001Good evening everyone. We would like to welcome you and appreciate your presence at this meeting of the Great Rapies Education Council . We ask that you please put your phones on silent. We remind you that applause is not allowed here, and audible comments are prohibited. We invite you to make formal comments during the designated time, whether on agenda items, non- agenda items, or both. To do this, you must fill out the comment card that we have on both podium entrances. Then our assistant Juli will pick it up. Comments are limited to 3 minutes. I declare this meeting officially open and we will begin with attendance. Thank you. Administrator Davis. present. Am administrator K Patrick present. Mr. Melton present. Mr. Moreno, present. Mr. Rodriguez is here. Administrator Williams is excused. Vice President Will, President Davis, here.
002Very well, we are all here. Before we move on to approving our agenda, I want to make a part of my comment as president now because we have someone here who may not be here at the end of the meeting as a board. We made or prepared a present for Mr. Rodrigo, who just got married and I know that he might not be able to be here at the end of the meeting. This is a gift from your colleagues and it's for both of you. Many congratulations. Thank you. I appreciate it very much. My wife is here. She doesn't like it when we give her too much attention, so please forgive me. Today was like that at the wedding too. At the wedding I talked all the time and she didn't want to talk. So
003thank you all very much. We greatly appreciate the gesture. She just changed her name, her last name today, so now she's Alexis Rodriguez and I love it. Thank you. Also, before we ask for an emotion to test the agenda, I would love to share that there was something on our agenda that was removed just a few hours ago. That point had to do with the renewal of contracts, and they were added to the agenda in the afternoon, and not all the agenda members were able to review it and have all the questions they had. Therefore, the renewal of these contracts needs to be approved before the end of June. We have a little bit of time and I want to allow that time for the board members to read it calmly, prepare their questions, and
004we're going to move it to one of the two sessions we have before the end of June. One question to clarify, just for those who picked them up: if they want to talk about this, they can talk about it. No, no, that's not going to happen, we're not going to talk about that today. If any of the people present here were going to speak on that particular point, they will have to make their comment in the second portion unless you move on, unless you fill out another comment card. We have a motion to try the agenda tonight. We have a motion. Everyone who is in favor, say "I am". Someone objects. Very good. Then they remain. We'll begin with the celebrations. Good evening everyone. We are celebrating the conference scholarship on the achievements of the
005African American man. This has been a conference that has been happening for the last 10 years. We always want to celebrate our young men in the community and take the opportunity to uplift them. I will raise their names. I'm going to ask you to please come to the front and give a presentation, an explanation of what this conference means. Good evening, Dr. Roby, Chairwoman Williams, Chairwoman Davis, Vice Chairwoman W, and the rest of the board members. Thank you for giving us this opportunity. We want to recognize many of our dynamic young people who have just graduated from Grand Rapids public schools and will be receiving their scholarships. My name is Mr. Brown, I am a father, a member of the community, and I have also been a representative of Urban League in West Michigan and
006I have also been a representative of this league in the high schools. Note the representation of the colors. The African American men's community or conference began in 2014. It developed due to something called the "schools to graduate schools" movement. It had representation from Grand Valley, the Urban League community college, and the city of Grand Rapids. We are in a job that was started a decade ago by African men in this community. Do you know anyone with that name? If so, they can mention his name. I know that many of you know him. I know that Mrs. Williams knows about him. We stand on the shoulders of these founders. They were uplifting African American men for a long time, as well as becoming guardians of many of our young people. We refer to them as our
007young kings. This has produced professionals, young leaders, and people ready to face the challenges that men of color face in today's society. Our speakers, our panels, the discussions. This conference explores critical topics such as mental health, community, work, development, leadership, financial literacy, social justice, and how we can turn things around and make a positive impact on the community. This is a platform for connections, building communities, and long- term success. I'm going to give the floor to Mrs. Santi Ken, who will give you a little more information about our impact. My name is Sant Ken. I am Mr. Mark Washington's assistant. I want to thank you for having us here tonight. I started working with these conferences in year number nu, when I was already working with the city of Gran Rapis as a librarian. I
008am happy to have the opportunity to create these connections with the community. What we're doing here at the conferences is helping young people who are embracing change and learning how to navigate the world right now . He teaches young black people that excellence is something we have to pursue because it is something that is inside us, that it is not a moment, that it is a metaphor that reflects on who they are in order to identify the person they can become. When Black people and voices are heard and identified, this is reflected in our classrooms and in our community. I want to thank the Grand Rapids Public Schools for the access you have given us to help with these conferences, and I want to thank the public schools and the young Black people who have
009been leaders by example and who have made this possible. I want to raise the voices of thousands of students, because we can already say thousands of students who have achieved so many things through these means. Good night. I am a parent of a student from Grand Rapids. I used to be an educator here. I am also a community advocate. It is a great honor for me to be able to serve in this community and invest in African American youth, Dr. Roby and the public schools of Grand Rapids, as well as community leaders. We have eight students whom we are honoring tonight. And continuing with what Eric and Shanti shared, this conference speaks about the reach of African American men who have been provided with the tools and resources to inspire the next generation of leaders.
