001We're going to stand in order. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. Thank you. Member Steel absent. Member Lionwell here. Member Frederick here. Member Billsboro >> here. >> Member Hullbrook >> here. >> Member Dean here. Member Lake >> here. Thank you. Next we have presentation and building program highlights via Max Larson data snapshot. Yes, >> I have my amazing team, part of my team here with me tonight. >> Teaching again. >> Kelly, uh, Kelly Stout, Mrs. Stout is here. Uh, young fires teacher. 30. How many years in district? >> 37 years in district. >> I'm going for 40 in case you want to know. >> That's dedication right there. Yes. Um,
002Hannah Habil and Jamie Schwarz are here to present with me tonight. Um, and it's fair to say that you wouldn't try to write your own symphony before understanding musical notes and how they work together. Similarly, when students are learning to read, they need to have a mastery of phmic awareness, a crucial component of phonological awareness. And we are going to explain some of those things first before we show you our data. So phmic awareness is all of those individual tiny sounds the smallest smallest sounds and it's the students ability to manipulate them by deleting segmenting and blending awareness is a component of phonological awareness. So it's helpful to define phonological awareness too. Cunningham and Zabolski define it as the ability to perceive and manipulate sounds. Phonological awareness includes four levels of sound. Word awareness, syllable
003awareness, onset rhyme awareness, and phony awareness. And it's really important to note that phmic awareness and funological awareness are two separate things. So our phological awareness could be thought of as a large umbrella. So everything in those basic foundational skills of phonics that we need to teach kids like the phmic awareness knowing syllables onset and rhyme and those blending skills are all underneath the umbrella of phological awareness. >> Yeah. And then if we're looking at phmic awareness we're asking kids to um they are working kind of in a continuum from simpler to more complex and we're asking them to do things like say the sound in the beginning of a word as isolation. So when we're talking to our young learners, we'll ask them like what's the first sound in teacher and what's the last
004sound in bus? And those are the things we need to hear from them. Those are a little bit easier, especially the first sounds. Then they're blending sounds and then breaking words into parts. And that's it starts to get more tricky for them as they're going on. And so we'd be asking them like if I said to you, if I say it, what word do you have? And that's what they're meaning. and they're building and working on that blending and then it becomes a little bit even more challenging than that when we're asking them to substitute and delete phonemes. So if we were saying what's farm without what word do you have now or what's train without at the end that's the hardest for my first graders is deleting the final the final phone on there.
005But it's really important for early literacy that they have that phmic awareness to make sure that they are understanding that the printed words are connected to the sounds that they're making and the words that they're speaking and we know that what we're working on is building such a strong foundation as they continue to move through their school careers. Thank you. So in your folder today, you have the proficiency report that looks like this. And the brief slide show I'm going to give you this evening has to do with this data. So the slide information came from this data that you have and you can dig a little deeper in that. But we'll start with the uh accelerated growth across all levels at Max Lararsson. Our letter naming correctness jumped from 26% in the fall to
00671% in just one quarter. Uh the ceiling effect for first grade is now at 94%. Students have achieved near universal mastery of letter sounds. So we don't need to do that anymore. Our gap is closing and our first grade multil- language students trail the gened population or the general education kiddos by only 2% two percentage points. In quarter 1, only 10% of young five students met the mastery threshold, but by quarter 2, 54% were meeting standards uh with the average score jumping from 26 to 71. And this is a great snapshot of before and after. Uh also the uh insufficient if you're looking at the red bar in the fall compared to now, I'm expecting that that will even close further by the end of the year. While letter naming relies on visual recall, letter
007sounds requires decoding. As they were just mentioning, despite the increased difficulty, students quadrupled their proficiency from 14% to 68% in letter sounds. Young fives, our multilanguage students are catching up. So, I want to just give a shout out to our multil- language team at Max Lararsson. um they're working very very hard with our new to this country kids that come in and they don't speak a word of English. So that's what makes this even more impressive to me. >> Kindergarten, >> tell me what a letter sound is. >> What is a letter sound? >> Yeah. Is it how the particular letter is? >> What sound does the letter make? So T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T T says T. So
