001like to call to order the board of education meeting for Monday, June 23rd at 7 p.m. Please rise for the pledge of allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands. One nation under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all. Roll call, please. Ery here. William, John Street here. Jennifer Baker here. Heather Arnold Roberts here. Amber Bracket here. Andy Hul here. Mrs. President, we have Okay, first thing on the agenda are some recommendations that we have. Well, we got a couple tonight and uh both with uh I I think would show Alganex uh finest doing their finest work and very pleased to have uh group from the care movement today. Um as many of you know we've worked very closely with that group and um
002just it the partnerships wonder Jan Jan's going to talk tonight a little bit and ex Oh no. Okay, perfect. Um, can't have somebody. That's right. Good. Um, no, it's just been fant it's if you have ever are having a bad day, go walk in there when uh when they're doing their work at the Lion Saw and it just will automatically bring a smile to your face. It's people working with people. It's It is the epitome. it it just looks like community and looks like what a small community should look like and uh people helping people and it it's really a cool thing. So, I'm going to turn it over to you. I really do appreciate all you do and I appreciate what you do with our students as well and uh it's it's been a
003great project and really do appreciate that. Come on. Yeah, come on up. Thank you for letting me be here. I am Elena, part of the new 2025 2026 board as um the marketing position. Our president Bennett cannot make it today due to travels, but she has left me a message to share. First of all, on behalf of the care movement, we would like to thank administration and everyone for supporting our cause and continued efforts and helping us succeed. This year was our 14th annual so far which was extremely successful. We hosted the largest so far yet within over 70 high school students participating over 300 elementary kids visiting and a total estimate of 500 volunteers this year. We also collected a total of 2,225 personal items, 262 pillowcases, 142 blankets, 122 blankets, 10 large quilts,
004111 cosmetic bags, and 118 care bags. This was an amazing success and we cannot be more proud. This will help make all the foster kids of St. Clair County have an easier transition from home to home. The Care Act movement our youth to make a difference in many children's lives along with mentoring Alvin's future into caring, mindful, and supportive individuals. It also allows our youth to attract and create relationships with Alvin's older generations which benefit our youth in various ways. I would also like to share this new board. Most could not make it today due to work in summer sports, but congratulations to them. First is the new president Mariah Wilson, vice president McKenzie Adamson, secretary Owen Bendett, treasurer Jack Reyes, public relations Kira Tilly, communications Pearson and Morgan Williams, and marketing land. Thank you
005for all of your support. We cannot wait for this year's 15th annual solo farm. Another thank you to our sponsors Jan Evans, Sudane, Kathy Cox, and Ser. Does anybody have any questions? Have any questions? But I would like to say that it's a really great thing that you all do and I know that it's um like studentled and I think that's very important that all of you are are are doing all this because you care about your community and you know about kids and students. So I appreciate it. Thank you. Just amazing. I when you said the 15th annual that blows my mind. It's just uh it does seem like yesterday. It really does when the first started. Crazy because it was started by a student. I I can't think of his last name. Sass.
006All I could think was his mom's maiden name. But yeah, what a wonderful program. Very cool. Very awesome. Very good. Thank you. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you very much. here and talk to us about it and uh told us a story about why they needed to do that and the ter terrible condition some of these children found themselves in and to to give them some kind of comfort by not having them put their prized possessions in a garbage bag but having something to carry their stuff in and receive some kind of small tokens and personal items and what a great idea what an outstanding concept and then it has moved forward in such a way that it has and the soathon you know, at 7:00 in the morning, the Lions Hall is completely empty and and
007during the day, it's completely cramp-packed full of people and stuff. And by 8, 9:00 at night, you'd never know anybody was ever there. A whole lot happens over that period of time. It's amazing. And Jan and Sue have been the guiding forces um of it for these kids, but the they make it a point that these kids run it and do it and and uh they've been excellent mentors for it. and and thank you. So that's I I appreciate Absolutely. And probably the coolest part of that too is when you know it's it's not only our high school kids, but when the elementary kids come walking through, they want to do that. They remember that and and I mean, talk about building a tradition and something that's going to continue on. Very cool. Great job.