010And we have our roots in pride in culture and collective progress. And that is what we base our systemic change in society on. It's been 10 years in existence, with almost 10,000 young black people impacted by these rapid-fire conferences in western Michigan. Tonight we symbolically pass the torch to these young kings who are investing in their scholarships and giving them the position for their next step, whatever that may be . After their graduation, I'm going to ask the community members to please come to the front and we're going to introduce the eight GRPS students. Perhaps only one of them is not here, but we will mention their name. We are going to ask you to come here to give you this scholarship in honor of this celebration of the African American Youth Conferences. talk. I'm
011still talking about this microphone or I'm talking about that one that's on. We're going to move it very well. And I need a committee member to go and pick up those checks over there. And young people, when we speak to them, they will stand up , they will look for their check. Alright ? And tonight these men will receive their donations on their scholarships tonight. So first, the student, the first John Man King, the young man, the young king, Denen, he is a graduate of C Frost, the environmental high school. Show him the check. Show him the check. They don't know what to do yet. We didn't find them out there. Everything's fine. The next student, Marky Manning, is a graduate of Innovation Central High School. Our next student, Cameron Jones, is a graduate of
012Grand Rapids University Prep. Our next student, Amani Luis Maldonado, graduate of Union High School, Union High School. Our next GRPS student, Anthony Darnel C, a graduate of Otro Hills. Okay, okay. Our next student, Kid Griffin, a graduate of CA Frost. Environmental secondary education. Our next student, Payton Manuel, is a graduating senior from Grand Rapids University Prep. And last, but not final, who is not here in this room, but we want to acknowledge him. Our latest student, Charles Bishop Dwight Curtis, graduate of Arua Hills. Please show her some love. [Applause] Thank you for standing up. Keep applauding him with the ovation. Keep going. Thank you, thank you. Thank you. Very good. Thank you. Thank you, Dr. Roby. Thank you. The Grand Rapids Board of Education for allowing us to do this. Thank you. And thank you
013for allowing me to share that moment with you. Congratulations, young people. Our next celebration includes the recognition and achievement of spring sports. I'm going to ask the athletic director, athletic directors, to come this way . Good evening, Dr. Davis. Advice. Tonight we have Marcus Harris from Ara Hills, athletic executive director, and Justin Warper, athletic director from Union, who will be presenting on student accomplishments for the spring season. It was quite a heavy, moving experience for many of the athletes, and here they will share some of the students' achievements from this spring. Good evening, Superintendent Roby, President Davis, and members of the Council. Thank you first of all, and above all for allowing us to share this with you. Uh, Junior Har had 10 conference athletes as all- conference athletes. We're in the 4x4 field and
014relay track. We also have the girls' varsity tennis team, who were all All State students at MHSA. I think there are about 250 schools in division one and we were number two in the state, which is a great achievement for this program, as well as the academic achievements of those who participated this year. Union High School, we had about 15 athletes who received scholarships, committed to some universities, with some monetary funds for their education. We had the opportunity for our students to achieve quite a lot, as did our sports athletes. Here at Union, we thank you. Good evening, Superintendent Roby, President David, distinguished board member, thank you for having me here to talk about Arua House, sports recognition. We had 11 athletes and two honorable mentions. Our track and field team had another very successful
015campaign, both female and male. We went up with conference champions in the discus, also the 4x4 relay and the 300m hurdles were also champions at the female level. Also, people who qualified the 100m in the women's state, and the discus in the men's state, finishing at the state level which was done in Kenwood, the field and track relay. Uh, he came in 13th place. Ran Robert also came in 30th at the state level. We had an element that broke the record by jumping nine feet and a few inches. Uh, also the 100m equestrian field, also with obstacles. We had a champion in men's white hockey , as well as in 4x4. in 200m and m the men's team. The ladies were also successful at the conference , winning the 300m steeplechase, 400m relay, and also
016the 100m steeplechase and 4x4 team events. We also got eight students to commit to playing at universities here in women's basketball, soccer, track and field, and volleyball as well. Also, a young man who was here with us, Cameron Jones, who is one of the students represented here. He goes to Calamasu College for American football. So we really appreciate that they haven't received any and we look forward to coming back in the fall to talk about our athletes and how they are already preparing and conditioning for this. Thank you. That will conclude this report. But one thing I want to point out is that in recent summers our gyms have been closed on Fridays for athletes. And we know we lose about 12 weeks of conditioning, so we're going to make sure they're open. The athletic
017director is open to that in order to continue with our athletic programs here at Grand Rap. And you're going to see that on Fridays, not just from Monday to Thursday, so from Monday to Friday, and it's something we're going to do differently this year. Thanks a lot. Okay, so we're ready for our first public comments on the items that are on the agenda. Cristi Rodríguez will be reading about this during the public comments. The individuals will be invited one at a time to the podium to address the council. Please state your full name and we will start the clock for you. We're going to give each individual 3 minutes . You can complete it in 3 minutes. Here we have a clock. The board members will not respond. All of this will be brought to
018the attention of the appropriate staff, and we always welcome your feedback. So thank you for sharing today. Well, first I have Jin Nemen and then Marel Karen. Good evening, my name is Jane Nemen. I am the vice president of Grand Rapper, the Education Association. I am a teacher at Union High School. I'm going to talk about a few things on agenda number one. In the budget amendment, I saw that there was a very good increase for revenue and that was good to see. As you know, we are currently negotiating a contract for our collective association and everyone is constantly yelling, " The sky is falling, the sky is falling ." And I've never found myself, I never remember that we've had so much money at the end of this month. That said, I hope the
019council will be willing to consider our proposal that we will have coming soon, and that you will commit to the promise of improving teacher compensation, specifically increases every year instead of waiting 3 years, and making it competitive with other districts in the county. The other article I would like to mention is non-renewable resources. I know there isn't much this year and I appreciate that, but I would like to briefly mention and remind the board that provisional teachers are subject to very strict requirements and everything is based on 3 years of evaluation. However, if, excuse me, if they have had two bad years and a third good year and have to redevelop, what was the change? Was it the leadership? Was it the evaluator? Was there a circumstance that may have caused that change in the
020evaluation? I do know that student data was reduced from 40% to 20%, but there have been other increases as well, such as professional development and attendance. These are guidelines that are observed and we have these strict rules, but we are in a teacher crisis where we have problems finding new and young teachers. Then the question arises, do we really want someone to leave who has made the effort to improve their practice, or do we want to see if perhaps we need to look for more supportive leadership? Thank you, it is appreciated. Mark Hering, followed by Marta Johnson. Good evening, my name is Mark Karen and I am an educator for the last 10 years, three of which have been GRPS. Before that I taught in China and Colombia. I was at César Chávez for a
021year and for the last 2 years I have been at Southwest Elementary. You know me, I think. And tonight I'm here to make a comment that after a decade I'm saying I'm no longer going to be a teacher, so I'm one of the teachers who are in their transactions. They may recognize that last month there was another teacher from Swes who resigned publicly as well. She was an excellent teacher and will be a huge loss for GRPS. I want you to know that we both love Software, they have beautiful families, beautiful students, the best teachers I've ever had the pleasure of working with, but GRPS is going to keep losing talent as long as I'm resigning. I know there are so many people who want to stay and will continue to fight the good fight.
