001I am shouting because we have some technical difficulties with the microphones. So, we are all going to need to just speak up tonight. Um, they are assuring me that the video will still pick up on our voices as long as we project. So, if we could just speak up a little louder when it's our turn to talk, that would be wonderful. Um, I would like to welcome all of you to the Grand Rapids Public Schools Board of Education meeting. Today is Monday, April 14th. We appreciate your presence at this meeting, and we respectfully request that you turn off your cell phones and refrain from clapping, cheering, or making audible comments. We invite you to make formal public comment during the designated times on either agenda items, non-aggenda items, or if you wish, on both. to
002do. So, please make sure you fill out the comment cards which are right at the entrances, both entrances, um, and submit them to the board assistant over here, Julie Anderson, or one of our public safety officers. And comments are limited to three minutes. And also on those cards, there is um a section where you mark if it's an agenda item or a non-aggenda item. And there is a spot um Um, oh, right up at the top that asks if you are a student because we do want students to be able to speak at the beginning of the meeting so they can get home at a decent time. I now call this meeting to order and trustee Rodriguez, can you take the role, please? Yep. All right, listen up, everybody. Uh, Trusty Kilpatre Trusty Moreno, present.
003Trustee Melton, present. Trusty Rodriguez is here. Uh, Trustee Williamson present. Trusty Williams is present. Trustee Davis present. VP Wade is excused. And President Davis here. We have a forum. Do I have a motion to approve the agenda? So move. All in favor? I. Any opposed? Okay. Agenda moves forward and we have Dr. Love Lady Mitchell with us tonight. Uh Dr. Roby will be here in just a moment. She's on her way traveling from out of state. So um Dr. Love Lady, can you lead us into celebrations, please? Sure. Good evening, President Davis and distinguished board members. We have three celebrations tonight to present to you. I'd like to ask Director Jennifer Brock to come down. Jennifer Brock will share information on Sons of American Revolution Sergeant Moses Adams Memorial Contest. So, come on down, please.
004Thank you, Dr. Love, Lady Mitchell, and board president, board members. I'm also inviting Eric um Vanderly um he is um going to actually about the celebration, this awesome opportunity for scholars. Absolutely. And I'm explain excited to speak very briefly in front of you because I have the opportunity to introduce one of our teachers and her scholars who is here this evening. I want to briefly speak on behalf of our three scholar recipients, the winners of the Sons of the American Revolution Sergeant Moses Adams Memorial Brochure. Uh, one of our distinguished teachers, Mrs. Sarah Dryer uh is the teacher of Miss Bedoya at Shamut Hills. Um Miss Dryer is a 24-year veteran of GRPS and is described as being very passionate about sharing her knowledge and her own passion for her curriculum with her scholars. Uh
005we also have with us this evening Miss Heather Lewis. Miss Heather Lewis is the teacher of Miss Dean and Mr. Harriet Jabi at CA Frost. And Miss Lewis is described as being a very dedicated veteran teacher as well, who's best known for her innovative lessons and pardon me. Uh providing a safe and welcoming environment for all the scholars inside of her classroom. Uh on behalf of Mrs. Drier, I'd like to congratulate her scholar, Beatatrice G. Pedoya for her third place award uh and her recognition that she earned for being an outstanding uh applicant. Uh and I'd also like to invite Miss Heather Lewis uh forward so that she can speak on behalf of her scholars. And if I could please Miss Lewis, would you mind? [Applause] [Music] [Applause] I'm just gonna stand whatever you're comfortable
006with. Um, so as Eric said, my name is Heather Lewis and I had a number of scholars this year who chose to participate in a contest um given by the Sons of the American Revolution and they had to create a brochure about how the founding documents of our country has impacted us. Um, so if the students won, first place was $100, second place was $75, third place was $50. And then if you, the first place winner got to go to states, so their brochure was sent to state. And then one of my students won state as well. And now it's going into nationals uh with the opportunity to win like $750 extra dollars. So, I mean, when money is tied to things, kids are all going to hoe about doing it. And I don't blame
007them because I'm the same. So, uh, we had a first and second place winner at CA Frost, and we were all so excited. So, I'm sorry. But our second place winner, Dominic, if you want to stand up. Dominic's brochure was amazing. Um, we did not bring it because I didn't realize I should have, but uh, actually right now the brochure is sitting in my classroom, but Dominic went as far as not only creating the brochure, but doing some background research, bringing in knowledge that we had learned about in US history with the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence. Um, even went as far as creating a little like a pull tab and you pulled it down and then words came. Super cute. Uh, and Dominic won uh $75 for that. And then we had a first
008place winner also, Chloe Dean. And Chloe's was also amazing. So amazing that it won first place and $100. and then it won the state of Michigan worth $250. So, she's already earned $350 from this. Um, and we're looking forward to seeing if she wins nationals. So, congratulations. Thank you for supporting your students in that project and good job back there. They're all wonderful, my students. and thank you for using your teacher voice. Oh, so we have two additional celebrations. So, we're going to ask you to stay right there, actually. And the next one is teeing up one book, one city. Yes. So, we have Nan uh who is our ELA uh supervisor. She's going to come down and she's going to talk about the excellent work that was done around one Brooklyn city. Thank you.