008Thank you very much. Okay. Uh, next up we have uh in what's become a yearly visit from Michelle Landram and some of her best and brightest IB students and uh tried a little something different this year. We've if you remember we've done this in July and we've done it in August and you know it's amazing kids got stuff to do all right. So they they leave us and then if you go into August sometime they leave us for college. So we figured we'd give June a whirl. We just didn't know it was going to be 93 and sunny today. And maybe some of them I think we're going to move it back one month. Yeah, maybe. So, Mish, I'll turn it over to you, but I just before I do, I just want to thank
009Michelle because um as the IB coordinator, that role probably gets it it gets overlooked by probably almost everybody except students in the IB program because they know the time and effort that goes into that. But I see it and I was here when I came in and you know Mishe and I were you know still I don't know we were I wouldn't say we were young teachers but we were still yeah a little younger and uh but it's uh it's really blossomed into a great program and a lot of that goes to Meech. So thank you Mish and turn it over to you. Um well thank you for having us. Uh this year we had 28 students out of the graduating class take IV courses. Out of those 28 students, 14 of them took three
010or more IB classes. Um, four of them took five courses and we had five diploma program students. So, we had a lot of kids in the program and um I really appreciate what these kids do. High school is tough on its own. You know, all the, you know, pressures of high school can be tough. So, to add this type of pressure, um, it can be really tough. But I think it's really important that we continue to offer this so that they can have these stress levels while they're still at home with us and we can pick up the pieces before they go away go away to college. Um, you know, it's a really good thing for them to have these classes and having the students for two years is really an amazing um experience both
011for some for the teachers, not always for the student because sometimes they're a little sick of us by the end of the second year, but um you can really watch them grow as students, you know, along the way. And so it's a very rewarding um position to be in. Um I have Three of our students here tonight getting up here. Avery and Austin were both diploma program students, which means they took six IB courses along with um doing an extended essay, which is a 4,000word um paper, a CAT project um and then taking to on top of that. Um and then Trevor took three or four four four four I classes which is quite the low too. So I just wanted to recognize them for their accomplishments and wish them a lot of luck in
012their future. I don't think they're going to need the luck because I think they're going to embrace the challenges and be very successful. I may remind you from time to time I don't she's got a planner already. colored organiz she she's like I look at her I'm like oh I wish I was that good you know but we're gonna work on the planning for the future um but uh you're both very brilliant and I know you'll do just fine I want to recognize [Applause] Great job. Good job. Congratulations. Congratulations. [Applause] Thank you for having for appreciating everything that our students do here. We appreciate you all. Thank you. So, as we're getting to the exciting part of the agenda, which is consent agenda items and paying bills, everybody that came in on this nice summer
013day, you're more than welcome to stick around, but I will certainly understand if you guys would rather move on and go get yourself a few more hours of daylight. So, feel free to leave and thanks again for coming. All right, so we'll move on. Anyone like to make a motion for the consent agenda items? I'll make a motion that the board of education approve education approve all consent agenda items including agenda, minutes, personal items, treasures reports, and bills listed items A through C. Moved and supported. Any discussion? No. All right. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carried and we will move on to our information items. We'll start with our administrator reports with Mr. Melrose. Well, before we get to the end of the year stuff here real quick, just
014a big kudos to our softball team making it all the way to the the semifinals. Again, they made a great run. Girls did fantastic. So, again, kudos to them. That's not an easy thing to do. So, that's that was awesome. Just again lot we had a lot of end of year activities. First of all, the the sixth graders come over for the orientation which is always fun. our seventh and eighth graders who are the student council members. They kind of lead them and and across the building. So, it's nice to see them take the leadership role with the young kids and sixth graders coming across, but they they check everything out, have lunch here, and it's just good to have them kind of get a feel for the building. And then that night, the sixth
015and seventh graders had a dance here, uh, and which was fun. They had a great time, but it's funny watching the sixth and seventh graders with any type of money that they have. They are not leaving that dance until every penny is gone out of their hands. They're stopping at the vending machine on the way out. Try that in there, but they they cannot get rid of it, but they had a great time. Fun. Um, then we also had a seventh and eighth grade uh musk grab level trip to Metro Beach. Uh, eighth grade trip to to Cedar Point. Uh, then of course with our with the upper classman, we had our our prom and we had Alexander's in Mary'sville. That was that turned out great. Uh we had a great day for high school
016graduation. Turned out perfect that day. Um we had that following Monday. We had the eighth grade uh recognition. And then finally today uh for the first time in a few years, our alternative students uh had their graduation today before the board meeting about at 5:30. Five students uh that decided they wanted to attend and uh it was great. We probably had 60 family and friends just for those five students. Uh and again uh Mrs. Bzowski, Mrs. Orlando, Mrs. Feder, Mrs. Martin, they all organized and put together and the lecture hall went great and they did a fantastic job organized. So that was really nice event here before before the board meeting. And then just lastly for me, knock on. We are fully staffed right now as we're going into the fall. Miss Darra did retire,
017but we did uh we picked up Hope Godwin who's uh she's uh from Comtock on the western side of state. her husband was moving, he had a job, so kind of looked out and she was looking this way and and so she's accepted that position. So again, tenatively we are hopeless to have fall. Thank you. Um and I would say that that graduation ceremony was very inspiring seeing those five, you know, students. It was it was really nice and to see their their families and their support system so excited that they made it there. It was fantastic. So um we'll move on to the stage. So again, we had a great end of the year. Um, our end of the year testing showed a lot of positive growth. Our staff has identified some new goals
