001Very well, we would like to begin this meeting. We want to welcome you. We greatly appreciate your presence. We respectfully ask that you please turn off your cell phones and refrain from applauding or making audible comments. We invite you to make formal public comments during the time designated in the agenda. That includes agenda items and items not included on the agenda. To do so, please fill out the comment card and give it to our secretary. We have a change to the public comment cards. Now we have an orange card for the students. That way we don't miss out on hearing any student's comments . I will be asking that all public comment cards be submitted before the start of our celebrations. It's item number four on our agenda. At this time I would like to
002ask Mr. Rodriguez to please call for assistance. Very well, Trusty Williams present. Trusty Williamson present. Trusty Davis present. Trusty Patrick present. Trusty Melton present. Trusty Moreno present. Trusty Rodriguez, I'm here. Vice President. W present. Present. David is here. Very good. We have Qu. I have a motion to try the agenda. Yes. We have a motion and we have support. Everyone who is in favor, say "I am". Someone supposes. The motion stands. At this time I would like to ask Josy Rodríguez to please take us to the closed session. I propose that the board move to a closed session for the purpose of strategy and negotiation connected with the negotiations of various groups. requested by the superintendent and permitted by section 81C of the Open Meetings Act. I have a motion for this. Great, we have
003support. Very well, thank you for that. Trusty Williams. Yes. Trilliamson. Yes. Tris. Yes. Trossyle Patrick, yes. Trocy Melton, yes. Troy Moreno, yes. Troy Rodriguez, yes. Vice President Wade, yes. President David, yes. Okay, then let's go to closed session. I ask again that you please have your cards handed out before we begin the celebrations portion of our agenda. For public comments, please, let's bring them in. Yuli will receive the final comments and then we'll begin tonight 's celebrations. Good night. And if we can invite Mr. Denel, our director of Fine Arts, to come and talk about the Fine Arts Museum and our award winners. Hello, BK present, Dr. Rob and other board members, thank you so much for giving us the time to celebrate the 2025 Smart Art Awards. This is a project that began in
0042013. We are in the 12th year of this competition and it is a partnership with the public schools of Rapid Consumers Energy. Art and students explore topics such as renewable energy, energy efficiency, and environmental conservation . When students are invited, it is from grades 9 to 12 because the prize is not awarded until the following year, the year after the competition begins. This represents work in different media. This year we have more than 43 pieces submitted, which excites us a lot and went through two rounds of arbitration, an internal round and then an external round. We had some external judges who were involved in the final decision. I would also like to welcome Mr. Nate Hansel. He is the community affairs manager at Consumers Energy and he's going to say something about our partnership. Thanks
005a lot . Thank you for having us here tonight. This is an incredible opportunity to see what those students are putting into their work. It's incredibly encouraging to see how they want to see the world and how they think about it. I want to congratulate everyone and the students who participated this year and thank them for their collaboration. I know that Mr. Vent puts in many hours to make this possible, as do other members of the district. It's a very nice opportunity. And I want to thank Har Price as well if we think about the competition involving students. It's a high-impact opportunity, and congratulations to all the winners. As I said, you have an opportunity to review the artwork, which is truly incredible. We are very grateful for this partnership and appreciate you all. We
006also have some jurors to thank. We had Nick Antenek from JRCC, we have Monch Dunken from the Community Transformation Center , a curator of creative engagement, and then Mallery Shotwell, who was with AR Price, but is now a community organizer. These are our three external judges. I want to show you the three awards. We have Som Alfred, an 11th grade student at Innovation Central, his art teacher Carlin Hints, Olivia Philips, a 10th grade student at Southwest, and her teacher Shelvin Cocker. Next up is Elliot Williamson, our first- place winner, a 12th-grade student at City High, and his teacher is Megan Will. I want you to come here with me and let's give Elot a round of applause for his achievement. Consumers Energy is very generous every year. The awards ceremony. The third place winner won
007an iPad. I am a certified iPad stylus. Second place won a MacBook Air computer and other great prizes. Elliot also won a MacBook Air and a scholarship, so we are very grateful to Consumers Energy for these generous prize categories. I want to give Elio the opportunity to say something to you all, and if you have any questions for her about her work, now is the time. This has been a fantastic experience. GRPS students don't get many opportunities like this, and there were many amazing presentations. It is an honor for me to have my art recognized, as well as to be able to raise awareness about the global problem through my artwork. Great job, Elliot. If you feel comfortable, could you tell us a little bit about your piece? I wanted to incorporate the three main
008sources of renewable energy, which are wind, solar, and hydroelectric. Most of these are at the top of my piece and I also wanted to focus on a brighter future for the earth. That's the representation of the light bulb. I also used recycled wood to continue focusing on the environmental theme and to help the earth. This is in engraving. Yes, it's burnt wood. Very good, thank you very much and congratulations, Elet. Our next celebration is the Jean Hamilton Teacher of the Year Award. For our audience, this is a very distinguished award. Mrs. Hamilton Col was a preschool teacher in our district for many years and a dedicated preschool teacher at Hoff Elementary School as well. After retiring, she continued to invest in young people, giving classes as a tutor and working very closely with children. Every
009year we have the opportunity, as her family comes and gives us a short description of who Mrs. Hamilton was. And we also have a quick PowerPoint presentation related to this. If I could have the Cope family here with me, please. And welcome, Mrs. Andres. Hello, Sogrant. Can you hear me? This is my husband, Mark Grand. We live in Urban, California, but I grew up here. I went to Forest Hills. Please disregard it . I just lived on the river with my mom. My mom Jen Hamilton C taught preschool, as mentioned, Dr. Roby. And I can't even tell you for how many years, I think more than 30. We were little kids and she started doing it and then when I was about 11, my older brother David, who's back there , we were four kids
