001meeting to order at 7 o'clock. If we could all say our opening um our mission statement together, please. Our mission is to inspire and empower our students to reach their full potential through opportunities and experiences in a safe, diverse, and collaborative environment. >> Mr. Lany, can you lead the pledge of allegiance, please? >> Yes, ma'am. [Music] 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. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Anderson, Trusty Belttowski, >> present. >> Trusty Dyro, >> Trusty Sterlin, >> present. >> Trusty Stavanovic, >> present. >> Trusty Wall, >> present. Trustee Wless present. >> We have a quorum. Thank you. The adoption of the agenda. Be it so resolved
002that the board of education accepts the October 1st, 2025 agenda as presented. A board member may request an item be moved from the consent agenda to the superintendent's recommendations. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> Support. I was about to but Derek was pretty quick. >> I was waiting for her to say something. >> I was too. So that's why I'm waiting. >> Sorry. Um we do have to change one thing. Uh under number seven, superintendence reports. Um it should say that Ellen Ella swam 17.93 not 86.93. Okay. That's the only change. Any other questions or comments? >> Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Trusty Sterlin, >> yes. >> Trusty Stavanovic, >> yes. >> Trusty Wall, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Battowski, >> yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Next up on
003the agenda is public comment on agenda items only. Do we have any public comment on agenda items only at this time? Seeing none, moving on to superintendent reports. Mr. Kleinhands. >> Yes. We have a number of uh items today. The first we're going to start with a little presentation, a little recognition of one of our student athletes. So, if I could have Ella come on up front, if you would please. [Applause] [Laughter] So, we're proud to have Ella here. She's >> microphone. >> Everybody I talk to talks about what an awesome student >> closer to the microphone. >> What an awesome student and awesome person that she is. She's also very talented in the pool. So, she broke one of our school records in the 100 breaststroke and that's the change that we just made.
004She swam uh 117.93 we had at 86. So we want to make sure that we get that right. Um which did break the previous record and as you know the high school has a very strong swim program and so um doing that's quite an accomplishment. She also um and this I just got this information from uh coach Crestle. Ella qualified to compete in the Wayne County Championship meet this weekend, which is also an honor. Nice job. Yeah. October 4th at Gross Point uh South High School, she qualified in four events, but the rules say you can only swim in two. Um, she's seated 21st in the 500 free with a qualifying time of 624.72 and seated 15th out of 30 in the 100 breaststroke with the 117.93. So, we want to wish you the very
005best of luck this weekend and congratulate you and I think uh, coach, do you want to say a couple of things? >> There you go. There you go. So, Ella, >> you make us proud >> proud of you. So, we wouldn't let let you leave without some swag. On behalf of the board of education, we present this to you and want to congratulate you. And I know you have a few things to say. >> Okay, let me grab out my speech. First, thank you all for coming and supporting me. I've been I've come a long way in swimming since freshman year. My goal has been to get on that board and it's incredible that I finally did it and even better on my birthday. Um, the swim meet I went from know I went from
006not knowing if I could pull pull it off and now I'm checking the state times. I'd like to thank my parents, my siblings, my teammates, Mr. Buchanan and most importantly my coaches, Coach Creasel, Coach Wolf, and my swim coach from Dearborn Dolphins, Coach Shannon. Thank you all for making adjustments so I could have a better chance at excelling in this great sport. >> Yes, >> there we go. I just had one question. >> Yes. >> Do we know how old the prior record was that you beat? It was >> Oh, wow. Yeah. Wonderful. >> That's awesome. >> Thank you. Congratulations. >> Great job, Ella. Congratulations. Thank you. Good question, Mr. L. Okay, so moving on. I just wanted to update the board um on the construction projects that have been ongoing. um the HVAC projects
007at Pulk and Part D um waiting for final inspection and then on the weekend they'll come over and do the switch over cut over of the power, get that uh project wrapped up at the Bedford site. Um we're very excited. Last Friday we opened the playground. >> You could hear a collective roar from the kids coming from the building out onto the playground. And the interesting thing was um after they did all of the stuff, they went on the basketball court and played catch with the football. So the bigger kids, now when the little kids came out, they were all over it. So it was really really uh very very neat. So I want to thank everybody's patience um for that, but I think um if get a chance to go over there, it is
008very neat for the students. Um we did the punch list and walkthrough with Al's ashvault and um there are some slabs of cement that they have to repair. Uh one got cracked for trucks coming over it and then there are two other um cracks from settling. So they'll come in, they're going to do this work on the weekend and they'll do those repairs. Um and also they have to install the bike racks. Once that's done, then we'll grab the picnic tables that are over at the football field. They go on the area by the big kids foursquare and we'll get those uh taken care of and moved over. We also did a walk through with Little Tikes on that area and the folks from the sin lawn. There are some areas that they they need