022I always tell students to be socially oriented, and the first reason I'm leaving is that GRPS needs to pay its teachers better. You're not going to get talented teachers with the pay you're offering. Teachers always want to do their best, but you're not going to achieve that when you're barely surviving. Sometimes you embarrass me to say how much I earn after having a master's degree and 10 years of experience, especially when you see what other districts are paying. We need more time to plan. We consider that time as nonexistent. I have to take my work home and it's super impossible to do it with the time we have with our special needs. We need to secure more time for this. We need to have our special education teachers doing only the work of special education
023teachers. You need to schedule those meetings you hold after school hours during normal hours. All meetings must be held during official hours. Nothing special comes out of these meetings because everyone is so tired. Once, when we worked in other countries, our meetings were held at regular times. We had a lot of creativity and the best solutions were made when we were working during the time we were supposed to be there. But after finishing another three consecutive days, we're going to say what's inconvenient for parents. I have several students who did not attend the last day of class because no one could pick them up. Conferences are the days that tire us the most throughout the year. Sorry, time's up. OK thanks. Marta Johnson and then D. Jones. [Music] Hello, my name is Marta Johnson. I
024have two children in Grand Rapids Montesuri. Earlier I went to the HW committee, I was sharing concerns about the plans. We continue to listen to the things you are doing. We are concerned. We were talking about how in 2022 there were board members who said we didn't have enough reach. I'm always concerned about air quality. You know that I am very aware of air quality and we want to know what plans you are making, what things are happening. And I felt, I felt impressed and we thought, you know what? We need to make sure these things are done right. The contract and the contract group is the Eurica group. We all know about the report on reimagining our schools, and we know that the clear issues that have been given to us, what the board
025has also done as an action force, brought us six different recommendations. It's like when an alarm tells us, " Your house is on fire." It's like if I said, you know what? It's not my job to look at the fire. Now I tell you, it's your job to look at the fire. It's your job to make sure the district is making responsible financial decisions . Let your culture reflect the importance you give to your students and let them be present and future students of the RPS. That everything is excellent is the fact that you are not paying the teachers enough and that the teachers are leaving here and that this will continue to be the behavior of our educators. What you have before you is not something that should be voted on. We need a
026real contract. The fact that you have it right in front of you and are taking it lightly is not fair. You always push these big contracts, the same leadership, which gives us the same results, and we sit here allowing this to continue happening for our children. We want to work with you, we want to reimagine ourselves with you, but you are pushing us out, you are throwing us out of here. Please change this. Do not approve this agenda, do not approve this business. We need you to say, we need a plan to pay the students and the teachers, a plan to put the students at the center and for us to stop pushing these schools further. We want to work with you, but I'm so tired of applauding for the children and not making sure
027that all children have a chance in RPS. We remind you that applause is not allowed during public comments. D Jones and then Kim Baren. How are you? I am a DJ, a passionate advocate. I'm talking about recognition and reach. I recently formed a partnership with you. We did an esports activation at Ottawa Hills school. I gave you this document. I don't know if you already received it, but I was on the news on channel 8 with this document last Friday. This was last Friday. This even reached Yahoo Sports. Look at what we are doing in our community. This is for the summer initiative. I'm here with Harv Hills and his students, because many of those students, Harv Hills, they also received a scholarship, as shown on the second page of what I gave them, showing
028the students on Yahoo Sports for a scholarship. With this initiative, we gave up to $2,000 in cash to the winners and also the Xbox consoles that we were able to give to the students. I want to remind you that DJ Jones gave Xboxes to the students and $2,000 in cash, and they've had one of the biggest competitions, and now we're also in season nine. I've been enjoying it a lot. And we also have other very interesting things here . This isn't the latest, but there's an organization called Party, and I was talking to the directors about it. They have a multi-billion dollar investment, one of the best companies in the world. And then we have the director, who was one of those who made this large investment and also wants to continue educating the students
029in this spring initiative. We want to educate students across Kent County and we want to give you 90% equity and you get paid. They receive a lot of money from this. There is another initiative, but I will talk about that in the other public comments. Be aware of the good things happening with the funds I've received from Grand Rapids in partnership with you, and look at the students on this universal platform. This is one, these are going to be some of the best on the planet one day. Thank you Kim Baren. Then Lucas Le Kimber. I am a community member, a father here. I also used to work for GRPS. Today the board is asking us to approve a budget, as well as the renewal of contracts for certain employees. If you don't have the
030information, you need to get the information, you need to vote, no, because we need to make the right decision for GRPS students. There's a lot of talk about what things can be done and I want to believe that's real, but the truth has nothing to do with what we're saying. Later this month we will have two employees who will want to start being investigated by other boards. They have returned to work in the same capacity they had before with roughly $200,000 between the two of them in salary. Please do what is right for the children and do not renew their contracts for anyone. anyone who engages in behavior such as bullying, intimidation, and manipulation to seize power. Also, before approving the budget and finalizing negotiations with GRAE, please take a look at the amount of
031money we pay Dr. Roby. She receives approximately $300,000, which must be higher now. also 90,000 in retirement benefits, 25,000 and 6,000 on his vehicle. She receives a 6% raise every year, which perhaps seems to be hidden from the board and the public until I asked for the contract, which was given to me last week. We are missing some other details, like when it seemed that she was still receiving 3% plus 6%. I am surprised that I am already receiving this salary and this package, while the district does not want to compensate students and teachers properly. This compensation is fair; it has a direct impact on our students because we want to have and retain quality teachers. Please, let's renegotiate these contracts with GRPS and pay your teachers enough to live on. GRPS has so much
032potential to provide a wonderful experience for our students, and yet our leadership continues to settle for mediocrity in many areas. Please do not approve the budget until you have had the opportunity to review it and hold the leaders accountable. We want a student culture that celebrates good ideas, but also one where all staff can use their skills, have reliable transportation, clean buildings, dependable transport, and schools that are safe and trauma-free. That's all we ask. Lucas L. [Music] Good evening, I'm Lucas Lev. I'm here to talk about your financial situation tonight. We're going to talk about the agenda, each point you've given us. He was talking about the finance committee and the recommended action is a lie. The discussion about finances was not a motion to be approved and it is that kind of garbage that
033leads us astray, that is ruining this system. Tonight you are taking action on points that were discussed in committee before the minutes and reports of this have been heard. Furthermore, the way your committee works is also in a body that has an even number of members. That's stupid. You have to put an even number or have the majority say yes or no. All of this is part of a corrupt system at GRPS. Things move slowly, if not as if they are moving quickly, and then they start putting pressure on the new leaders. This is not acceptable and we will not tolerate it. We, the people, who are in charge of schools, whether you like it or not, we have a democratic Republic. Ms. Williams reprimanded the committee for trying to unpack the superintendent's needs and
034accused the representatives of these people of micromanagement. Because of the convenience of all this, it is exactly how our systems have fallen into the misery that they are today. The era of governance is ending. Get used to it. Remember, just because you've always done it that way doesn't mean it's incredibly stupid. The worst part of this is when someone who is supposed to be an agent of change misses the opportunity to make the change. Seara, you had the opportunity to hold that line and you failed. You cannot break this wheel until you take the opportunity to break it. You could have stopped all this nonsense, but you caved in to the pressure from one of the biggest champions of the status quo when she was dancing around you. The reality is that asking for and
035spending money before the budget is presented is ridiculous, especially if it doesn't allow us to express more details. Here in the normal world we don't have those kinds of opportunities without checks and balances. This needs to change, and you have a CFO who can do much more and prioritize transparency. If you can't leave. What's open here in the PO system is suspicious. $9,000 for someone's internet at home. Oh really. Money for associated contractors. And you have to force the leadership and tell them that this system is broken. They have to do something. Ismaeli Núñez. I wish I were that tall. Good evening, council members. My name is Ismaelis Núñez and I am speaking on behalf of more than 337 people to be exact, students, family members, staff and community members who have signed a petition
036for urgent action in schools. Our students deserve a district that invests in their future, that listens, and right now we're not seeing that. Tired of the excuses, especially that it's not the council's responsibility to watch the fire in this district, that doing so would be micromanaging. Let me remind you, your fiduciary responsibility is not only to approve the board and budget, but to oversee and ensure that the funds are being used ethically and efficiently. You may not feel the fire where you are sitting, but let me tell you something, your house is burning down. We see the impact every day without permanent educators. The teachers have pushed themselves to the limit, the infrastructure, the decisions of the leaders being made behind the scenes, it's obvious, they don't care about the students' well-being, their improvement. In
037the Ureca 2023 report, a report that also outlined the problems and potential solutions, this district has done nothing. We have seen budget after budget to maintain a broken status quo. We are calling for no more budget allocations until there is an informative and transparent plan. Many of you were elected because you promised to fight for a better district, better pay, and this is the moment for you to fulfill your promise. This is also your fire that you must answer, and we collectively are counting on you to have the courage to put out this fire. The time is now. Thank you. [Music] That concludes our public comments on agenda items, so let's move on to the Secretary's report. Very good. So, as a reminder to everyone there, the ADW facilities will be meeting on June 14th.