018for next year, though, because we're always looking at what's next. And so, as a building, we want to work on our fluency and reading and also um get together more of a systematic approach to math intervention um much like we're already doing for ELA. So, kind of get those all working together for one time. Um, also I would like to recognize some outstanding sixth graders. We have a couple special awards that are given out at the sixth grade recognition um for some just standout students. And Nicolet Pacino won the um Fraternal Order of Police Award and the winners of the Martha and Aan Shamansky award were Andrew Ogelby and Charlotte M. So, we also were able to welcome our second graders over for a few different visits this year. Our incoming second graders, Mrs. Grove
019always plans it for the kids coming over. Um, they tour the school as a group. They go and into classrooms, meet teachers, kind of buddy up with second graders, and then they end the morning with the extended uh time on the playground that they love. So hopefully um that eases some of their minds and maybe some of their parents too because I think parents are more worried about them coming to the big school than they really are. And all of our field trips went great. We want to thank PTO for paying for all the busing again, making it affordable for everybody. And our field day ended up being a very nice day. It was kind of chillier than than expected, but Mr. Lair and Miss McDonald planned a really good day for Alangquin. and summer
020school starts July 7th. Thank you, Miss Pelton. So, at Millsside, we were able to wrap up the school year with a variety of celebratory activities. Um, since the last time we met, Mrs. Wood's kindergarten class did take a moment to honor some local veterans. So, they invited them in and they did some songs and performances and gave some words of appreciation. Our first graders enjoyed their visit to Upland Hills Farm, which included some hay rides and lots of learning about the animals and inner workings of the farm. Our kindergarten classes took turns visiting the Pine River Nature Center to learn about native plants and animals and explore the trails and the famous treehouse that everybody loves. Um, just towards the end of the school year, our GSRP students came over to Millside for a field
021trip to kind of meet staff and students and prepare them for their upcoming transition, whether it be to TK or kindergarten classrooms. And like Mrs. Lage said, Mrs. Grove did a really nice job of planning a trip for our first grade students to go over to Algangquin and get a firsthand look at what second grade will be like for them next year. Um, the annual senior walkthrough was a big hit as usual. Our littles get a really big kick out of the big kids coming through in the marching band as well. Um, in our last week of school, every classroom welcomed families in for end of year celebration. So, they took time to acknowledge and celebrate all the hard work and achievement of our students throughout the year. Our field day was also a huge
022success thanks to Mrs. Lines and the PTO and our wonderful parent volunteers. Um we were able to send books home with every student this year to encourage summer reading and that was thanks to Mrs. Tetler's efforts and funds that were donated by Elgen at Trinity United Methodist Church. And then last but not least, we sent our students off with what I hope is a new tradition of pizza and popsicles, so to speak. They all received certificates for a free pizza donated by Hungry Howies. And then they were able to choose popsicles off of Miss Brunal's ice cream bike that she rode down the hallways. Um, so they enjoyed that. Hopefully we'll be able to do that next year. Maybe expand it to the bus loop so they can really get a kick out of. Thank
023you, Mrs. Belle. So, our summer is officially started. We are off to a good fun start. We have a lot of things planned over the next couple months. um outside water days, walking to the splash pad, science alive, bugs on wheels, the little bubble man foam party, um yoga, and then football camp with some of our high school team. Uh they're coming over to work with the kids during the day. And then um the ice cream truck to end the summer. And outside of summer, we are starting to prepare for fall enrollment. All right. So, um, everybody just talked about how well the end of the year wrapped up. So, after the school year ended up, we've had quite a few teachers and staff back working on things for next year already. So, the kindergarten
024through fifth grade teachers met and they were writing their report card objectives for amplify our our ELA curriculum according um to the state. It was a very successful first year implementing. So felt really good to get that one behind us and then taking a look at what went well, what we may still need to do and really how are we going to communicate this to parents coming in this upcoming school year. So we had representatives from all grade levels come to that roll out. Um a lot of great work was done. Uh then we had a variety of K12 teachers come and represent each of the levels to give some input for a profile of the graduate um initiative that we're looking at launching next year. So not only were they giving but like how
025can we look at this to unite the district with some common goals and language under those pillars. Um so we spent a lot of time looking at different objectives and we'll roll more of that out to you um next month give you some more information on that. Um that was really great conversations and surprisingly when we left school how many of our staff came back to support that and and give their feedback. So kudos to the staff. Oh curriculum. There's a lot of moving pieces right now going on for curriculum that's going to be coming up in the 2526 school year. Um we're looking at secondary ELA course work. Uh we're looking at pilots in possibly high school physics or chemistry as well as secondary mathematics, elementary math interventions. Um again, I'm going to be
026doing a presentation in July talking about everything that we're looking at for next year so you guys can be very um up to date on all the initiatives that we're looking at. And right now we're in the thick of orders and planning professional development for next year to support our district district initiative and goals. So, lots of information to cover. Thank you. Um, for reports, anybody have anything? I just want to say as being the newest, um, this is my first like graduation season. Um, and it was really neat to be able to be a part of not only the high school graduation ceremony, but also to go to um, Algangquin, to be a part of the uh, eighth grade and sixth grade honors and and just to see we hear so much about the
027negative things, but to see all of these kids and the cool things that they've achieved and the awards that they've gotten. um the senior awards assembly that we figured out um our seniors earned more than $2 million in scholarships for um colleges, universities, and trade schools. And it just was so nice to see the good things and the exciting things that all of our kids have done. Um, I even got to be a part of field day and I was very proud on the bucket brigade. The kids that uh figured out how to work smarter not harder and hold their hands under the holes of the bucket as they they pass it along with these teamwork. So, it was just a really neat experience for me to be a part of for the first time.