009to address. Um in terms of the sin lawn, the equipment, one of the slides has a resin uh substance on it. Um they're going to take care of that for us and get that um so that um that's spiffed up. The what's left then is the awning and the tables for the outdoor classroom and then um the delivery of the obstacle course that equipment and installation. And then once those go in, it's wood chips like the the large area of the of the playground. So there is one thing that I want to comment so everyone understands. We're probably going to get some complaints about the height of the new grass. I'm hoping we do. That means it's growing. The the uh folks from Al's ashalt in talking to the landscape uh company, they said do
010not mow that grass until the spring. There's straw and there's a binder uh system on it, a mesh system, and that will deteriorate over the winter. Um they said if you mow it now, you'll pull up all of the grass. So if the grass looks tall over there, it's by design. So I just want to make sure everybody's aware of that. At the party playground, um we open that for students as well. And um this the kids were enjoying the the new equipment and the turf. The uh what's left there is to remove the old wood chips and materials. Uh paint the basketball court and the four square courts, and that's where those materials are. So, we're working with um Little Tikes to get that taken care of. Um and then once that's done um
011then they'll install the awnings and we'll wrap up that project. The high school cafeteria, we're probably two weeks out of the new um the new seating, the new tables. Um as you recall, the tables that we purchased, the round ones have the logo of the Cougar on them, and that's delayed the production of the thing. We could have got the long square ones delivered with the seats, but I told them just wait and do it all at one time. So, we'll hopefully have that wrapped up here pretty good, pretty soon. So, the next thing I wanted to talk about was the vision to learn. I did reach out to the vision tolearn people and I included the response in the um in the information in the board packet um and I asked them if they
012could do a double opt-in and an opt out. and they explained that um when they first started this process they did an optin opt out and the optin resulted in only about 20% participation. Um papers get lost um whatever the case may be. they did recommend that we um that they we stay with an opt out. And one of the reasons why they did is they do have a second opt out for those kids that need to have further screening. So So there is a another step in there. So if the parents truly do not want their student to participate, they'll have two opportunities to opt out. But I did want to open that up for discussion to let you guys know that I did look into it and that's the information I received. So,
013any comments or suggestions? >> I was going to say once I saw the information, it made more sense. >> Yes. >> So, I appreciate that. >> I agree. >> Made more sense. >> Okay. Okay. So, I u we'll get the the um contract signed and we'll uh send it out. That's a great program for our community. Free glasses for those students that are in need. So, uh pretty excited about that. I did want to take a minute and talk about the building and site um the building and site syncing fund renewal. The elections on November 4th, so you'll start to see flyers and banners and things that will be going around that explain how important this is for our school district. The renewal generates approximately 1.3 million per year for 10 years. It's a renewal,
014so it's no tax increase. the money for projects only, no district salaries, and it's very important for the district to continue to improve our facilities. Um, for example, I if it, this is one of the things that I kind of think about, if we do have a major issue, a roof, or if we've got to um take general fund dollars to redo cement, then that pulls money from the classroom. So the beauty of having a building and sight syncing fund is that money is earmarked for those major projects and you don't have to use general fund. So we have uh I think done a good job with those dollars. Um the HVAC projects that are just that we're wrapping up the high school auditorium and the pulan party were sinking fund dollars along with the
015entire Bedford site project was all syncing fund dollars. So, uh, we're making good use of that, um, with with those monies. If it's a if it's approved, the projects will span over a 10-year time length, and they include a roof project here in this building, not the entire roof. The oldest section, uh, cement repairs throughout the district, sidewalk and dropoff lanes, a roof project at the board office, so part of Pulk is the board office. That roof uh needs repair. The party parking lot project. I think if you were at the game Friday night, you probably or you uh go there, you'll know we definitely got to do something with that. OW Best and AHS Univvent and HVAC project. So, if this does pass and uh once that's completed, it's down the road a bit,
016but once that's completed, then all of our buildings will have HVAC districtwide restroom refresh. And then we're looking at um doing a refresh and update on Madison Elementary. As you guys know, right now the code set for the uh the little ones and we want to be able to use it um and repurpose it and get it up to speed so it meets the uh code for um K5 education educational purposes. Also included in this if this does pass is the AHS parking lot. Definitely needs resurfacing. And then the last roof that needs to be done, this would be in the latter part of the project is the second floor at the high school. So, you'll be getting information and we'll be getting that out. We have the flyers we got um they got sent
017to me. I requested some changes. We'll have the new ones back tomorrow. They'll go out to staff tomorrow. I want to to talk to the board tonight about that. Um and um we'll get information out. There'll be information with flyers, mailers, and information on the website. Any questions? >> Yes. >> Um, you said the flyers are going out when? >> Um, tomorrow they'll go out to the staff internally, then we're going to do mail mail mailers. We're hoping by the end of this week. >> Okay. Because I was just concerned because the absentee ballots already went out. >> I got mine yesterday. So, yep. >> Yeah. We did send uh in my newsletter to all of our families. I did include all this information that went out last Friday. So, >> good point. >> Question.