010in the family, single mother, but she was one of those people who was just born to be a teacher. His father had been a superintendent of schools, and that was in his blood. His mother taught him, but it was in his blood. that she never really intended to become a teacher. She had her degree from Michigan in education, but more than anything she wanted to be a mother, four children. And after that my father decided to start his life somewhere else. So she was fortunate enough to have her degree, and the Hof school needed teachers, so she stayed and enjoyed every minute. She truly was one of those teachers whose heart and soul was dedicated to children. When Mark and I retired almost 11 years ago, I had to think about how we wanted to
011continue this legacy. It does n't mean we have a lot of money, but rather that we want to put it in the right place. My first thought was, how can I somehow honor my mother and the teachers? Because having been born into a family with a teacher mother, we learn the incredible amount of work this entails, how much dedication it requires, and what it looks like when a teacher burns out. It 's hard work. She had two classes, like many of you, and I remember at least one year, probably more than that, where she had 37 children in each class. I was asking Cris behind me what the limits are on class sizes these days and she explained that it varies depending on the situation, but you know this handwriting , I remember how she
012wrote everything by hand, the report cards and all the comments that the house sent about the children, you all know this kind of life. She carried it in her heart, and it was something we decided we wanted to do. I approached someone 4 or 5 years ago, I do n't know, here at GRPS to see if you needed some money to give some kind of award to teachers, to honor the teachers. That's where this came from. I've been working with Stephanie and Dr. Rob and it's a pleasure for us to come back every year. I travel from California because we still have family here and to be able to meet three new people each year, and that's why we're here. Thanks a lot. We are going to present and make a short video about Kim
013Brandford from North Park, Heis from C Frost, and Christopher Woods from Southwest Middle. Think of a recent problem or challenge you have faced. And let's see the weather. Do you remember that it was upside down? Very good. Mr. Wood excels in many aspects, at the very least being dedicated to his work. Experts believe that around 5300 years ago, Miss Luis was a very peculiar and funny person. She loves students with all her heart. I love it, I love her content, but what I love most is the relationship she can create with children. She is a lifelong educator who has grown and honed her skills every year. I call it the art of teaching. We talk about the perspectives that books have because every voice is important, not just the winning voice. She delves deep and
014gets to know each of her students as if she were a parent. What I enjoy most is discovering what barriers my students face and how I can help them overcome those barriers so they can live a happy life. She creates a better environment not only for the children, but for all children in the school. They needed support. They needed support and one day I did it without any help and I really felt so happy and that's when they did it. He is very extroverted, very creative. Being a teacher at Southwest is an incredible privilege. It's about helping these children be ready for opportunities in the future. He is visible and he is here to support in any way, not just in the classroom. I may have learned from many good teachers, but the most important
015thing is that we maintain great leaders in the classroom for other teachers to rely on. She does everything she can to ensure that each of those students succeeds. Connect with them. I printed a picture of LeBron with hearts behind him and the number 67. It's fun stuff that makes education exciting. It's simply wonderful to be able to do what we do for students for moments like this, for things like this . There are so many children who really want to learn, and when a child says, "Hey, Mr. Woods, I get it now." And after having struggled with something, they solve it, that makes me happy . He works very hard. She will leave a legacy not only with the students she has seen in the last decade of service, but also with a beautiful legacy
016of a personal family tree that she has learned from her. She has been a phenomenal educator for years. I've only known her for 8 weeks and I can already see that in her. Congratulations on building a wonderful and legendary teaching career with students who love you and who have grown up under your care. It is our pleasure to invite our teacher of the year to the stage to collect their award and gifts and also have a moment for a photo with our education council. And as teacher of the year, they are coming all the way here. I want to make sure the audience also hears how phenomenal they are. I have a couple of summaries for each teacher, if you'll allow me to share them with you. Primary school teacher Kim Bradford in North Park
017Montesuri. She works as a special education teacher , where she runs the independent classroom for students with autism spectrum disorder and joined GRPS in 2006. She is known for always going the extra mile . Create a learning environment that balances structure, care, and opportunity. She works closely with her team and ensures that her students participate in school experiences that reflect the education of all North Park students. Integrates real-life skills development into daily instruction while collaborating with colleagues to incorporate materials and practices whenever possible. His leadership extends beyond the classroom. It actively fosters a culture of inclusion throughout the school, promoting opportunities for meaningful connections and friendships among its students and the wider school community . Through her dedication, innovation, and commitment, Miss Bradford exemplifies Montessori's philosophy of educating the whole child, while advocating for equity
018and belonging for every student. Let's congratulate Miss Kim Bradford. Our next honoree is Miss Heeder Lewis from Ca Frost Environmental High School. Heather Lewis is a social studies teacher at C Frost Environmental Science High School, where she exemplifies excellence in teaching and learning, always going the extra mile for her students. She joined GRPS in '96. She is known for creating innovative immersive experiences that bring social studies to life. Their classroom is transformed into societies with functioning economies, government decisions, and daily opportunities for critical thinking. It provides culturally affirmative destruction that highlights multiple perspectives and ensures that all voices are heard. Their expectations are complemented by engaging lessons that keep students involved from beginning to end, supported by solid routines and clear communication. And last year, Heather gave students the opportunity to excel on national and
019district stages. He guided the students in the national brochure competition, with one advancing to the national competitions. He showed his class in the district competition with all three winners being from C Frost. These experiences give us the voice of the students and speak to creativity beyond the classroom. It regularly brings in guest speakers, organizes numerous excursions, and leads youth and government sections. Facilitates youth and government programs and also conducts "with the people" hearings in the spring for eighth grade. It maintains strong relationships with the family and also welcomes them to be partners through innovation, high standards and dedication. Miss Luis has become the cornerstone of CA Frost. Let's congratulate Miss Heer Luis. And from our high school division we want to honor Mr. Christopher Woods of Southwest Middle Bilingual Academy. Christopher Woods is a math