028I also wanted to um thank you guys. I know it was threw a wrench in things last month when we voted to table the food service vote, but um some of us just had more questions and I know you guys always encouraged that. So, I appreciate you and Dorothy for meeting with us, for answering questions, for helping us to kind of better understand the process and how and why things are done the way they are. and I feel like I have a better view of it now. So, thanks. Thank you. And I just want to add that the class of thanks the board for allowing us to to graduate and I for the death that I can put on my any application. Yes, I have a high school diploma now. I've been missing that for
02950 years. No, just a thank you for that so much. We all enjoyed that. Yeah, got a lot of feedback on that too about um and positive feedback just about how um you know only in a smaller town can you do something like that and it would have that kind of impact and meaning and um that that was cool. It really was. And I think um you know it says a lot when you can look and bring someone group back from 50 years and um you know the kids connect a little bit and some of the people out there. I I just thought it was a pretty cool idea. So yeah, thank you. I couldn't believe that I'd never heard that story before because that's a story I spent a lot of time over the
030years talking to Bill Foster and Bill Foster it was a walk and talking history book about all things Alen egg schools and I can't believe at least he didn't ever tell me that story. I would have heard that, but also didn't know, right? So, I' I've run into several of the 75ers that weren't able to make it since then. And uh they're all Oh, yeah. We Yeah, exactly what he said. That's what happened. So, yeah, it was crazy. I couldn't believe John's only been graduated for that long to graduate. Um, I'm just going to add that we do have to start scheduling some summer workshops. We have to do our our goals, vision, and review our code of conduct. And so I want to put those on the books so you guys keep an eye
031out. Um, yep. Um ju just a few things and you know so much going on in the last month which was and it is and Amber she's talking about that you know we think of that sometime in our world is too busy to function and you don't know where you're going to find another minute but they're all good things and you know I I want to piggy back on what Melissa said too about our staff. You know, we always talk about we think our staff is the best and we brag about them and you know, teachers have a tough job. We know that they take a lot of shots from the public. Most of them unwarranted, but you know, this is the first week of their vacation. I I mean, it is. And Melissa has
032had meetings every day and on every occasion. It's been a room full of teachers, administrators, what have you. And you know, that's that's just a cool thing because when we start rolling out some of these curriculum items, they only work if the people that are teaching them are on board. And so Melissa goes out of her way to make sure she extends invitations to everybody. And we take everybody. We don't we it's not like we cut people off and say, "No, we got enough." I mean, we'll take people that want to come in. And you know, she's got some things planned throughout the summer. I just I I think it's a real credit to the um dedication of you know what these teachers are and what they do throughout the summer. So I I just
033wanted to get that on the you know on the record of we we do have a great staff here and they are very involved. So, just a couple other items. We, you know, we have some summer projects and um, you know, with the bleacher project taking a lot of our syncing fund dollars this year. There's not a whole whole lot left this summer that we're going to do that in terms of major projects. Talk to you a little bit about the top coating over at Elang that'll take place looks like in July. Now, um the pole barn out by the football field is close to finished, very close to finished. Uh ends up being a lot bigger than you think when you walk back there, but it'll be good. You know, you never could have
034too much storage. And then the other part of that was we also put a roof on the garage back there, which is still functional if it has a roof, and it's got a roof now, so that'll be another storage area. People can't complain that we don't have anywhere to put equipment and stuff. At some point, you just got to weed some things out and we can't continue to um you know, it coaches are are like teachers in a lot of ways that nothing gets thrown out because you always think you're going to use it again and it just piles up and piles up. And I was guilty of that certainly as a coach. John John and I coach basketball and there were times that you literally could not open the basketball closet without stuff falling
035off on you. So, I get that. But we This will help this will help a lot for uh being out there and just so uh got those two taken care of. Um the other summer projects, Evan and I walked over to um met with Amber and Brooke both last week and just walked through the buildings and talked about some things that um needed done and needed to be prioritized. So we've got a good list from both of them on some things that need to get taken care of this year. We're on it. Um and then there's, you know, some other projects. We talked some longer term stuff of um you know, just th those buildings. If you look, a lot of our scing fund dollars have been centered on this building, which probably needed the
036most work. So, there's some things at Algang when uh and and at Millside, I I love the 70s and 80s as much as anybody, but when you walk in the the color sequence in those buildings is it's hard on the eyes sometime. And the building's probably in need of some updates. So that is um you know conceptually what we want to be doing and when we start talking about um you know in a couple years going out for a scing fund and some of those things that's the stuff I have in mind getting into those buildings and um making some you know it's cool and you know you think about Millside that's you know their first experience with kindergarten. You want that to be it's welcoming don't get me wrong but it's it's got some
037crazy colors in there. I don't um and then the other thing um we've Joe Oakley and I and Joe White and I I give him credit because Joe is probably a new administrator didn't know that when I brought him into this uh we're looking at the app to G Thrillshare um app for the schools website design and of course um kind of our communication system with parents. Well, Joe has been invited to all those and I do that for a reason. It's because Joe's pretty smart with technology and this guy's not. And so there's a lot of So the last two months has been a lot of um they're basically taking our data that we have on our website, transferring it over, and it's quite a process. And you know, I I know what they're
038talking about, but I wouldn't have any idea on how to do it. Joe does. So, he's been involved with this, but we've kind of gotten to the point where the data has now been uh transferred over and now we're getting to a point where we're starting looking at training. Um, we'll train our administrative staff first because obviously they're going to be the ones that are going to be um using that as push out communication, updating the web pages, all those types of things. Uh, but also uh they have, you know, ideas planned for the staff on how to roll it out. ideas to start the school year with this in place. Didn't make sense to try to do it at the end of last year. So hopefully uh we'll go live sometime in August to
039work out a few bugs before the school year starts, but the day we actually had a data call today and we went through a bunch of stuff. And it's it's things like, you know, the littlest things like, for example, a parent has the same email as another parent or or they're off by, you know, two people in the same household have shared email. It there's just little things like that, little bugs that you get errors on that you can fix up. But, um, ultimately, I think they said we're in very good shape. We're ahead of where we should be. And again, now it's just getting our staff trained. And you know, that's a little bit of a a little bit of a haul, but we'll get it done. And I think it's going to be
