APS Board Meeting 4 28 25

001Don't know how Yep. That was pretty Wait a sec. Okay. Okay. It is 5:30. Hi. Thank you everyone for coming. It's 5:30. I'm going to call the meeting to order and ask everyone to please stand for the pledge of allegiance. I pledge algiance 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. Does anyone need additional time to review the consent agenda items? Okay. Okay. We'll keep moving. We'll need a motion to approve the April 28th, 2025 regular board meeting agenda as presented, please. I'll make motion. Second. Okay. Any conversation? Okay. All in favor? Show of hands, please. Thank you. Okay, up first we've got our good news from Thunder Bay Junior High. Good evening. We're going

002to start with some introductions. My name is Katie Lee and I am the principal at Thunder Bay Junior High. Hi, I'm Colin Rifford, one of the assistant principles at Thunder Bay Junior High. I'm Lauren Brown. I'm the other assistant principal at the junior high. Abby Kowalsski, Dean of Students. Brenda Ross, the lead special education teacher at the junior high. Alyssa Miller, math teacher. I'm Adam Florp and I'm in eighth grade. I'm Owen Miller and I'm in sixth grade. I'm Shannon Keller and I'm in eighth grade. I'm Jacqueline France and I'm in eighth grade. I'm Lucy Dutler. I'm in eighth grade. I'm Madison White and I'm in eighth grade. I'm Taylor Thornton and I'm in sixth grade. Hi. Uh just wanted to go through one thing that we uh go through at Thunder Bay Junior High.

003Uh we have the model rep which stands for what we believe our all of our students and staff should represent. Uh the R stands for respect, the E for effort and the P for personal responsibility. And just a background on how we came to this motto. Uh all staff and students were sent uh a Google form for polls, for opinions, for input. uh and we put all that data together and came up with the best representation of all the what behaviors we would like to exhibit at the junior high and this is what came out of it. You'll see some pictures of some green and white in the school. So, one of the things that we've really been trying to do is incorporate more more of our school colors throughout the building to really encourage

004school spirit and build that Wildcat community at Thunder Bay Junior High. Not only do we wear green and white to show our school spirit, we also have class colors. Sixth grade wears orange, seventh grade is yellow, eighth grade is blue, and the staff wears green. We norm we compete for a spirit drug through friendly competitions throughout the school year. Currently, our eighth grade class has the spirit jug. We had 390 students on the honor roll for our third quarter that wrapped in 11 I mean April 11th. Honorable students have a 3.0 GPA or higher. Our pack hosts ice cream socials and popsicle parties for our honoral students at the end of each quarter. Students look forward to these at the end of each quarter. Each quarter, every teacher nominates a student that represents Thunder Bay

005by having excellent respect, effort, and personal responsibility throughout the quarter. This quarter, we celebrated our students of the quarter at a pep assembly. Throughout the school year, students have participated in challenge days. During these friendly competitions, all students compete with their advisory class. The points are combined for the grade levels to see what grade is the champion. Students enjoy the competition and use teamwork with their advisory classmates. It is all it is fun to have all Thunder Bay Junior High students participating in the challenges. State testing wrap-up. Our sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students just finished state testing. Sixth, sixth, and seventh grade students tested in the math and English MSTEP, while our eighth grade students took the PSAT 8th and 9th and MSTEP for science and social studies. All of our students did an

006outstanding job during testing and we're so proud of them for their excellent effort and standardized state test. I'm the current president of the National Junior Honors Society at TBJH. Together with our adviser, Miss Gia, we follow the five pillars that we abide by. First is character. We show respect to ourselves and our classmates. Scholarship. We spend hours volunteering together as a group and on our own. Leadership. We are leaders of our school and community. Service. We have multiple hours of service in our community volunteering or participating in many projects together. In the last pillar of citizenship where we partnered with Cosmic Corn and raised over $3,000 as a group to purchase picnic tables as our service project so we can sit outside together and socialize. There are so many more opportunities for our NJHS students.

007I won a scholarship where I compete against 500 500 other students in the country. I want a $500 scholarship that I can use for school in the future. Our student council is very active throughout the school year. Our students plan a school spirit activities, host dances, plan the talent show, and run a food drive. The students also work at these events. A big event that we have coming up is our eighth grade celebration. We have many activities planned for eighth grade students. The eighth grade celebration is a great way for students to celebrate the end of their middle school career. On May 16th, our student council is hosting a talent show for our school. This year we have eight acts performing. We are so proud of our students for showcasting their talents and we look

008forward to the show. The photos you see are from our talent show last year. Our innovators plus students recently went to the square one IRV competition in Gaylord. IRV stands for innovative vehicle design. All of our students did it out did an outstanding job representing Thunder Bay Junior High. The dive team received first place for their presentation. This year we are excited to share that we have 93 students on our track teams in grades six, seven, and eight. This is a record number of students participating in track. Extracurricular activities help students develop social skills, confidence, and time management while also contributing to personal growth and academic success. They provide opportunities for students to explore their interest, try something new, and build their skill set. The Thunder Bay Junior High Symphonic Band performed at the MSBA

009District 9 Band Festival back in March, performing three pieces of music for a panel of judges and then site readading a brand new piece that they have five minutes to prepare for a fourth judge on the spot in a different room. Their excellent performance at both earn at both earned them an overall superior first division, the highest possible rating. This qualified them to participate at the MSBA State Band and Orchestra Festival coming up at the end of the month in Gaylord. Format is similar, but the but the judging is much more intense. We are proud of our band students for how they represent Alpena musical excellence and wish them luck at their upcoming state festival. One of the events that choir students attend each year is the district coral festival. Our choir, Thunder Bay Singers,

010qualified for state coral festival by receiving division 1 ratings. They will be traveling to Sagenov Valley State University on Tuesday, May 6th. This is an amazing opportunity to see new college campuses and gain new experiences of hearing other talented choirs from around the state. Please join us on Thursday, May 29th at 7:00 p.m. to hear all of our choirs as well as fifth grade choir from Ella White who will be joining us. The theme is musical theater and it promises to be a great show. Thank you very much for letting us share Thunder Bay Junior High good news with you this evening. Thanks for coming and thank you students. You did a great job. Does anyone have any questions for the students while they're up here? All right. Great job. Have a great rest of

011the school year. Okay, we have reached the point in our agenda that citizens and/or delegations may address the board of education. According to board policy 0167.3, public participation at board meetings. Individuals addressing the board are asked to please state their name, address, and or your group affiliation. Shall direct all comments to the board, not staff or other participants. Shall not make personal attacks against a school board member or school district employee by name. Shall be limited to three minutes in duration. And shall not speak more than once on the same topic unless all others who wish to speak on the topic have been heard. This portion of the meeting shall be limited to 30 minutes, but the time frame will be extended if necessary so that no one's rights to address the board will be

012denied. With that, podium is up for whoever is ready. You have the remote. Good evening. My name is Bruce Heath and I'm a resident of Aenik. And um today I'd like to talk about the re proficiency in reading and math that Alpena schools have. And in 2018 you guys were around the 50% mark as I saw. And right now you're at 39% in 2024 for reading and I think it was 34 35% in math. So that's a lot of kids that are not at grade level all yet. It's come to my attention that the school district doesn't have any summer school re remediation program for those childrens in grades three to eight. Now correct correct me if I'm wrong but what I saw on your website that's what I saw. And with the days that

013you've lost from the ice storm I can imagine that it could be even tougher this year. And so I think that you should think about having a remedial program for these age groups and um and work on the the basics of reading, writing and arithmetic and uh because there's a lot of work needs to be done and I know that uh the pandemic was around starting late 20s and it was tough. Nobody did well, but um I think the money would be well spent if you had some remedial classes this summer if it could possibly be arranged. And uh so I'd like you to guys think about that and see if you could put that together. Thank you. Thank you, Bruce. Good evening. My name is Julie Burns. I live in Alpena Township and I'd

014like to talk about the Fair View policy using the restrooms and locker rooms. And I think that policy adheres to both uh Title 9 and also the Elliot Larson Civil Rights Act in Michigan. I'd like to read you the section that that uh applies. It's 37.24A and the single gender school class or programs definitions. It says section 4A1. This article does not prohibit the board of a school district or intermediate school district or the board of directors of a public school academy from establishing and maintaining a single gender school class or program within a school as provided under sections 475114 of the revised code. So basically this says that you can have a girl's locker room and a boy's locker room or a girl's bathroom and a boy's bathroom and if you have one for

015someone that doesn't know who they are, you know, then that that takes care of that. So I think their policy is excellent and I wish you would adopt it. Thank you. Thank you. My name is Julie McCllum. I am a resident of Alpena and I am coming to you as a community member, a parent, and a former employee of APS for nine years. I'm concerned about the focus of about four to five members of the board mostly. And I want to remind you of the district's mission statement, which is Alpena schools in partnership with our community teaches and challenges all students to become lifelong learners and productive citizens. And the strategic plan, which consists of academics and programs, whole child development, personnel, family, community, and partnership, and stewardship, and from masb.org or linked right on

016the Alpena's schools website on the schoolboard page. Eight traits of an effective schoolboard. I'll just read a few of them. Effective school boards commit to a vision of high expectations for student achievement and quality instruction and define clear goals towards that vision. Effective school boards have strong shared beliefs and values about what is possible for students and their ability to learn and of the system and its ability to teach all children at high levels. And effective school boards are accountab account accountabilitydriven, spending less time on operational issues and more time focused on policies to improve student achievement. In fact, all eight of those tenants are geared towards student achievement, not bathrooms, which student staff in the community have explicitly told you are not an issue at APS. Stop pushing your personal agendas where it doesn't