008the letter sounds. >> Okay. >> Should we start with the A for >> Hold on. >> It's okay. So >> sorry. >> That's okay. Letter naming is approaching universal mastery. So by mid year 81% of the kindergarters are meeting mastery standards in letter naming. The average score now being 88% suggesting instructional time can soon be reallocated. So once they've mastered that, we move on. Solidifying the following code with letter sounds performance nearly doubled, moving from 42% average correctness in quarter 1 to 80% in quarter 2. So the majority of the classes shifted into the meeting standard, which is the green bar. The past assessment is the last bank of items that uh Mrs. Schwarz was mentioning. Uh the students excel by not just those auditory tasks like syllable blending but they seem to struggle with
009the phone segmentation and that tells us what we really need to be dialing down on. In the third quarter, we have kindergarten equity. Again, multil- language students are performing remarkably close to the general population. The gap is stabilizing as language acquis acquisition catches up to their cognitive skills. First grade performance demonstrates the ceiling effect. We don't need to be working on these things anymore. Like I mentioned, we can move on. By the middle of first grade, multilingual learners are now performing at statistical parody or equivalency with the general population in foundational skills. And this is our breakdown across all cohorts. Uppercase letters um we have high accuracy on lowercase letters. We we work we need to keep working on that a little bit. But we've got that consonant sound with high accuracy and the long
010vowel sounds are giving some of our kiddos some issues. But that's in that phonic category that's confusing for them. This is my favorite slide because this shows where we started and where we are now. So the young fives had absorbed the most net new information while first grade maintain high stability which is what we want. They're going to be working on things like fluency and comprehension. Now our key takeaways celebrate sustain young 5's growth is quite exceptional. Maintain current instructional pacing. Secondly, kindergarten must focus heavily on phone segmentation. We're at 47% and we're looking to continue to push that for quarter 3. And then third, our first grade should reduce letter ID testing and reallocate time to reading fluency. And four, monitor the equity, continue aggressive support for young fives multilingual students to replicate the
011gap closure seen in first grade. Do you have any questions? >> Thank you. Very nice. >> Thank you. >> This this information is then shared as a student goes from first to second grade, from building to building, so the teachers in second grade have a good understanding of where to start with each individual student. >> Correct. >> Thank you. >> Y and then you have copies of this slideshow uh that has the pictures of the kiddos and what's been happening uh at Max Lararsson, but you can look at that later so I don't exceed my five minutes. THANK YOU SO MUCH. IF SHE DRIVES above us. >> Yeah, I'm going to drive a bus. >> We'll do the AM route. >> Thank you. That was very nice presentation. Thank you. Uh, next we have uh
012requests for public participation. I have one uh Jessica Foreman Sula. >> Hi. Um, I was just kind of hoping to get like I guess actual information about what's going on with the busing in the district. I have three children in cold water schools, one in the high school, two in different elementary buildings. And luckily for my husband and I, we've been able to make the bus disruptions work in our home, but I know that not all families are able to do that. And most recently, we utilize um kids club in the morning for before school care for our children. And we were just notified that tomorrow we can't utilize that at all because there's no bus to take the kids from kids club to their various buildings. Um, additionally, you know, we just finished up
013the basketball uh season and we had no busing for the boys throughout that season, which, you know, a 12man team, we make it work with the parents, but now we're going into track season with apparently also no busing for far more children than the basketball team is. So, I just kind of wanted to get, you know, obviously people talk and I just wanted to get the actual information. This is like we just physically can't find bodies to put it put in buses. If like if it's a pay issue, I just wanted to get the actual information. >> You like me to respond to it? It's up to you. >> We It is a severe driver shortage. Um we are looking at each and every type of um way to attract drivers whether it be pay.