018>> Okay. >> Do you have any plans of going to like the eating center or anything to educate the >> population that might not have children in the district? >> Yep. Yeah, we'll work on um setting up. >> Yeah, >> because we can't hear you. >> Can you hear me now? >> No. I can't. No. No. >> No. You did? You did when you were closer. Try to cut it off and cut it back. >> Can you hear me now? >> No. >> Mike, can you guys hear me? >> Yes. >> Okay. So, the question was, "Do we plan on going to the Eaton Center?" So, we'll be um looking to set up a meeting to get over there and drop off some flyers. Yep. So, we can give them some information as well. >>
019We have Virginia. she can help. >> Yeah. >> Okay, >> that's a great point. Very good. >> Any other questions about that? >> I just had one question just on the construction update before we go. >> Um, you did say that they're looking at repairing some of the slabs. Yes. That does that involve replacing the broken slabs? That's what I was just trying to get clarification. >> Yes, there's one that they have to replace the entire slab. It's probably a 10 by 10 where they drove a truck over coming right off the sidewalk by that little um garage that's sitting there. That is a total redo. The other ones are cut, repair, and um and as opposed to just taking them all out like two of them are on a on a curb, right? So
020I want the curbs to the that enclosed the playground. So those would just be repaired. Those wouldn't be a full cut out and replace. >> Okay. because I was just thinking about future if it's something that's like a a patch, how long is it going to be before we have to replace it? That's what I was wondering. >> Yep. No, very good point. The um the one that I walked with him, he spray painted and he put the whole the whole the one that really needs a new slab. The corners busted probably a foot out and it was from a truck coming on it. So, >> thank you. >> Okay. Any Is that good? Everybody good? >> Okay. The next item is cursive survey. So, as you guys know, um there was discussion about cursive
021and some questions. So, I did a little work. We created a survey, sent it out to our staff. I included the results of the survey. The state of Michigan um took cursive out years back as a mandated uh item. However, the school district, you know, we do have some flexibility of of when we are developing curriculum and putting things in. So I wanted to kind of open up for discussion. Um so the results of the survey just so everyone knows we had 42 respondents a response out of we have basically 48 core teachers in our elementarymentaries. Uh 23% of those uh do teach cursive mainly in the second third fourth and fifth grade. Uh and it's a combination of daily weekly. Uh the method is handwriting practice and worksheets and teacher modeling. Um however it
022was interesting 70% of the folks thought it was important. The major challenges with putting cursive and doing cursive activities is um the state of Michigan has a curriculum and there's power standards and fitting all of those power standards in u makes it difficult. So time constraint was identified as one of the major um things. And then um the other the other uh information that we received was uh support and resources and more time in the curriculum for would be helpful. So I did want to open it up just for discussions. >> Well, so it was me that brought up the question about cursive. Um the one thing I forgot to ask, do you know like you I forgot the percentage you said about cursive being taught by by a couple grades. Do we know if
023it's a specific school or if it's just in general? It's any could be any school. >> Yeah. Yes, it could be any school. Yep. So, it's definitely not persuasive across in our elementarymentaries. >> So, I mean it and it could be when we did I just sent the survey out to everybody. So, the way it compiles it, it doesn't we didn't do it by building. >> Okay. Yeah. Well, I meant the ones. Oh, so you wouldn't know who answered what. Gotcha. Okay. Understood. Um, so I'm I you know I'm the one that brought this up because I feel everybody should learn cursive kids of that age. I think it's fundamental too with the writing and all that, but and I'm going to maybe this should be another topic, but you know, we got the Declaration
024of Independence, we got the Bill of Rights, we've got everything. Historical documentation is in cursive. And if kids can't read that, you know, sure you can Google it, but anything can be changed in Google. So, I'm for cursive. I don't know how we can work that in or whatever. That's just my opinion. >> Um, yeah. >> Anybody else? >> All right, Treasure Wall. >> Oh, I'm Go ahead. I'm for cursive because I just love the whole part about sign your name. Big X, >> you know, like >> Okay. >> I am for cursive. So, the thing is is um I'm going to I'm sorry, but the historical documents um are held in Washington DC and yes, our eighth graders go there. However, you can get copies of any of those historical documents in print >>
025and be able to see those. Um I do agree that cursive is important as far as signing names and signatures but even now everything is done on on um you know an iPad, a screen, a phone, things like that. So we have to take that into consideration. I think the biggest thing is is the time constraint that trying to fit it in. there are standards that we have to follow and our teachers are they're they're you know hardressed to get done everything that they have to get done. Um I think that it should be up to I think the teachers need to have more input on this. This should be up to the teachers and this should be a discussion that the teachers are having about how they want to fit it into their curriculum.
026um how they would be able to do that and then they could come back to us and then we could approve a curriculum possibly. But to sit I don't think as a board we should force this on them. >> Yeah. I'm not saying that at all. I'm just saying >> you know and maybe parents have a say too. It's their kids in the district and you know they should have some sort of say what they're learning. >> That's just my opinion. >> Treasure W. >> I'd be really interested if that could somehow be an elective course though. >> Oh there you go. you know, even even if it's not until later into high school years, but I mean, we have, you know, uh I can't remember what it was, but it was like uh modern
027technology or something. >> We used to have we used to have shorthand when we were in high school. Um >> the thing is studies do show that really um if you're going to start teaching cursive, it should be as young as preschool. I >> because preschoolers when they draw as as I know um they do a lot of scribbling and a lot of um circular marks and that's what cursive is. So there are studies out there that show that you know teaching cursive before printing to preschoolers and kindergarteners um is you know a good argument to have also but I would think that we should leave it to the teachers you know as a discussion point come back to the board with what they have to say. >> Yes. >> So the other thing that
028um we are looking into is okay. So um a what are other school districts doing and b um is if you read and look at the surveys, it appears that uh teachers kind of fit it in when they can fit it in, right? >> So maybe what it is um is if we can go out and find some I I don't mean I don't want this to sound negative, but a canned curriculum >> or a canned not necessarily curriculum, but program that we can have teachers look at and see if that's something even if it is on a um you know, they they got a couple minutes left, right, before they go outside for recess and we can do a couple quick activities. um maybe something like that or even as such it that they're
029they're reading a story and they're printing out and then we're writing it in cursive practicing our cursive. But um a little bit more time I think would be helpful to give us to some time to research and see what's out there and see if there are I'm sure if we made a phone call we'd have people coming in um trying to sell us their materials, right? but to kind of get a sense of what other school districts are doing and um what it is we can do even if it's a supplemental curriculum >> when are your thoughts go ahead I'm not trying to make more work for the teachers trust me I know they work hard I'm one that back when I was treasurer pushed to get them more money because I know how well
030these these teachers work hard and I'm from the district So I get it. I'm just it's just a you know idea because I know it cursive is essential. I truly believe that with all my heart and to that maybe this again this is another new business topic or whatever. We should be teaching civics class in school. We taught it back in our day. Like that's another one. So, I'm just saying, >> Mr. Stefanovic, what are your thoughts? >> Just because we are a board and we can't just have like one one person say, you know, bring up something and say that that's this has to be done. We need >> I'm not saying it has to be done as a board. Please don't put words in my mouth. I would like it to be done.