009Thank you, Dr. Lovely Mitchell. Thank you, board. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Miss Black. So, I had the exciting privilege Oh, thank you. I had the exciting privilege of uh partnering again with the Grand Rapids Public Library in the One Book, one city project um which was an amazing partnership and um I have guests here um to share with us tonight. But first, I'll make a quick connection to our priority scholar outcomes. of engaging um in uh literacy proficiency uh reducing the academic dispar disparencies excuse me for our black and latino students and increasing student empowerment belonging and agency I don't know how much time we have to the next title yeah and a connection also to our strategic themes in this project. And today with us we have Aaron Hart from the Grand
010Rapids Public Library to share with us tonight. So Erin, go ahead. Yeah. Um I was going to lean into the mic, but it's still not working. All right. Um so yeah, thank you for having me. Um the library has been partnering with GRPS in this program for over a decade. Um and it's really really unique I would say as a program. Um not just you know a lot of places do these sort of one book one community things but to do it fully integrated with the schools to have every single fifth grader 62 classes reading the same book. They're all experiencing the same author talk. Um that's amazing and it's a reach that we would not be able to get on our own with the library. Uh so it's really great that we're able to
011partner with the schools, you know, bring this book, bring this sort of celebration to the kids and every year it's just amazing to see amazing to see the work the students do. Um on our end at the library, we get to see the excitement from everyone. Um you know, frequently we'll have kids come in in like sixth or seventh grade and they'll see a book that was a previous one book, one city book and they'll be like, "Oh yeah, I met that author." Uh and it's a really lovely shared experience to be able to have. So, we're always excited to do and love that this partnership continues. Oh, yeah. And so, um, we also have to thank, of course, uh, all our partnerships as well, our sponsors for this program. So, all listed up there,
012our library foundation, Michigan Arts and Culture Council, WGI Foundation, Independent Bank, MSAD Foundation, and Brad and Gail Castle. These are all people who have donated their own money, organizations that support this program um because they're so enthusiastic about it and they really see the impact of it. And again, this is um the library is very excited about this always and we love that we get to continue to do it. Yeah, this year we had um the book that was chosen by Barry and Johnson and the title is playing the cards that you're dealt and uh we have over 1,25 students scholars reading the story and as Erin mentioned it 62 classrooms throughout the district and we had over 1,400 blog posts that were all related to the story and um we had an amazing amazing
013connection with the students and the scholars throughout the district. um hundreds of posts each day that we monitored and the connection that the students made um was amazing and heartwarming and uh every day when I logged on to read those posts um I uh not only got a smile um but I also like I said it was just heartwarming the connections that the students not only made to their own lives but to um to their friends lives or to to each other's lives or other books that they had read. Uh it was an amazing experience and I really um am thankful that we were able to make this partnership happen. And uh the students not only um posted in the blog during school hours, but we noticed they were part um they were posting in
014the evening and on the weekend. So my colleague messaged me one night and she said, "Man, they're posting um after hours." And I and I had to think about it for a second and and I wondered what she was getting at. I said, "Oh, really?" And and uh I I texted a couple question marks and and she said, "That's good, right?" And I said, "That's really good." So they were um they were posting on the blogs after school hours and we were really excited. Um, so not only were they posting in the blog, but they also created posters, biographies, diaramas. Um, and we have one of our teachers here that's going to share a little bit about how the project impacted her. Um, we have some students from Buchanan there that were interviewed. We have
015um students at Congress that created body biographies and we were able to decorate the space when the author came to visit with all scholar created materials and uh it was welcoming and exciting for him. Um the scholars at Burton use technology in some new and creative ways to create things. We have Burton students also trying grits for the first time. Um because grits were mentioned in the story. Um I have a video of um of the project. Uh and I also want to give a teacher from CA Frost a couple of minutes or a minute to share how the project impacted her and her students as well. my students at CA Frost um really approached this book with a lot of empathy and understanding uh in that we started the story. It's got a lot
016of tough topics and conversations and um spoke about addictions in there. And as fifth graders, some might think like that's such a hard conversation to have, but we started it by simply stating that we don't always know what's going on behind the closed doors of others houses, even if they're our best friends, and we just don't know. And so we really took to heart understanding that we don't always know what's going on. And so when they approached those blog posts, they really had that thought process behind them. And so they made sure that as they were doing their blog post, and I don't know if any of mine were the ones that were after hours, but I do know that that they definitely took to heart and really made sure that like they were being
017kind and considerate while they were having those conversations. And when they would log back in the following week, they got so excited when another scholar from a different school would answer or respond back to them. And it was a really nice conversation to be able to have with everybody across the city. And I unfortunately had to miss out due to a family emergency on the author visit. And one of my students came in today and said, "Miss West, you're not going to believe what you missed." And they were so excited to share that author visit with me even though I was not there. It was the best. So, I think that it's a really good book and maybe one of my favorites because it is so deep and it the author makes it so like
018people can understand this. People know because it has happened to them before. This is This is It's like The author makes it sound like they they don't The author doesn't make it like super like sad and depressing or anything, but not all Happshes. I just This book relates to me and so many others that I know really well. So, I think this is a magnificent book. My favorite part of playing card is like when player Jalone and I'll play um spades. I just think that Mr. Johnson describes like each like each round/book of the game of space so vividly. It feels like I'm inside that game like I playing the game with them. part of playing card is the vlogging because you get to like say what you think about the book and how good
019it is. Um, sibling hides your deck as in dealing with your life and kind of just playing it out and doing your best to play fairly. I think the other chosen title card is because got to deal with it. And so um I think I think the reason the author chose this title is because um I think it means like you have to deal with the things you're given or like anything that happens and not you can either be the bigger person or somebody that doesn't want to get involved. I think I'm a good friend but can sometimes not be a very good friend because I can mess up sometimes and be mean and sometimes I'll make fun of them without realizing that I really hurt them. I think I'm a good friend because I
020treat some of my friends differently than I treat the other ones. Like sometimes if I have a friend that's a girl, I'm going treat them more respectful cuz me and my friends like my best friend uh we roast each other for fun. Uh just like Jamal and uh we roast each other for fun. But I if I if we're like new to being friends, like I just had a new friend, I wouldn't roast them cuz I don't know if they play like that. So I would learn how me and my friend play and I would uh uh respect what they want me to do. Like uh my friend respects me roasting him because he roasted me back sometimes. But uh if they if one of my friends don't want me to roast them, then I'd
021be like, "Okay." So yeah, I think I respect people and how they want me to treat them. [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Thank you. Yeah. And I have a I have a fifth grader this year and she I know all about this book. She loves the project. Um but I just thought it'd be fun to highlight that card project that they made when they were all that was on the author day. Correct. Can you just share a little bit about that? Yeah. So on the the day of the author's visit, we had a little bit of downtime. So, we had the students create their own um playing card design and then the teachers send those back to me at the Franklin campus here and we um we're narrowing down. I gave them the date of April 18th.