014We we're currently ranked among the highest paid. Um but it's about people. Okay. >> Um we have two types of bus runs. We have special education runs that are required by a student's IEP and we have the general education runs. We're required by law to provide any student with an IEP that says that they need transportation that so if a if if a special education bus driver is unable to drive due to sickness, family illness, whatever, um we we ask the other bus drivers to fill in for that and then we try to find subs to fill in where we can. Um, currently our Holly Muckle, our transportation director, and her secretary are driving both in the morning and in the afternoons. Okay. Um, both the both elementary and high school runs. It's uh it's
015simply lack of drivers. We're um we're trying to work with the other districts in the uh county to have a countywide substitute pool. Um hopefully we'll have that in place for next year. We've advertised like crazy for bus drivers. We offer we'll we'll train them. We'll uh we'll provide them with competitive wages. It's trying to find people to work. >> Are you comfortable sharing like what the starting pay is for a bus driver in the district so we can spread the word if people are interested? >> If I knew it off the top of my head, but I don't. >> I know sub is 1786 I believe for sub. They start out as a sub until they get trained and then I think it goes to like 20 like 2086 in the first year I
016believe. >> Okay. >> So, and then it goes up from there. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> Mhm. >> Uh next we have the approval of minutes. >> Oh yes. You guys don't have to stay. >> I told you. >> I mean we have exciting meetings but My time's up. >> Next, we have the approval of the minutes from uh February 23rd, 2026. Is there a motion? >> So move. >> Any discussion? >> All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next we have, are there any additions or deletions to the agenda? No. >> Uh, next we have the consent agenda, communications. >> None. >> Personnel recommendations. >> Uh, relative to support staff recommendations. The board of education approved the administration recommendation to employ Corey Langage for the sub bus driver position for Cold Water
017Community Schools. Effective February 27, 2026. The board of education approved the administrative recommendation to employ Christine Goheen for the subsupervisor position at Max Lararsson Elementary, effective immediately. The board of education approved the administrative recommendation to employ Allison Winsky for the RTP coordinator position at Lakeland Elementary, effective immediately upon board approval. The board of education approved the administrative recommendation to employ Bellaarian for the part-time behavior support par profofessional at Lakeland Elementary effective immediately. The board of education approved the administrative recommendation to employ Cassandra Galvin for the caregiver position at Kids Club Daycare at Lincoln Learning Center effective immediately. The board of education approved the administrative recommendation to employ Valentina Cherry Lenerys for the part-time behavior support paraprofessional immigrant student focus at Max Lararsson Elementary. The board of education accept the resignation of Britney Schweikert from the
018subbus driver position at Max Lararsson Elementary, effective immediately. The board of education accept the resignation of Tia Bosber from the caregiver position at Kids Club Daycare at Lincoln Learning Center effective February 26, 2026. And the board of education accept the resignation of Corey Langage from the sub bus driver position at Cold Water Community Schools effective immediately. Thank you. Next, we have the approval of the February accounts for payment and financial statements via Dr. Frederick. >> Be resolved that the following accounts for fe February be approved for payment as follows. General fund accounts in the amount of 2,228,33055 special revenue accounts in the amount of $211,575.80. And be a result that the general fund financial statements be approved as presented. Thank you. Next. We have the acceptance and approval of a gift via member Dean. >>
019Thank you. >> Recently, the administration was made aware of the following gift authored by the donor listed below. Recognition and approval for acceptance of the gift is being sought. from the city of Cold Water and CBPU. Um, the Interact Club for the ABC Challenge received $500 and from Good, Better, Best, Alyssa Hammond from Lakeland Elementary received $500. The gracious and continued support of the donor listed above is sincerely appreciated. We ask that the board accept the gift noted and acknowledge the donor's generosity. It is recommended and resolved that the board of education gratefully accept the gifts as presented and be it further resolved that a letter of appreciation on behalf of the board be sent to the donor indicated above for their worthwhile and generous gift. >> Thank you. That's the consent agenda. Is there