020teacher at Southwest Bilingual Academy, where he is widely recognized for his commitment to students, families, and colleagues. She has over 25 years of teaching experience and joined JPS in 2020. Cris loves finding creative ways to inspire students, especially by incorporating STEM into every classroom and making it accessible to families at home. He believes it's not a class, but a culture. In the classroom, Mr. Woods provides high-quality instruction while offering individualized support to ensure that each student has the tools, encouragement, and confidence needed to succeed, both academically and personally. Her passion for teaching extends beyond academics, as she intentionally works to build strong relationships with families and colleagues, fostering school environments as a member of the leadership team, helping to guide school decision-making and instructional improvement with a student-centered approach . He is the technology coordinator
021supporting staff, students, and families, and he navigates every digital platform. Scem's leadership in education further highlights its innovative approach, as it inspires students to engage in critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving while exploring future career paths. In addition to her teaching and leadership roles, she was a member of the Michigan Department of Education Council from 2017 to 2018. She also wrote the book Daily Stem: How to Create a STEM Culture in Your Classroom and Community. She shares all these resources on her website dailystem.com and also on her social media. He is the host of Stem Everyday on his podcast and we want to congratulate Mr. Christopher Land. If we can invite our board members to take a picture with our honorees. Very well, we will now move on to the public comments section for this portion
022of the agenda. We're going to reduce the time by 2 minutes tonight. There is a public comments section in the agenda that covers both agenda items and non-agenda items. Each comment period has a maximum limit of 2 minutes. People are kindly requested to complete the front of the comment card and indicate the topics they wish to discuss. If you are a student in Grand Rapids schools, please always use the gold card from now on. Cards should be placed in the designated bin, and we ask that you please refrain from making abusive comments about staff in schools. If you have a complaint about a particular person, please use the appropriate channels to let us know your opinion about that person. They must speak one at a time. And before you begin your comment, please state your
023full name for the official record. I'll keep track of the time with this stopwatch. I will make sure that each speaker respects the allotted time, which is 2 minutes. You will be asked to conclude your comments quickly when your time is up, and we cannot respond to public comments. All concerns will be forwarded to the appropriate personnel for consideration. Thank you for sharing with us. We have three comments from students. I'm going to call them first. Grant, UNCE and Harper. Hello, I'm here today to talk about DINEs transport and my experience with choir and band. Excuse me, could you move a little closer to the microphone or could someone check? Yes, much better. And you're Harper, right? Yes, I'm here today to talk about transportation and the experience we had in choir and band last
024week. C Frost's choir had to sing, they had to sing the national anthem and the band was also going to go for the football game. First, one of the two buses that was supposed to pick us up arrived half an hour late; we weren't notified. Secondly, when it was time to leave, one of our buses had no driver. We started school at 8 in the morning and by then it was 8 at night. We were tired and cold and wanted to go home, but there was no communication. In the end, we all had to take a single bus back to school. What we need is for DIN to communicate with us, even if the bus is stuck in traffic, it might arrive 10 minutes late, but we need it to communicate with us. Thank you.
025Hello, I'm Unis Brown. Good evening to Dr. Roby, board members. I am a mother of a student at GRPS. I am here for my children, who attended and graduated from GRPS. I am also a grandmother and an excellent mother to my children and grandchildren, who also attend GRPS. I love GRPS. My older children had excellent teachers than those they had when they were here. Now comes the time of my grandchildren and my grandchildren. The problem now is that teachers are leaving, and we've had very good teachers for a long time. If these teachers leave, what will happen to my children if they leave the district? I love our district, but at the same time I would like teachers to receive a sufficient salary so that they don't have to leave our district and can stay.
026If so, they would have the teachers they need to reach graduation. Please save our teachers by giving them the pay they deserve. They want to be there for our children, but how can they do this if they ca n't even take care of their own families on the salary they have? Please save our teachers because we cannot afford to lose others to moving to another district. Please, what will happen to our children? If you cared about our children, you would care about our teachers too. I want you to give them the turkey they deserve. Thank you. Matt Marl and J. Good evening, Madam Superintendent, board members. You may have noticed that there were more people in the audience before the session ended. This was symbolic of what we teachers have been experiencing and how we
027feel about our current negotiations without a schedule and without contracts. We have come, we have spoken with you, we have listened to you, and we feel that we are not being listened to. What happens when people are mistreated, underpaid, and not listened to? They leave. That was the action that took place tonight. The educators withdrew because they feel that you have abandoned them and not listened to them. Negotiations have been going on for a long time and we haven't signed a single agreement yet. It's time to act. There is no further reason to delay if the state budget has been approved; you already have funds and additional funds. In fact, we would greatly appreciate it if what is happening is reflected in the next negotiation or mediation session . It has been very frustrating dealing
028with a lawyer for Trump. Stories are constantly changing. One moment we agree, the next we don't. We need to be clear, organized, and we don't need any more back-and-forth situations . We need a contract, we deserve a contract, and we would like to have one now. Thank you. Risala, followed by Michelle Albert. My name is Pita Rescala and I started working for GRPS 28 years ago. I have always defended our district, my district. This is where I grew up. This is where I wanted to send my own children. This is where my mom was a teacher and where she retired from. I love the options that GRPS has to offer me. I like the opportunities provided by the athletic team. I love the diversity of our district. I also love my current and past colleagues.