040a great system, not only for our teachers to m communicate with their parents, our coaches to communicate with their parents, and then us as a district. You know, when we get this thing live, there is not going to be too many forums that you can go on and say, "I didn't get the message." Because it'll be email, text, Facebook, whatever mode you go in. It's going to be out there and it'll be done. It'll be a identical message going out through that and it'll be for administrators as simple as putting together a message and clicking some radio buttons and letting it go. So, pretty excited about that. Are you still going to do robocalls for snow days? It'll be on there. It It's part of one of them. It's a click. It's all it is
041now. Yep. So, but it will still Yep. call. Yep. We'll still get a call out. Yep. Well, it it's all that, you know, it's all those and more Twitter. If we want to set that up, it could go I mean, it can go to pretty much everywhere. So, it's pretty cool. Like I said, my whole goal in this is where people can say, "Didn't I had no idea." So, and then all fails, you can go to the app, it'll have our Muskrat logo, and you can click on your app and it'll basically bring up all the latest news for you. So, the only thing that we're working on now that might take a little bit of time is if you're a parent and you have all those things, how to not bombard you with ding
042ding ding. And if you have two kids, if it, you know, we're trying to really streamline that where cuz you know how that goes. If you start getting too much stuff, it just becomes like white noise and you don't even pay attention to We're really Yeah, we're really trying to like figure that part of it out. But to me, the more that goes out sometime, at least I know that they're having the opportunity to read that. So that's all I got. Thank you for visitors. No visitors. Okay, I'll move on to our action items. Um, so first thing up is administrative contract. Does anyone make a motion? I'll make a motion that the board of education approves a one-year extension of the current two-year contract for district administrators Tiffany Dawson, Dorothy Gazelle, Melissa Hanners, Mitch
043Landram, Brooklyn Stage, Brian Melrose, Joseph Ogleby, and Amber Pali for the period of July 1st, 2025 through June 30th, 2027. Support moved in support. Any discussion roll, please? Timber bracket. Yes. Heather Roberts, yes. Jennifer, yes. Nico Emory, yes. John High Street, yes. Andy BL, yep. Okay. Um, motion passes. Correct. We'll move on to the food service management company contract. Would someone like to make a motion? I'll make a motion as the board of education approves and award the 5-year low bid food service management cost reimburseable contract with Compass Group USA Chartwells in the amount of $778,82520 support. Okay, moved and supported. Any discussion? I just just wanted to um get you know and because you know this was tabled and I just wanted to let you know um Amber had you know kind of said
044that you know it this is learned a lot and I learned a lot from um you know we do bids where you know we put out the information the bid goes out the information that we ask for for companies comes in. It's what we've requested through proposal. It's not all that we can request. There's things that we can request that go further than that. So, for example, um interviews, um presentations to the board. There there's a lot of those types of things. And um so in my mind, like I said, as I learned some of this stuff, um it it doesn't hurt for me to ask. So if we're going to go out for bid on certain items, um you know, I could we can discuss a little bit about what do we want these
045to look like and and how we want them to look. Um Dorothy and I on this particular one. Um we've been working with CH uh the food service one is a little bit unique because it's go it's connected with Michigan Department of Education. So that's a tad bit different than just some of our general ones. But even in general I I think that for us it's you know for me I know when it's going out for bid a month in advance usually more. And so, um, you know, maybe it just becomes a discussion item at our board meeting prior to when it's going to go out and I can talk about, hey, this month we're going out for bid on windows or, you know, is this something that we need to, you know, can I
046go out to bid or is there something, you know, specific we want to see? And I certainly don't mind doing that. Um, I it it's sometime I guess as a superintendent I assume some things that might not always be the case. with, you know, seven different board members. We've got seven different ideas and seven different personalities and seven, you know, seven different thought processes really. So, um, that's was a good learning point for me. Something that I've kind of, you know, I always try to figure out if something's not exactly flowing smooth, how do I get that to go a little bit smoother? And so, that was it. Just wanted to let you know that that's going forward. That's my plan. That's it. Um, okay. So, this is for the five-year thing. Um, explain a
047little bit about Weote on this every year. So, yep, we it it it's a five-year contract, but it's annual renewals. So, we basically take Yes, we take action every year on it. So, um you know, there's for you know, there there's always an opportunity to look somewhere else after a year if if indeed that's that's what we want to do with whatever group comes up on that because again those are annual renewals. Sometimes we'll get um you know in the past it's said there might be a little bit of an increase tied to it. So you know a 2% increase or whatever you know that's where Dorothy and I sit down and discuss if we're going to look to bring that um so with that you know one year like an approval. Um, when do
048you bring that as an action or an action item or do you bring it as an information item? No, we bring it as we take action on it. What month is that May or June? Well, we can bring it now that it's in place, we can bring it early, right? Because I can bring it as anformational item in April and then Yeah. because I think I feel like this um coming just as an action item kind of at the end did not give us time to review time or anybody else time if they have any questions. So um I'd like to see it come a little earlier as an information item so that it's not like thrown at us. Well thrown at us, but we have more time for I understand that. I and I
049think too that it's um you know again I I I want if it's a concern amongst board members and it's a concern amongst parents um anything with like with food service or any service if it becomes a concern it's something that um you know and I have some plans in place and I think I've discussed with some of you um moving forward with food service and just you know it's something that people want to we want to keep a tab on making sure that we're getting what we have requested and what we want to get and um you know that's my job I feel to kind of keep on track of that and I will certainly um have monthly meetings with whoever the provider is to make sure that we're not losing track of where
050we want to be and that'll be my plan going forward. Um, so because we postponed it last time, um, can you give me a like what happens if this isn't approved or something? What what happens then? What's the timeline? We'd have to assume go out bid again. So can you can you give me a timeline of what that So what what yeah what we would do so if it's not approved tonight what we would do is we basically are start kind of starting over with the bid process and so that would for us we need to pull committee kind of quick together because we we need to a figure out what our RFP is going to sound like. What do we want to see? What do we want to see presented? Those types of things.