017belong and start doing what as a school board you are supposed to do. and what you have volunteered to do, which is help improve student success and achievement, unless that really isn't your goal. Thank you. Thank [Applause] you. I'm Yvan Lefave Johnson. I live in the township and I'm a proud member of the class of 1989 from APS. I'm here to respectfully urge the board members to put the culture war issues aside. I'm asking you to follow state law and your own established policies against discrimination and harassment. I'm asking you to drop the implementation of a bathroom policy, also known as the student physical privacy policy, and do the work your community elected you to do. You are elected to provide the education that advances the future of all our students, our families, and our

018community, not just the minority who agree with you about a non-issue. Our success starts in the classroom, not the bathroom. Let's set aside red versus blue. And let's get practical. I called this a non-issue because all Alpena public schools have a single person bathroom. This is a solution in search of a problem. Your own legal counsel has told you twice that this bathroom initiative would violate district policies. Beyond that, the American Civil Liberties Union letter from earlier this month reminds the board that it has to follow state civil rights law. Presidential executive orders do not supersede state law. It would be financially irresponsible to spend money on an opinion from a different law firm, one with a political agenda that supports this effort. Shelling out more of our taxpayer dollars to get the answer you

019want will not make this legal. It would be financially irresponsible to adopt a bathroom policy that violates state law, violates district policies, and almost certainly will be challenged in court. The only people who will benefit if you continue to push this will be the lawyers, not our students, not Alpena taxpayers. How much taxpayer money and time will you waste on this? How much funding will you divert from our students and their success? Students, educators, parents have told you this is a solution to a non-existent problem. Please listen and stop trying to manufacture one. Focus on the learning outcomes. Focus on student achievement and their test scores instead of where kids go to the bathroom. Thank you. [Music] Thank you. My name is Stane Whitel. I live in Alpena. In 1977, I graduated from Alpena High,

020spending nearly my entire school career here. My two adult children each graduated from Alpena High as well. Two of my granddaughters are currently attending Alpena High. The eldest of those two was asked to attend last night's Besser Company sponsored dinner honoring the top 10% of graduating seniors. And I'm proud of her. After I retired from business, I decided to go back to work at Alpena High School because I see these young people as our future. I am sharing all of this information to support the simple fact that I am passionate about the decisions you, the school board, makes. In my opinion, many members of this board have allowed partisan politics to override common sense. I saw it when the board voted down a proposed rain garden that would have saved the taxpayers, including myself, thousands

021of dollars. I saw it when certain members of the board voted to hire an outside legal firm that is known to align with their personal views, thus throwing more of our tax money away. I'm seeing it again. If this board votes to implement this absolutely absurd bathroom policy, then I have a suggestion. I suggest that each of the board members who voted in favor of the policy be personally responsible for policing the bathrooms at Alpena High. I could ask one of the students at Alpena to create a Google spreadsheet to compile the data on. If you have a doubt as to what lies beneath a student's clothes, all you need to do is ask them before grant them access to the bathroom. If you don't believe the answer they provide, then simply ask for physical

022proof. In conclusion, if any of you cannot see the absolute ridiculousness of what I just proposed, then I would suggest you check yourself, especially before entering one of our bathrooms. I would also suggest this board actually begins to focus on the issues that truly matter to us at Alpena High School, like the fact that many of our incredible teachers spend way too much of their time policing a ridiculous phone policy. Disallow phones in our schools and watch the academic performance rise. Implement stricter policy on vaping. Better yet, ask the students who attend Alpena High what they think. By the way, if any of you are wondering what bathroom I'll be using after this meeting, I would suggest it's truly none of your business. You have far more important things to worry about. Thank you. [Applause]

023My name is Cali Brusso and I'm a senior at the high school. I am also a vice president of the student council. I would like to once again address my concerns relating to the Fairview bathroom policy. The proposal is not in the best interest of the student body. Instead, it creates a negative environment seeming seemingly targeting students who may be different. However, this policy seems to be a political and religious agenda for some despite the fact that the students and staff are voicing that the current environment is a welcoming and safe place to learn. I also believe that this proposal is very premature and not properly vetted as our board's legal council and the MASB have advised Alpena Public Schools current stance is legally compliant. Additionally, these attorneys are advising that a departure to the

024new proposal would invite litigation. This is also evidenced by the recent letter from the ACLU who are strong strongly urging against the passing of the policy. Instead, the board could easily delay this policy until our hider attorneys, the MASB along with the ACLU recommend a change in the bathroom policy. Another way the board could go about this topic is to research and discuss this policy with their peer districts like Traverse City, Cadillac, or Paskki. Instead, the board is focusing on a specific policy by Fair View that is is a small fringe district that is nowhere near similar to Alpena in any way. I would also like to say a huge thank you to the two board members who attended the top 10% dinner last night. We appreciate your lasting support for the students and we

025hope to see more of you next year. Thank you. Thank you. Uh, hi. My name is Lucy Cook. I am a senior at Alpena High School and I am part of the student council. As president of AHS student council, it is our job to represent the students and speak up when a change in policy will negatively impact our school. The new proposed bathroom policy does not have the students needs in mind as this is simply not an issue within the school. There haven't been any bathroom incidents regarding gender brought to the board to provoke this change. The high school has a single stall genderneutral bathrooms available which have prevented any gender related bathroom issues thus far making any changes unnecessary. Um this policy is impossible to enforce without violating students privacy and creates an uncomfortable

026situation for both students and staff. This policy focuses on a small minority at our school that doesn't deserve to be targeted. Our school should be accepting of all students, regardless of their gender, and act as a safe space for students to learn and grow. No students should have to worry about their privacy being violated every time they enter the bathroom. There are more prominent issues within our district that we should focus on rather than allowing politics and personal agendas to infiltrate our school. I hope that in the future the student council can work um in conjunction with the school board to make more positive changes within the district that will create a new more welcoming and inclusive school environment. Thank you. Hello everyone. Um my name is Kayla Ross. Um I am the parent of

027five children. Uh my oldest just finished her first year up at U of M, so go blue. And my youngest is in the NESCA preschool program. Um it's safe to say my family has a lot at stake when it comes to APS. I love APS. I graduated in 2007. Um although I've always loved the public school system, I'd be willing to write a book on how it's the pillar of our economy really. Um last month was my first board meeting I ever attended. And dang, I was so surprised to see that there are members of the board who don't actually even like the public schools. Um, I thought the point was because you you loved something, you cared about it, and you wanted to see it grow. Um, and although the ball was completely dropped

028on the rain garden, um, that would have improved STEM for our students, um, I fear what I saw was more than just that. Um there was bigger issues at play and it seemed like a distraction from I don't I don't know what is going on here guys. Um you could have saved hours by simply googling are rain gardens good for the environment. Would they help science? And both answers are yes. So I mean we're going to move on from that. Um, but at this point you guys are making like problems that don't exist a big a big issue. So targeting minorities is so bizarre to me. Um especially when we're talking about children. We're not even we're not even like hating on adults right now. We're hating on children. um that you guys don't know

029and it doesn't seem like you're willing to do the research for that that you were for a rain garden. What that does is put kids in danger because it makes other people in the community see them as a threat when they are not. Um, so what I came here to say, and to say it with my whole chest, is that if you do not feel the need to protect all children, not just ones that look like yours or think like yours, then you do not have a place up here. You should not be up here. Thank you. [Applause] Uh, Ryan French, Alpini County. Uh, legal experts dismissed. Student council dismissed, the superintendent, engineers from U of M, teachers, PTA presidents, school counselors, all dismissed. Earlier today, the New York Detroit News published an article about

030the bathroom proposal put forth by a few members of this board. quot Qued in the article were students again saying this wasn't an issue and quote saying even if it was adopted there's no way to enforce it. Who wasn't quoted? The member of the board who brought this issue to the forefront. According to the article, she refused to comment. I'm not here about bathrooms. I'm here about members of the boards that don't listen to the people mentioned at the beginning of this speech. If this debate was about drug and policy enforcement or student test scores, which by the way are actual issues at APS and members of the board weren't listening to the students, teachers, administrators, and experts, I would be making the same speech. In the last workshop meeting, the superintendent informed the board

031that the APS lawyers advised the district to not adopt a bathroom policy. a law firm that advises over 500 school districts and has over 200 years of combined experience in the field. But for certain members of the board, that wasn't good enough either. I think it's important important to point out here that that firm that represents APS has done so for years. Yet, not a single member of this board questions the firm's competence or expertise prior to the bathroom policy. When the superintendent informed the board of the law firm's advice, one member of the board disagreed, saying, quote, "I read up on it." Imagine for a second that I went into your place of business, and despite your years of schooling or generations of experience, I told certain members of this board how to teach

032music or care for medical patients or grow strawberries. And when you pointed out that you went to school, earned degrees, or learned about growing berries from hardworking generations prior, I replied, I read up on it and therefore would like a second opinion. Yet here we are discounting law experts because of articles from the internet, dismissing U of M engineers by opening up manhole covers. Spending money, time, and resources on a problem that teachers, administrators, and most importantly, students have told you is not an issue. This isn't about bathrooms. In closing, I grew up here and I moved my family back here recently because I love it here. And now a political agenda by certain members of this board are attempting to divide a town in desperate need of a strong sense of community. A factory

