district will be moving forward with, um, getting information on the
079emergency, um, is it the EMP, >> EM emergency management plan. And then also there um is so the EOP to to designate for people includes everything um for across our district where safety valves are where all the um >> sorry >> they said something about boilers and all >> yeah boilers all those things and that's not something that the lay person would need to have information for that. Um, and we also keep that very close with our local police department and sheriff's department. So, if there's some emergency, they know all of the different entrances and pathways that might be used. The emergency the EMP emergency management plan is specifically at the building level. So, that be um an emergency a flip chart so to speak. And that allows for quick reference to the type of
080emergencies that um they might likely deal with if someone is um harmed or if someone goes into cardiac or any of those kinds of things because we want to make sure that people have a quick reference guide for that. And so that's the difference >> between the the various levels. So tonight we're voting on the acceptance of the EOP which will then begin the roll out for traings and the emergency uh management uh plan as well. Do I have a motion or first of all do we have any conversation that needs to be had or questions prior to voting? >> Just um like a mandate for everyone. I I thought that was one of the things we had to like add in before we voted this. I don't know. We can ask Mr. Johnson to
081come back for that clarity or Dr. Oie if you know >> a mandate >> to make sure that everyone gets trained on it. Um so the different the various levels of course and so for building levels that would be um the responsibility of building principles the their staff know how to use the the flip chart and making sure that they are practicing some of those things and you'll see that throughout the course of a school year with safety drills, fire drills, um shelter in place drills and experiences. for the more advanced trainings. There's some offerings through professional learning and then after school um opportunities that we are going to continue to explore and then al also try to expand some of those things. But that would be um based on interest um with our building
082level leaders. Everyone has to go through that level of training because that is usually about an eight hour training. I I'd be interested for my colleagues to the like what it would take to get everyone to that level. I understand I hear you that it's at six to eight hours, but I think everyone being able to access something that's so like we we made that investment and it's I think it's really great. I I haven't read it but I I really appreciated the presentation and the work towards it. So, >> and it is so it is open to people opt in and so what that would require because also we have bargaining. Here's where it gets kind of >> we layered because based around our CBAs we can contractually say that our staff do x
083number of trainings and then and we could certainly do it then we would be giving up some other kind of curricular types of trainings. >> Okay. to to mandate I mean to mandate that. Yes, >> that's helpful. Thank you. >> Anything else? Okay. Do I have a motion to accept the EOP? >> Some moved. >> Second. >> All in favor say I. >> Any opposed? Motion carries. purchasing agenda. Any questions, comments? >> Um, I'll be recusing myself as a member or as an employee of Kent School Services Network. That is on the agenda, purchasing agenda. >> Thanks. >> You're recruiting. >> All right. Do I have a motion to accept the purchasing agenda? >> So moved. >> Support. All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. The purchasing agenda addendum. Motion to
084approve the purchase. >> So move support. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. the resolution reaffirming 31A optin for just for clarification. Again, we decided at our work session that we are opting into this with the caveat that legal. We will have the opportunity to take that back for lack of better words. >> If based on the guidance that comes back from the court, the lawsuits, if it's not favorable, we can still If it's not gable to the school district to the district, >> we'll resend it. >> Resend it. Thank you. >> Support. >> Second. >> I support. Okay. Thank you. Okay. >> All in favor say I. >> I. >> Any opposed? >> Motion carries. >> Bond refunding resolution. Any questions, comments on this? >> Do I have a
085motion? Oh, >> sorry. Just to clarify um for my colleagues on we've already discussed this. >> Yes. Okay. Thank you. So yeah, this is just you know returning money to uh getting a better rate on our our bonds. So yes, I wasn't sure if that was clear to everyone. Thank you. >> Do I have a motion to approve the bond refunding resolution? >> So moved. >> Support. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. Do I have any comments or questions on the annual summer property tax levy resolution? >> Do I have a motion to approve the annual summer property tax levy resolution? >> Some moved. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? >> Motion carries. And any questions, comments on the annual banking and investment resolution?
086Okay. Do I have a motion to approve the annual banking and >> so moved support. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Motion carries. That completes our action items. Moving on to consent agenda. Do I have a motion to approve the consent agenda? So move >> support. >> Thanks. >> All in favor say I. >> I. Any opposed? Okay. Motion carries tonight. I do not have any dis well I will put out there that there has been some talk um between board members individually in regards to next year's executive um board member positions and so I would encourage you to continue having those conversations with colleagues and um the way that it works is that we will need to submit um any recommendations to Julie um in the next couple of weeks.