031I think it should be done. I'm not saying you have to do this now. Absolutely not. That is not what I said. I think cursive is important as like probably not right now but obviously you have to learn it now but I do think it's important and it is something that is lost >> for and you you like you like signing big a sign your signature >> that drives me nuts you know that you know that but I was going to say if we were to city hall it'd be a study session it'd be nice to have something where >> maybe a month or two months down the road because obviously it's not going to be during this school year either way, but just to find out what is the inputs from the teachers, what
032is the inputs from other things and then it comes back to that would be great. >> Very good idea. Thank you for that. >> Yeah, >> Miss Windless. >> Yeah, I like Derek's idea to do a study session. Um, but I do want to say that I believe that we should be teaching cursive in school um in the elementary school level. It's really sad to see students come into the college and not be able to sign their name on important documents like financial aid. Um, additionally, when you get a mortgage, that is also something you need to sign and it's printed. Um, there are plenty of documents that are not e-signed that students need to be able to sign their signature in a way that it cannot be duplicated cuz right now they print um,
033and it's easily duplicated if somebody were to find something and just copy their signature. um is you have to sign your driver's license and that signature is used to um cooperate your voting when you go to vote. Um so there's just so many reasons why they need to know how to sign in and cursive and why they need to know how to read in cursive. So it is my opinion that they should be taught in elementary school in this district regardless of what other districts do. >> I um I like your idea of a study session. Um, and I think maybe going forward we could we could do that. We could ask teachers and have a study session. I think that would be a good good idea. >> Excellent. Okay, great. Very good. >> Thank
034you. >> And in the meantime, we will reach out and talk to curriculum folks and and uh the people that um sell these can curriculums or you know sell materials to support and see what's out there. Okay. Excellent. Thank you. Thank you. The final item is I just wanted to um we put the financial statements in the board packet so you guys have those. But today was obviously a very interesting day as you know. Um we encountered a brief government shutdown. I think it was for I don't know the exact minutes but last night um they did pass at the the legisl legislature passed a continuing resolution so that they can fund government through this week. Um right before this meeting I did receive an email from our folks in Lancing indicating that um you
035know they put it off seven days. They are hoping to have a vote on the budget um tomorrow evening. But again, we've heard that before, so not sure. Um, but I did want to address it because there's all kinds of information as you know, some schools um had their parent or some schools came out and made it clear that if the uh legislature doesn't sign the budget that they can no longer offer free and reduced lunch. and we've been as a board and as a leadership team adamant that we're going to continue to offer breakfast and lunch for our students, free breakfast and lunch. Um the governor did send out another memo today to all of the school superintendent saying if you were one of those districts, please consider changing that and uh feeding it
036because it feeding the students breakfast and lunch because she believes that it will be in the budget. One of the things we know for sure is they have to do a school aid budget by October 20th because that's when the first state aid payment goes out. Now, if they don't, we're lucky in that we have fund balance. We certainly would be all right for a bit, but we couldn't go for 2, three months um without a state aid payment. Um I think that's down the road. I don't think we'll get there, but um there are some schools that have had to borrow money to make sure that if they don't get a state aid payment by October 20th that um that they'll be able to cover payroll and pay the bills, keep the lights on,
037um do all of those things. So, um lots of of emails going back and forth with the school aid budget. As you guys know, they are not saying a word. What's in it? I believe that's by design. so that they'll come up with a plan and then roll it out. One of the areas where uh folks believe that schools will um be reduced and it's kind of roundabout way. So we get money from the state based on our student count. get X number of dollars per pupil on the front end and then for every dollar that we get from the state that goes to salaries and schools are mostly salaries we're service industry a percentage of that goes back for FICA and retirement the the state gives us an offset for some of those dollars
038that go back which helps the school district So the discussion that we're hearing is that they're going to reduce the offset, give a increase over here. So really it's it's a it's a wash. >> It's a wash. So not sure about that. But >> if they do come up with a budget and they announce a school a budget and it's showing an increase of $200 per pupil, we have to be mindful of what's on the back side if there's a change to the myers retirement offset. So we're it's a wait and see. They said seven days. So, we've got uh seven more days of being in this holding pattern. The other piece that we investigated and found out is that um they they added a multiplier to the free and reduced um numbers that we
039have. So, our district would qualify for free and reduce regardless if this if this or what's called CFP. Regardless if the state ends free breakfast and lunch, we still would be able to continue that as long as that is being funded. So, we can't rest our laurels on that. But, um that is a fail safe for our school district based on our pre reduce. we're about at 66%. There's a 1.6 multiplier on top of that. So, that's a good thing, but they're not sure if that fund will be um in the budget. So, um so that's that's where we're at. We'll wait and see what kind of u information we get. We'll wait and see if we get a budget. Um it certainly would be helpful so that we can make decisions. As you guys
040know, we've been kind of, I want to use the word slowplaying on some of the things because we're unclear of where that budget's going to come in. And so, um, we're hoping that they give us a budget soon. Questions? >> That's all I have. Thank you. >> Thank you. Moving on to SEC superintendent recommendations. Letter A, Spyroex Manufacturing Field Trip, Annapolis High School, exhibit one in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves Anapapolis high school drafting CAD class field trip to Spyroex Manufacturing in Romulus, Michigan on October 17th, 2025 as presented. May I have a motion? >> Moved by Trusty Sterling. We have support. >> Supported by Trusty Wall. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Question. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Yes. Um on page two of the field trip
041requests on the back it says field trip date is for tomorrow. So I just want to get a clarification on um which date. So >> I think that's a mistake. >> Okay. Phil 17. >> Okay. >> That was it. >> Nice catch. >> No problem. >> Trustee Sterling. >> Yes. >> Trusty Stanovic. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wall. >> Yes. >> Trusty Wless. Yes. Trusty Belttowski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Letter B. Lancing Center Theater Competition and Festival exhibit two in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves Annapolis High School theater students grade 9 through 12 to attend the Lancing Cent's theater competition and festival on December 12th through December 13, 2025 as presented. May I have a motion? >> So move. >> Moved by Trusty Sterlin. >> Supported by
042Trusty Windless. Questions or comments? >> Yes. question. I see one last >> um can we get the name of the hotel once it's determined? The paperwork said that it wasn't determined yet, but once you get it, can you email it? >> Yes, we can do that. >> Thank you. >> Anybody else? Roll call, please. >> Trusty Sterlin? Yes. >> Trusty Stefanovic? Yes. >> Trusty Wall? >> Yes. >> Trusty Windless? Yes. Trusty Belttowski? >> Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Um letter C. First reading of proposed, revised, and reissued board policies. Exhibit three in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves the first reading of proposed new, revised, and reissued NEOA board policies as presented. Policy 1400, job descriptions. Policy 1420, school administrator evaluation. May I have a motion? >> So moved.