022So, we'll narrow down the selection and then here in Franklin campus, I'm going to uh display those with a QR code and we'll vote um and then we can um make everyone a set of playing cards here in house actually. Um we can print playing cards so that each classroom will get their own set of playing cards with that design. We also have a video that our communications department made with the author speaking. I don't think we have time for that one. Do you want to just um send that to our emails and we can post on the website probably? Okay. Yeah, for sure. Thank you. Thank you so much for sharing. And you do have a copy of the book that Miss Ally made for us. Yes. And Yeah. And the book itself is
023is a great book. Thank you. Thank you everyone. Thank you. Thank you. Our last celebration will be ushered in by um Chief Larry Johnson and I also think I see Dr. Ledron Roby. And so we're going to shift as Chief Johnson comes down. Good evening, President Davis, Dr. Mitchell, Dr. Roby, other distinguished uh board members. Uh today we have with you Justin Walker, the athletic director at Union High School, and Marcus Harris, athletic director at Ottawa Hills High School, who will be going over the accomplishments from our winter sports uh to just highlight some of the accomplishments of our scholar athletes. Some of those athletes are here with us tonight. Others are either studying or in a practice somewhere, but uh but they will highlight some of the achievements of this uh past winter. Uh
024good evening uh Superintendent Dr. Roby, board president Davis, and our esteemed board members. Uh thank you for the opportunity for me and Mr. Harris to come share some of the highlights that we had from this past winter season. uh Union High School, we had four student athletes that were named to the OK Gold uh first team all conference. Uh then we also had two student uh scholar athletes, excuse me, that receive okay gold honorable mention recognition as well. In addition to those uh achievements, we also had a great winner where achievements and records were being set both at the building level and the state level. The first uh scholar was Major Vance, who took first place at the OK East diving championship and broke a long-standing record at Union High School that had been in
025place since 1988. Uh this is an incredible achievement and we are very proud of Major. Uh unfortunately, he was not able to be here tonight. Uh the next student, Sam Kick, who is here, Sam. Uh Sam made history here at Union High School performing uh in the division one state wrestling tournament uh at the finals at Fort Field competing at 106 lbs. He earned a overall fifth place, which secured all state honors. And he also recorded his 100th win uh career-wise, which is truly a tough feat in the wrestling world. So Sam uh had a great season. We're looking forward to next year and hopefully with a repeat of that. Next we have Vivian [Applause] Gjack. Uh Vivian is now a current record holder of two major records. One uh being uh both at Union
026and with the state of Michigan. Uh last season, Vivian recorded 15 blocks in one game, which uh was a union record, as well as secured her name on the state record board. Uh and then this past season, uh again, Vivian decided to add her name to the record books again against Kelloggsville. She recorded 27 rebounds in one game, adding her name again to the record books both for Union High School in the state. Uh we are incredibly proud of Vivian um and her achievement uh in basketball. So for two records, two at the state and the high school level. We are very appreciative of her hard work. So thank you. We are incredibly proud of our scholar athletes in the union athletic program. Um but we know we could not do it without the support
027of our staff and our board that supports our athletic departments. And you all show up to events. Our kids notice and they appreciate and our families notice and appreciate as well. Uh so thank you for your support and we look forward to seeing you at some spring events. and I'll turn it over to Mr. Harris. Thanks, Justin. Good evening, Superintendent Dr. Roby, President Davis, esteemed board members. Thank you for having us here as I'm going to uh talk a little bit about some of the winter highlights from the Ottawa Hills Bengals athletics program. Uh we we compete in the OK White League. And so, uh, during the winter season, we had 10 allconerence athletes and one honorable mention that encompasses everything from bowling, boys and girls basketball, and also boys swimming. Our boys swim team
028had another uh successful season, which they went uh five and one in dual meets and so they end up finishing second in second place in the conference. Uh, we had conference champions of Amando Huner in the 200 free and Wyatt Jack in the 500 free. And then also our 400 free relay team uh were conference champions. Uh we had six allconerence swimmers. Uh Wyatt Jakis, Euan Jakis, Amando Huner, Ruben Overman, Tristan Stock, and Christian Ramos. Uh we also had three regional divers that qualified for regionals uh with Isaiah Battle, Juan Villa, and Christian Ramos. And also we had several state qualifiers uh in swimming as well uh that represented the 200 free 100 fly uh also the 500 free and then the 200 free relay and the 400 free relay as well that competed at
029the state level. Also for for our boys swim team we had academic all state and academic all-American athletes who are Amando Huner, Ruben Overman and Ram Rei and Noah Stitler. Uh they also earned a bronze level from the NISCA scholar scholar team uh with a GPA a team GPA of 3.9 3.293 and so that's the national intercolastic swim coaches association uh which they won that national award as well. Uh girls basketball enjoyed it most successful season in about 14 years. Uh a lot of that had to do with Samaj Robinson. She's she's a senior. You may may have heard of her. She's been in the M live quite a few times. Uh Samaj was voted M live player of the week. She was also nomin also on the ballot for M live player of the
030week five times during the winter sports season. Uh she was selected honorable mention for the Grand Rapids area dream team for girls basketball. She'll be attending college uh for track and basketball at a college to be determined. uh SamJ Robertson and Gianna Ladamato Fischer also was awarded the BCAM Basketball Coaches Association of Michigan for the outstanding student athlete award for having a 4.0 GPA in participating in basketball for four years. Uh the girls basketball team, like I said, had his most successful season in 14 years. And our coach, Emily Gussert, uh she was a candidate for regional coach of the year through BCAM as well. Uh our bowling team uh made significant progress this year which we had 17 bowlers on the roster, finished seventh place in the bowling regionals and we had two allconerence
031teams and we got a young team and everyone will be coming back next year. So our coach is very excited for the bowling team next season. So uh thank you again for having us here. Appreciate for what all all the things that you do to support Ottawa Hills Athletics and Union Athletics and look forward to a great spring season. Thank you. [Applause] That will conclude their report and uh just uh just good things are going on in athletics uh elementary participation at all-time high and we we look forward to that continuing in spring sports as well as I know school participation is increasing there and I just want to say with Vivian Ejac she had to wait a long time to get her her validations and her confirmations from the state. So just thank you
032for your patience and thank you for the outstanding job. want to thank all the athletes, but for their families as well who may be represented here today, but but she had to wait and uh for that record to be confirmed and uh and she had a lot of patience and uh patience with us in trying to get it confirmed. So, we thank you for that. Thank you. [Applause] Okay, we will move forward with the report of the student representatives. Can I start with Alia, please? Try to speak up as much as you can. Um, hi. I go to Innovation Central and recently we had our job fair. We had a couple schools attend. I don't remember all of them, but I know Southwest, Southwest, Ottawa, Monastery went, of course, Innovation Central. Um, some upcoming events