029When I spoke with teachers from other districts, it was obvious that we had less planning time and less support. We work hard and we're tired, but we get up every day and do it all again . Many of us feel that we cannot do enough, and even though we try our best, we feel that we can't do any more. If you're not a teacher, you can't understand. From the moment we woke up until the time we left. And then we come back here again with so many things to do, but your brain is so tired that sometimes we just keep walking back and forth endlessly. Despite my love for the district, I feel betrayed. I feel betrayed by something to which I have given so much, betrayed by something that I always defend. If I
030were at Kenwood, I would work much harder. If I were in Grambble, I would earn 18 more. If I were in North FW I would earn 8,000 more. Would you like to work in these other districts? No, but I do wish GRPS would realize how valuable its teaching staff is and pay them a competitive salary. You say you appreciate us. Please prove it to us. Michelle Albert, followed by Justin Walcot. Good evening to the board. My name is Mich Albert. I am the lead teacher at the Business Leadership Academy at the Center for Historical Innovation. I began my journey with GRPS in December 2018. As a student teacher, I decided to change my little corner of the world. I have been running the same academy for 5 years where I did my internship 5 years
031ago. In recent years I have been fortunate to work with the most creative, hardworking and dedicated staff. They perform miracles every day for our students. Today I address you as an educator, mother, community member, and change-maker. I ask you to spend a day at one of our elementary schools. See the enthusiasm of the heart in one of our schools. intermediate. See the energy and the soul. Come to the high school to see JPS's passion and purpose. I promise you that if you spend a day witnessing the reason why you sit here, you will be changed forever. Our students deserve the best. Educators deserve more support in the county. They deserve the best opportunities to show them the world, its brilliance, its strength. All teachers are going from having few resources. We are tired of our
032leadership group continuing to make these changes every day. We need your help to make RPS a place where students and teachers both want to be and stay. Justin Walcut, followed by Richard. Trap. Good evening everyone. I am a teacher at UN High School. I know you've been hearing that we need to invest in our students, and I want to tell you that investment isn't just about money. Our teachers put in the time, and that's what we 're doing. When children say, "I can have a dollar, I can have a snack, I can have this or that." We give them everything. Basic psychology says that people need food, clothing, and shelter, and then they take care of their relationships. Teachers cannot give when they are worried about their own clothes and their own shelter. They can't
033give more when they're worried about their financial situation. board. You are in charge. You are the ones who set the priority. You can direct the district and the committee to come to us with a contract and a fair negotiation. I implore you to do this. I am on the front lines and I understand and I see that the teachers are coming towards me as an experienced person. I am 60 years old, I am going to do this for about 5 more years and they are asking me, what is happening? Because I'm on the negotiating committee and I'm reaching the point where I don't even know what to tell them anymore. Please, please, let's finish. This is your job. Lucas, a turn of events. I offer my apology tonight. I will never apologize for standing up
034for myself against a leader who gets away with threatening a parent or for the unfair and capricious dismissal of a good leader. I will never apologize for criticizing unfair treatment and neglect of the arts, sports, or for criticizing necessary and excessive spending on marketing or redundant and overpaid leadership. I will not apologize for believing that angry resistance to oppression is a lesson our children should learn, especially in these difficult times. Exact details of their September 5th withdrawal revealed that Roby explicitly warned them that a large crowd would be showing up. But you, Madam President, have blamed us, the community, which now seems inept at best and a big lie at worst. I will not apologize for opposing authoritarianism and empty threats against dissidents. Yes, I will apologize for how I have reacted to some of
035these nefarious acts. A recent deep conversation with a community leader whom I respect has led me to reflect. I have contributed to a possible spiral of embarrassment for some of you. I have not given you any credit when some of you defended the sinister efforts of another colleague to neutralize our public opinion. I have demonstrated in ways that could hinder Grea, who has recently organized a coordinated fight and communications offensive that deserves praise. I will acknowledge these things in the hope that the five or six of you who still have a conscience will also recognize your own opportunities to do better. With no children in the system and little energy left, I do n't know how much more I can give to tyrants like you, who will ultimately win. At least we have a multitude
036of voices echoing those of us who have been shouting for years. Lucas's time was up. Jess Mónica Rein followed by Sara Martínez. Hello, I am Sara Martinez, father of a student at Montesui. This week I spent the weekend letting the community know why we don't have a contract and what's going on . You know? Advocando learns a lot and you know I received a lot of criticism. Do you know what I discovered when we talked about safety as our number one priority? And I see that bullying is here too. The parents told me horror stories about what happened to their children and why they don't attend [ __ ]. A student, a father, told me that his son was beaten in the Riverside bathroom every day. He brought his phone to school to record it
037and he was suspended for bringing his phone to school. Another mother tells me that her daughter's hair was pulled out at Academia Coi and she emailed the superintendent and nobody did anything about it. When we're talking about safety, I 'm not talking about a multi-million dollar investment, I'm talking about holding teachers and children accountable and holding parents accountable and actually doing something about it . That's where it all begins. And we need to pay our teachers more. It all comes down to bad management. I own a business, and so does my husband. If we can't find a way to pay our employees, we won't have any business. So I can't believe you guys have 40 million saved up . This is the time to use this money. We cannot have a district without teachers. I
038do n't know who mismanaged them, whether it was the board or the administration, but it's your job to fix it and pay our teachers. Thank you. I wasn't going to speak tonight, I spoke at the last meeting, but in light of what's happening with our last paycheck, I'm a teacher in North Park, Montesuri, let's just say I had a midlife crisis. I became a teacher in 2020 and my first degree was in business. I worked in marketing and sales before I had my family and I wanted to make sure the board of directors is aware, if they aren't already, that checks have been tampered with since the beginning of this school year. I would like this to be formally investigated, because I don't know who we are holding responsible; this has to stop. The teachers
039who spoke at the last board meeting were younger than me. They don't have families yet, they don't have husbands, they live with their parents, you know, they depend on their paycheck. But we should do this for everyone. You all have jobs during the day. We should all be able to count on our check, when it's due. The first payment didn't arrive on the scheduled day; it came the next day, and they just told us, "Sorry." Then we received multiple checks that maybe we were paid extra and now the money has been taken from us and there were around 200 people affected by the last payment. I wasn't one of them, but my colleagues were. This needs to stop. I don't understand why this keeps happening. This is not acceptable. You wouldn't accept this in your