043>> Moved by Trustee Stini. >> Supported by Trusty Windless. I'm giggling because it looked like trusty wall wanted to jump in there. >> Questions or comments? >> Question. That's where I want to treasure. >> Um on the first policy for job descriptions, >> um the part was removed on the alcohol and nonprescribed control substances. Is there any reason why that was removed? >> Yes. Yep. So um because that information is on the job description and a job description is posted. Okay. versus the form that we have every employee sign and date and we keep a copy in their employee file is this drug-free workplace act document. So that's why it's why we want to make it we want to make it clear to what we're actually doing. So and it makes more sense to have
044it on that document so when we hire someone they're signing that they've read this and they understand it. And that's what I thought, but I was just like, what if for some who knows reason it wasn't on the document, then >> it's >> that's what I was asking. >> It's on every document. It is on all of the documents. Um the person that takes care of that is she makes sure that that is signed and in their file and it's complete before they >> um even start. >> Okay. >> It's like a one pager. >> Yep. It's a one pager. And it's pretty much the same for >> Okay. So now Okay, perfect. >> Y good point though. >> Yes, >> mine was on uh the second policy. So for the second policy after highly
045effective, I think the or shouldn't be there when I read that sentence. The or seems like it's an extra word that we can get rid of. >> Yep, I see it. >> Yeah. Okay. And then throughout the document, um district is either lowercase or uppercase. I'm I believe it should be uppercase. So, if we can just go throughout the document and make sure that it's uppercase, that would be my only two edits. And great job, policy team. >> We'll make those changes for the second reading. That's exactly why we do a first reading. So, thank you. >> Yep. >> Any other questions? Roll call, please. >> Trusty Stanovic. Yes. >> Trusty Wall. >> Yes. >> Trusty Willis. Yes. Trustee Sterling. >> Yes. >> Trusty Batausski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to unfinished
046business. Do we have any unfinished business to come before the board? No new business. Any new business to come before the board? I think that we should just maybe put under new business that we would like to perhaps have a study session on cursit. And you suggested civics. >> Yes. >> Is everybody okay with that? So put that under new business that um we can look at some dates um to get that on the board to have study session um to discuss those two things. Are you okay with doing it both things at one study session? >> Yes. >> Um because I'm I'm assuming if the study session hopefully we're going to have some potential teachers or somebody that might come to that, >> right? >> So I don't know if depends on how long
047the one goes before you go into the next subject. I don't know. I mean, I'm just thinking about that, but yeah, I guess that would make sense. >> I think it would be fine. >> Yeah, I think it would be fine, too. >> So, are we talking about like the next board meeting? We might pick some dates then. >> Um, yeah, we'll throw some dates around the next board meeting. >> Okay. >> Um, >> and hopefully everybody's here so that way. >> Right. Right. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Thank you. District points of pride, Mr. Kleinhands. >> Okay. Very good. So, uh, we're thankful and prideful for a good start, especially with the HVAC and the two elementaryaries, as well as the playgrounds, uh, being open and, uh, things rolling at Madison. Um, they're doing
048a lot of great things for the, she calls them the littles in October, Picture Day, fall festival. The firemen are coming to put on a presentation for fire prevention month, and they will also be doing a hol parade at Bedford. This is from Marcy Joby. Our playground is done and I'm so excited and the kids certainly are. If you haven't already seen it, come by. It's amazing. Um, they had an evacuation drill this past week. I thought this was interesting. There are more than 400 staff and students at our evacuation meeting spot. Could have been and she said, "You could have heard a pin drop." So, we coach our kids when you get to that spot. Got to be quiet. You got to listen to teachers. They did such an amazing job taking it seriously
049and following directions and she just put proud moment. That's good. Um at party celebration of homecoming week with their own spirit week and included Lion's Day, hat day and blue and gold day. They had mentors from the high school visit and read as well as work with the students in various grades. This month they'll welcome the football players and the cheerleaders. And then um also they wanted to thank the board of education um and Mr. Kleinance for the incredible facelift they received on the party playground and the other outside area areas. Everyone loves it. And then at uh Pulk Pulk's fifth grade students will be attending the YMCA store camp on October 6th. uh camp they'll experience many te team building activities including rock climbing, archery, fishery, fishing, coldblooded animals, not sure what that is,
050although I heard we did have one in our neck of the woods, but I won't mention that. And uh building fires to build a fire. I think there was an alligator somewhere. >> Hopefully it's not that one. Um students uh in grades GSRP uh young fives through second will attend a play Don't Let the Pigeon Drive the Bus performed by US Theater Works hosted uh in the Annapolis High School auditorium. So the kids who did that last year is very cool cool event at OW Best. Uh they're com commemorating bullying prevention month by wearing orange on October 1st. That was today. Students are pledging to are pledging against bullying uh for the school year as well. Students made ribbons that solidified their stance against uh bull bullying. The sports teams are up and running. Football,
051boys football, girls volleyball, and cheer are going well. Students are focused um and making great plays. And then we received this email. Um it actually came I received it as well. This is from the bus driver. So, well, it's from the uh transportation assistant, but from a bus driver. And it reads as such. I'd like to report to you the praise I received about your OW best football players and cheerleaders yesterday. The driver that took them to their destination came into me when she got back and said in the 32 years she has driven a bus that this is the very best group of students she had ever driven. She said they were all so respectful and she really enjoyed them. She just wanted to pass along the good things being said about our students.