033we have, we have our um, food drive coming up this third, mobile pantry coming up this Thursday, I think, or next Thursday. If you have any questions about that, you can um find it on our school's Facebook and you can go stop by and get free food from the GRTC. Um we have the JRTC cadet ball coming up and we have prom and of course graduation. Everything's going really fast, but we have a lot of stuff coming up. Thank you, Alia. Fabiola. Um hi, I'm Fabiola and I'm a senior at City High. Um we also have a couple updates. One of which is that um 35 middle school senior class is able to raise a little bit over $20,000 to go over uh school events. Um one of which is the senior class trip. Uh
034we're going to be going to Chicago and later Six Flags. So um it took a lot of work to be able to raise that much money. So that's something we're proud of. Um another thing is we also have prom. So we're it's at uh Thousand Oaks Golf Club on Friday, April 25th. So we're all waiting patiently or impatiently like me for um prom that night. And then finally, city seniors uh last official day of school is May 1st and then after that um it's going to be about a month of IB exams. So we're also preparing for that. Thank you. Okay, we are now up to the public comment for board agenda items only. Um, I see Miss Anderson is checking to see if there's any more cards right now. I don't believe we have
035any with board agenda items. All right, now I got to be loud. All right, so um we've got a couple committee meetings coming up. Um ad hoc facilities committee meeting is scheduled for May 12th at 5:30 in the library building, conference room 112. And then the finance committee meeting is scheduled on Tuesday, May 27th, um at 4:30 here in the administration building, auditorium. That's my report. Moving on to committee chair reports. Um, Trustee Williams, can you give us the finance report, please? Sure. Um, so we met on March 24 and at that meeting we discussed some action items that have been brought to the board. So, we'll be um looking to vote on those tonight with regards to the purchasing agenda and some donations. Additionally, we uh talked about our um February 2025 financial statements
036and then we uh wrapped up with um training. So, we did some school finance 101 training. Any questions? Okay. Trusty Williams, do you have a report for ad hoc preparing? Yes. Well, we um I can give a little update from um our meeting that we had and then we also had a meeting just um earlier today. So um and it's um just a little bit of overlap with a couple of things I bring up. So we will be talking uh there will be an Aberdine community meeting that is tomorrow. So um just board members if you want to go out and support that as well as well as community um you can find that information on our web page. Of course, we have been discussing um between the last meeting and this meeting um some
037policy changes that we needed to get cleared up and I think we have some language that we like as a committee that will come forward uh to the board and will be at President's Day discretion whether that's at a work session or at a board meeting when we will um actually do our final vote on that policy. Um and then we also uh there were tours done between uh the last meeting and this meeting that uh of 6B and so some board members wanted to tour 6. So we did uh have that opportunity in place as well as today we got updates that 6B is on schedule and just as well just slightly under budget. So that is great news um with regards to 6B. And then we did um get some had a chance
038to just chat with staff about some changes that they're going to be making to their procedural policies that they wanted to make us aware of. And um as they actually they've kind of given us a a a preview of what that would be like before they ask the uh ask the full board to take a look at that. But um they wanted some input from the ad hoc committee and just kind of to know what um we would be open to doing and some uh different policy changes they are proposing I should say procedural changes they're proposing and so we will uh get those as a board they will uh get the to us through Dr. roles as they get that completed on their end. But it was again just an early look and get
039some frontend feedback from board about uh the changes that they are planning to make. So look for that in the future. Okay. Thank you, Trusty. A couple things going on here. Okay. Um, we did have two scholars in the um Oh, it that that's my fault. They did check the right box. So, I'm gonna go back to public comment to get those scholars. So, um, Trusty Rodriguez, can you read about the public comment for us? Absolutely. Thank you. All right. During public comment, individuals will be invited one at a time to the podium to address the board. Before beginning your comment, please state your full name. At the time, we'll start the timer, allowing each individual three minutes to make their comment. Um, you will need to complete your comment time upon being notified that
040the three minutes have passed. Again, the timer is uh right behind Trusty Moreno. Uh, board members, do not respond to public comment. Concerns will be brought to the attention of the appropriate staff. We value your input and thank you for sharing with us. Okay. Can I call forward Devonte Taylor, please? Um, wherever you feel comfortable since the mics aren't working. If There you go. Come on up. And that isn't going to work. So, you don't even have to stick a while. My name is Devonte Taylor and I'm a fifth and I'm a fifth grader at Mick Elementary. I enjoy coming to the STEM program because I can tell them what we're working on in class and receive extra help. Mr. Children's teacher helps me understand it more and breaks it down for me. Thank you.
041and some Marley Low. Hello, my name is Samaro and I am a third grader at Millet Park Elementary. I love the kids count program because it it is fun and I get to learn to I get to learn after school. Also, it helped me with the math and science. [Applause] Yes. And again, I apologize that I did not pay attention to that box that said you were students. I'm glad somebody caught that. Okay, we will move forward now to the GRPS foundation report. Good evening everyone. To use our teacher voices, let's hear you. Okay. Very good. Good to see everyone back after spring break. Dr. Roby, board of trustees. Um we've got a lot of stuff going at the foundation. I myself just got back from a national conference um in um Knoxville, Tennessee with
042um I think there were over 80 education foundations from across the country. So lots of learning opportunities um and lots of new things that we want to um just see. You know, if you've met one education foundation, you've met one education foundation. So many school districts are so different, but there's still some really good learning opportunities. Um and actually as of this morning um I am now the vice president for the Michigan Education Foundation. So it's really great for us to you know be connected on the Michigan level um and just kind of sharing best practices in the state of Michigan and really how can we continue to support um our public schools. So I wanted to share just a quick synopsis of what's been happening this spring and kind of the whole school year
043as we're getting ready. Um, a teacher told me recently, we're six Mondays away till the last uh the end of the school year. So, that's some quick perspective. Um, we have uh given away 35 spring uh teacher and principal grants um just this last round, which is over 70 grants in total. Um, and I'm really excited that um I don't know how many of you went to see the Mean Girls Junior at Union High School. That was something that we helped to support. Um, so there's been so many great projects like that and we look forward to we want to double that um for next year. Uh, so it's been over $50,000 that we've granted to teachers and principles this year. Stephanie, was that through a teacher grant the the it was musical? Yeah. Yeah.