051After that's in place, the problem and not a problem, but the issue with that is that's going to be done with guidance from Tammy Saul because she's the one that has kind of the answers on this stuff. Um Dorothy, yeah, I've talked to her. Uh she said we'll we'll get it together. You know, we it's doable, but that process might take a little bit of time. Then the bid itself has to go out and get posted and then um we gather the bids obviously go over the bid. So, start to finish, um, I don't think we would be I I can't see us taking action on it at the July board meeting. I think the process would be longer than that. Dorothy, you it 14 days is the bid that has to be out there.
05214 days. Well, this particular process took about, you know, almost two months between the start. Now, you know, I I I I don't know, you know, the process up until tonight or does that mean the process approval from the approval from MD took two months, right? Because we've got to go and that's the other part of it too is once that's once we've calculated the bids, then we have to go to MDE for approval. But their approval is me bringing it to you guys. They're approving the recommendation. So you're looking at probably the soonest we would see it is August, right? And and I mean there's always a because of that time frame. I mean there's always I guess the possibility of doing a special board meeting for a vote. I mean we're obviously if
053we're getting into August, we're Yeah, we're in a tight spot. Well, being that being that this is going to be uh if this were not approved, the amount of work that it would take Al and Dorothy and contacting this and getting approval from MDA and whatever and so on and so forth and then having somebody uh be awarded the bid in August and have to be have things geared up and ready to go before school started. My thought is you renew it every year or you don't. Let's just let's go and see what happens in a year because it's going to be make make everybody's life a hell of a lot easier. And I just think that's what we need to do. Well, and I but I and I appreciate that, Andy, but I I
054want the board to know that my and I hope you guys know me well enough to know my recommendation is not based on what's going to make my life easier. I mean, my job as superintendent is to get what I feel. my recommendations based on what I think that is best for the district at this time meeting with the timeline a little bit but also what makes the most sense and so you know at this point in time when I look at it and I've talked to the board I've talked to you guys all individually um you know my belief is that what Andy says you know my recommendation was you know we'll go with charter bills and that's kind of where my recommendation lies I want to uh make sure that we have something
055in place and we're ready to go. I have confidence that some of the things that we need to see happen will happen and again and you know I a little more diligently meeting and checking on that progress and then you know of course at the as we start getting into the spring of next year we start having discussions about are we happy with curve um so we don't bring this until the August probably somewhere between end of July July. Yep. Middle to end of August. What happens then? Like what what happens in the meantime? Because I know this contract ends June 30th. So what happens with summer school? Yeah. So what happen I mean summer school everything I'm assuming. So what happens? Well, as of July 1st, our contract will be done expired. So we're
056as of July 1st, we will be without a provider at that point. Who does and how does that affect us? Um well I I mean summer school we there there's you know always a bag lunch and some of those types of things. So um is there like free lunch element to no they don't know. Okay. So we don't have to provide lunch. No you're right. again if if this actually took roughly a month. If you look in the information that was in your board packet um from the time that the bids worker or the bids or proposals were due to Dorothy and then the um email from Tammy proving it, it was um from April 16th to May. Yeah, but my concern is is that you're talking that if you were to bid out, you
057might have presentations, you might have, you know, stuff like that. That's up to us. I know, but I'm just saying so that would postpone and and take a greater amount of time. So, if you put more stuff into the bid, it's going to take longer. It may take longer logically. Okay. It would depend on the committee, I would imagine. Yeah. Yeah. And and I mean the again that's that's when um and probably no matter what I I think it's going to be a good practice to start to find out with some of these RFPs kind of how that look cuz you can't just ask for anything. You know like for example um one of the things that Tammy brought up specifically was you know she was talking about a you know taste test or something.