038Uh, can I have the hours, please? What time is it? at 5 pm here in room 112 and the finance committee will be on June 28th here in the auditorium. Thank you. Very good, the superintendent's report. Okay, good evening. Good evening again. So, for our council, as our audience, there are a few things I want you to be aware of looking ahead to 2025 and 2026. Can you hear me? With costs rising and the Astro funds ending, we must reduce spending to achieve long-term stability. Our priority is to protect the classroom experience while making it possible to compensate our staff. We are committed to making reductions in areas that will have a lesser impact on students. So what I'm going to mention are some of the things we have planned, with the understanding that there
039are other things we've been working on as well, related to the budget, reducing the department's budget to work more efficiently. a 10% reduction. Salaries for all district leaders will be frozen in the immediate future, reducing non- teacher positions, including the executive director of learning development. That will also reduce administrative elimination in Franklin for MT. and also the Reamina Reimagine GRPS, others that have been eliminated, sorry, two security guards, two people who work in the bathrooms in the position of director will also be consolidated. For example, a director in Keno Sha and Sheward Park. There are two directors and because of those two schools moving to one, we're going to keep one director. The office will be restructured with two retirements that will eliminate out-of-state travel for conferences, effective immediately. Not all RPS departments will attend
040the conference unless it is covered by the person inviting them. So if there's a fund, yes, but if not, then no. We are going to look for a solution to address the teacher shortage. Um, as we're wrapping up the year, we're also reviewing current positions to see if we can reclassify them, which might not allow for funds, and thus not put so much pressure on the general funds. So we're looking at positions that can be moved to other places where they can be covered by funds to take it out of the general fund budget. Removing programs that are not GPRS. We finished the share program in our schools. Those have been removed. The state no longer covers the full cost and they are not of great benefit to GRPS students, and we are also looking
041for those buildings that are vacant and we are going to explore strategic opportunities to generate income from these empty buildings. These are some of the things we're thinking about. There are other things we're still working on, but I wanted people to have that information. Stephanie Sismes would invite him for a legislative update. Very well, good evening everyone. Thank you for having me here. Tonight is quite short. I have good news tonight. Hey, a day for advocacy, for advocating. We do n't have a house budget yet, but we're going to show you what the timeline will look like and be consistent with what we've always said. It's not that we're going to shut down the government in the fall. I wish I had better news. Uh, maybe I'm wrong, but it seems that it will be
042between now and October. Thank you to the council members who attended Lancing Day, Dr. Roby, and our three students who really impressed all the representatives and senators they met. They also made my day very, very easy. My work for that day was truly a very inspiring day. They did such a good job talking about three items that we're going to talk about them in a second. And I must tell you that we had another event where we had a session with the legislators, so thank you. I think it was very effective. Then we met them. They met us. So it's a double win. And in a second we're going to talk about the GRPS delegation we met with, but also about the teaching and learning leadership. Many of these people, due to the size of
043the state, many of the members are from the eastern part. Here on the eastern side we are growing, but many of those people are from the other side of the state, so when they make decisions, well, they do n't take into account a few of the key topics here that we had in the session in the district and then in Lancil. I'm not going to go over everything, but here it is in front of you, in addition to K. key topics, supporting our students and teachers at the state level. Uh, we're seeing some severe cuts, Dr. Roby has already mentioned some of them, so with that coming up, this is more important than ever. also with members of the Republican legislature. Well, we're working to better prepare ourselves and to have the best school year
044for everyone. I hope that was received, but we'll see. And with that, the three articles that the students mentioned as being important to them did such a good job. Continuing the food program, I believe the council and legislative members saw this. I think it's great that they were able to hear from the students themselves how important this program is, and it's not an opportunity that everyone has when they're going to make a decision, to have these young people there, to explain and talk to them about it. You can see the impact. The second was access to mental health care. Do n't let that stop. We are advocating for the continued increase and support of the 31st and 31st points, which they touched on in additional funding to have more resources, to have more advisors as
045they know they will need them, so that the state can prove all this to RPS . The third was the hot potato that everyone is talking about: cell phones in school. There are two proposals at the moment, one in the lower house and one in the senate. Uh, we were there and some students shared the pros and cons of things they would or wouldn't want to see regarding the cell phone proposal. In my personal life, I'm not very close to high school students, so it was quite shocking for me to see how they developed. They shared a few concerns and shared many things they would like to see differently than legislators. And with that, as I mentioned, we had some lawyer meetings, that was incredible. Our senators were there, and the general leader was there.