040jobs. Their families wouldn't accept it. And I don't know if it's the payment system that isn't working because it's not done manually now, but we need to demand something from someone. We are required to do so. They would have put us on a plan, they would have written us disciplinary problems. This is their job. Please don't mess with our checks, whether we're being paid enough or not. We need to be able to rely on what we have. Marty Brown, followed by Julie Natlin. Hi, my name is Marty Brown and I am a Year 5 music teacher at GRPS. I have been teaching for 6 years. I have had the pleasure of teaching students in 15 schools throughout my career. I have seen the highs and lows of this district and I have weathered the storm
041thanks to my dedication. has witnessed schools with so few teachers that student advocates have to teach the class. I see how many students, in particular one case of one of my students, are bleeding out on the floor due to a gunshot wound. One of the darkest days of my life. She protected children from family abuse by their own father. These are some of the things we have to see daily as teachers at Gran Rapez. However, we are much more than teachers to the children and the community. We are psychologists, babysitters, friends, confidants, bodyguards, sometimes even parents, when our students have no one to represent them. My life has been threatened by bombs, firearms, active shooters, and attacks on our schools. Despite that, we carried on. Because? Because we care. But the fact that we care
042about this is not a coin. Yes, we need a salary, but we also need respect and recognition. That's what we 're asking for. My question for you, the board, is, don't you care? They sit there, listening to testimony after testimony, all of us giving our hearts and souls to this community and to you, praying not for something grand, but for a decent and viable wage. Many of us, as you have seen tonight, are about to leave this profession altogether. We don't want this, so I implore you to do the right thing and invest in your educators. We've done what we could. They have seen and heard about all of us. Now do what is right, what you know is right. Thank you. Robins and then Salam Turam, Mc Johnson and Heer. Hi Heather Paulo, I'm
043a senior negotiator at Crea. I'm going to cut some things short tonight because I only have 2 minutes, but I hope you'll discover a lot of this in the closed session. GPRS according to the figures. To date, 62 staff vacancies have been posted. This is 1860 students without certified teachers, 14% of your student population. The initial budget for the physical year underestimated revenues by almost a dollar for the fiscal year. Furthermore, GRPS has understated revenues by more than $58 million since fiscal year 2021. This is according to the transparency and audit record. For fiscal year 26 we have $9.9 million, which is equal to $733 per student. They are the third highest in the state. Combined with the underestimated earnings of nearly $7 million, we have $17 million more than they planned for this year.
044I'm not even going to talk about the fund balance compared to CREA's career gains across the district, including 21 out of 21. The average percentage increase needed to be above the Kent County average is 19.72%, and 20% to reach the average. This represents a loss of $365,000. that their educators are losing. Quantity per year. We are below the cash rate by more than $12,000. Talks. Months spent negotiating without an agreement. Days we have worked without a contract. 105. Amount of money paid for an outside board for this 17-month contract. We requested FOA and we still haven't received the information. Douglas Frankley. Then Caitlyn Homewell, Alex. Lat in Langle. Hello everyone, my name is Alex. I am a teacher at the museum school. They already know me. I've even had coffee with some of you. I
045have purchased his art and I recognize everything we contribute here at GRPS. This is one of the attractions of GRPS. As a young educator, I wanted to experiment with other people. I wanted to experience different ways of seeing the world and I also wanted to contribute my own experience. After almost 7 years in GRPS, I have realized that if I want something to happen in my classroom, it depends on myself, my colleagues, and my students. Whether it's finding funding or completing hours of paperwork just to leave our building. I feel that at this point in my career, I'm at a standstill where I need to make a decision: to dedicate myself fully to this profession, to participate more effectively in my union, because it's the only way to have a collective voice to continue pushing
046for what's right, or to choose to leave this field and forget that it really exists. Frankly, it sounds like the best option for me every day. Just looking at the full weight of where our world is headed and how our leaders here at GRPS are reacting instead of investing in their staff and those who make this possible. They choose to pay an external law firm to negotiate against them. They don't act or treat us as equals. I no longer understand why we are treating them with respect. And when I say "you," do you know who I'm talking about? If it's not you, it's not you. Frankly, I'm tired and annoyed with how these negotiations have been handled. I have to go to work tomorrow, it continues in the future. Don't call closed sessions when we
047are all here to talk. Good evening, Lenle. I am a community member with three young children and I am here because of their decisions. This is my first time at this meeting and I'm excited. I came because the bike path is super close. At 6:30 we welcome you and thank you for your presence. I didn't feel very welcome, and I didn't feel that they appreciated my presence either. It was almost like going to a house to ask for candy, where the light is on and there's only an empty bowl. And I sat there for an hour without any candy. It does n't seem like he's creating a culture of trust. What is clear is that it is a diverse workplace. I would like to return. I am excited about the future of GRPS, the future
048of my family. I love this city and I want to continue being part of the good things that happen here. We might not finalize the negotiations at the time of the meeting, perhaps before or after. My house is open if you need a place. But I think it was disrespectful to the families who are here, to the students, and to the members of the community. It would have been great to celebrate art with everyone here and the teacher of the year with everyone here, but you left us here frozen. I do n't know if I can say this, but if not, tell me to stop, but you can let me know yes or no. Whether you agree or disagree, maybe you ca n't. Yes, I understand you, I understand you. Thank you, Wendy Winston. Followed
049by Jeff Winston. Cristina Vandermier. This concludes our public comments, so we will now move on to the Secretary's report. Okay, some updates. Uh, the Finance Committee meeting is scheduled for October 27th. At 4:30 the meeting will take place at GRPS University. Hawk's committee is scheduled to meet on November 10 at 5 p.m. here in Oro Hills. And that's all. Reports from the finance and adog committee. Regarding finances, we will present the purchasing schedule. We've already had the opportunity to review it, so I won't elaborate. Regarding our adhog committee, if I could pass this on directly, we received an update from JLL and they will send us information after November 1st. The microphone could be a little closer , we can't hear them. Better yet, we received an update regarding JL, who is our owner representative.