052So, very cool. Very cool. >> At the high school, uh the spirit week was craziness, right? Um all the class sponsors were very busy. The students did a great job. The homecoming was a success. Um the whole event, the parade, everything, the weather was absolutely beautiful. I remember a couple years ago it was raining sideways. So, um, absolutely beautiful. Student council did a great job. And, um, Mr. Mlette also wanted to congratulate the cast, those folks that were selected for Matilda the musical, and that will be a production January 9th through the 11th. So, pretty cool. Um, in athletics, we talked about Ella already, and the fall sports teams are working hard and competition is ongoing. >> Can I just say something about the fall sports? Yep. >> I just want to give a shout
053out to the OW best football team who won their game maybe it was two games ago on a Hail Mary pass. That was incredible. Congratulations to them. >> Definitely >> in our ELLL program. We're so proud, this is from Nearman. Um we are so proud of our 16 students who have achieved English language proficiency and have exited our ELLL program. the success of these students is the success of our entire school community. Teachers, your support has been instrumental in their success and she wanted to thank everyone, even this board, for supporting that program. So, that's something interesting that in one of the renditions of the budget, we heard that they were cutting the ELLL funding out. So, but we'll wait and see about that. >> Okay. >> I told them we're not changing our program.
054We're doing great things. So, uh, school safety conducting our, uh, fall safety drills, uh, continuing to monitor the smart boot lockdown system for upgrades. For example, um, in our elementarymentaries, they have the boot boxes right next to the doors in our gyms and they get bumped and if they get bumped and jostled, not again by accident, that um, they send the building into lockdown. So, that could happen. So, we are looking at cages for those. The company has just developed them. I actually called the guy and said, "Hey, do you have anything?" And he said, "Yes, we we are manufacturing cages that fit on the box, but is open at the top." So, um if you do go to our gyms, you'll see the cages that are around the lights in the gym. They're very
055similar to that. So, we're monitoring that. We're doing drills. Today we had we also learned something new today at uh Pulk Elementary. We had a boot that was pulled. There was no issue. Um the student pulled it. I don't think exactly knew what was going on. Um but the building went lock down just like they're supposed to. We were on on site, make sure everything was good. We went all clear and uh we found out something new in one of the one of the areas. There were two boots. We the one boot was put back but the other was not and so when they went to put that boot back it jostled the the thing and it put the building back into lockdown. So we had two drills out of the way in one day.
056So um they did good. But we continue to monitor that. We continue to practice. Um again so I was in my office when the lockdown when the lockdown went down. Well, what we do is we immediately call the principal to make sure that everything is safe and get on the cameras and find out what's going on. So, we in a safe manner make our way down. It couldn't have been a minute and Pulk was locked down. I mean, it it is that fast. These teachers know exactly what to do. just as a superintendent knowing that we have that system in place is is um you know if someone comes in to cause harm I know that um that we can do everything that we can do to help everybody stay stay safe. So I'm so
057glad this board supported that. Um Cheryl does a good job with running the drills. Um does all the work with the lockout company to make sure that we're good to go. In our tech area, we're working they're working to improve the sound and the audio quality on the football field. The speak the drives and the speakers out there are old. Repairs are in progress to improve the atmosphere of our home games and events. And then they are in the midst of the transition. As you guys know, we purchased all new um teacher devices and lab uh computers for so that we are ready for the transition to um uh Windows migration as they're calling it and we're good to go. But with the installation of all of that new equipment, it has caused a backlog
058of of um of tickets and issues. Again, new equipment, there's going to be issues. So, we are supporting those folks and they're working on it to make sure that everything's working effectively. In the curriculum area, the district received $242,540 through the 35mm literacy grant. Dr. Finny applied for this money. We got notification um a few weeks back that we did receive that money. It's very specific. It's even so specific that there's only certain vendors that you can go through to spend this money. So, uh, we'll be using it to support the implementation of the Youth Fly literacy program throughout our elementaryaries. We also are, uh, gearing up for our November staff in service. In the morning, we're going to be doing some work with, uh, the staff on equity. And then in the afternoon, we're
059going to be doing um PLC's. So, we do have two meetings set up with our PLC leads. Those are new positions that recreate that were created. They're grant funded. Those leads have to do work outside of school in preparation for the PLC's. And so, um, we're supporting them with two, uh, meetings prior to, um, and we're bringing in a gentleman, uh, Nathan Spencer, who's already been in district and worked with, uh, some of our folks on PLC. So, I know that was long, but a lot going on. And I want to certainly thank everyone who supports D7. We like when there's lots of pride. >> Yeah. Trusty winless. >> Um I just wanted to know uh who are you bringing a person in to do the equity training like a third party? >> Um you
060mentioned who you were bringing in for the PC's but you >> were bringing in um the folks from uh that met with the citizens advisory committee. >> Okay. Wayne Rea then. Yep. Okay. >> Y I forgot. >> Y that's okay. >> Anybody else have any questions? No. Okay. Moving on to other business. We have no updates at this point in time. We have a policy committee meeting scheduled for Wednesday, October 15th at 5:00 at OW Best. And I believe we have a finance committee uh Treasurer Wall. >> Yes, we're going to have a finance committee meeting on Wednesday, October 8th at 3:30 p.m. And that's going to be at the board office. So that's Wednesday, October 8th at 3:30 at the board office. >> Correct. >> Thank you. I thought I heard somebody from here.