033just closed population town. And when times are tough, we look to community leaders like the school board up. I'm sorry. Sorry to cut back up. Thank you. If you guys need to shut blinds back there to keep the sun out of your eyes, you're more than welcome to. I know. Oh, okay. Sorry. My name is Shannon Brusso. I am a third generation speaking. For anyone who didn't know, Bane Whitel would be my dad. Cali Brusso would be my daughter. Um, I'm not here to say much anything different than the last people have said, but it's obvious that some of you need to hear it from every single person. So, Alpena Public Schools current stance is legally compliant on the bathroom. Additionally, the attorneys are advising that a departure from the new proposal would only invite

034litigation. This is also evidenced by the recent letter from the a the ACLU that urges against the passing of this policy. Outside of the student perspective on this policy, the environment that it causes is fiscally irresponsible for the board to ignore their retained legal team. LPS APS already follows the largest law firm in Michigan that specializes in school law, which says that we are putting the district in line of potential lawsuits if we adopt this policy. The board has proposed spending more money to get another opinion on this policy. It seems like we're shopping for eternity for attorneys to push political views. The pattern of behavior from this board has become blatantly obvious. Ignore the voices of the student. Reject the legal opinions of your attorneys. Underline the teachers and administrators to allow the board

035to micromanage any and all decisions. Worse yet, the board is even acting without any expertise in law. They have also been trying to micromanage curriculum and ignoring the expertise of our teaching professionals. In closing, please don't put us in a legal showdown with the ACLU. This is not a battle that the district can afford to fight, especially over a policy that students, staff, and administrators already are handling well. Thank you. [Applause] Good evening. Carol McKay, city of Alpena. First, I'd like to state that I'm in agreement with all the students and people before me in voting no on the fair the fair fairview schools policy in regard to bathrooms. I want to state that first. However, I'm in uh would like to speak in regard to um I stand before you to urge this board

036to preserve diversity, equity, and inclusivity in our books and in our curriculum and maintain the established review process for your educational materials that are you reviewing in the future. First, DEI books are essential and the curriculum materials are essential for fostering empathy and understanding in our students. These textbooks expose young minds to perspectives from different cultures, identities, and experiences for which crit critical and globalized society is needed. For examples, books like Ghost Boys by Juel Van Ryder, books like The Hate You Give by Angie Thomas provide windows into lives that many students might not otherwise encounter. Studies such as the one from the American Educational Research Association in 2023 show that exposure to diverse literature improves students social emotional skills and reduces prejudicy. Removing these books risk narrowing our students worldview leaving them less equipped

037to navigate workplaces and communities that are diverse. Second, eliminating the review process for curriculum materials is a re reckless move. The current process involving educators, librarians, community input, and students ensures that books are age appropriate and educationally valuable and properly vetted. Without it, we open the door to arbitrary decisions either to ban books based on personal biases or to include materials without proper vetting. A 2024 report from the National Education Association highlighted that structured review processes prevent censorship while maintaining academic rigor. Scrapping the M curriculum materials or systems or processes that are in place can lead to chaos, erode trust within your staff, parents, and invites legal challenges as seen in districts like those in Florida facing lawsuits over book bands. Finally, preserving DEI and the review process upholds our commitment to academic freedom and

038critical thinking. Banning books or selectively eliminating any part of the curriculum does not protect students. It stifles their ability to grapple and understand the world we live in and engage with it thoughtfully. By keeping all books, we affirm every student value and val is valued and create a student environment where all can thrive. In closing, retaining DEI books ensure students grow into empathetic, informed, and open-minded individuals. Let's commit to a curriculum that reflects the richness of our world and equips every student in it to succeed. Please keep the current process in place that involves the necessary review of Your Time's up. I'm sorry. Thank you so much. I appreciate your time. Anyone else? Okay. Well, there will be a second opportunity later on if needed. We will keep moving then to our action items. Up

039first, we have the approval of our Oh, do you want to read um Yeah. Do you want to read that now or during the letters and communication? Yeah, letters and Okay, thank you. Uh, sorry. Uh, action items. We have the approval of the March 24th, 2025 regular meeting minutes. Approval of the March 24th, 2025 closed meeting minutes. Approval of the April 7th, 2025 workshop meeting minutes. Approval of the se April 7th, 2025 closed session minutes. Approval of the April 7th, 2025 closed session minutes. We would need a motion to approve the consent agenda items as presented. So moved. Second. Okay. Any conversation? All in favor? Show of hands, please. Okay, up next we have uh additional business requiring board action. We have first on the agenda the AMA SOAR partnership and we do have uh

040Ashley Peterson here from AMA. Uh Justin was here but he had to leave with a previous engagement. Um, again, this is a a partnership, first of its kind, you think, between AMA and APS. Um, but it also includes all the other districts in AMA as well. Um, to serve our student population, um, with emotional impairments, uh, being able to provide appropriate services to those students, um, and, um, essentially that AMA would be taking over the, uh, facilitation of this program. And um it primarily right now it would primarily serve APS students, but if Alona, Atlanta, Hillman had students that would be identified for this program too, they would come on to our campus um and receive the same services. Yep, I found my questions. Okay. Sorry, I didn't have it when you spoke to you

041uh on the Is your microphone on? Okay, you're good. Just making sure. Thanks. Thank uh page or section six uh paragraph A. What is so currently the IEP and and maybe maybe Stacy needs to answer this these questions too. Ashley is is Stacy's counterpart. Okay. So either of them. So if we sign this agreement, if I if I understand the IEP process correctly, that our teachers and staff meet and get a plan together, right, for the student. Now technically our teachers and staff are going to be meeting under their authority. Is that guidance? Yes, they hold the responsibility for the IEP. I'll I'll turn it over to Ashley. So, once we um if this is assigned and and ratified by you today, um our oper will become the operating district. So, the students will be

042AMAD students um for us to operate the program, they'll maintain as resident districts for our Alpena public schools. They live in the district. So, be a partnership for that IEP. So, there will be representation from the district. Similar to our early childhood programs, we have Stacy often as a district representative in partnership with our classroom teacher and myself as a supervisor and any other support staff like speech pathologists, our social worker, etc. Okay. Um, does that throw us into a little bit of a conflict then uh unionwise if So now we're we're transferring from our district and over to their district. the our staff kind of and no because you know that what I think your question is around who's doing the work not who's doing but who's overseeing the work yeah so because they're

043AMA students at that point similar to Pi Piper um were there resident students of Alpena or the other um um districts oh my apologies Sorry. Um uh so where was I? Similar to Pied Piper, um those are our resident students that are in the Pied Piper program working with AMA's uh staff. Um same thing, our teachers are involved in the uh the passing off process to uh AMA for the SOAR program. So it wouldn't be a conflict. Okay. And then once the students are enrolled in our program, it would be our classroom teacher and our support staff supporting the IEP process until should there be a time where a student returns their to their local elementary school or their resident district if they're not APS students. Okay. Uh section 8, paragraph G. I was looking

044for a little clarity on uh I guess on the first on page five, not so much on the on page six. So that uh what fees and such are are typically involved with this process that that we are covering. but the student is under their authority. So that's questions about due process and things like that. Um, do you want to assist with that? So, I read this as um students with disabilities have a lot of protections and their families have procedural safeguards if they don't agree with an IEP. Um so, if a family were to file a complaint or due process, then we would be responsible to help um with those costs, but we would have insurance to cover that as well. Okay. Um, when you say they file a complaint, they're filing a complaint

045before they get into the AMA's program or after. I mean, families are able to do that at any time if they don't agree. Um, there are a lot of protocols in place where we try to, you know, to address concerns and and, you know, come to a consensus. Um, but if there were a complaint that was filed, they they have the right to do that. Okay. So, so technically this they could be in AMA's care file a complaint and we cover all the attorney fees. Is that how that am I following? I mean including actual attorney fees and costs. Yeah. Cost the I was just highlighting one portion. Is that how you understand it? Yeah. Okay. And that that first sentence is of any relief ordered. And so if if we are found to have

046violated due process or something along those lines, then we would be responsible for whatever is ordered to come of that. Does that include are you are you saying like monetary relief or are you saying relief in the form of um changing their IE IEP? Getting too many digits here. It it could be really Yeah. So we have experience where uh we just had to provide additional education throughout the summer. Um that's one um remediation. Um I don't the again I would say that the chance that there's a monetary judgment uh is pretty low. It's usually restoring the education that they didn't receive because of a a issue in the due process. It's educational loss. Okay. Um does that happen ever? It's not the norm. No, but it does happen. And if it were to happen

047while we're doing the you're going to think that that would be with our teacher or our support staff like our social worker, our speech pathologist, etc. that would be staffing to make up that time should there be a violation. Okay. And it's similar to how we work right now when we have kids that we collaborate with all the time and if there were an issue, it's not really any different than those situations. Okay. I just was, excuse me, seeing we're on the hook for a lot of stuff, but we're not in the position to of the of authority, I guess, over the student. So, that's why I was asking clarity there. Um, got to find my last check mark here. Um, I guess in that same section of eight, paragraph D, could I get a

048little more of an explanation on that? Um, that's related to our the special ed payout that we do annually. Just saying that uh dependent on the the funding sort for that academic year that could be variable. So, it's not going to be a static payment each year. It's formulaic and and the superintendents discussed that and then uh that's transparently shared chair and I think I you got clarity on the count thing from you. Yeah. And I'll just kind of rehash what we talked about. Um the funding arrangement is in paragraph 8A. um states that 100% of the funding for the student goes to AMA um and then a 20% um is sent to the district. That is based on um number one, we don't know exactly what a student's schedule is going to look like