046She was very good with her time, she spent a lot of time with the students and we had a double meeting and I heard from other members who were there, they shared history of the Capitol, what she does, she took questions and in addition to that the House and the Senate had a very important recognition. The students stood there in the gallery next to the administration and were greeted by the senators and members of the House of Representatives. On other occasions, our delegation and we were able to meet and discuss the approval committee, legislation, policy initiatives, funding, and budgets, and we want to do that alongside the Senate as well to cover our bases. We also attended an executive luncheon and I think everyone slept well. Our students left at 4:30 and from there they
047went home. And here we have a couple of photos. You can see the conversations we students had in the gallery, how they were able to spend some of their time with them. Regarding budget updates, as I mentioned before, the house has not yet submitted any kind of budget on this matter. However, they are having a session today or tomorrow and are meeting to discuss a supplementary budget. We basically have political gossip about whether or not they were going to help with the budget that will be presented over the weekend or at the end of the week. We know that traditionally this is brought before the committee first, then comes education, public health, and different sessions. And these subcommittees will be having these internal discussions and then they will be brought in for a vote. We're
048going to be hearing a bit more about community work, and this limits not only their possibilities, but everyone who is within any of the minority groups. With that, they not only passed the education budget, but they also passed the state budget, including the subcommittee. We have some positive news. I think it's something to celebrate because we continue with a great deal of advocacy. Michigan's food program was not included in the full amount, but this has to be included at the end of the day when this goes to the conference for the final vote. But right now that's a stop to see if we can receive that food reimbursement. And with that, a couple of general points. I know many of you may have already reviewed the document, but the Senate wants at least a billion
049dollars in increase to also increase the number and size of classes. They're suggesting this be done, but again, it has to come up in the final budget. We want a $400 raise. 50% of this is required to be used to increase student pay. The plan will increase the school fund by 5%, which will take us from 20.8 million for the 2025 fiscal year, and also proposes a 26%. The opportunity index includes $2.5 billion for mental health and infrastructure, and $350 million of that is for school safety and mental health, including air systems, as well as breakfast and healthy meal programs throughout the Michigan school system. This has been a very important emphasis, and we have made sure that the Senate understands its importance. This gives them opportunities to ask questions or express concerns. Very well,
050thank you very much for your presentation. I know that many of us on the city committee also want to meet with the people who make the laws. We were there a week before their trip. I had to miss that one because I couldn't take that many days off, but I know that one of the concerns we have as board members was the requirement to use 50% of that increase to raise teachers' pay because it's not guaranteed. And I just want to remind my colleagues and the public that the House has not yet put forward a budget proposal and tried to pass a 25% reduction in education funding for the state of Michigan. I just want to remind us of this, and I love all the plans, the possibilities, and I just want us to maybe
051take this as a reminder to call our representatives and say, "You know what? We're looking at the proposals, and we're hoping that maybe you can help us with at least half of this, because we know we 're on two different sides. One is, you know what? We're going to put in more money, and the other is, we're going to cut the budget. I think it's time to use our voices and collective power to call and let them know that we need the budget increase . Please come with me next year. We missed you, and congratulations on your wedding. But yes, absolutely all of those are Senate recommendations. They're in a perfect world. In a perfect world, this is what would pass tomorrow. Based on what you were telling us, we need a lot more before
052we have something perfect, but this conference is going to look a little different when it happens, because we have to find a way for both sides to meet in the middle and for them to reach a consensus. I think that That's a good suggestion. I know the Grand Rapids delegation is trying to figure things out; they're having daily conversations right now about what they want to see in the budget and what we can do to make that happen. But unfortunately, the reality is that our Grand Rapids delegation is in the minority, and we're not part of the leadership conversations or advocacy efforts to see these budget changes. We can expand our reach by talking to the entire education community in preparation for the policies and what might happen in this budget. But the more knowledge
053we bring to this, the better. I think we can expand our horizons much more. What I'm hearing is, please, let's call all the families across the state and ask them to please talk to the representatives, and we can call them too. You are members, you are educators, you are part of the education budget. In this order, in fact, the first two are the principals, and they are the group of people, the group of leaders who have to present the education issue. You can take a picture and We can also send you your information. I just want to say that we greatly appreciate the work you've done trying to advocate for the district, but also, as you mentioned , most of it was thanks to you, our students, our staff, and the House delegation, especially when
054you were talking about food reimbursement. I loved seeing that issue addressed, but I would also like us to continue pushing to achieve what we need for the children. If this reminded me of something I should have included, even though the budget hasn't been released yet, we have a new process that has been implemented. All the items that have been mentioned even once have to go through an application process. Then you have to see the public response. Now, on this topic, even though you haven't been given a representative to partner with Grand Rap, I had to think for a second. Sorry. They— they are the people, the stakeholders in the House of Representatives, who will be speaking and making this appeal, advocating for Michigan and for Michigan education. Thank you. I wanted to mention, if you
055could go to the slide where we have All these points, because when we were in the Student Board Association, one of the things I kept hearing, and which is a concern for me, is the budget, please. There we are. All these points you see on the screen sound ideal, but something I'd like to continue pushing, which I've heard from several districts, is that when we have a million-dollar increase with an emphasis on making classrooms a little smaller, that's great. But how are we going to sustain it? Because if classrooms are smaller and we get used to that, and then that money disappears, it's incredibly difficult for the district to go back to the sizes we had before. We saw it when it happened with Cover; that money was incredibly beneficial, but when it disappeared, we
056were back to square one . We have to advocate for the continuation of these funds. Yes, thank you. I think many of the colleagues I've spoken with have the same concern. We have one of our administrators, who used to be a teacher. They tell us that this is always one of their concerns, that the changes We know that these aren't changes we can easily reverse because they would have too great an impact on students and teachers, but it's not up to them. It's up to the House to make that decision, and we're open to all kinds of negotiations to achieve it. Thank you. I'm going to ask Mr. Johnson to come forward, please. Now let's move on to the annual public safety report. We're approaching summer, and we want to see how things are going
057to go. We have an update here on our safety system, on what we've accomplished this school year. Again, what we're doing, we're going to keep in mind that all the student outcomes here are also connected to the universal needs of our students. Having said that, we want to make sure that we're doing everything based on our best practices and our five phases of emergency management, or emergency control and rapid recovery. We want to make sure that all our professional development, as well as with our staff, is addressing each of these points to ensure that we're providing a healthy environment for our students. Our framework, what we're doing, you see it here. on screen. We want to make sure our staff has the tools to respond to training and be ready. We can't train enough. We
058always have to provide enough training for them and the community. We're also in a climate of community outreach; mental health and behavioral health are also super important. We're working with therapists as well, and we have staff who are connected with them. We want to connect all these pieces so we can have bigger and better policies and leadership rules. We have a project where we've made gun locks, and we've given about 18 to the community. We have a lot of community partners we work with, and we continue to push this issue in the community so that information is distributed properly. We continue to put more literature out there so people are going to more PTA meetings and continuing to schedule our officers on gun safety and handling. We also receive gun locks through Michigan State, so
059we have quite a few gun locks to distribute, and those are provided at no cost to the district, and we want to give them to parents who are Gun owners. And if someone breaks into the house, well, that gun won't end up in the wrong hands. Speaking of physical security, the camera system, last time we were at 66% of our buildings with cameras, but today we're at 81%, so we've done a lot of work since last October installing cameras in the buildings, especially the primary ones. That's been our focus, and also improving the system at the secondary level, which have always been there . Our card access system. We need a new system because we've reached the age of 35, which is now too old. We're looking at Jenitech, which is a new program, and
060we started this with a program in Kent Hills. At the primary, they have the Genetex system there with the Genetex camera system. To get a better idea, to test it before investing, we want to see how it differs from what we're currently using . They do the things we want them to do. Again, with our critical mapping system , we're at 93% with no plans to do the other buildings. They're not occupied. So that's in our system, sharing it with the authorities in case they need to enter our building; they can have those digital maps so they know where everything is. Our secure entrances have been moved, not much, but all the buildings that are occupied with students are at 81%. Our buildings, the entrances, for example, the library building, 4H, we haven't entered those
061buildings yet. Our focus was on those buildings that have students and parents. Our Raptor management system went from 61% to 78%, adding a secondary one, and the usage isn't where we want it to be, so we have to train more and distribute more information to the staff. We know there's resistance from parents, not wanting to use this. So it's a learning curve for our community, for the parents, and they're concerned that this data isn't being shared with anyone. We listened carefully to what they want us to do, and we also installed dual-band radio systems and an emergency radio in every building so they have direct contact with the department. Sheriff's deputies and the Grand Rapids police are on standby in case there's an active situation inside one of the buildings. There's a legal requirement that
062we have some kind of panic button so that if something happens here, they'll know. Our crisis manual is quite extraordinary. The initial review was in June 2024. We had an external design, and we started working with our internal committee on how this manual impacts the situation. We had the first draft in February 2025. We're reviewing that draft, and we should finalize it in June to have a final product, to have our books in hand in July. Not just the books, but an electronic application for operations and a manual for the teachers and the principal. One thing we've never done is a staff webpage, and we're going to create a file with all of that so they have all the answers they need. We hope to train and distribute this in August, making it as convenient
063and easy as possible for our staff, so they don't have to come here on a Saturday or after hours. We want to integrate that system... Training during the day and finally having the distribution of this book. Speaking of the achievements to date, as of June 4th, up to June 4th, they covered all 2,097 events where they were there providing security, and that doesn't include the athletic events, which are over 1,500. If you look at everything they were covering, we have a 28% decrease in some incidents, and that's the first time in 5 years that this has happened. And our successful summer security plan will be available at the district level. We're going to put all the security officers into two sections on June 16th and 17th . They're going to do driving and evaluation training.