050They had a meeting with the city, but will present information to the entire board after November 1. They will give us some results about the work they will be doing specifically around the process. The scope of their community involvement will be what they present. Currently the date is November 1st and it will be presented to us at our next meeting. Then we had a heated discussion about our Riverside monitoring program. We are talking and trying to obtain information and resolve some issues to present to the entire board. We talked about a lot, a lot, and we want to have another meeting to get some updates on staffing and other things, as well as try to get some action items out of this work so we can bring them to the board. The project would considerably
051exceed the projected budget. We are trying to understand what some of our options are and we are working with the staff and we are looking for some information. This is something that is happening constantly, and we have some dates and deadlines that we have to respect. We need to design certain contracts and we need to have some licenses ready, and that's why we're having an additional meeting, but the staff will be giving us information about what our options are. So that we can consider what we should do in this situation in Riverside Montes, please be patient with us as we are trying to get there in terms of contracts and other things as well. Hopefully, we will have a little more to share with you at our next meeting with the entire board. Yes, we
052have an additional meeting. We haven't put this meeting on the calendar yet because we need to hear what the rest of the team members have to say. We are trying to have another meeting next week. The sooner I receive that information, the sooner I will pass it on to the rest. Regarding JL, you're saying that we were providing information about the process. Yes, that's for next Saturday. Based on the information they provide us, we will be making any changes to this information, or not. There are some processes we need to follow to ensure this. that that is the way we should do the process. We need to make sure we're okay with that process before we do it. Uh, it could be another month or so. We will be in some other buildings and we
053will have extra information that we will be giving you. We're talking about about eight buildings in total. This will give us the two original ones and the other ones we 're talking about. This will be presented on November 10th. I 'm not sure if we or the staff will be presenting it. Dr. Roby and her team will be telling us how it works. Thank you. Very good. We also have the National Boards Association, Trusty Moreno in Wade attended. They have asked us to set aside time in a future working session to discuss this information. If you could give, right? A brief summary of some of the things you experienced would be great. If in September we visited Los Angeles for the Cube conference, I shared, especially during our retreat, the most impactful aspect of these
054meetings, which is being among other school board members outside the district or in their city. Learn from other people's experiences . Elonor and I attended a session and I think that collectively we felt very enthusiastic and that's what we wanted to explore a little more deeply. We've created a PowerPoint presentation, but we're going to bring it to the work session. It also has some recommendations. Our goal for this is to share information and then bring things that we can actually implement in our district. I repeat some of the things I said at our retreat about how I felt truly empowered as a school board member. I like what they say when they talk about the great work of the board and how we are responsible for doing the work of this district as we are
055called upon by our community. Some of the things I learned and really brought back, and I'll wait and let you talk about the others. That's how we connected with our community, and I think we talked about that a lot . One of the things I respect about this forum is that individually we continue to amplify the voices of the community. One of the things I think we miss or don't do well is that when the community is here at our board meetings, one of our attendees asked a question and I think it's relevant to what we do and I thought, "No, we're on our own." Sometimes we ask questions in our meetings in order to inform, educate, or ask questions of the people in our audience. Sometimes we feel that this is how we educate
056the community, but the reality is that our entire community does not attend or watch these meetings. How can we get more involved? And how can we educate or inform our community? This is something I want to address and discuss further. When we begin our work session, how can we stop limiting ourselves and start asking formative questions and performances? And I'll say this without assuming that all intentions are positive. But how can we retain our information and at the same time share it with our constituents? Do we do it through coffee with the board, or through our beautiful newsletter? But is this enough? And that's what I want us to talk about in our working session whenever we have this next meeting. I couldn't have said it better myself, and I think there was a catalyst
057in our conversation while we were preparing the presentation—about how we could implement the things we learned—and that's what caused the pause in presenting to the group. Because I said, we can present it beautifully, but at what point can we start thinking critically, saying, "You know what? These are two or three things that we want to commit to." We had this moment where we said, "You know what?" I think we're doing some of these things. We have our strategic theme, our own board objectives, but we don't have those goals. We have goals that are too ambitious, but not these simple points that we can track to see how our progress is going. These are small moments where it feels like we're almost there, but we have to see how we take responsibility for some of our
058big dreams and aspirations for our district. And as I was saying to Vice President W, we were looking at some of these accountability points, these community outreach points. I want to highlight Mayor Le Grand's work with this whole themed cafe thing for the board, and I thought, these are things that seem simple, but instead of being reactive to some of these emerging issues, how are we planning ahead? How are we maintaining our position in the state budget? Well, we know he's alive and available. How can we do that with our next coffee with the board? I know our community wants us to do a lot of this, but at the same time, once we have that PowerPoint presentation, it will be much easier to understand . I believe that Vice President W and I are
059really interested in offering some recommendations, for example, these three tools or these two things. And hopefully we can integrate them. If you'd like to share the PowerPoint presentation, we can also include it in our next letter, the meeting, and before we have that forum, we can review it and include it in our next report. Any questions? Let's move on to our action points. The first one is the shopping agenda. If we have any questions or comments. I have a motion to approve this purchasing agenda. We have a motion, we have support. I'll say anything that's in my favor . He opposes someone. Very good. The motion stands. The next point of action is the acceptance of the rights, respect and responsibility of the advocates of the sexual education curriculum for young people. I have a