049throughout the year. The goal is to have them in the least restrictive environment. And if that happens to be the sore room, the majority within the limits of the IEP, um it could be a 90% in the sore room and 10% in an an APS classroom. Um we're just kind of through our current experience saying that it's probably going to be about an 8020 split where they're in the sore room 80% of the time and they're in an APS classroom 20% of the time. that'd be like gym, art, music possibly into a grade level classroom as they, you know, have that gradual release. So, we want to get a year under our belts and really see um what's going on knowing that every student in every year is going to be different. Um but right

050now, we both feel that this is probably a pretty accurate uh assessment of what's going to happen as far as again time spent between the two districts. The flip side is doing an hourly log and then trying to figure out how to communicate that at the timely reporting periods to the state of Michigan and that model just doesn't align uh because they want to know on two dates during the year how much of the student we're claiming how much AMA is claiming or alone those sorts of things. So 8020 um seems to make sense. And then if if we find we're off in one direction or the other, we can then um revisit the contract before it renews at the end of this year or I'm sorry, next year and that we will review this

051every year. I mean, yeah. And again, the way we talked about it when we originally, you know, we don't know exactly what this is going to look like. Um, and so, you know, we just want to Stacy and Ashley have been working very closely together. Um, again, you're talking about students and things may change very quickly, uh, that we just weren't expecting or it may go exactly as we expect. So, the whole premise of this program is this first year is to really figure out what it looks like with AMA um, overseeing the program and then we can do even some more release and um, firming up details. Okay. And remember this is between uh the four districts, AMA, Alpena, Alona, and Hillman. Um but right now APS is the only district that has students

052um with this program in mind. But but we are reaching out to the other three or this one. This has been a topic with all you know I meet with all the superintendents monthly and it's been on our uh agenda for two years or more. Okay. trying to figure actually I'm sorry it goes back to John um Van Wagner because back at that point we were looking at developing a a center like we are doing this um they were actually looking at Sanborn as um a centrallylo place because for the other districts transportation is a huge concern for them consideration. So even back in those days and maybe even beyond that um they were trying to explore where could something like this run. Okay. Um app propo of that uh question of where students are

053coming from. Uh I noticed number item number 20 is still blank. I apologize if we had a number of students. Yeah. I I didn't uh it didn't immediately jump back to recollection. Understanding it's an estimate. I wonder if we have a ballpark and I think it's 10 right now. 10 right now. Okay. From a APS. Yeah, they'd all be APS, but I mean it I guess do we have an idea how many other ones from other ones? Um, so it's I mean do you know the actual numbers? Um, currently we don't have any that districts are saying, you know, we would refer to the program currently. Um, but that doesn't mean that they wouldn't be there in the district or move tomorrow. Um, by ratifying this, it goes into our ISD plan, which allows any

054of our local districts to send a student to our programs if it's appropriate in the least restrictive environment. So, um, we would still adhere to that limit of 10 students. That's our federal and state guidelines. Um, but we would have a process with our local districts to determine that least restrictive environment just like in any special ed. So you can only have 10 students per per room if per the store. Yeah. Okay. So if you if we were able say that any self-contained room like that can only have like 10 kids in at a time. Okay. So there'd be essentially a waiting list if if there were 10 in there and Okay. And just informally the the other districts have said they've got one maybe two students that they think might be uh you know

055a candidate for this program. But again, it always came down to transporting that student um and figuring that out because a student could be on a bus over an hour, you know, just one way and they don't feel that that's uh in the best interest, too. So, okay. So Stacy and Ashley, so students all over our district will be coming to Ella White and and the parents have to once once the IEP is written and the goals are set, the parents are aware that that child will be transported to Ella White. Correct. That that'll be all in the IEP. That's all part of the IEP process. I process. Okay. All right. But there is there is that eventually they can if they meet their goals that they can time out and go back to a

056general ed room. We'll have a data collection that we do right now and as kids are ready they start reintegrating back into restrictive environment and then as they progress they would go back to their home school. Okay. And that is really uh important um one because it's an elementary program when they go to the junior high there's not that type of program there right so we need to work really closely with AMA to um help these kids like get the skills they need so they they can be successful later um in their education which is why it's so important in elementary to get those skills that foundation um so we don't anticipate this being like a huge rush of kids coming in it's it's not the norm we take it really seriously because it is

057more of a restrictive environment. Um but for the kids that it's appropriate for it can be really really successful. Yes. Thank you. I would move to approve the AMA Soore partnership agreement as presented. Second. Any further questions or conversation? Okay. Uh all in favor show hands, please. All right. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you, Ashley and Stacy. Okay. Up next, we have the King Scott facility master plan development. You were all right. Give me just one second because I have King Scott on um virtually if if we have any questions for him. No, I don't think it's camera. Uh, Robert, can you hear us? All right. Not loudly, but I can hear you coming through somewhere. I heard it. So, this volume's up and then would a TV make a difference? Put the microphone down.

058I don't think it's coming out of here, though. It's coming out of somewhere else. I thought I say it's it to my ear. something out of. So, let me try this. Try one more time. Robert, not yet. Okay. Uh, I think if we do this, go ahead and say something. I'm here. Can you hear me? Here. Okay. All right. So, um, and that was a yes, we can hear you, right? Okay. Give me just a second. All right. So, um this is uh looking at using King Scott and Clark to design a uh really a 10year um vision for the district. Um I did speak to some board members and have some some more information to share. Uh so I'll just kind of start with you know why we're interested in doing this. Uh we

059are in a very unique situation um in that we are not in financial strengths. Um we're in pretty solid financial uh condition and uh you know right now we're just at the whim of you know what the state decides to do. uh we should have some answers maybe uh in the next couple of weeks here from the state about what they'll do for next year's budget. But as far as a financial crisis, we don't have one. Um we are looking again three, four, five up to 10 years down the road recognizing very long-standing trend of declining enrollment since I think it was 1972 where I think we've lost 60% of our student population. In that time we have closed 13 buildings um but very different circumstances at that point. Number one we did it for

060financial reasons. We had to make significant cuts in a very quick turnaround. Um and with 13 additional elementaryaries scattered within our you know outlining frame of the city Sanborn Wilson and Hinks um the the displacement of families was not as consu uh significant as it's likely to be if we were to have to close one of our country schools at this point because then you're you're already you know I use my house as an example I can see Rapids uh elementary from my classroom but uh Wilson is my district school district. So if we were to close Wilson, would it be Sanborn or would it be Hincks or what would that look like? But again, I want to reiterate, we are not looking at closing schools. I could hear myself on that one. We're not

061in financial hardship. We're not at a point where we do have to make these uh decisions, but we are very confident that five years from now we're going to have less students than we have today. And so better to start now talking about, you know, what can we do with our current buildings? Can we repurpose them? Can we realign them? Whatever those sorts of things um and avoid closing schools um and if we come to multiple scenarios, um you know, what does that look like? Uh so that comes where uh King Scott comes in. Uh they have experience with looking at buildings. uh you know we assessing the conditions of the buildings which we're pretty solid on because of all the recent bond work and everything but they also can look at a building and

062tell you this is a very adaptable building or you know this building is more adaptable for a different uh structure than this building or those kind of things which are an important piece of that long-term planning and then also they have access to uh information at the drop of the hat so uh Monica you asked about information that they have looking at other states that perform better um you know academically and what do their building designs look like. So, he got back to me today with um in my piles here um quite a bit of information. And so, um the the uh the article the the idea is um yes, building structures do have an impact on um student achievement. Uh, and just paraphrasing, it's about proper lighting, ventilation, acoustics, um, flexible furniture, flexible classrooms,

063flexible structures like that. Um, and so they have a wealth of information available to kind of explore that, but more importantly, they have the expertise to say this is what a flexible classroom looks like or this is what you need to be able to to build that. Um but then they did also go to the point that's um somewhat timely. Uh one of the biggest factors uh these higher performing states like New Jersey, Massachusetts and Connecticut is they sent spend almost twice as much in some cases on student uh education than the state of Michigan does which then ties also into the school finance reforms um you know analysis of the state of Michigan's facilities. Uh was it 2.3 billion or 23 billion? 5.3 23 billion dollars in estimated upgrades across the state of Michigan

064with our public schools. Um so just a quick I know I'm just sharing this with you now, but there is a connection again lighting, ventilation, um you know, acoustics and flexible seating and flexible classrooms that connects to uh student achievement um as well as the the funding. But that's not this isn't a question about the funding uh at the state level unless we want to turn it into that. But so I think that's it's kind of the gist of it. I did talk with a board member who said uh you know maybe we use AI to kind of lead us through this process and I thought interesting. Uh so I did. I typed in our scenario you know 1972 and all of this. It produced a pretty nice plan. um you know of of steps

065that we would go through. Number one was hire a firm to assess the adaptability of your buildings. So even AI thinks that uh this is the right thing to do. But um so I I think I I touched on everything. I I think um I think that's it. And then I Robert, I didn't mean to steal your thunder. Uh but he is there if you wanted to ask him any questions. No, but uh thank you for getting this and being so thorough. I really appreciate it. Um I guess my thing is though as I look at the 22,000 and I just look at like the discovery phase, exploration phase, like what all that entails and I have a hard time seeing I I can see the hourly rate, but you know to conduct a student