064Some have already completed it, and others will continue. We're going to work with the Department of Mental Health and therapists on a law that requires all buildings to have a team by October 26th, and we want to keep moving forward with this. We're going to put everyone through the training. We're going to continue supporting the city of Grand Rapids. with the urban league. Activities during the summer. Uh, they have an esports program at Burton Middle and the urban league also at Gerard Ford. Friday and Saturday nights, it's a sure thing for summer. We did this last year, very successfully in Alger, and it's good to involve more people who do n't need transportation to the south side of town. Most of them come from Core City, and we want to do it there. We talked
065with the city of Grand Rapids about expanding it to other locations for the community and offering the schools for it, and it's a slow growth for that. Again with DJ John, we're going to have summer programs, and we're continuing to work on the back- to-school plan for 2025-2026 and continue training all the staff so they're ready for the first day of school. To this day, we only have one individual who isn't coming back, but we're going to come back with a team that's ready to spring into action. Uh, we're going to look at best practices, what we need to adjust, what we need to improve, what are the areas of growth we need, and we want to celebrate the success of the Students. Um, they are the key to this, our staff is key to
066this. We have a wonderful staff that follows the leadership regarding safe schools, safe environments. The staff does a great job, and the students do too. And if you have the opportunity, if you can come to their training so you can see exactly what we want to teach our staff regarding the experts who are there, who are going to give us another point of view on what we are seeing. We are not bringing in people from another state, but people from here. So that is what is happening in terms of school safety. It has been very good to share this. It is good to celebrate them as well for the hard work the students have done . We were concerned about the number of events they were working and how much time it was taking from
067their nights. But to have safe events without major incidents is a great accomplishment. So my respect to them. They are very well trained, a team that is committed to this. Thank you, thank you very much. Question, I have a few questions. First, I want to thank the team of Security. I always try to connect with them after any advice, knowing they have a long day too. I know there are a few more here in the building. I have a few questions regarding the prevention phase, regarding emergency management, and I'd like to make sure you keep the gun locks you're distributing and the information we've included in these letters. We have a state mandate coming out in October where we need to disseminate information by the governor's order, and I want to know how prepared you
068are when this happens, what that timeline looks like, and how you're going to share the information. Well, one of the things the legislators have asked us to share is data regarding school safety. We're working with the state to see what mechanisms we can use, and then there's a danger in that districts started sharing that data, but we're going to continue working with the Office of Public Safety to find out what the best mechanism is and what they recommend, to have their guidelines, to know what they want us to do. That's regarding state security. Well, my question was specific regarding Security. Well, we continue to receive information from the Michigan State Police and school security. Our team is updating to get all the information regarding the secure storage of firearms. And the other part of this
069is not just for the students, but for family members. How do we teach that to the families? The mentoring program to bring it into the classrooms. Well, nothing internal at this time in terms of communication, right? We have n't had any internal communication. That's question number one. Question number two, critical incident, how are the maps done? I have two parts to this question. I want to go to the map portion. That's specific to the authorities, the police. They receive a map of where they're going to enter, where the incident was. They literally have a map of our building. That's correct. Well, I'm going to open a can of worms here. How do we ensure that this stays internal with the police and isn't shared? Thank you. That's a very good question, but this has to
070do with emergency response. Um, how is the CAT system shared? Everyone, all the schools, it They're putting the CAT system in place, and that's our hope. And according to the Grand Rapids Police Department, this information isn't shared with anyone, and even if they come here to our building, our process will still take effect. What this map does is give them the exact location so they know how to get there, saving them time, especially if there's an active individual at the school. I was hoping we could establish a policy regarding that relationship. I heard you say that because of our other policies, it's like a layer of protection with the police department. A Memorandum of Understanding would be appropriate. We've worked with the Police Department on this, outlining their responsibilities, their duties, as well as ours,
071and how much access we give them. And we've also restricted quite a bit of the access we gave the police. Yes, two more. Thank you. You were mentioning that you offer training and that we're invited. I'd love to know when that's going to happen once we have our schedule this year. I'll make sure Dr. Roby gets that schedule and can share it with the board. You can also go back to one of the Slides, I think it's number six. And forgive me, I got a little distracted just now , but you were talking about what school safety would look like, and you were talking about mental health, health and well-being. These are really big pieces that I personally find super important. What were you saying? We haven't done a very good job working with our
072mental health teams in the past. We have some therapists, and we need to build an internal process. Many of them are new, and they're just now getting to understand this process. Maybe we can get them to provide support. The team is very, very well equipped in terms of everything related to mental health, and maybe we can get you up to speed on the things we need to do. How many people do you have on the team? I think it's 21. But when you talk about the behavioral assessment team, that's a state law that we have, and it's the same for everyone. And how many have you met with? We met with your leadership team. The leadership team has been trained, and now we're training Our security team so that we can work with Kent IST
073and other organizations at the state level. Okay, thank you. That answers my question. Thank you very much. Anyone else? I was wondering, how many people are on your staff team? 38. How many do we need? sporting events and many of these have double and triple staff depending on the number of people we will have and the type of event. And yes, whenever I'm at an event, you always have a very good staff, a very good group to work with. They also loved being able to celebrate with our students at graduation, and I shared with Dr. Roby that some of them had been involved in these graduations at this level of scale from the preparation stage to the end. The average time we were there at the event, it took them between 5 and 7 minutes
074for the person to leave their seat, go to their car, they could move traffic in 5 to 7 minutes. That's a very good thing for them. Thanks a lot . That concludes the superintendent's report for tonight. Alright, let's move on to our action points then. Our first action item is the Michigan High School Athletic Association, the membership resolution. We have a motion to approve the resolution. We have a motion. Those who are in favor, say "I am". Someone supposes. Very good, the excitement is maintained. We continue to improve mileage resolution. Can you tell us what this means for us? I can give a general check and then I'll ask Mr. Skirt to come over. In case I can't explain it correctly. Our district has a program through the ISD. What this means, and I don't
075remember the exact amount, but this allows us to make some increases for the staff, and it addresses the original request, which was for 10 years. I believe we are in year eight. We are in the 8th year. And what's happening with this isn't just for GRPS, but for all schools, all school districts in Kent County. We have 20 of them. And what this resolution does is that the board would have to approve that we continue with this program. And along with this, 19 other districts. We're talking about about $4 million for Grand Rapids public schools from the start until the renovation is complete. The law has changed since it was passed at the original time. This will also include charter schools. That means more schools will benefit from this pool of money. Our share, our
076portion, is going to be a little less, it's going to be like 3.7, maybe 3.8 is what they're anticipating, a little less than what we're receiving at the moment, but it's super vital for everything with this, each district has had the request that this mileage be supported individually. And then we have two other districts because they have to have, that is, the mileage goes forward depending on the number of students who are represented in that district. The goal is to be able to continue with the support of all 20 districts at the same time. I don't know if they go on charter flights or not. a little less than 4 million dollars will be added to our districts and these can be used specifically for salaries. They can be used for various things. It is