020a motion to approve? So >> move. Any discussion? All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes. Uh, let's see. Next, we have building reports. Today I found out, well, actually yesterday I found out that there's a PSA 9. >> PSAT9, a PSAT 10, and today I found out there's a PSAT 8. Are we doing that? Yes, sir. >> No, you got to be ready. >> Are students smarter? How long we've been doing that? >> Cuz when I went to school, there was only one PSA. >> Keep getting them earlier and earlier. >> So, pretty soon a PSA 4A young. >> Okay. All right. Anybody wish to add anything to their building report? No. Excellent. Uh, director of curriculum. Excited. Last week, our HMH version 3 literacy materials that we'll have full implementation next fall came
021into each of the elementary buildings. Uh, Max Larson did a great job of highlighting foundational reading skills. These materials will help us highlight those and have high quality materials and instruction in every classroom. Uh we will have a half day of training for grade level teams this spring yet to be ready for full implementation in the fall. >> Any report on this technology boondoggle you guys went to? >> Well, they haven't went this week. >> What does that stand for? Well, I'm glad you asked cuz I wrote it down. Michigan Association for Computer Users and Learning. Thank you. Uh board committees. We didn't have any. We did not. Superintendent report. Um the first thing on my report, I'm uh swiping from one of the buildings. I'm swiping from Mrs. Reen uh with the therapy dog
022news that after the tragedy of the tornado in Union City uh when those students returned to school um they were welcomed by Magnum K9 and several therapy dogs from across the county including our own Molly from Jefferson Elementary. So we were very happy that that we were able to participate in that. Um this is the second year for um Chartwells to get the grant from the state for Ramadan meals for students who are fasting during Ramadan. This is a opportunity for students who um choose to fast during between sun up and sun down to take food home with them so they can have a nutritious breakfast the following morning uh before sun up. Uh parents have to sign their students up for that. And we have uh we had great success last year and we
023have similar success this year. Uh buildings and grounds we're going to meet this week to discuss upcoming projects we're trying to get uh moving on such as parking lots, the the Jefferson parking lot, Max Lararsson media center, some ideas there uh and middle school collaboration rooms uh to throw out some ideas and see if we can't get moving on some of those and see if we can't get them done this summer. >> What day is that? >> Tomorrow at 10:30. You guys going to be drinking green beer while you're in? >> No, sir. We will not. Um uh for the bond campaign, the videos were recorded last week. We'll schedule them to re uh the release of those as soon as we receive them. The gentleman from the company said we should get them early
024this week. uh he was very complimentary uh because he went to every building in the district to get examples of uh what bond money can do especially at Lakeland and and the junior high and um some of our our nicer areas of the district and he was very complimentary of our staff and how he was treated in each and every building. So um I want to share that those compliments with with the team and with the board. And then uh the second community information meeting scheduled for tomorrow at 6:30 at the high school media center. Uh we've put out reminders on social media and through our app today as well as uh the radio station put something out on their social media to encourage more people to show up for tomorrow's meeting as well. And
025then last week uh just a reminder that Rob Holla uh was the presenter for the vaping assemblies. He presented to the high school, middle school, Lakeland Elementary on the dangers of vaping and uh I heard wonderful reports from from people about how well he was received by our kids. So, a lot of good things going on. Thank you very much. Any discussion items? >> No. Nope. Okay, we're going to move on to the action items. I'd like to find them. This is ridiculous. Let's go. Maybe you should take over the meeting, Jeff. >> I'm just as lost as you are. >> I don't know where it went. I hate these computers. >> Do you have your >> I'm an old man. >> Slideshow on the left side. >> Do I have what >> the slideshow
026on the left side of your screen? Okay. >> But it doesn't >> Oh, yeah. Oh, it might be there. Right there. All right. The first one is a recommendation to approve the purchase of the 2026 2027 student athletic accident insurance. We've been uh buying this for several years and also we've been buying catastrophic uh insurance. Be resolved. The board of education approves the renewal of the student athletic accident insurance policy with the Gallagher Special Risk Michigan for the 2026 2027 school year in the amount of $30,721. Being further resolved that the board of education approves the purchase of both a catastrophic and heart/irculatory insurance policies Gallagher special risk of Kazoo Michigan for 2026 2027 school year at a cost of $2.98 per student athlete. Uh is there a motion? >> So move support. Any discussion?