066population density analysis to identify areas high. Well, we we can probably already kind of do that ourselves. um you know the evaluate the school buildings that's already been done review historical and projected enrollment trends we have that already and that's why I'm just questioning why some of this can't be done inhouse to cut down on that expense I mean yeah um the density study has not been done um it again it could be probably um you know it was kind of like we talked about um they produced all of this information within in, you know, a 10-h hour period of time. How long is it going to take our staff to go out and learn how to do these studies, learn how to uh interpret these studies? Um, that's where I see their expertise of

067having done these things before and making sense of them and what it means for our situation. The enrollment study, um, again, we have lots of numbers. I've shared some of those numbers, but you know, what does that mean? What does it look like? How do we apply it to different scenarios? Um the numbers I got, there's a financial a budget enrollment projection projection and then there's a u a facilities projection. Um and you can use those numbers for different purposes. I don't know how to use those numbers differently, but a company like King Scott would be able to tell us if you're looking at it from the financial aspect or you're looking at it from the facilities aspect or whatever other aspects. Again, we got a team of very smart, dedicated people. I'm sure they

068can do it, but that timeline of having this by November is going to be at least next November or, you know, because we'll have to learn how to do these things and we need it by this November. Why? Uh because the strategic plan is is about looking forward. And so the sooner we get that we can start making decisions, but we're not going to close anything or make any be. You're saying within the next how many years? Don't know. I mean really it's it's looking at all the scenarios. if you hold off doing anything for five years, this is what it looks like, you know, as best as possible in the six through 10 years. Those sorts of things. Uh I would say it's, you know, one of the things that we said we were

069going to do in the strategic plan was have this up and running when we start next year, next, you know, next school year. So, it's a deadline in the strategic plan and 22,000 uh you know if if three years from now all of a sudden we've got a new development that brings in factory whatever it might be um it takes roughly two students to pay for this um you know at 9,000 maybe $10,000 a student um then two two additional students to the district covers the cost of Anyone else have questions for I think he said Robert while he's on the hook over there. Does Robert have anything else he wants to add? Um, no. Yeah, Robert, do you have anything else you'd like to add? No, I think you did um a great job,

070David, at least articulating the additional information I said. Um, I think the biggest point if to really make is we're going to be gathering a lot of data so that we can really start to develop really informed um scenarios for the community and the district to consider. and you know let's take advantage of this time now versus if it becomes critical in the future trying to tackle this big of an issue. Um, so you know that's our goal is to come up with as many scenarios as we can taking into account all this information so that together we can come up with a plan with acceptable options in the event your trends continue. If your trends change for the good um then you're okay. So, but we want to make sure that you're prepared for

071if the trends continue that you can make decisions in a timely manner that impacts students um and not in a negative way but in a positive way and that we continue to really um continue all the great work you do educationally no matter what the enrollment is. and uh your facilities are geared to support that student achievement. So that's that's really our primary goal for this whole effort. Thank you. I guess I hate to spend extra money on things that seem but I think this might not be a bad spot to put it to I mean if academic performance is going to be their main then yeah I don't want to spend the money either but I think it would be worth it then if that's what they're looking at. Yeah, and I agree. You

072look at the strategic plan, we chose to do that internally versus spending roughly 50 to 20 15 to$20,000 bringing in external company because my team is much more confident that we possess, you know, the the ready to go skills, knowledge, experience, and vision uh to put that into play. Um, look at Raymond. We did administer a um staff morale survey that we created ourselves. Um, and it didn't produce any results that we could really act upon. So, you know, the board said, "Let's go with this company and and and I'll talk about that more later tonight." But um I agree, you know, anything we can do genuinely amongst our staff, we're going to but I think this is one of those cases where we just need a much broader perspective level of experience and the

073dedicated people power on that side to do that work. And if we're looking at improvement c student outcomes and student achievements, that's what we're here for. Yep. I move to approve the agreement. I'll second. King Scott. Okay. Anything further for the board or for King Scott? Okay. This is just a motion. So, we have a motion on the floor. And if nothing further, um, all in favor, show of hands, please. That's all five. All right. Thank you very much. Appreciate it. And thank you, Robert, for all your work. And I'll be in touch. Yes. Thank you very much. appreciate the opportunity and I'll look forward to your call, David. Okay, moving on to uh the lawn care bids. And uh you may notice Mary, Michelle, and Simon are not here. They're at the MSBO, Michigan

074School Business Officers Conference. Microphone traveling to it. Microphone. Sorry. Uh you notice Michelle, um Mary and Simon are not here. They're on their way to the Michigan School Business Officers uh conference, which is this week. So, you're stuck with me doing a Simon and Michelle impersonation. And Mary, can you put your voice lower for Simon then? And if if Mary comes up, what's that? Can you put your voice lower for Simon? Then I'll try. Um, so we had uh three biders. Um, you'll notice on the sheet that one of the biders did not meet the deadline. U, and I'm looking at the last sheet here. Um, so one of them didn't meet the deadline. also didn't the the two out of the three uh failed to meet the requirements of the bid with the different

075documents. Um and so we had one cut above that met all the requirements of the bid process. Uh we have a good experience with them and their bid was in line with um you know rising prices over the number of years but certainly um you know we've got a had a good experience with them. So, the recommendation is to go with the cut above landscaping. And just so everyone knows, that's for lawn service at all of our buildings. Okay. Anyone have any questions for Dave? I feel like we may have talked about this before, but was it just um uh labor costs that produced the huge increase uh in 2022? And I noticed that has stuck. It wasn't a fluke. I did not ask that question. So, uh I'm not sure what um was the

076cause of that. Was that the Have we been with a cut above? Was that was that their increase that was uh I mean we have were we hiring them at that time as well? Um when uh in 2022 I noticed that the annual lawn care cost uh jumped by half again from 18 to 28,000. Yeah. So in 22 we were using you see that where it says a cut above we were using them and so yeah 437 to 500 and and so on. So, it's their costs that are going up. Is that answering your question? Well, I mean, we don't have a lot of choice. If they were the only responsible bidder, uh, it would be maybe, yeah, maybe next time. It is interesting though that some schools don't have any increase, right? Like, yeah,

077percent change, but some some did. So I feel like there may be something I'm not remembering from a previous discussion. Um like that but uh yeah I uh I just thought I would ask um not too much to be done about it but I don't know 50% jump. What are we at? Yeah, I meant over uh since 21. That's a 60% increase. That's a little bit higher than inflation. I I feel like there was a conversation. Did we used to do some of our own lawn care and we started outsourcing it to other companies? I don't remember. I know snow removal um and probably lawn service we've done um ourselves at some point. Yeah. I wonder if we added more schools to the list maybe at some point that because that is from 2021 to

07822 was a huge jump. So I wonder if we added extra buildings at that point. I kind of hate to go. I realized they they handed all the paperwork in, but dang, they're double on uh on a lot of them. Sandborn, Sunset, Wilson, they're not double, but so from his notes, he said the contractor total cost has increased approximately 8.6 six over the last three years. Uh the projected annual cost for this year is $40,000. Um but will fluctuate with weather conditions. Um some of that's got to be fuel. Four times a month. Um typical grass cutting crew is three to four workers, two mowers, one to two trimmers. Why a two-year contract on this, Dave? Is it is it a two-year or is it um I I don't know. you know, they go through

079the bid process, they sit down with the company and they talk through things. I know we've done multi-year contracts before with them. Um, you know, could have been to lock in prices if we anticipate they're going up. Um, I'd have to pass that along to Simon to get that. Yeah, for the way the public howled over an increase in costs for bond work, I don't don't see where this uh accepting these bids is really a good idea considering it's double well over the low bidder over paperwork. work for did they submit the Iran sanctioned certificate form which is required which is required highly highly important on the grass cutting there uh well it's a contract between a public institution you know but that wasn't the only thing they didn't do unfortunately that's just one of

080those when you look at their prices you know so significantly below again can they do it for that price or will they, you know, walk away and realize they they didn't do that. Um, again, we've got experience with a cut above. They've done a good job. Um, prices are going up. I agree. Um, but if we rebid this, prices are going to go up by 10%. Well, if nothing else, in in the future, um, after this contract, it presents an opportunity for somebody to put in a more competitive bid. But it it it does seem like we didn't get uh completely serious bids. So, are we able to just go with one year on this or no? Because it was already it was probably part of the bid language, I would think. Yeah, I would

081again I would have to check if that was part of the the bid language. Okay. Regardless, we need to uh a motion to award the bid as presented. Make that motion and vote on it. Yeah, I would make that motion. You will make that motion. Second. Okay. Anything further? We just make note to ask Simon about the two-year question. Okay. Any other conversation? Okay. All in favor, show of hands, please. Okay. No, three yeses and two nos. Okay. Thank you. And so, two-year contract. Uh, was there another question just about the prices in general going up? I that would be interesting to that'd be interesting to know mostly what that jump was if you look on I put my notes away that before from 21 to 22 wasn't it Eric where it went significant jump

082but the jump from last year to this year is not much it was that one from way back when okay all right okay moving on to policies policy 1210 board superintendent relationship this is our second reading God bless you. Bless you. We had a little bit of changing in the first one and then or in the first paragraph and nothing since the first reading. So unless there's any concerns, we can make a motion. Uh, I'll read the full motion that's in our agenda. Motion to approve replacing the second sentence of policy 1210 with new language. Quote, as such, the board retains all discretion to originate or amend its policies. Therefore, the board shall not originate or amend a policy without first giving the superintendent the opportunity to provide recommendations or input. End quote. I would