044Yeah, it was. Um, and we'll actually be celebrating with those students on Thursday. We're going to go in and bring some treats and just tell them that they did such a great job. So, um, we are going we actually this week we're purchasing a piano lab for the Elder Middle School, which will then be transferring over to Ottawa Hills, which is a brand new great program. I'm very excited to fund that. As well as we purchased a timony um for GRAPIDs Monosur and Innovation Central to round out um their musical instrument program. So, um, we're also organizing four playground beautifification projects with community partners and we put it out to all the principles and said, "Do you are you interested in us coming out and just cleaning up playgrounds and um redoing hopscotches and some
045of that stuff?" And um I think within an hour we had eight principles apply. So, I'm like, "Okay, great. That's really excited about doing that." So, uh, last thing to share, we're six weeks away from MindShare. That's the largest fundraiser that we do. Um we've raised over $100,000 in sponsorship so far. Um we expect that event to bring in about $250,000 um which obviously goes back back into our programs. So we'll be doing some strategic planning um refresh this summer. Uh in the past we've invited board of education members to join us. Um we always want to look at like what else can we be doing? Um, and a couple of things that we're considering is inviting one of our teachers of the year to be an adviser for our board going forward. Um, and
046as well as looking at how is our student representation for the foundation board. Um, even through our grant making as well. So, um, that is my report for tonight. Any questions board members? Thank you for all that. Okay. Next on our agenda is the superintendence report. Dr. Ruby. Nope. Um you have conference report out from the National Association of School Boards with um Trustee Milton and then I can kind of point to um you want me to start? Yeah. Yeah. So, um over spring break, we had the opportunity to attend the national um school board association conference um that was held in Atlanta, Georgia. And this is school board members as well as um superintendent and district level leadership from across the nation coming together around various topics. Um and so um some of the
047kind of things that were the highlights or the things that uh that we were able to see in many of the strands of our the different presentations that we went to is things around of course improved communications between um board and constituents um between board and superintendent, between board and board members. Also um kind of the political climate that we are currently in and how are how does governance um impact that and how our board members kind of staying to make sure that they're staying ab breast with some of those issues that are impacting their their school systems and then also making sure there's outreach to community. um other kind of topics that rose to the um the top of the the top of the list I think included also um engagement overall like your
048community and how do you continue to kind of be creative in community engagement but there's also things like with special education and the laws around that as well as um think the kind of after effects of co and and other kind items. What was really interesting um at this conference, we had the opportunity, and I'm not going to recall her name, um to meet with a um a par Olympiad who um had gone through college and had an experience of she had given her time to the military shortly after um 911 and had gone, you know, um to Baghdad and some other places. And during her first maybe two months there, her leg um was blown off during um just being in the c in that country at the time. and just her her grit
049and her determination that she's run marathons and she's competed, I think, in four different Olympia um Olympics since that time as well as um um kind of iron woman. They call it Iron Man, but I'm going to say iron woman because she clearly was that. And I don't remember um Trusty Melton if you remember her her name off the top. she has a book and um it was just just listening to her story and how she did not give up and it's like to have something like that so tragically happen and how you recreate and find your purpose through tragedy and I thought that was kind of phenomenal other um yeah I didn't write down her name there yeah I took the opportunity to go to all the board governance sessions that I could um
050just was really inspired one of the things that stuck out to me was this concept that we as the board together are the stewards of one of the most significant pools of public resources in our country and that the working out of democracy right here in this room is one of the most transformative things we can do. So it's just really encouraged by that and then the time and so I have lots of notes and some things I'll pass on to you guys. Um but the session ended I thought this was funny with Kevin Bacon who's not even an educator but he was really inspiring and talked about how when kids are making art they're not making trouble. I love that concept of just like not because I worry about the trouble but because I
051love tapping into who kids are and that concept was really just brought brought forth by some fun songs and things like that but um just talking about the importance of creativity and the and the arts in our programming and um how often that's you know quick to get cut and in this kind of new era of education uh to make sure that we're guardians of those things. So just exciting time to be part of an educational system and grateful for that opportunity. questions. Okay. Yes. Superintendent report. All right. So, good evening everybody. I hope that everyone has had a um opportunity to recharge over the last um week and a day and you're ready for that last stretch. It's um I'll use kind of a marathon since we were just talking about the par Olympia.
052It's like that we're at mile 2122 where you can see kind of the home stretch and this is probably one of the most exciting times as our um scholar representatives were talking about the many things that are taking place at their schools. Um wrapping up that senior year as well as prom and all of those kind of fun celebrations. And so, um, we are doing similar and again just wanting and hoping that our school year because it's been a great year, but it continues kind of with that energy as we want to finish strong and um to get to June. Um, our first report actually is related to our certified enrollment from our spring count and I'm going to ask Director Rodney Lewis to come up and to provide an overview of that student enrollment
053counting. Good evening, Superintendent Roby, President Davis, and distinguished board of trustees. I'm just going to hit the video mute, right? I got it. All right. So I want to share with you guys the the spring enrollment data that we had uh from this past uh spring count. Uh strate connected to strategic theme number six creating a culture of trust, collaboration and stewardship. So kind of going to outline the process that we go through in student data services to support this process with the buildings. Um so uh knowing that we have some new board members, we went through this process uh in the fall as well as last year. But uh the week prior to account day, which is February 12th this past year, um we started gathering schools began gathering data on their on synergy,
054which is our student data platform that we utilize. Uh they put various reports, general collection reports, uh things of that nature. And then we have uh spring count again which was February 12th. Uh so we want to ensure on that day that all students are in their seats uh learning um not on field trips for the most part. We want to make sure everybody's there. Those kids that are not there, we want to make sure we get everyone excused as many as possible. Um and then we have a process that we go through um that is called a 10-day rule and a 30-day rule. And I'll explain that a little bit more shortly. But on February 14th, building level personnel be they began to uh look at their county absent reports, which kind of highlights
055the kids that were out on February 12th. And then they look at the dates when they may have returned or may not have returned. Those students that they have some challenges with that they haven't seen the return on. They begin to make phone calls and try to track these kids, get them back into uh the building. a little bit more difficult with the secondary schools because we're managing classes of 1 through six or one through eight versus um all day uh buildings such as elementarymentaries. Um and then so on February 21st um buildings received their count day packets u from SDS and they began to uh look at their general collections again and and see who should remain on the list or who should come off the list. Um, and then February 28th, we have