027Roll call vote. Member Lion Welch. >> Yes. >> Excuse me. Member Frederick. >> Yes. >> Member Billsboro. >> Yes. >> Member Hullbrook. >> Yes. >> Member Steel. Absent. Member Dean. >> Yes. >> Member Lake. >> Yes. >> Motion passes. >> Can I ask a question? >> Yep. >> So, we have catastrophic insurance for every student. >> These are for athletes. >> So, we don't have one for every student. If if something happens to a student in our school or on our school property, our regular insurance carrier set covers that. This is catastrophic insurance for athletes specifically. >> So in one sense, all of our students are covered. >> Absolutely. Okay. And there was no increase in premium from last year's cover or this year's coverage to next year's coverage. >> Thank you. Ro. Uh, next
028we have the recommendation to approve the purchase of vape sensors for the high school and the middle school. Be resolved. The board of education approves the recommendation to purchase vape sensors and licenses for the high school and middle school from Monarch for the total cost not to exceed $14,627.60 as presented. Is there a motion? >> Moved support. >> Any discussion? >> No. The other vape sensors that we had were destroyed. Is that right? >> No, we we had one that was destroyed by by a student, but that one's been uh being replaced. These are because we don't receive all of the money from the vape settlement at one time. Um the district, I believe, had chosen to purchase vape sensors as the money became available to us. >> So, we've purchased two so far. >>
029Two sets. >> Two, four. Now we're purchasing another set, another two. They come in sets of four. >> Um, no. This is actually we're buying 13 vape sensors in this in this order. >> All right. >> Yeah. >> Did we buy two previously? >> We purchased. >> I don't know how many it was, but there was like there was a few. I mean, it was just based on the amount of money that we got. So, how however many we could order with the amount of money that we had received, we ordered. So, >> where are they located at? >> Um, in the bathrooms um and locker rooms of the high school, middle school in Lakeland, I believe. >> No, not Lakeland yet. >> Yeah. >> Are they Are they working as a deterrent? They work
030and we respond. I would like to add that the one big detective that was um vandalized that student has made restitution for that. >> All in favor? >> I oppose. Motion passes. Next, we have the re recommendation to approve the removal of asbestous flooring material at LMS and CHS, which seems like a good thing to do. Be a result, the board of education approves the request to remove and dispose of asbestous flooring material at Lake Middle School in the amount of $4,500 at the high school in the amount of $12,250. And these are in the nursing office. >> In the clinics, yes, >> clinics. Is there a motion? So move >> support renovations at the in the clinic and have to remove it as business. >> Yeah. And since it's our building and the asbestous
031was there before they got there, it's our responsibility to remove the asbestous, >> but it's already been done actually. >> Yes. All in favor? >> I post. Motion passes. Next we have the recommendation to recommendation to approve the Lakeland school field trip. Administration recommends approval of the out of state field fifth grade field trip to Fort Wayne Children's Zoo in Fort Wayne, Indiana. Be resolved. The board of education approves a fifth grade field trip to Fort Wayne Children's Zoo on May 15, 2026. Is there a motion? >> So moves support. >> Any discussion? >> Is this the old fronty park? Uh all in favor >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. >> Next we have the request to approve the proposal from business impressions for the purchase of a copier at Max Lararssson along with the
032monthly maintenance costs. Uh Petal, the board of education approved the purchase of the Xerox Altaleink C8270 plus monthly maintenance fees for Max Lararsson Elementary under the Michigan deal cooperative purchasing contract as presented. Is there a motion support? >> Um and you can explain Michelle this is a better deal than >> Yeah. So like when I started here, we were leasing several copiers and then they changed the law on how you had to account for copiers. So when that law changed in the audit, we started looking at when our copier leases were starting to run out. We started purchasing the copiers as opposed to leasing them. the cost is kind of more upfront but less in the long run because your copier costs that you pay for a maintenance agreement are much less than what they