083move to uh approve the policy as presented. I'll second it. Anything further? Okay. Show of hands. All in favor? Five yeses. Okay. Thank you. Up next is Fair View Policy 5900, uh student physical privacy first reading. This is not my rodeo. So, if anyone wants to take this one and share their thoughts, feel free. And I know I just passed this out to you guys, this packet. Um, so you haven't had time to review it. Uh, which I think we're going to have some time because I don't know, is it Coleman, did we get a hold of Coleman? Yeah, I called him last Tuesday. I've not heard back from them. Okay. So, I mean, we're still waiting for their opinion, but uh uh I had the opportunity to meet uh Mike Cox, former attorney attorney

084general in Michigan, um and explained uh uh the policy to him, showed him the policy and also the letter from the ACLU, which was made public on social media. um he took all the information and actually one of his lawyers got back to me today with this packet. So you guys can take your time to review it, but just basically the first question on here, does Title 9 preempt Michigan's Elliot Larson Act? Answer yes. And then it goes through everything. So this is just moreformational for you guys. And then also with the policy, I know I emailed um Dave and Anna and Summer this morning. Um I ended up finding a another organization similar to Niola, um but will offer even more and it's continuing to grow nationally. Um the school boards for academic excellence

085and I sent you the website there that you guys can check it out. Um I also sent this policy to them. um they've made changes using best practices. So, and I attached it um for your guys consideration and for us all to look at and discuss. That's this this packet here, Monica. Yeah, with the red. This is the changes. Okay. So good. So were you thinking more the language of this policy is what you wanted to move forward as the first reading or Yeah. I mean if you guys I mean I want to give you time to look at it though to see what you think. I mean it's only small changes to it. Um and would involve parents as well. I would I would uh approve moving ahead with those changes with maybe one

086exception on the in the very last uh paragraph under accommodation. Um I would suggest perhaps um saying something like students or parents uh asserting uh their or their child's gender. Um so that uh that would also would still include the student in case the student is primarily originating uh this request where where's that at the very bottom under accommodation of biological sex nonconforming students I would suggest uh restoring the word students and then saying or students or parents asserting that their or their child's uh gender um that way would still be inclusive of the student but also adding the parent I think. Yeah. So, if you guys are on board with making those small changes to it and then presenting that to Colman when he calls um and Trun and Niola. You told me you

087already asked them, correct? Yeah. Okay. Can we can we get the memo or the writing on that? I don't know if anybody received that. I've got uh just two emails. I've had many conversations with them. Okay. Yeah, if you can forward the emails, something on paper would be nice. The board would have to officially uh engage Coleman I think too before they would issue us an opinion. Um but uh if we want to wait for that, we can always uh table this, you know, next time before we Yeah, because our next meeting is a workshop where we would then potentially have either a second or a first, but if we do a second at the workshop, then we would have to uh take action um at the workshop, which let's hold the workshop. Yeah. Okay.

088Yeah. Yeah. Let's hold then and if you can get the letters from those two from us and then get Coleman on board and see what his Okay. Yeah. So I I move to table it then to the workshop to have it official. I'm not sure you'd really need to table it since it'll come up at the workshop anyway. And then if we if we aren't prepared to move along at that point, then I would suggest tableabling it at that point or in the in the subsequent meeting, I think we'll be okay. Then let it die. Yeah. No rush. No, let it die with no second. I won't be offended. Okay. Now it's my turn. So did you still want Dave to try callman again even that he hasn't returned? Do you think he'll give any

089input if he's not under a retainer or? Well, I I wouldn't think he would. Um, but uh I think you know getting contacting them to get some uh more official uh idea of of how they contract with boards and what the terms are is perfectly appropriate. Okay. And will that cost any money? I mean, not the getting the terms, but I'm sure the terms. If we decide to get the other opinion, do we have to have a motion for the board to approve that for to spend that money? I make the motion that we spend the money on Coleman. Second. How much money? Yeah. How much do you want to spend when we already have a legal opinion from two law firms? They do not specialize in constitutional law. Um, as of right now, the

090executive order according to this is two separate courts issued rulings favorable to plaintiffs who sued regarding the US Department of Education actions to require certifications of compliance of Title 9 Civil Rights Act. So, as far as I know, this is all in the courts right now. So, I don't even know why we're discussing it. It's all in the courts and it's going to stay in the courts for quite a while. And we have a procedure in place that you heard from our students is fine. Not a policy, just a procedure. We have a singleuse bathroom. I don't see why we continue discussing this. We have more important things to discuss. Then let's get Coleman and move on. Okay, fine. Get your opinion that you want. Well, so we have a motion on the floor to

091spend money on Coleman attorney and AJ supported that, but I feel like that's a pretty is it any amount of money or how much did Thru charge us to look at this? Uh part of our retaining how many hours? Each of my calls was under 15 minutes. So they don't charge for those. I you mentioned again I don't know but you mentioned $250 an hour. I think that's what I said. Um yeah. I wonder though if it might be might be good to get an idea before we proceed with that to get an idea of uh the uh Collins terms and uh you know maybe an estimate um of what this would cost before we proceed with that. um it might kick it down the road a little bit, but I think that might be

092uh uh might be a little easier and a little safer uh rather than authorizing something that's sort of an unknown quantity at this point. Uh I I guess I would feel more comfortable having further discussions with that law group uh to make sure that it's going to uh you know meet our needs and uh whatnot. Um, yeah. So, I can call and see what they have to say and I can share it with the board and then we've got something to uh discuss at the workshop. Okay. Well, we still do have a motion on the floor. So, I'll remove the motion. I think AJ had Did you second? I did. Yeah. I'm I was searching my brain for the proper procedure on on all that to I think I think if you you have to

093agree to withdraw your second withdraw your support. I was drawing a blank. So I I'll go along with Monica on that one then if she's okay. You support removing the motion. Anybody up in Robert's rules knows we have to do we have to do we have to vote on that? I No, just if you amend it. Just if you amend it. That sounds right. I don't ever recall being in that position in any debates. So, okay. Anything else? All right. We will move on to uh new business. We have our human resources staff update about staff, new hires, resignations, and retirements. All right. Uh, so new hires professional staff, Solomon Turken, Spanish teacher at Alpena High School, effective March 31st, 2025. Uh, I apologize. Kenan Kerchek, math teacher at Alpena High School, effective August 14th,

09425. Uh, Tara Kerchek, elementary secondary teacher, building to be determined, effective August 14th, 25. and Jenna Zellescowski, uh, elementary teacher building to be determined effective, uh, August 14th. Support staff, uh, Timothy Gapsky, cafeteria aid, Thunder Bay Junior High, effective March 31st, 25. Lori Gerky, homebound based tutor. Um, uh, sorry, homebound homebased tutor, APS district, effective April 7th, 25. Patrick Noland, bus mechanic transportation, effective April 10th, 2025. Ashley Fra, food service helper, Thunder Bay Junior High, effective April 15th. Mon'nique Meyer, instructional assistant, Thunder Bay Junior High, effective May 5th, 25. Joanna Eller, food service float, APS district, effective May 12th, 25. Meline Hoisar, HR specialist, uh, central office, effective May 19th, 25. Uh, resignations, Barb Train, food service helper, helper, float, APS district, effective March 20th, 25. Nicole Holand, instructional assistant, Thunder Bay Junior High, effective

095April 4th, 25. Ryan Canard, bus relief bus driver, transportation, effective 11, April 11th, 25. Connie Wallace, food service helper, Besser Elementary, effective April 21st, 25. Sherry Shrader, food service helper, Besser Elementary, effective April 22nd, 25. Chloe Katz, instructional assistance, Ella White Elementary, effective May 7th, 25. the Nancy Pedabone bus driver transportation effective May 16, 2025 and we have no retirements to announce. We still have enough drivers then Dave. Yeah, we're we're there but with the mechanic too. Uh the mechanic will be a driver once on board. I move to approve the hiring of the professional staff after proper certifications have been completed. Anything further? All in favor? Show of hands. Okay. Okay. Did you bring a water, Eric? Charitable gifts. Yes. Well, as usual, there are quite a few. Uh, the Zanta Club of Alpena

096donated feminine hygiene products valued at $200 to support the students of Alpena High School. Star Staffing of Alpena's Dignity Drive donated feminine hygiene products valued at $400 to support the students of Alpena High School. David and Sharon Hall gave a monetary donation of $75 in support of the Alpine High School softball program. Walmart gave a monetary donation of $100 for parent advisory council student activities at Lincoln Elementary. Hungry Howie's donated 15 pizzas toward parent engagement night at Lincoln Elementary. Lorie Stefan donated a book valued at $20 to support the students at Besser Elementary. Brianna Gibson gave a monetary donation of $10 to support the Alpena High School 5505 robotics team. I probably said that wrong, but anyway. Uh Sarah Costain gave a monetary donation of $500 to support the students of the Alpena High School

097Student Council. Adam and Monica Dazinski gave a monetary donation of $150 to support the students of the Thunder Bay Junior High Student Council. Sandra Welch gave a monetary donation of $40 to support the McKini Vento Fit program, helping students and families in need. Lincoln Elementary received the following generous donations to support the pancake dinner and gift basket raffle event. Marine Market donated a $40 gift card. Walmart donated a $100 gift card. Alpena Power gave a monetary donation of $150. Family Roots Woodworking, Matt and Kelly Polley donated a chakraie board and accessories valued at $75. North Country Candy and Gifts donated an assortment of goodies valued at $40. Bay Athletic Club donated a monthly membership and a bag valued at $75. The Home Depot donated buckets, pencils, and tools valued at $40. Laser Team Challenge donated