058Well, taste tests are based on opinion or what food you like versus what food I like. And and so those things don't really quantify in a point system. So there's things you can ask for, but there's limits, right? And so and I don't know those parameters. Again, never never have gone that road, never have written one. But but there is a point system that's established. There is that is a committee required. The committee is required by the state. Yes. Okay. And who is on that who's determined on that committee? Well, I I will if I was going to go if we were going to start asking for things that the board wants to hear, obviously I'm going to have some representatives from the board on so we can appoint a representative. Yep. And then and
059then Dorothy and um myself, I would I would be part of that as well. Um so I I think like I said, no matter if it's who was on the committee this time this year. So, we didn't have a committee to put together an RFP, but there was still bid criteria. So, who came up with that? Is that what I'm asking? That's his job. No, no, it's administrative. It's an administrative function to put together bid packages and to to if he wants to buy windows, he gets a hold of he gets a hold of the people requires a committee for food service contracts. I'm asking who the committee was this time. I I mean I just put out like I said I put out the RFP that we've put out we for the last I
060don't know probably yeah so that that's the answer last time because because it was the same the same right but the state requires the committee to judge the the bid criteria. I'm just asking how that Well, the bid the bid calculation's different because the bid calculation that's done by Dorothy and Mary. No. Are we talk we're talking about you and I did you and I do a recommendation, right? And and with that bid calculator there there are points for the providers which since we were going to go with chars the price threw it over at 51 because each provider can provide the same K12 meals throughout. So I mean that's the way it was determined with the bidoint calculator. It was so so the committee was the superintendent and the business director. That's who was
061on the committee. Has there ever been a board member on the committee in the past? Not that I Not that I've ever seen. We have. No. Now with that said, we have had bids go out with presentations that came back. Absolutely. Um not for food service necessarily, but for contractor construction managers. Construction managers. We've got that stuff's not regulated by the state, right? the way food service is. Correct. So, so the answer I believe the answer to your question is the committee consisted of the superintendent and the business director and you guys are the ones that decided the point system and the value for each corrected the same because they can all provide the same K12 food service but that's not what the criteria of the bid calculator was was not what they can provide.
062Well, but there were different categories one provider providing it. So, we couldn't rate on So, you didn't rate any of the other companies that bid. You just decided we were going with chars. Is that what I'm hearing? Yes. Okay. So, you guys made the decision without using the full bid calculator. You just simply went with lowest bid. Correct. Correct. Okay. Wait a minute. I get I see where you're I see where you're going with this and I'm going to um explain to everybody that the way things work is this board hires this guy to run everything. This guy hires people like that and all those people sitting over there to help run all the stuff. Ultimately, this guy's the guy that's responsible and his it's his job to hold these people responsible to do what
063he delegates to them to do at the same point. So, he delegates to whoever. And in this particular instance, he delegated to himself and to Dorothy to do the research and the figuring out of what needed to happen with the food service contract. and they scored how they scored based upon their their professional knowledge, their institutional wisdom and their experience in handling these fairs. So when this guy's job is to give us guidance based upon the direction that we have told him we want the district to go and then that is figured out whether that has happened or not at evaluation time which also acts as another road map of yeah you're going this way we need to go just a little bit more that way or that way. So, when we tasked this guy
064with this contract stuff, maybe he could have told us in February or March, uh, the food service thing's coming up. If anybody's got any questions, come on and I'll talk to you. That's fine. I just want to know how it was scored. There there are 51 points for cost. There are 49 points for non-cost. It's broken down into categories, right? And there are points associated. There are point values associated with each category. I simply want to know how it was scored. That's all I'm asking. I'm not arguing. No. Well, I I just want to know how it was scored. How can you decide that all of them are equal if you're not entertaining other bids and if you're not looking into it? If we're just going with the lowest bidder, then let's just admit that
065we're going with the lowest bidder. I I'm just asking how it was scored. Okay. The correct I don't want to do his job. There is a lot to pay attention to and a lot to look into. I just am asking. If I'm going to vote on it, I want to know what brought us here to the what brought us to this recommendation. Okay. And the and I and I when you say like we didn't look or I'm not saying that you didn't look. I'm asking how do you sort it? How how did you decide the point value in which in that they all got equal points on marketing that they all got equal points on uh I I guess manager they all got equal points on district manager like I don't understand how you can
066see that they all got equal points but but I'm not evaluating in that bid their manager it do they have that's literally part of do they but but do they have on site site management. I I couldn't do that with the other ones either. I have to I have to I have to look at these all the same. So when they all say each bid, all three of them say I pro we provide on-site manager. We provide this those are equal points because they do I I am not I couldn't evaluate someone from a different company obviously. So when I look at that that's an equal point value as far as I'm concerned. If you look at the there's a lot of boilerplate language on there that says those our estimation all the companies provide
067those services which leads us down the road of who is the lowest bidder. All things equal the lowest bidder was charts in this case and part of it is going with the lowest bidder unless there's a reason not to. We have to last year five years ago I don't think they were but we wanted to keep the same provider and you have to you know say you know it has been a 15ear relationship I mean and that should suffice but you you have to have an explanation why as to why we don't because our board policy will tell you we take the lowest bid unless there's a there's rational and we you know I'll I'll give you an example of um A couple years ago when somebody came in with a lower bid um out
068of state company, no providers nearby, no food, a lot of the Michigan stuff they weren't familiar with. It was an outstate group to us that was a bad bet in terms of going. So it was one where we could say we have provider that char and and it wasn't grossly out of line in terms just like the the bids in this one. There's nothing that would have shied me away from one if it was clearly better than the other. So they each provider gives you a binder and they have the same sections. The beautiful pictures we all you know we do this section, we do this. They all you you know what I'm saying? They all provide bright colorful healthy food. I mean every single section I mean they're the binders look I am aware.