033will charge you in a lease. So, we're just trying to get on a rotating cycle of once we have all the leases done, then we'll get on a cycle of replacing copers on an every so often basis so that we're still we're still getting the newer copers, we're just going to purchase them instead of leasing them. >> Thank you. All in favor? I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next, we have the recommendation to appoint independent financial auditor for fiscal years 2025, 2026, 27, 27,28. Uh, we've used Hungerford Nickels. Is do they still have Hungerford and Nickels? I thought it was just Hungerford. >> I think it's just Hungerford now. I don't know that they've dropped the nickels off the name yet. So, >> well, we've done that for several. How many years? >> 13 or 14
034or something? >> 2011. >> Uh, via resolved. The board of education approves the uh administrative recommendation to accept the three-year audit proposal from Hungerford Nichols for the fiscal years 2025, 26, 27, 28 as presented. Is there a motion? >> So, move. >> Roll call. Um, member Hullbrook, >> yes. >> Member Steel, not absent. Member Dean, >> yes. >> Member Billsboro, >> yes. >> Member Lion Welch, >> yes. >> Member Frederick, >> yes. >> Member Lake, >> yes. Motion passes. Next, we have the request to consider approval of a one-year contract extension for food service management with uh Sharp Wells, which we've done for several years. Be resolved. The board of education approves with prior approval from the Michigan Department of Education the first of four contract extensions with Chartwells Food Services for the upcoming 2026
0352027 school year as presented. Is there a motion? >> So move support. >> Any discussion? >> Um a little more explanation on four possible extensions. How is it just one contract with them? So we building so we um have to put it out to bid every 5 years. >> And last year the bid was accepted for the 5 years, but according to the state guidelines, we have to approve the contract every year. >> Okay, got it. So four extensions plus one makes five. >> Yeah, >> I can do. >> Okay, >> you better not give us any more of these healthy snacks, though. I'll put another. >> All in favor? >> I >> opposed. Motion passes. Next, we have the recommendation to approve the purchase of bus digital video camera systems. Be resolved. the board
036of education to approve accepting the bid from Angel Tracks for bus digital video camera systems in the amount not to exceed 81,45752 cents with the final cost expected to be lower depending on which buses require full replacement versus system upgrades. Is there a motion? >> So support any discussion? Yes. By how many are new? How many do you need the upgrade? And what determines if they don't need an upgrade? Is it the age of the bus? Is it more recent purchase? >> I believe we're upgrading them all. >> No. Well, it just depends because we have two newer buses that have the newer systems in them, but then we have systems that are angel tracks that are prior to that that those will have to be updated. When I talked to Holly, she said right
037now there's 12 buses that will need the full camera replacement, but then um the other buses, she didn't give me an exact number, but there's only a a handful that are going to need the hard drive upgrade. They won't need a full camera system installed. >> How much do they anticipate? How what's the labor cost? I know it's high. >> It's broken down. I don't know. average takes like me. >> Um installation, it says um installation is included in this at the cost of $18,200, >> right? But that was for like all 29 buses because when we bid it out, if you're going to go with a new vendor, you have to bid out your whole fleet >> as and we knew that if we went with Angel Tracks, it wouldn't be the whole fleet.
038But to be fair to everybody in the bidding process, we said, "Give us the full for the full." >> Is Angel Tracks new? No, we've had them. That's who we've been using. But when you put it out for bid, you just want to make sure everybody has a fair competitive bid price. So, >> do the old ones work with the new ones? >> That's why we have to update the um the drives and the in the older ones. The old old ones that were replacing the whole system. No, they won't. So, >> were those angel track, too? I believe so, but I'm not just >> But that's why the recommendation says not to exceed 81,000. >> I think there should be a roll call. >> Okay. Member Frederick, >> yes. >> Member Billsboro, >> yes.
039>> Member Dean, >> yes. >> Member Hullbrook, >> yes. >> Member Lion Welch, >> yes. >> Member Steel's absent. Member Lake, >> yes. Motion passes. Next, the next regular meeting of the board of education will be held on Monday, April 27th, 2026 at 6:00 in the evening at Lake Middle School located at 175 Green Street, Cold War. >> We next have a request to conduct executive session pursuant to PA267 section for the approach of considering a periodic personal evaluation of the employee. Roll call vote. Is there a motion? >> We're going to fire. member >> member everything up for it today. So you should