098two gift certificates valued at $20 each. Pompeo's donated two gift certificates valued at $25 each. Reyes Coca-Cola Bottling Company donated products valued at $1,000. Penny Laken donated products valued at $200. And additionally, Alpena High School received the following generous donation to support the senior kaput celebration. Meyer Corporation donated gift cards valued at $600. Holim Incorporated gave a monetary donation valued at $1,000. I move to accept the gifts listed above with gratitude and thank the donors in writing for their generous gifts. Second. All in favor? Show of hands, please. Thank you. Okay, we're at the second opportunity for citizens or delegations who would like to address the board. I think you were all here at the beginning. So, I'm not going to read our policy again, but if anyone's ready, Ryan Franchi County, um I promised

099myself I wouldn't speak at the second one, but a board member just asked how much our lawyer would cost uh to look at the policy that was brought forward. uh asked the superintendent how much our lawyer cost to look at the bathroom policy. The answer would have been zero if no one had brought up a policy that no one is asking for. That's the answer. You can't bring a policy that no one wants and then get mad that the superintendent did his job by asking the lawyer that you're asking him to look into. Uh Kelman, have you ever heard of a lawyer law firm that would turn down a huge case if they thought they could win? It's pretty alarming that they have not called back. I will finish my speech that I couldn't I

100didn't get in with the three in the three minutes. In closing, I grew up here and moved back my family back here recently because I love it here. And now a political agenda by certain members of this board are attempting to divide a town in desperate need of a strong sense of community. A factory just closed, population is down, and when times are tough, we look to community leaders like the school board to help stir the steer the community in the right direction. All of you, all you are doing is letting us down. Thank you. [Applause] Shannon Brusso Alpena. I also didn't plan on speaking again, but I'm honestly appalled that some of the board members don't even know what an IEP is or how vital it is in the success of many of our

101students. An individual education program isn't a piece of paperwork. It's a legally binding road map roadmap to help students with disabilities access a fair and appropriate education. I find it deeply concerning that the board reportedly spent over 80 hours researching a rain garden, but yet we can't demonstrate a basic understanding of one of our most critical tools for supporting our students. What are your priorities? Taxpayers and families deserve transparency. not just how funds are spent, but in why each of you choose to sit on this board in the first place. What's your purpose for joining? What are you hoping to accomplish for these students? Our children deserve board members who are informed, engaged, and focused on educational outcomes. Anything less is a disservice to them and the entire community. And the fact that board members

102sat here and despite no one else in this room saying they wanted to get a second opinion, one person, well, I want that second opinion, so we're going to go for it. I don't think that that is what this board is actually here for. You're serving the community, not just a single person. [Applause] Thank you. Anyone else? Okay, I'm going to move on to uh information and proposals. I know Summer has some information. Don't forget the timer. Dear board members, tonight I am writing should be on right. There is an urgent need to address the repeated efforts by some on this board to create bathroom policies that are unnecessary, harmful, discriminatory, and illegal. Students have already made their voices clear at previous meetings. They have told you directly there are no problems with the bathrooms

103at Alpena High School. They have asked you instead to focus on real issues like improving our academic performance and utilizing the 150k funded rain garden. Yet they here we are again spending public time and taxpayer money trying to create a problem where none exists. We already know where this push is coming from. Board members continue to drive efforts to control where students go to the bathroom, modeling policy after Fairview's policy 5900, a policy written for the district that does not look like helpis does not face the same realities and now is being used as a template for discrimin discrimination in our own community. Let's be very clear, this is an attack on transgend gender and non-binary students and it's illegal. The ACLU has already sent a five-page letter to this board warning you that these

104actions are in violation. The landmark civil rights law prohibited sex-based discrimin discrimination in any education program receiving federal funding. It is still the law of the land. President's presidential executive orders cannot rewrite ex Sorry. Um I lost my place. Rewrite title N. Yeah, thank you. Rewrite Title 9. Executive orders cannot guide federal agencies, but they do not erase decades of constitutional and statutory protections. Two legal opinions paid for by taxpayers have already been obtained and still the board continues seeking opinions until you find one that fits a discriminatory narrative. That is not leadership. That is not stewardship of our tax dollars and it is not lawful. Federal courts includes including the US Supreme Court have made it crystal clear. You cannot treat trans transgender students differently than any other when it comes to facilities like

105bathrooms. Doing so exposes the school district to lawsuits and real financial liability. You are gambling with our students dignity and our community's money. Every student deserves to feel safe, respected, and included at school. It is the job of our school board to create policies based on fear, misinformation, and personal ideology. It is your job to uphold the law and protect the district from legal exposure and to focus on academic achievement and well-being of all students. If if you move forward with a discriminatory bathroom policy, you will be inviting lawsuits. No. Oh, yes. From um uh Molly Stansky. Thank you. And you you got there. We also the board received letters um from the following Bob and Judith Casease on legal clarity in the superintendent and board member roles. Bruce Heath, Fairview policy. Marie Fielder, board

106meetings and ADA compliance. Paul Mancine, role of board members. Katie Bookinger, legal opinions and role of board members. And Marie Fielder, Fairview policy. And Griffin Sadler, curriculum and bathrooms. Thank you. Okay, you're up next. Superintendent update. All right. Uh so I just wanted to uh commend the students at AHS and the AHS staff and beyond um because we had some people identified at uh Emanuel Lutheran and I think a couple other organizations. Um last night was the Besser's top 10 um percent banquet. It's an annual pro uh event uh 41 years this year. Um, and it's just an opportunity to celebrate our top 10% of the graduating class. So, I just wanted to share some um some facts that were shared uh last night. Uh, so there were 22 students in this group. They had

107a average grade point of uh 4.06. They earned 29 high school credits while in junior high. Uh, they completed 56 AP courses. And then Romeo, helped me. uh is that they will complete 544 college credits by the time they're done. So 22 students will walk out of here with a total of 544 college credits. They are going to ACC, Michigan Tech, Michigan State, U ofM, Alma, uh Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Our own Andrew uh Reinhardt's son is going. Uh and then the American University of Paris, uh Central Michigan, Northwood. Um so it was just an amazing event to see. Uh but really uh so each student that meets these metrics then gets to select an educator or a person that had a a deep impact on them. And uh you see a lot of the

108same staff year after year being selected by students. Um but there there was a wide range. We had teachers, we had uh local pastor, we had um and I think an instructional assistant was selected. Um I'm forgetting uh who else. We we had um just again people that uh kindergarten teacher. I mean like back from kindergarten through graduation. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So it's just neat to see high school students, you know, reflecting all the way back to kindergarten. Someone that sent it. Yeah. Choir was a choir teacher. Yep. So, it was a a great great evening. Always is. And thanks to the Besser uh foundation that puts us on, but also all the staff and and students for that amazing work. Um so, uh could I ask you a quick question? Did they announce who

109the valadictorian was? Stand up, Lucy. Yeah. I think I think because of the uh uh the friendly competition that exists, you know, for you know, vying for this position, I I still think we should announce it ourselves, not just let Besser do it. I think that would be fair to the students who work so hard to achieve that. Yep. Romeo, we don't necessarily Sorry, Romeo. Microphone. Come on up. Well, they want to see him on YouTube. We got to see his face on YouTube. out here uh with with the valadictorian saludiator at Alpena High School because we have so many that v for the number one position. The validatoran saludiatoran is not naturally identified unless there's a select one because we could have up to one to four depending on the GPA. those students have

110the opportunity to earn more uh opportunities for scholarships if in fact we have multiple valadictorians uh which which is beneficial to our students. So this year we had one last year we had one so we identify it there. We're the ones who identify it but it's because there could be three that go to the University of Michigan. So if Lucy's not going to U of which he is, and Dave was going to U of M and he was the number two student, he would then buy be be uh awarded the validatoran scholarship for the University of Michigan. So it's a it's a uh it's it's a slippery slope sometimes. With smaller schools, you see it and that's that's where we've been and it's happened year after year. Matt Matt knows because he was in that

111same shoe prior to uh having weighted grades. weighted grades have have have not it hasn't stopped it because a student that were to take all the AP courses from 10th grade to 12th grade and four point could very well all be number one and that's the reason do we announce who the if we have multiple ones do we announce their names we do too I I just haven't in my tenure I haven't had it I've only had singles the other is perfect attendance is another one we we don't notify because it's it's it's tough to do 100% especially with some of the pieces we have with early college with dual enrollment. Uh those pieces it really is beneficial for students. I struggled with it as a counselor. Uh but when I had three students so

112last night Jessica Hoppy spoke and she was one of the top students and she shared it with three others years ago. It was a great night. It was a great night. It really was. Did you look up the world? Say that. Yes, I did. I looked it up and she's already and and so it really is nice to see her come back because she was uh alumni hall of fame and then just did a great job speaking and she really she really tailored it to our students which was really generational and and I thought it was phenomenal. She really connected with them about surrounding yourself with people and making sure that that group really raises you up and and solidifies what you what you want to do. And I really like how um the high

113school and Besser they invite underassmen to come and just you know a ninth grader or a couple from each grade to you know set this as your goal and and they do they you know I was talking to one of them at the end and she said I'll be back here and I'm a senior. This is so good. So yeah I had two emails before 10:30 last night from two of them saying thank you for inviting me and letting me be part of that. uh because it is it's what you want to aspire to and and many of these students start this in eighth grade. So those kids that were up here talking that's where it begins because they start building their credentials at that point. It's pretty exciting. Thank you Romeo. Hey, appreciate it.