077currently being used for several of the things we need at school, as well as teacher compensation. And if it's not approved, what happens? We simply don't have those funds. Exact. Yes. We don't have 4 million dollars. But it's not an increase, is it? Originally there were 9 million. Property taxes are rising faster than inflation, and there's only so much money that can be taken from those budgets. I mean around 8 million. We're originally talking about the pun9, and if we renew them, then there are changes based on inflation. Are there any restrictions on how these funds can be used? That's district money. This will be voted on next November. It also doesn't cost the district anything for the election. It's a significant amount, but it doesn't cost the district anything for the election. We have
078a motion. We have a motion and we have support. If we are in favor, say yes. If they oppose it, the motion stands. Very well, thank you very much. You can stay here if you want. We continue with the purchasing agenda. I'm going to open this time for questions and comments. If you have something you'd like to share at any point, you can say so too. I know this vote was tied in the committee and I know there are a lot of comments and questions about it, so go ahead. The minutes are not right. We voted to bring the budget issue before the entire board . Now, I know that the committee's recommendation is just a recommendation, something we have to keep on the agenda, but to clarify, what we were voting against was bringing
079it before the entire board in the context of when the budget is going to be presented, which would be on the 23rd. I have been serving on the committee, but I can explain to my colleagues why I was one of those who voted against it. For me, I want to make sure that many of the things we have here are talking about the 25-26 budget year, and speaking for myself, I want to see a 25-26 budget before I approve these expenditures, just because I like to have the overall context, and it's simply my explanation so that my colleagues can understand why I voted the way I did. No, my vote was the same. Do n't you think this will have consequences that will affect our students? So, don't you think we should start trying some
080things right now? No, I'm not sure. I believe that the summer school would be most affected , as well as the number of projects we have that will be delayed. There are some things, many of them have July 1 as their renewal date. We won't be able to make some payments on time either, but there are many of them who would like to have a purchase schedule as well. You see, do what you need to do regarding the impact this may have on the district's business, that is, a renovation, for example, I'm going to say a platform renovation. If we say we're not going to use the funds for a month, that means we have to pay the bills, but we won't be able to. Yes, many of these bills are paid on July 1st.
081I need to withdraw those funds before that date. If you don't approve it by the 23rd, I can make the payments before the 1st, but if it's not approved by the 23rd and we have to do it at the meeting on the 14th or later, then we're going to have to pay for being late with the payment. If I know that time is a concern between now and the end of the month, we have 22 days, which I think is enough time. I agree to work on Saturdays and Sundays, but we have the hours to be able to work on the budget. I want to acknowledge that we know time is important, but at the same time we need to see the big picture. In my head. I'm just trying to understand the renovations. If
082we don't renew them, we lose those services or not. It depends, it depends on the business we're working with. Some people get very aggressive and we're late. They can discontinue the service. The other consideration, I believe that when we have a prospect in front of us, that perhaps has a deficit in the district and has to make these difficult decisions, I am not opposed to some of these purchases. For me, it's about needing a budget context so I can see everything in front of me and decide what we're going to prioritize, because I know we're going to have to make some tough financial decisions. And I want to know what the overall vision is before making these decisions. I'm saying, I'm talking about June 23, not July. June 23rd is the date I'm talking about,
083where we can see the full budget and make a decision. July 1st is when I have to start making the payments. We can have a conversation at that moment about, you know what? If I have to make a difficult decision, how can these particular purchases be justified? And at this moment I think it's difficult to fit this into the overall budget. I know we're going to have to make a lot of tough decisions, but we want to prioritize spending that money in classrooms and we want to continue in the direction we're going . That's exactly what I'm saying. I also spoke to you about this. Approving the budget in general is difficult when we don't have the state budget. Well, so people know, the 16th is a working session and on the 23rd there is
084also a public hearing half an hour before the working session, so I want to make sure everyone knows that. We're going to have that budget before the 23rd. We would have an opportunity to possibly vote on this, on this purchasing agenda, on the 23rd, after we hear more of the full budget, and we need to be prepared to vote on that because we're not going to get together until after many of these things have happened, but I'm waiting for a motion. There are a few articles I want to point out regarding that. They have summer school, and I think that's a good example of the district business that will need to continue in order to have the appropriate materials. I'm sure he wanted to clarify something, or have something clarified for him. I had asked
085about this before, but for the benefit of my colleagues with the National Academy Foundation who are under the funds, if you could clarify again what the history of that association is, how it will be paid, what the financial burden is on the district, I was going to say that I work with NAS, I am not the person, the accountant, not the administrator, so I'm going to give it an accounting touch. We started working on it in Argentina with the music academy. That worked very well. The state of Michigan does offer funding for that planning through MDI MDE. That worked very well too. We also applied for some funding for the hospitality group that's working in Union, I believe, and an agricultural component as well that recently went through Finance, it's related to Innovation Central and
086each of its five academies, the annual renewal cost to continue that work is $000. So this has to come from general funds, right? If I could also add, uh, and this ties in with our strategic plan, making sure that we have different components in all schools. And well, that's being established again. Uh, that, as well as summer school and bond items, is already classified for the 24th and 25th budget. My point is, I'd like to see, before we look at more future expenses, if we can move forward with that . But what should we take away from this now? so that summer school can be survived. Well, from José, I was going to say quickly, President Davis mentioned about not knowing, potentially, maybe the state, we don't know what the state is offering us for
087months. So, if they present us with a proposal in June or May and I don't know everything involved in preparing a budget, thank you for doing that work. Personally, I would like to see—and this year is almost over— a budget where we can make changes to move that timeline. And I think many of our colleagues, the community, have asked to have more time to review the budget because we've gotten so close to simply passing the 11th hour, as they call it. So thinking ahead, maybe we'll have something in May, late May, and I'm not looking for anything specific, but an idea of what we plan to spend in the next fiscal year. Do you want the answer? I can. That's José Rodríguez's idea. I can make my own. Okay, what I'm asking is if you're
088the CFO or the financial manager, what's the likelihood of this? Uh, I'm out of place. How do you create a budget? I'm not sure. Well, I would say that in years past, many years ago, we brought an amendment to the budget where it was amended. The state continued to do this. Excuse me, that was usually in normal years where the governor would do her budget in February and then the legislation in March, so by May we did have some idea of what was going on. State funds are a little more unstable, as is politics, what we do, and how we do it. They've typically been waiting around May to come out with their plan. So we started to defer income until mid-May, but it gave us a better image and we want to recover every
089penny we can. And by that point, towards the end of May or June, we had an idea. This year I think we have many unknowns, many unknown things, a lot of uncertainty. This could take until September before we know what it's about, what the budget is. So it has been a bigger challenge, so it is still a work in progress, as Dr. Roby mentioned, they are working with the CTIR to make these difficult decisions. That's a little story we'd like to revisit if we could. The State has its own law that says it has to be approved by June 30, but it's a guideline, a guide, it 's not a guide for us, no. For us it's a law, we have to approve it. I would like to make a motion. Uh, that's an order.