056the 10-day rule. Uh, so the 10-day rule applies to anyone that was uh absent and was unexcused. They have 10 days to get back into the buildings and get uh their attendance taken. Um, and they must be present. So for high schools or uh middle schools, they have to be they have to come back in every class that they miss, not just that day. March 14th is the 30-day rule. So all kids that were um out excused um absent but excused they have to be back within 30 days um in the same as the 10day rule. They have to make sure that they attend all courses that they have scheduled. And then final call countday pack is our due back from the buildings to student data services on March 21st. Um and from there we
057start beginning the initial certification process. That process uh begins on March 19th. So all data gets uploaded to uh we call it SEPY which is the center for performance and and and information. And then the final uh site that we actually do the final certification um is all SEPY but that's a week later on March 26. And so everything gets transmitted uploaded to the SEPY site and we also have to deliver um handd deliver packets to the ISD auditors as well and the ISD auditors uh begins the process of looking at our data and beginning the the desk audit process. Um and then there's a 45day rule that's extended for kids that may have been suspended u for some very serious violations. So our our spring count data um our number was 13,429.12 and that's
058full-time equivalent um which is we call it FTE. So this is not actual headcount. Headcount is all the kids that are enrolled in the school. FTE are students that are enrolled but they may not be full-time students such as a kid that may um have a class with GRCC at dual enrollment. they're not going to count a full 1.0 or kid that may be uh a kindergarten kid that may not go all day but they go half day so they get 0.5 versus 1.0. So that's kind of how they equate the full-time FTE. Um and again what I said next step for auditors once they get this packets back from us and get everything uploaded they begin the desk audit. So in the fall they do a a field audit where they actually come out
059to random buildings and do um all the attendance work at the building have conversations with the building staff. In the spring it's more geared towards okay we send the data to them and they sit at their desk and they uh review the packets that we we submit to them and then they give a a final adjustment number uh that typically in the spring comes sometime in July. Any questions? I have a few. Um, what is it? Um, are all of these state mandates or there are things in there that we are doing above and beyond or separate from what state mandated? Uh, the the process is state mandates. So, you get a lot of audit different audit forms that you have to submit and they have to go back to the ISC auditor as well
060as SEI. Okay. SE just needs a number. I as the auditors need the full package so they can look across the board and do their audits. So nothing in that timeline is us doing separate from what statement is. And then with the 10day rules um do what is the purpose of that? If the student's not there on count day, but they're they're recorded within that 10day rule or whatever other day rule, does that then count towards our count with the state? So So if they're if they're back within the 10 days, we get counted FT a full FTE for that kid. If they don't come back, they they don't get counted for that that day. If they're elementary kid, like or for a secondary kid, it would be if they came back like three classes,
061they get credit for those three classes. Yeah. But if they miss the other three, they don't get credit. So, it's like a makeup basically. Okay. How do the FTEES affect our funding and whatnot from the state? So, spring count is a 10% funding uh for next year. Uh fall count is a 90% funding. And dual enrollment students don't count for full-time equivalency. They they have a prorated percentage. Okay. Yeah. Interesting. Okay. Thank you. Yeah. Any other questions? All right. Thank you. Thank you. Yep. Okay. We can move on. Oh, I'm sorry, Dr. We have Oh, this would be No, it's action item. That's you. Okay. Uh we can move on to action items. So owner's re recommendation have Mr. Johnson's I don't remember. So um if you recall last month we had a conversation and
062there was a presentation around owners representation. Um Mr. Johnson are you able to just give an overview of the owner's rep conversation? I know that last month Mr. SMT um provided an overview but just kind of as a refresh of what the process was. Good evening again. uh the conversation on the owner rep owners rep I think last month and um ad hoc committee as well as uh I think some information have been brought forward to you where uh four u individuals four companies have put in for um an interest in being the owner's rep and uh several projects that uh we have upcoming as to as what we're going to do with vacant uh properties. uh we brought a recommendation back uh to the board uh in terms of who we thought would be
063uh the best fit for this particular uh project, this first round of projects and we uh we presented that information and action the board to move forward uh with uh with the recommendation that we brought forward. Mr. Johnson, if you could just highlight really quick kind of some of the priorities in selecting um the entity that you recommended. We uh we utilized a uh a rubric uh and there was uh several individuals on the committee uh where a rubric was uh used. Uh we scored uh off of a uh the provided documentations from each company. After the scoring of that u uh there were uh interviews we all interviewed uh and scored separately. Those uh those scores were then merged together uh where the um we would then rank the candidates. Although we did not
064select the top uh receiver of the points, uh we we selected the uh the uh individual the company that was in number two we thought was the best fit. Uh looking at uh past projects uh the availability of staff to uh work uh with the with other partners in the community uh being able to work with us the district in terms of uh reaching our community our the goals that we're trying to reach as it relates to the project as well. Do I have a motion to approve the owner's recommendation? I have a question. Okay. Um could you in just really brief summary um following the approval of the owner's rep, whoever it is, whoever we decide on, what are the like immediate next steps for the district, the board in regards to working with?
065Well, surely we're going to go back as a as a team uh the facilities and operations team uh to begin to meet with the uh the the company selected uh to lay out what our pri priorities are and how we want to approach these projects and uh and then from that point uh come back um to the superintendent uh with uh with how we will approach in terms of uh best best fit. Now once the uh once the company is on uh on board there'll be some opportunities of some community engagement work uh where community individuals will have uh some input as well in terms of uh what's right for the neighborhood, what's right for a particular project. Uh again we have two projects uh that we're looking at right now and that is Alexander
066and Stocky and then we will uh make adjustments from there down the road if other properties become available. Um and so we'll look at uh what the recommendations are by giving them some guidelines in terms of what we want to have happen with those properties and surely the board will have some input in that. And just to clarify and the owners rep is going to represent the district in whatever properties not just the ones you've identified any properties the district that that is correct. We've expanded uh originally when we put the RFP we talked about the RFP it was just those partic those two particular properties and then we expand it if some others come up then they would continue to represent us in those uh properties that fit. Thank you. Thank you. So along
067that that same kind of line of questioning, is this owner rep that we choose going to be facilitating all of the work moving forward with our FMP or just maybe a few just the vacant properties that we're working on right now? Just those properties as we bring up properties uh uh as this board superintendent make recommendation to this board in terms of what properties we want to uplift and uh and move forward with and they would represent for that particular property. All right. Thank you. Mr. Johnson, you said that uh the the contract I mean the word contract doesn't stop me if that's the wrong language. Uh has the two current buildings, so Stocking and then Alexander, but now has potential to operate. Is there like an evaluation to see that they're doing the things
068that they said they're going to do, especially from like the engagement standpoint? Absolutely. We we will evaluate as we go to make sure that again our goals and objectives are being met and they're living to uh the contract that we put together to make sure that those uh those are bullet points or practices are being followed as we would want them to follow. And then I just have to add one more. Um can you just confirm that there has been well with this that there will be a a conflict of interest clause there the the RFP did list a conflict of interest and whatever company is selected they will have to uh uh move forward with a with a conflict of interest statement and uh bring that to us as well and those will be