114And just for the record, Dave would never have been a consideration for second in line for valadictorian. So um uh Lucy, uh do you want to share uh what your grade point was? 4.11. That's amazing. Yeah. Yeah. Yep. A great event. So, uh all right, back uh to the agenda here. Just a reminder that we are doing our first book book study. Um your homework was the introduction chapter one, two, uh three and four. Uh now that I'm say that is because I had two versions. I think I grabbed the right one. So we will put that in our workshop on the 12th right the 12th. Um and we will have a uh discussion around those chapters. And then just uh uh update so we did roll out the Raymond survey um last Monday or

115Tuesday I believe. Um, and so right now, oh shoot, I got rid of it. Give me one second. I'll be sending out a a reminder uh email out to the staff. So, we have about 44% of our staff has responded at this point. I think at last year we ended up right around 73 74% something like that which was really a high rate. So we're hoping to get back to that. Um just some stats again they don't share any of the uh results with me. Um but for employees that have been with us one to five years uh we've had 132 responses. Um so that was our largest uh response group. makes sense because a large portion of our staff is now currently in their first five years. Um but 132 the next largest was

11633 at 6 to 10 years. Um and so uh there's that. Um teachers 113 responses and then uh just locations. Put a little competition out there. Right now, it's not really a fair comparison, but uh the high school ACES has 59 responses. Um that's the highest in the district, but they also have the largest staff, so that I don't know what the percentage is. Um but we started last week at 24% our first check-in and it's gone up to 44. U so pass the word APS staff. I'll send a few more emails out reminding it. We intend to keep it open till Friday, but if we're sitting, you know, if we're seeing a lot of pickup in responses on Thursday and Friday, we might extend it to Monday. Uh just like we did last time

117around, we leave it open to try and get as much feedback from as many people as possible. So that's that staff, spread the word, right? We want to use the data to be better at what we're doing. So fill it out. It's our last because it's the last really because we bought was in our package really the two surveys. So once this one's done. Yeah. Then we'd have to reup a new new um new contract. So Yep. Uh information and Are you finished? Yeah. Information and questions from board members. Go ahead. Um when is our contract with Throne? When do we renew that? uh annually at the organizational workshop. So July. Yeah. Okay. Um I was wondering if we can get a bid on I know we used this uh this uh law firm before

118actually. Um GR Marco Mullins and Horton out of Troy who also specializes in education law. Yeah. We we can't use them because we already use them. Yes. But I'm wondering if we can get a bid on that to see if use them in place a throne because they cover more specialties. uh they are our insurance law firm. So I don't believe we'd be able to do that. I'll look into it. Okay. But um so when we have an insurance claim against us uh they represent us through sets seg and so they would setse they'd lose that business through sets. They don't typically directly work represent districts. They do it through the the insurance process. Okay. But yes, high quality. Yeah, they're very high quality from what I can see. And they they I think they

119have 60 plus lawyers and have been doing educational law for 30 plus years. And it would be nice to have someone that's able to handle everything. True. Is well no because we had to use them for other stuff. You you won't find it. It's it's because of our insurance policy. Our insurance company has legal representation. Okay. So, you won't be able to find a law firm that can represent you in all situations. Okay. But if they if they were amendable to that, they could choose to represent us differently and we would have to find somebody else for the insurance. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. And we'd have to change insurance companies, too. Okay. What insurance company did we ever know? You said setseg. That was the gentleman that came and presented before. Yeah. Greg Mayor. Um

120he came to bring us up to speed on some of the cases he's working on. Right. Those are those office of civil rights complaints and you know due process and things like that. they typically uh again so when we receive a complaint like those our insurance policy kicks in and then it's turned over to representation through the insurance company and that's where this firm comes in. So, anything else board members? Um, I actually um not to respond to public comment, but I did want to ask uh about our summer course offerings um and is there room for expansion? Is there uh do we feel that uh um would make sense to uh we have pretty robust summer programming every year. So, We actually have um summer programming for every grade level. It's not on the

121website because we're still working out the contracts with our um the people that support us. So, Art in the Loft, the library, Jesse Basser Museum, um we're still working on getting the staffing in place. So, we have some things on the website, but until we have formalized plans, we haven't posted that yet. Are these these are um primarily enrichment activities? Um some are enrichment, some are not. Our K3 is a STEM math and literacy focus um program. Um there's a robotics olympi Olympic robotic program that's for our fourth and fifth graders. So STEM focused, math, science focus um at the middle school. Um I know Matt's been working on a a program as well. So it's it's coming, but it hasn't been released yet. Okay. May one was kind of our in our head date

122to have everything ready to go. U I seem to remember that we've had various credit recovery programs too in the summer for students. Are those still ongoing? Yes. And um so if we had somebody though who needed uh remedial uh work uh in the summer and would would pretty confident one of those programs would address their needs or I think well credit recovery is kind of students Right. Okay. Thank you. Anything else? Um, could we or maybe I overlooked it. Could we get the minutes I had in the agenda so that I could we could look at them before I we get here? Agenda. Are we getting the I I thought we did and then Well, or is there a complication with that? Yes. Yes. because if I put them on the agenda, then they're

123going to be out there for public before you guys approve them. Does that make sense? Yep. Is there a way to create though maybe a board member only draft agenda link when they're in draft form? So again, this is a process we're trying to work through. you know, we did get away from that just because we had multiple versions of the agenda that you know, if it's if it's a big deal, it's that's fine. It just then I would be able to give them more than a cursory. Is there a way Let us Is Yeah. Is there a way that when they're in the Google, you'd still have to share them, I guess, which is another thing. I was just thinking if they were already shared with Don't worry about it. It would just but

124not linked organizations. A lot of organizations just mail it to you mail, which I I wouldn't necessarily want to do if we can avoid that. Um are they when we get um the preliminary agendas, how I know we're doing that like a week before now, could we uh at least have the minutes in there so they can be picked up? Yeah, I mean we or link them into your board update. Let us Yeah. Or just email them to us. Well, does that Yeah, I mean, just email them to us once they're written. Yep. Well, we'll continue to refine it and kind of work through what works. So, I just wanted to increase your workload, Summer. Yes. Whatever works for you. And then I I was wanted to clarify something in public comment time. We are

125personal attacks are not permitted. Correct. Mhm. And so I wonder why that was allowed tonight. I didn't I guess I didn't ever really I mean it's always kind of been it's really hard to address a board when you the every board member doesn't feel the same way. So you're addressing the board about concerns and you know our policy does say not to name anybody by name. I didn't think anyone was being named by name. But if you're going to get up and say, "I have concerns about XYZ," it's probably only pertaining to the board members that are feeling that opposite way, I suppose. No, I there was it's pretty clear there was three of us that were pretty pretty blatantly called out tonight and I almost Sorry, we can't public comment back there. the you

126know I think when we had this conversation la it was they stand up and say your name and then start to go after you. Um I think if they are you know not personally attacking um personal I think is an important word. Um you know the decisions and those kind of things the topics. Um, I see a big difference from the last time when people got up and specifically named board members, administrators, whoever it was. Um, versus, you know, I don't know how we stopped people from directing their comments. I don't know what the right phrase is, you know, where they don't name a person, um, but they indicate kind of who they're talking about. I don't know that we can stop them. I just noticed a running theme not only just in my tenure

127where that is not an applied thing from the very first meetings we were in. No taken. I I've been a victim of it as well extensively. I I spent hours being berated publicly. Um, you know, it's not a a laughing matter. Uh, I understand, but absolutely there was a good 20 30 people that stood up and called me every name in the book. Um, it'd be good to get control of it here because this is supposed to be an example for our children. So I can see why our children in school guys disruptions. Yeah. So I think we as a community we talk about coming together. We need to set the example. Yeah. It's I mean we can't police exactly how people phrase things, right? Right. I mean we that's why we started reading that

128policy is to remind people to be courteous and respectful and talk to all of us and um you know I think people try to honor that. They're not speaking directly to people but it's hard to you know share your concerns if um you can't be specific about what those concerns are. are. I mean, obviously, they're going to get up and talk about the rain garden and they're, you know, either in favor of it or not. We know who they're exactly speaking to, the board members that either supported it or didn't. So, yeah. Well, if a music teacher, a doctor of medicine, and a berry grower aren't called out on something, doesn't lay it all right out for you, Anna. Yeah, that's true. then maybe you need to step down from your position. Excuse me. Excuse

129me. And here is an a perfect example of what is going on. It's the first amendment is freedom of speech. Excuse me. For her to calm down. Why are you always yelling? I'm not yelling. Yes, you are all the time. Done. Okay. So, yeah. Um upcoming next in the advanced planning um we have April 29th which is tomorrow is our CTE national signing day at 11:00 a.m. followed by May 7th CTE excellence banquet at the high school. Our next workshop is May 12th here. May 14th is our awards night back at the high school. Uh May 19th, regular meeting here, guys, please. Couple more minutes. Thank you. June 4th, ACE's Academy graduation. June 8th, our high school graduation. June 10th, retirement dinner. And June 23rd then would be our workshop. And June 30th, our regular

130meeting. And with that, we can adjourn.