061Um, is there anything that needs to come other business? Anything else? No. Moving on to public comment number two at this point in time. Um, if anybody has anything they would like to address to the board at this time, please come forward. State your name and your affiliation. We used to use a program called Handwriting Without Tears. So, you might want to look into that before you do a study session. Um, I don't know if Miss Crezo remembers it or not. Um, but we did do it. It's easy. It's lowercase letters. They all have a little tail at the end, which you add to the next letter that has a tail. So >> I use handwriting without tears in my class. >> Yeah. So >> I've not seen a cursive um >> component of it,
062>> but we had it before. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> Thank you. >> I don't know if there's a curse of good. >> Virginia Morgan, none of you got a hug today, did you? >> No. I've been gone a while, but I've been thinking about you. I've been checking about what's going on on building a site and playgrounds. I've had an opportunity to see each one in particular the day that they opened. I was there and to see them running out of the building and walking over and seeing I make a point to also go back around 5 or 5:30 And I've run into a lot of um neighbors and ask them what they think. It's particularly at Bedford. What do you think? But I've also had an opportunity um to kind of dispel in
063fact yes today or yesterday how much did it cost? And that gave me a real opportunity to talk to him about renewing the scing and fund. So, I just wanted to encourage you um that although they think, oh, 1.3 million was a lot, when you talk to them about, you know, how old the playground equipment was and it's all now we have special ed uh swings um that uh protect those. um all of the playground hopefully uh you can take your child from a wheelchair, take them right over onto the turf and there is equipment for special ed um who come in wheelchairs. So I'm really excited about that. Um the other part I just wanted to speak briefly about the curse of um you know after teaching 30 years myself um you know I
064particularly like at Christmas time I always would buy the cursive handbooks you know where you trace over them and everything and once you learn cursive it's not something that you have to like mathematics or or new history or new ones. Once you teach it, they have a lifetime then to have it. Uh I'm not sure I particularly agree that you need a study session except that maybe at some point you may want to have study sessions related to the curriculum. Um I remember when I was on the board, we approve the curriculum every year for every elementary level, middle school level, and high school. If I were to ask you right now uh what are the math offerings at the high school, would you be able to tell me? Do we have advanced placement? >>
065Uh AP trig, AP T uh calculus. So, if it's something that you want to review every year, I'm not sure that um that you need to have that to make a decision to have cursive in our school district when it's something that's happening all over the country. Um I I love all of you and uh miss you and I'll give you a hug afterward. >> Thank you. Thank you for your support, Virginia. And we missed you, too. >> Any other comment at this time? Uh, Michael Herban. Um, not swim related, by the way. So, um, the district introduced the yonder pouch this year for the cell phones. Very controversial. Um, I personally agree with taking the distraction out of the classroom. Um, at OW Best Vest orientation though, I did bring up um when you're
066doing the boot drills of also practicing taking the phones quickly out of the pouches. And the principal did say she was going to bring it up. I don't know if she did or not, but wanted to at least bring that idea to your attention because, you know, obviously there's been way too much of it happening recently. So, definitely needs to be something that I think is practiced as part of the food drills. Thank you for your comment. Is there any other comment at this time? Thank you. Just state your name and your affiliation, please. >> Daniel Andrew Stannis um a parent and coach for the district. >> Welcome. >> So, I coach um I started coaching last year for OW swim team for the middle school and I'm assistant coach for the high school football
067team this year. Um, it was brought to my attention that this year we're supposed to separate practices between the boys and girls. Um, I want to see if they can change that. I know about the incident last year. I was part of it. I was there through the whole thing. We did make changes afterwards to better keep the practices going but have all the students at the same time. Um the benefit of having the teams together is for the fact that we are a mixed team. So when we go out to compete, we compete as girls and boys in relays. And how are we supposed to practice those relays and then compete at the same time? The other things are we are a lot of our students are out of district. So we try to
068have practice right after school. Nine times out of 10, we get there, doors are usually open by at least 3, 3:40, 3:45. We're on the pool deck, got the lions in, and ready to start practicing by at least 4:00. The problem is, if we do separate practices, we will lose weight. This takes away from the kids. We've already had plenty of kids come up to me asking me about, you know, are you going to coach this year? I'm like, I have not been told not to coach. Um Brian and I are on really good terms. So as of what I've known so far is I am being back brought back for the OW coach coaching position. Um I am doing it with another coach. Last year there was almost no team at all. I reached
069out to Brian said you know if there's no team what are what are the things I have to do to become part of it. when me and the other coach I went through a lot of physical abuse to become certified coach guys I am not gonna lie I'm not in shape besides round it other than that and I had a lot of support in the pool to get me through what I had to get through to become a lifeguard certified so when I'm in that pool all the kids are my kids I have four kids in the My oldest one just graduated two years ago. I have cowboy Mike. He's in in uh he's sophomore. I have another one in middle school and another one in party. My middle schooler is out for football. He's
070planning on swimming. My other my party kid, he's going to be on the swim team once he hits sixth grade. The other thing is if I use Ella as an example, she was eighth grade swimmer. She started improving beyond that. We have kids that have come up to me in the offseason saying that they've been working all summer long, busting their butts, improving their times on their own time in clubs. So this way when they come to our practices, they can further excel. We have eighth graders right now that Victoria is going to be part of the swim team next year as a freshman. She's already been practicing for diving. While we have practices, we let her dive and that she is an amazing first time diver. I am begging and I'm asking for the