069evaluated through our legal department as well. Could we just define um by contract of infant cont conflict of interest clause? Could we define what we mean by that? Uh I think Thomas is here. He can help me give you the legal term of that, but uh because I'm not a lawyer, but uh if there's if there's a conflict uh with with the company uh that would have a direct impact on this particular on this project or any projects moving forward. Uh it is our hope that that company will reveal what that conflict is. So we as a board have an opportunity, you as a board have an opportunity to evaluate to see if it's in the best interest to move forward with that particular company on that project. Yep. All right. I got a C+
070I I do have one one final question. I'm so sorry. Um, and I I apologize cuz I missed the the larger conversation at the last meeting we had about this, but um, so when we vote, this is my first time, I'm sure many of our first times, you know, choosing voting on a on a, you know, owner's rep is the the RFP process, right? They they've said, okay, you know, they've seen the RFP and they are positive that they can kind of fulfill our needs. Is that going to be different then from a contract that we uh get into with this uh company? And then do we have to also um uh I guess vote on that as well? No, the is the RFP it's all one and the same? It's all one and the
071same. We we're bringing them we have brought them on board saying that they will meet the needs that we have now and moving forward with additional projects that we so desire. Okay. If I can add um yeah it's following our outlined board um priorities around you know these are the things and then the commitment to with those two properties to have the community engagement and then so it's it's a real estate person that's in essence what it is and so um currently these are buildings that were meant for schools and so we also want to make sure that we are um looking to see what are the other opportunities that are available. And this goes very closely in our alignment with our overall um FMP of how do we repurpose buildings so that they're also
072community value and community ad and so what what can we do that would be in alignment with that and then bringing those recommendations forward along with the engagement and other things to say it can be this or you know because of the priorities around housing or the priorities around additional space um with uh community kind of space. This is what we're recommending and this is what the price point might be for that to give an I just as a suggestion but they would be doing that research and kind of project managing that to bring it forward. Okay. Does that help are I feel like you're asking are we approving the that we use this company or the contract or is it one in Yeah. Yes. That that is more what I'm asking. I understand the
073the RFP process a little bit. No, it's okay. Um I Yeah, because I'm just confused. Yeah. Are we voting on the company and then saying all right and now we're going to you know now GRPS is going to finalize the contract and then do that. Okay. Perfect. We um again just this is after the RSP we have to decide which of these companies to go with and then once we've done that there will be uh some fine tuning in the contract of what actual work will be done and then that is what they will and you know some legal ease like what if they're not meeting what we need and stuff like that termination of contract all that stuff will be in there and what our outcomes that we're expecting from them as well that
074stuff will be in the actual contract but the RFP and What we're voting on tonight is indeed the opportunity to go with to start that conversation with the company from those from their recommendation. Perfect. All right. Yep. That's what I was looking for. Thank you so much. Thank you. Does anyone feel comfortable to um give a motion to approve the owner's re recommendation? Motion supported. Okay. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay. Thank you, Mr. Um, next up is our purchasing agenda. Are there any questions? Do I have a motion to approve the purchasing agenda? So, moved. Second. Second. We're going to arm ourselves. All in favor say I. I. Any oppose? Okay, motion carries. Next up on our agenda is the consent agenda grouping. Do I have a motion to approve the
075consent agenda? Some move. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Motion carries. Okay, moving on to um discussion items, board president announcements. Just a couple of things. I tried to uh make sure all of you knew before we started the meeting, but um these green sticky notes are our parking lot notes. So, um you can feel free to fill those out with things that aren't on the agenda that come to mind um so that we don't deter from our conversation and um getting things done and then just bring them to me um before you leave and I'll gather those together and make sure we address those at some point. Um, for those of you in the audience, that was uh one of our trustees ideas and I we're hoping to just kind of move
076our meetings forward in a more successful way and not get off track. Um, we do have a pretty solid idea of coffee with the board. Um, we had talked about keeping those at uh 6 to 7:30 and they will be quarterly. So we have dates of uh May 6th, September 2nd and December 2nd for sure. May 6th um Baxter Community Center is set for that. Um September 2nd, uh I'm not 100% positive, but I think it's going to be at Kids Food Basket. And then December 2nd, um same thing. We're pretty sure it'll be at Gilda's Club. So both of those had offered for us to use that space for free which is wonderful and we will represent each quadrant of our city that way. Um if you are not able to open the materials
077from Deborah Keys right we did figure out a way to navigate that. Craig helped us out with that. So reach out to me if you cannot open those. Um, and our board norms are definitely going to have to be another work session topic because I'm getting a lot of mixed signals. Um, so I mean it's all good things. We all want to make sure our norms are solid and um, we'll get there though. Just a reminder that if you want things added to the agenda for committee meetings, please bring them to the committee chair and not directly to staff. Um and the committee chair will work with staff to figure out what's on the agenda. Um same with regular board meetings, you know, to come to me and um we have policy around all of
078that. And then exciting is there is the board brief in front of you. I have it up here in four different languages if you want to see the other languages. Um that is also on the website. I believe there were some on the tables coming in and it will be there will be a QR code to access it in the WGR. So that is coming out in a week or so and that's another way people will be able to access it. This is something our board is putting together um quarterly as well. So, it just our hope is that it will uh provide information on what board work is because we are a little different than district staff and so we just want to clarify what our role is and what we've been up to
079um and just educate the community that way. So, thank you for all of you to for contributing to that. And I believe that's all I have. Moving forward to public comment on non-aggenda items. All right. Again, uh same as last time, individuals will be invited one at a time to the podium to address the board. Um whatever you feel comfortable with. If it feels more comfortable at the table tonight because of the lack of the microphone, feel free to do that. And again, you'll have three minutes to make your comments. Um, you'll need to complete your comment time upon being notified that three minutes have passed again by your timer. Um, board members, do not respond to public comment. Concerns will be brought to the attention of the appropriate staff. We value your input and
080thank you for sharing with us. Wendy Winston will be up first. Oh, did she? Okay. D. Jones followed by Betty Rosen Leecher. Let me sit down. I need y'all to got a lot of guts. How y'all doing? I'm D Jones. I'm flying to the United Nations tomorrow. I had a nice article on ABC13 go out on a $32 billion company that educated our students directly here at Ottawa Hills High School. It's going to be one of the best schools in the nation one day. I believe that because I live here and I'm going to continuously passionately develop cool initiatives. I'm really excited to be able to do that. Uh I spent a lot of cash to be able to get these resources to be able to get this kind of education to our students. A