090They are already finished. If they have already finished. I have one more question. Excuse me, I need to stop apologizing. Well, the question I have is, because I know where you're going with this. For summer school, we start next week, two weeks from now, on the 19th. The 16th. The 16th. Perfect. Next Monday, I see the summer school expenses here in the shopping list; those are already there. Yes, we've already spent that money, haven't we? We have n't spent that money yet, but it's from funds, and that's on the 24th and 25th. We already reviewed that last year. Okay, so what does this cover? If we start summer school next year, I mean, next week, what would the staff expenses be? No, this is for supplies. Okay, okay. Well, well, maybe it's not relevant. Well,
091I'd like to make my motion. I move to split the question so we can vote separately in one article. Article A at 3 15 B 1 2 up to 10. Separately from that, special funds from 1 to 3 and also the buildings from 1 to 7. I can clarify, well, basically voting separately for all the general funds, voting separately for the special funds and also for construction, for projects in the 20242 budgets. Well, we vote on one first and then we vote on the other. We can amend it to remove the things that are in the 2024 budget. I'm moving this to remove general funds, general funds items . Yes, everything to atra and b 1 to 10. I support clarification. The motion is to amend the purchasing agenda to remove items 1 through 15.
092Yes. And items B through 10. All under general funds. Classified under general funds. And do you support it? Yes. Everyone's in favor. I'm just checking to make sure that none of those 15 items are related to summer school. It may take some time. Thank you. Once an emotion is formed, from what I understand, there's no point in arguing anymore. I want to make sure that we can vote on this before we move. Well, I'm fine. I want to make sure the clarification of the motion is correct. Removing items A 1 through 15, and items B 1 through 10. Then, we are approving everything else regarding expenses. We are amending the agenda and then we are going to vote to remove it, we are going to vote to amend it. Everyone in favor. Yes, everything is
093in place. Then, a motion to test the amended purchasing agenda. If we move, approve, everyone's in favor. Me, everyone opposed, someone opposed, the motion passes. So we are requesting from the original purchasing agenda as part of the total budget. Well, my decision is that I am not ready to vote on this budget. Okay, let's continue with the context of the budget, the budget items. We can, I think if the purchasing agenda can be separated, it will be separate. We can bring a revised agenda, and that would be a purchasing agenda and all the documentation we'll need. Thank you. Very good. Moving forward, purchase orders, comments, questions. Well, my position is the same in all of this to save us time, so we can review all of this in the budget, what the priorities are. I
094agree with that. I have a specific question about a few items. This is Natural LCK Trex and Twin Lakes. We are paying those three vendors for snow removal at over $100,000 each. As? Why was there an RFP that came out from different companies that are managing the locations? It's a lot for our internal staff, and that's why I 'm not sure, but they were going to do it by quadrants, and that company will have the northwest area to cover and to have the parking lots clean and ready before school starts. Do you know when this was sent? How long have we had this contract for? I don't remember exactly, I just thought maybe it was a lot and we had to cancel some of these in the winter because they couldn't clear the snow in
095time. No, I'm not sure. Maybe it's something different from what I've seen. We just wanted to be clear on the matter; we're not trying to make her have a bad time here. I know our colleagues want to take a moment before voting on this. I have a question. Regarding recruitment services, could you repeat the question? It's not clear to us that you're talking about student retention, do you remember? We voted no on that, that we had to do a little more promotion in the schools, which was about $1,000 per school, and we voted no, right? They remember. It was approved anyway, but we had voted no. We're asking her questions and she doesn't have the answer. I think it would be better if we ask her questions about this particular item we have in front
096of us, knowing that she will be able to answer them. And honestly, I didn't expect you to know all this. Because you're the expert, Dr. Roby and she are both experts on the subject. That's why I was wondering whether to go for it or not, but I think it's a very good idea. [Music] Since we have no further questions, do we have a motion to try it or not to try it? We don't have a motion to pass. This motion does not continue. We will continue with the adoption of the budget, amendment two, general funds. We have a motion to approve general funds. We are talking about the previous budget and we have the triple line when we are talking about budget amendments. Questions or comments. We have a motion. I'm second, those who are
097in favor say me. Someone gets on board. The motion continues. Adoption of Amendment Number Two. We have a motion, we have support. If you are in favor, say yes. Someone gets on board. The motion continues. Adoption of amendment number two for the retirement fund. We have a motion. We have support. If you are in favor, say yes. He opposes someone. Very well, we are now at the resolution stage for non-renewal and these are closed sessions. I move that we go into closed session so we can discuss this employee's request as permitted by the Open Meetings Act 818. We'll go to the base so you don't have to leave the room, and I'll need a one-to- one vote for this. Babies. Yes. Patrick. Yes. Melton. Yes. Moreno. Yes. Rodriguez. Yes. Williams is excused. Williamson. Yes. We.
098Vice President. Yes. President David. Yes. Very good.