087So, if you do want to move to have somebody in one of those positions, please reach out to Julie. If you have questions on that and you're a newer member, please reach out to those of us have been through it. We can answer any of those questions. Um, I have had a couple board members ask that that gets put on our work session for that. Kind of an overview of what each of those positions entails so that we're all very clear about what the roles are, treasurer, and secretary. So, we can have that discussion as an agenda item at our work session on Monday. Um, so please feel free to any questions specifically that you have or bring those to the meeting and we can talk through that. Um, I also put on the back
088burner our policy on reviewing policy because I think I only got information from Trusty Moreno. I apologize if someone else gave me information, but uh if you think of it, please send me what your hopes are for that policy so that we can um make sure that we're staying true to our goals as a board. I want to make sure that we keep working on those and that they don't get put off until and that's all I have for tonight. Superintendent comments. Good evening once again everyone. Um with respect to the um roles for president, VP, secretary and treasurer, my ask will be after the 15th is that um names are submitted by the 19th because staff is going to be gone over the winter break and to allow time for that information if that's
089if that's fair. Um secondly, with respect to policies on um we do have somewhat of a a recommendation to kind of simplify that. So we're taking less um work from the for the board and that might include looking at either um Trun or Nola as our policy entity. Um that might help support that. Um and finally, just a reminder that our district office again is um has limited hours during the winter and the holiday breaks. We are going to make sure that we send information to our families over the breaks related to um food supports and other supports because we do recognize that sometimes this is a time um the holiday season is not always a celebration time for many families and we want to make sure that we are connecting families to different resources
090in our community. So thank you. >> Thank you. Okay, board member comments. I will start with Trustee Melton. >> Um I'm just uh glad to see again that we'll be lifting this conversation around um accessibility of our board meetings and in a variety of different ways. One of the things I'd like to lift up today is um the sound and just how um this space maybe how we can offer a little bit more accessibility with sound and the microphone if students or someone who um you know needed some help with walking it would be very difficult. Um so that would be important for me. Um in terms of policy review I want to just lift up publicly again that we have some sort of feedback loop for those that are using the policy. that would
091be anyone using the policy and then that those impacted staff parties be represented in the process. So those are the two things I just want to keep lifting up with policy review. Um yeah, thanks. >> Okay, Trusty Moreno. Um VP Wade and I uh would like to invite you all as board members and colleagues to go to the basketball game at the Vanandle. So, be on the lookout for an email hangout and cheer for both of our teams, all of our teams, all four teams. Um, and then just again wanting to uplift our discussion from our last meeting around the resolution around the invest in my kids. Uh, I'm looking forward to seeing that hopefully in next week or next session. >> Awesome. Thank you, >> Trusty Rodriguez. >> No comment. Trusty Wade >> or
092VP Wade. >> So, I'm embarrassed to say I had my first turkey trot and I >> embarrassed >> totally underestimated the vibe. That was like one of the most fun things I was like, "Wow, I should have been coming to this." Even though I didn't run or walk, just being there was really fun and exciting. And I think the biggest takeaway was like um all these people are running for our kids and they could be doing they could be watching the Macy's parade, they can be doing all types of things, but they I mean they probably love to run. So it was probably, you know, just what they do, but it was for our children and our athletics. And I thought that was really dope that they decided to do that. And I was so
093happy to be there. and um going to the basketball game. Eleanor took my comment. So that's all I have. >> Okay, Trusty Williams. >> Um I would just like to congratulate R.J. on his Giants award. Sir, we are so proud of you. Keep up the awesome work. Um and uh all of the things that you're doing in the community. We just look forward to how you will impact uh Grand Rabbits as you become a fullfledged adult when you leave um the Grand Rabbits public schools. We are just immensely proud, sir. >> Absolutely. >> Thank you for highlighting that. >> Trusty Williamson. >> Um I just want to thank those who came to the uh coffee with the board. See, I'm getting all my dates mixed up. Was that last Monday? Um, so thanks for to
094those that came. I had some great conversations. Um, uh, two people asked me like, you know, we give public comment, when are we going to hear from the this is the time when you get to hear from us. So, um, thanks to those who who came to that. Um, I've also been reflecting a lot on, you know, coming up on a year on the board, all the work that we really have done. And I hope all nine of well, all 10 of us feel proud of, uh, what we've been able to accomplish and and eager and excited for the stuff to come ahead. um you know exciting with the tenative agreement and approaching an agreement with the union and then also some of the uh you know work we're going to have to do on
095this budget and the amendment coming up and um you know with our facilities and all these other things and I've been reflecting a lot on it and we've done some good work and we have a lot more to do ahead. So thank you all uh for everybody on the board and everybody in >> Trusty Davis. >> Yeah. Um, definitely want to ditto that thanks, but also just wanted to acknowledge a quick appreciation of having the times on the agenda. Um, I appreciated that addition and I think it helped us stay on track and communicate that. >> Thank you, Julie. >> Trustee Kilpatrick, >> I also wanted to uplift coffee with the board. Thanks to those who came out. Um, thanks to those who great ideas, questions, concerns. Um, and I've I've sent those forward and
096so hopefully responses will be coming soon. Um, also uplifting our our scholar artists and scholar athletes and R.J. And um also just wanted to uplift this mother who came for the first time and had to had to share something that was so important about her experience in our public schools and being for her son and for for mothers and to to show individuals that maybe you don't have all the steps in front of you for how to what to say and it's um and maybe that's our fault. maybe we have to make it easier for folks to know how to get here and say what they need to say. Um, so bravo to that mom. I don't know if she's still here. Um, and I hope that we can follow up with her expediently. >>
097Okay, that completes our board member comments. So this meeting