081$32 billion education from Epic Games. And I'm finally happy I got to speak to the person who handles curriculum cuz Epic Games has educational tools that can enhance and enrich our curriculum, our community, our education. It can be appealing. It can bring different educators and it can just do a lot. And so I just connected uh the director of curriculum, Jennifer Brock. Sorry I had to say your name like that, but I just have to say these things publicly because I'm a very bold person. I'm very passionate. I really want to see Epic Games educational tools because a $ 32 billion company already educated our kids and I'm connected uh to Davenport and Josiah Dunn, the kid who actually won the first thousand and Deario. Uh today before I just spoke to the ad hoc
082facility, I left because those kids were uh at the food court and um I gave them the last thousand and they split it. So they both got 500 bucks. So I like to break bread. I'm a very charitable person. I feel like if society allows you to have hundreds of billions or hundreds of trillions, if you didn't know, the first uh the first uh trillionaire will come from asteroid mining. So, nobody can tell me you can't be a trillionaire cuz Barack Obama in 2016 signed the uh United States Competitiveness Act, but you got to have at least a couple billion to even create an asteroid mining company. But yeah, so I'm just really excited to be, you know, passionately just pioneer. It just feels unreal like the Unreal Engine. It feels unreal to be able
083to do this for my community. How all the time and energy I spend into this. Uh the only thing I'm would have to work on is our communication because I was grinding so hard trying to put all of this stuff together. I'm one person that did all of this by myself, the business side and everything. I do this all alone and uh I didn't know that we had to have the building agreement sign and then we didn't do that until Thursday, 2 days before the activation. So I couldn't get the info out to Luke to get it to the broader community. And so it's all right though because I was able to do a lot of beautiful things for the school district for the students and you know connecting Davenport University's coach because Josiah and
084some of his friends want to go to that school and they already filled out the questionnaire and I know we're going to go get those kids those scholarships at Ottawa Hills High School and I know it's because of a black person named D. Jones who's very passionate who had the vision for this who's going to change society 193 countries the United Nations. I'm going to be a billionaire one day. Potentially a trillionaire. Thank you y'all. Betty Rosen Leecher. Hi. I'm going to use my teacher voice. So, I'm Betty Rosen Leecher and I am representing Opportunity Thrive here this evening, a nonprofit that's focused on building healthier staff cultures um and more resilient educators across the state of Michigan. I'm a retired central office and building school administrator, a former schoolboard member, and above all else,
085an educator. I currently serve as the program manager for our educator wellness coaching program, which we've been excited to offer to Grand Rapids public school staff this year. Tonight, I want to offer a few items of clarification to the staff of GRPS and the context for involvement with the district. First, we recognize that educators are being asked to do more with less across the education sector. We recognize that there are broken systems in our schools and we recognize that there are systematic stressors that are weighing too heavily on our educators. As an organization, we seek to heal many system issues through data collection, training, and advocacy. Still, we understand why educators feel cynical about any resource seemingly suggesting that the answer to their stress lies in them and not in fixing not in fixing the
086system. We believe though that it's not an eitheror issue. We need to fix systems and help educators not feel so lonely in the profession. Educators deserve to be seen, heard, and supported. We believe they deserve to focus on their own well-being. Every educator has the right to choose emotional, physical, and social well-being, and our coaches are trained to support educators on that journey. When we were asked to partner with DRPS in the spring of 24, the district wrote a proposal for grant funds through the school aid budget, section 31A. The district identified funding for approximately $75,000 in that proposal to deliver our confidential personal wellness inventory and coaching for 54 staff members. Initially, when asked to consider this work, we planned on rolling it out in a few pilot schools within the district over however
087over months of communication, we were told that the district would like to deliver the PWI to everyone. We started communication and planning um for the project in May of 2024. We planned our rollout date for February of this year and provided a rollout video to be shown to staff during their staff meetings. The video describes the program's purpose, intent, and confidentiality. And we hoped that every staff member would receive a standard message on a typical day and be provided some time to take the assessment during their staff meeting. This is a this is best practice because we know our educators are often trained not to open emails from unfamiliar sources and we know how busy they are with their schedules. I want to close by reiterating a few key points. First, this program is funded
088through state dollars that can only be used for this specific purpose. The state has identified the funding solely to support well-being in our schools. The district will return any unused funds to the state. Second, our program is completely confidential. We do not share personal data from the inventory or coaching with the district. We are here as an outside organization solely to support staff. Lastly, we believe that while educators may feel powerless in the face of many system systematic issues in education, we still have the power to choose to invest in ourselves and our coaching program is one of those investments in oneself. Thank you so much for your time this evening. Thank you. Okay, superintendent comments. Just a reminder to all um part of our spring kind of activities, we are starting our school art
089fair. Um it will be opening up April 25th. Next Tuesday, next I want to say that's the 25thish. So, um, and it is such a phenomenal experience to see our young people, um, just express their talents and feelings and all sorts of things. And so, I invite the, um, broader community to check us out downtown at um, Western Michigan University um, uh, campus, satellite campus, and it you will not be disappointed just to see the artwork of our young people. Thank you. Board member comments. No, this is there's been a couple mis mishaps because the agenda that's public is slightly off from the one online, I think. No, it's just out of order. That's why we've had some mishaps. Okay. Okay. Does that make sense? So, um, we'll move into board member comments. Y So,
090um, I do not have my, um, yeah, thank you. The order because we agreed to go in the order of voting. So, Trustee Kilpatrick, no comments. Okay. Trusty Moreno, no comments. Trusty Melton, no. Trusty Rodriguez, no comments. Trusty Williams. Yes. Well, I will be brief, but I wanted to say congratulations to the scholar athletes as well as to those uh scholars who created those brochures um for their awards in that area. Um, congratulations to uh Stephanie Andrews for her being appointed at the state level um to do this great foundation work. And then lastly, just um let everyone know that uh if you have a young person, a scholar that's in the district and in the um uh looks like now it's countywide that's between the ages of 15 and 24, the World 1000 programs
091application closes today. So if you know anybody or if you can share and you know there's a young person that opportunity will close today and that will uh I think they start their first assignment in June. So they uh it is a great opportunity for the students to start off making at least $13 an hour. Um and they are paired in a professional setting. Thank you. Trustee Williamson. No coming. Trusty Davis. Um I'm not sure if this is the right place to share this, so just tell me to stop if it isn't, but um really briefly, I was at lunch a few days ago and some guy just like walked up to me and he was like, "You're on a school board, right?" And I was like, "Yes." And then um he was just telling
092me that he had basically a kid move into his house recently due to some family situations. They started over at Muick. They've had a great experience. They didn't know how it was going to go. The principal has been extremely supportive and the teachers have been and they didn't know how the process was going to go, but he just really felt called to share that he was impressed with how a school was handling it. Thanks for sharing that. All right, I have no additional comments. So, if I could have Trusty Rodriguez read our motion to move into close session. Yep. So I move that the board go into close session for the purpose of a strateg strategy and negotiations.