060motion to accept this resume. I have a motion. Those who are in favor, say I oppose someone. The motion continues. Next up is the acceptance of the curriculum for the wonderful years of puberty. I have a motion to accept it. If they're in favor, I'll say so. He opposes someone. The motion continues. The next item on our agenda is the consent agenda. We have a consensus. Someone gets on board. The motion continues. As for the Chairman's announcements , I have no specific announcement, I just want to congratulate again our Smart Art winners and all the participants, as well as the Teachers of the Year. I ca n't believe the amount of things these teachers do and how exceptional they are. Many congratulations to all of them. I also want to raise our goals. I know
061we've been waiting for this for a while, but we have our board goals and I included them in our last newsletter. You should have a copy too. It simply explains that we do self-evaluation, which is a fairly new process. I believe we approved it as a board approximately 2 years ago. We have our three goals. The board will establish a policy outlining the process for periodically reviewing board policies. will strengthen alignment with the superintendent, clarifying and building a shared understanding of key terms such as vision and mission, creating clear processes to provide strategic direction, and will participate in internal or personal professional development to deepen their engagement with district student data. I think these are perfect ways to incorporate what you were talking about. Trusty Moreno, what did you call him? Small, small goals. I
062hope we can have some dates like these to keep us on track. And I would also ask, or rather request, that during your comments to the board members, if you already have your individual goal or goals set and can share them with us, that would be ideal. I'm trying to keep us all aligned. If we don't have them ready or you don't have them with you, that's fine, but if you do have them, please add them to your individual comments. I'm going to read mine. my individual goals. I didn't specifically choose the different sections of our evaluation, but I was looking at our three objectives that we determined and then combined them with some other discussions we've had. My number one goal is to work to fully understand the board's policies and be able to
063use them to help organize and be part of more effective meetings. I think that's something we've tried to work on. Even with all the preparation we put into learning the different policies before taking on this role, I'm rediscovering that we need to make this part of every week so we can learn a little more about them and make sure I'm using them well. And then, when policies don't seem to be aligned with what we do or value, I will ask them to bring them to light again and revisit them. As well as working to clarify the processes for establishing direction and directives for our superintendent, I believe that is something many of you have expressed you would like to see. We've been working on this, but we still have a long way to go. As
064well as continuing the work of creating a clear board manual for the board. We've started it, but in recent months I've heard that we'd like to add a little more. That's all I have. I'm going to look at the comments from other board members. I'll try to be brief. I would like to congratulate our three educators in teachers of the year, as well as our GRPS champions at Alder Middle School. Congratulations to Dr. Brandy Love Lady on being honored with the community philanthropy award . As for my goals, monitoring the results is a goal I have. So while I'm doing this work, I look at academic outcomes through academic, social, emotional, and extracurricular factors and under the theme of community engagement, simply continuing to work on systems and structures that can help initiate broader community
065conversations. Thank you, Jersey Williamson. Thank you. First, I can make my comment on the board along with this. Yes. I feel like I'm at a point here on the board where some of the things or the reasons why we're here are starting to show a little progress. One of them is about the facilities plan, and this came up in our conversation today. I know this is going to be a big challenge and we had a lot of discussions with President Williams about this today, but I feel great about the fact that we're having these discussions and I know it's going to make a lot of sense once we align it with the master plan. I wanted to mention this and thank all my colleagues on the boards, as well as the district staff and people
066in the community for sticking with us through this. One of our goals, one of them is to do more in my individual role as a board member to help educate the public more about what we are doing, considering the progress we are making. I've had some very good conversations about the master plan already with the community, as well as trying to stay more focused, see what our main goals are as a board and not get sidetracked. Other things are important, but those things sometimes have second or third priority. For me, finding more time to make these kinds of visits is what's important, the staff and families in the building. Thank you, Josy Davis, I was trying to find it. This is different from my goals, but what I have is to keep us focused on
067our overall objectives. communicate as a group and continue moving forward. That's all. I am Patrick. Yes. First of all, I want to mention that today is Indigenous Peoples' Day, and I want to honor these Indigenous communities on whose lands we are gathered. As well as to families and students. I also want to express my gratitude to all the people on the Sexual Education Advisory Council. I am very grateful to have the right program so I could pass it today. I want to thank you for that. My goals are to improve my relationship with the superintendent and I will commit to contributing more actively to the superintendent's board . It helps to support our decisions and keep these communication channels open . to deepen my knowledge, our goals, strategies and be able to achieve those goals
068so that I can communicate efficiently with our community members. Thank you, Trusty Milton. I am aware that we are almost in the first quarter. Many thanks to everyone who has made this first quarter easier. Many thanks to everyone, as well as the various teachers who have received these awards. I want to acknowledge the tremendous improvement that this sex education program has brought. It's so different and I'm super excited about the show. I'm sorry if I don't have my goals because I sent them to you. I have them. I do n't have yours. I'll take a good look at them in my emails. Sara, to fully understand the role of governance in my work on the school board in a way that adds value to my colleagues and the district. Working to operate as an effective