069Yeah I am aware. Okay. I am absolutely aware of how thick those binders are. I assure you. Yeah. Okay. I assure you. All right. Do we have any additional discussion? Can we vote? Yeah. Can we do roll call vote, please? Have a bracket. After spending the last month digging pretty deeply into all of the companies that were um avail that that the three that were that were available. Um after talking to students and parents and visiting our own kitchens and speaking with employees and finding out all kinds of information, um I cannot in all good conscience renew this. Um I don't know. Yes. Yes. John Street. I have to abstain. Yes. Is that one? Is that four? Yes. Okay. Motion carries. Uh on to MHSA membership resolution. Would anyone like to make a motion? I'll
070make motion that the board of education approves the resolution as presented for membership in the Michigan High School Athletic Association for the 2025 2026 school year. A complete copy of the resolution shall be attached to the original of these minutes. support. Any discussion? I'm not a fan of the MHSA, but it's what you got to have. Benefits to not doing it though. No, that's what I'm saying. Tournaments. But I wish it's some of the things even talking is like state tournaments and stuff where you have to do it online and that's wrong. Oh, buy the tickets. You mean? Yeah, buy tickets. Yeah. I've watched people go, I don't have a computer. I got cash. You tell me I can't take cash. Well, and even sometimes you have kids at the door that like, yeah, they
071can do the app, but they don't have Yeah. electronic payment. But but we have to be if we want to be involved in anything, you want a sport, want you want to play in the districts, move on. I was guilty of that when I went to see when Jennifer was like, "Hey, you got to come out watch the cheer competition." We were at Clawson or something. So I get to the door and it was only card and I'm like don't have my credit card with don't have anything linked to it. So I'm not getting in. I'm like I'm the super can I? No. So I had to call my wife. What's that card now? We can tell everyone I'm have to absolutely come to a gate. I I know it's not part of this motion
072a little bit. It is. I just wanted to let you know because I had a mistake in here and I did not get to it. It's kind of athletic, so I can tell you. Uh Ryan, Mitch, Joe and I attended the MAC meeting, which is part of our process to go move to the MAC. Uh it went well, I think, because they contacted us and said they want to come to a site visit August or September. And so when they do that, they generally come visit and then they vote on it at their next meeting. So we'll know soon. I've kept the BWAC informed of where we're at with that. So, they kind of understand where we're moving and it was it was good positive meeting. They had good questions for us and I thought
073we had good answers for them. So, great and that we would know in time for 26 27. Yes, that is the goal. That Well, that is that's we would know either way, but that's right. That is the idea though that we would be able to and that's why I'm trying to keep the BWAC kind of rest this too because I don't want to just dump out on them at the end of it, right? And then they're scrambling. So, okay, more discussion on the motion. That was kind. All in favor say I. I. Any opposed? Okay, motion carries. Um, next up is a resolution for the approval of the final budget amendment for 202425. Make a motion that the board approve the resolution for the budget amendment act number two is presented as the final budget
074amendment for the general fund school service fund special revenue fund budget for the 2425 school year. A copy will be attached to the items. support support moved in support. Any discussion other than saying thank you Jordan? I was gonna say thank you. Thank you Al. Thank you everyone else that you're killing it. I I work in a budget office so I know I know what goes into it and that that's play playing through injury. Doris. Thank you Dorothy coming tonight to present. Um any other discussion? Okay. Okay. So, roll call vote, please. Jennifer Baker, yes. Michael Emery, yes. John Hry, yes. Amber Bracket, yes. Andy, yep. Heather Ernel Roberts, yes. All right. Motion approved. Motion carries. We'll move on to the next budget um resolution. I'll make a motion the board of education approves the
075general appreciation resolution for the adop adoption of the general fund school service fund special revenue fund budget for the 20 25 2026 as presented. A complete copy of the resolution shall be attached to the original these minutes and supported. Any discussion? Roll call, please. Emry, yes. John Mry, yes. Jennifer Baker, yes. Heather, are you ready? Yes. Amber Bracket, yes. Andy, yep. Okay. Um, motion carry. And now we're on to the resolution certifying the millage rate. So, I move that the board of education approves the resolution as presented, which certifies that for 2025, 18.0000 mills shall be levied for the operating purchases upon the non-homestead and non-qualified agricultural property. Further that for the year 2025 2.4 mills shall be levied upon all property for debt retirement purposes 6.0 mills upon personal commercial properties and 1.8397 mills
076for the syncing fund shall be levied on the taxable value of all the classifications of property located within the school district. Complete copy of this revolution resolution shall be attached to the original minutes. Moved and supported. Roll call vote, please. John High Street. Yes. Jennifer Baker, yes. Emry, yes. Amber Brackett, yes. Heather Neil Roberts, yes. Andy Glet, yep. Okay. Motion carried. Um, school calendar. I move that the board of education approves the 2025 2026 school count as presented. Support. Moved and supported. Any discussion? Okay. Um, all in favor say I. I. Any opposed? All right. Motion carried. And last but not least, we have an overnight trip request. Would Emily make a motion for the cross country summer training session? I'll make a motion that the board of education approve the overnight trip request for
077the cross country team to travel to the YMCA camp in Napoleon, Michigan for the summer training from August 11th through August 15th, 2025. The camp session and transportation will be paid with funds raised by the team. There will be no cost to the district for this trip. Supported. Any discussion? Where's Napoleon? [Laughter] Thank you. When when I don't know, I usually say somewhere on the west side. It's right in the center. It's near Adrian. Okay. Okay. All right. Thank you. Is that an actual sign or is it just convenient? That's the expert right there. All right. Um moved and supported. All in favor say I. Any opposed? Motion carried. All right. Um, I move that the board of education go into close session at 8:06 p.m. for the purpose of discussing the superintendent review and
078the bargaining units tenative agreements. Support and supported. Any discussion? Roll call vote, please. Heather Erns, yes. Jennifer Baker, yes. Ny, yes. Bracket, yes. And yep. John Street, yes. All right. Motion carried.