069teammate in unity with my colleagues and the district to achieve the district's vision. Graciasy Moreno. I also had notes highlighting Indigenous Peoples' Day, especially our work as a district and the intention to have the education program for Native Americans. You know it's a really valuable space that we maintain, especially my work in New 5 is in food sovereignty and you know, we look towards indigenous sovereignty and that's why I really value our indigenous brothers and sisters who coexist with us and the space we give them. I also want to say that I am completely grateful for this sex education curriculum. It's definitely one of the biggest wins we've ever had. And there was one super lazy story that stuck with me. There was a father who spoke, who lives in Sparta and who brings his
070student here, specifically because of all the amazing curricula and programs that we have, and that was truly a powerful moment. Although that meeting only lasted about 20 minutes, I left with the feeling that this is a good job, that families continue to choose us, even on the most difficult days. I wanted to share that with you. I know Dr. Lovely Mitchell isn't here, but we also wanted to congratulate her on her award. José also recently won an award and we wanted to congratulate him on his advocacy work and my goals. I'm not going to say it exactly as I wrote it in my email, but I think I remember what I wrote in one sentence. It was about elevating and evaluating our work with the community. We have our newsletter, Coffee with the Board, and
071we need to do a stronger job in terms of communicating the work we are doing. It's one of my favorite things, and it's our relationship with the community. I want to create some metrics around this. This keeps me at the forefront of all relationships. And another thing, how can I help? I think I wrote "secretary" here, but the more time I spend with all of you, I kept thinking, how can I improve these actions or the task we're giving? If you like taking notes, Clifton, I'm someone who loves taking notes and then marking them as my own, and I want to develop that skill and share it with my colleagues. I'm going to try to keep sharing my strengths with you and saying, "Don't forget to keep everyone on top of our schedules." I want
072to use my skills to make our team a better team. Jos Rodriguez, thank you. I like to be nice and clear. Yes, just like my colleagues mentioned, Indigenous Peoples Day, the sex education curriculum. Congratulations to our Teachers of the Year, Dr. Love Lady Mitchell, and myself. I 'm not kidding, but one of my goals was to work to establish more points of contact within our community, not just for myself, but to encourage board members to do the same. Justine Moreno mentioned our board newsletter, our coffee with the board. And I think of one of the young people who came up and said, "You know what?" You did this, you could have done it at another time, and the truth is, we can't." And I'm not saying we ca n't educate every single person, but that's
073okay too. If you say something and it 's incorrect, I'm going to say, "That's not how it works." We can't have a closed-door meeting at another time, especially not at your house. So, you know, I wish we could, but we need to have more focused conversations on our issues. I do n't know if this makes sense, but important, less formal conversations. I also had a manual, and this was part of a larger establishment process, and it's part of our broader work , but I want everyone to understand our process as individuals and make sure I know them. If I want to highlight something or advocate for something, I'm going to be doing it the way we've all established. That's all I have. And before Josy W's comment, I wanted to say that I've heard a
074couple of people mention the community and its goals and coffee with the board or all these activities we do. I welcome anything you guys have for this. We have sections Super faces that we've developed, but the section in the back, if you ever have any ideas about what we want to put there in our community, feel free to share them with us. Even now I can start organizing for the next one. At any time, feel free to share what you'd like to see at our meetings. This is something new, and we can develop it until it becomes what we want. Chessy Weight, I had a really busy weekend, and I was excited to go to the Michigan State football game. I spent the whole game, because we were losing, looking for Rushan Rogers, and I
075finally got a picture of our Otw Hills graduate number 68. I didn't know this, but not everyone on the football team puts on the uniform and goes out onto that field, and he does. That means he's a first or second row player, and I don't know his position, but I was extremely proud, and I was proud to tell people, and say, he was from one of our schools. I found him, I found him, and I got to see him . I went to the football game too. From Orewa, and I think the incorporation of the summation bands, the crowds, and so on is a very good thing to see, how we support each other. I wanted to congratulate Dr. Love Lady Mitchell and José, and you were nominated, you got there, and you still won.
076It's not like he just got there and that's it, no, he won, and that's very good. Congratulations. My goals. I want to mention that the manual we were talking about was one of the goals I wanted to mention. I have two goals. One is the governance aspect, which is to participate in professional development to ensure high levels of development, and I want to commit to being better. I want to complete the training that is offered to us, and I read the books, but I want to commit to being much better at emails, and like Julie, also at community meetings. And I also want to be able to speak more at our missions, our conferences, with more confidence, and be able to increase our earnings and our success. Those are my goals. I keep getting comments.
077Yes, yes, of course. A huge thank you to our board for being vulnerable and for speaking their minds. The rest of us also help to hold each other accountable. I want to congratulate Mr. Rodriguez, Dr. Lady Mitchell, and we also have another person being honored this coming Friday, Ms. Malica Jov Brown. She is also receiving an award, and this is truly exciting. And Malica is one of our people. Congratulations to our three Teacher of the Year award recipients. This weekend, our campus was buzzing with activity for various events, and we had so many positive things happening. Community isn't just the relationship between administration and the board; it's also the community that people create on these Saturday afternoons. Regarding other types of communities, we are making time for the community members who can't always attend so
078they can stay informed about what's happening at our school. We met with religious leaders, business leaders, neighborhood associations, and foundations to discuss the various initiatives we're trying to accomplish and to give them an overview of where we stand with our GRPS plan, as well as... To celebrate all these other positive things. This starts tomorrow. Our plan is to do it quarterly. We want to see how it works by starting this week with the community, and I'm very excited about it. That's all. Great. Thank you. I was out of order and went straight to the board members' comments. So, that concludes today.