071support on not having them separated. The problem also is timing. I'm a truck driver. I make a lot of sacrifices to get there on time for these kids. I made a lot of sacrifices this whole summer for the football team. Um I'm not a public speaker as you can tell. >> You're doing great. You're doing great. >> But I've lost the train of conscience. >> So the other thing is it feels kind of like a punishment because of one incident. We've been did make changes on the bus rides. We they made change we've made changes during the swim pool. We've made changes. So it's not all I mean it we're all in the pool at the same time but there's more guidelines now. They have to follow more rules. We also the other thing is
072if you segregate the swim team, what about the other sports that are mixed? Are you going to do that to them? And I mean, we have wrestling wrestling cat. She's made bounds. Look at what she's done for the wrestling group. Look at what she's done for the girls, >> the team that we have now. >> Thank you for your time. Thank you for your comments. Um, >> do we have any other public comment at this time? >> Please state your name and your affiliation. Um, Trusty Batowski, before she goes, can you remind them that they can go twice if they weren't done talking? >> Yes. If you would like to come back up again, sir, if you want to come back up after after we got to give everybody one to talk. >> You can
073finish after >> after she's done, then you can come back. >> Um, my name is Alexis Wolf. I am the coach with Coach Stannis for middle school swim. I am also the assistant coach for high school girls and the newest para at Pulk. Um, in our student handbook, it states that we will do our best to help make the students experience as productive and successful as they wish to make it. To me, part of that is being a student athlete. Being a student athlete is being able to be an athlete alongside your peers. The issue with the middle school swim team being separated at the moment is one, if we separate it so it's an hour and an hour, it's not enough time for them to get any practice in. If we separate it so
074that it's every other day, same thing because we have meets. So, one section of the team is going to get more time in the water than the other. Um, it's I love that we are a open enrollment school and that we get to bring students in that are unfortunate for their own district. However, that puts a burden on parents. As a parent in the district, I'm fortunate enough to be here, right? Originally, I was not and it was something that was going to be an issue with getting my son to school and back. If you want to take the sport out of the subject, we don't separate students in the classroom. We don't separate students in the hallway. We don't separate students on the buses to go to field trips. But this is this incident
075could have occurred anywhere. This could have occurred between two females. It could have occurred between two males. There's no say that it could have happened in the hallway and it just got brought to our attention during our season. Um, I know it had been told to me that it was a directive that we were going to be separate. I've heard otherwise since then that is being rethought possibly. And I really do think it should be something that's rethought about. We have the girls in two separate lanes. We have two lanes in the middle and then the boys on a separate side. On our bus trips, our girls sit on one side, our boys sit on the other. We even discussed having one of us sit at the halfway point so that way we can see
076the entire bus instead of at the front with each of our sides. We want to do everything we can to make sure these kids get to enjoy it. Mr. Clan, you yourself said that we Where did it go? You said that we have a very successful swim program. Part of the success of the high school teams is having the sportsmanship taught at the middle school level. We had an awesome team last year and I want to carry that on. I have no worries about not rejoining as a coach. This district has been part of me since I was in eighth grade here at OW. Sports have never been separated as far as I'm aware. And I just don't think that it should happen now, especially when our mission states that we're going to give them
077their fullest potential through opportunities and diversity and collaborative. Separating them is pulling apart the collaborative part of it. It's pulling apart the diversity of it. Um I just I don't know. I'm very passionate about it. I think that leaving the boys and girls on separate sides would be more ideal because having an hour of practice would not be. Our team wouldn't succeed like it did last year. We didn't lose a single meet last year. We don't play un undefeated like our high school girls, but but for first year coaches, we didn't lose a single meet. Part of that is having our team work together. I know from personal conversations if we were to do say we did boys before girls or girls before boys because our team was primarily female last year the likeliness of
078us getting boys to swim is very few. We already compete against small schools. I would like to keep our chances as high as possible. That's all. >> Thank you very much. Hello, Christina Gay. Um, parent, but also on behalf of the swim team. Um, I'm here just to support middle school swim co-ed. I, most of you will remember me from last year. My daughter Katherine is the female wrestler that qualified for states and was before mentioned if we're going to start separating sports that would be a concern at all levels. You know, what are we going to do with one girl wrestling by herself with no one to practice with? Um, separating them on the buses. We just got accolades for how well our cheerleaders and football players behaved on the bus together. You know,
079the best that bus driver's ever seen. And that was co-ed on the bus together. my daughter, cheer captain at OW Best, was part of that, those accolades. And also, you know, D7 athletics, it's been um co-ed the whole time that we've been here for um OW Swim. We would like to see that continue. It obviously has produced great swimmers. It's produced great teammates. It's teaching them at that age level how to be um a good teammate, a good classmate, a good co-orker in the future. Um, we would just like to see that continue. Um, again, that is, you know, helping grow their bond so that way when they get to the high school level, they are already helping grow this great swim program. Um, I would like to see the coaches continue being able to
080coach that way. As a parent that does come from out of district, it would be extremely difficult to have separate times, delay an hour or two hours, and then have shorter swim practices. All of those are valid points that the coaches have made and I'm just here as a parent to support all of those from a parents point of view. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Go ahead. >> My name's Clarice. I'm also a parent. My daughter Kennedy is on the track team. She's on the ref lean team. She's one of the few female wrestlers we have. She's also a member of our swim team. She was part of an incident that happened last year. She's expressed to me deeply not wanting to have her practices separated. They are a family. They push each
081other. These kids have been together since they were in elementary school. A lot of them sixth, seventh, now she's in her last grade of eighth grade. She wants that push that that push where if they she's not competing with the boys during practice, it makes it harder on her to compete with them during games. They the girls never wanted separate practices. I see all of them. I go to all their games. I go to their practices. None of them want to be separated. It's a punishment for them if you separate them. That's a punishment for them coming forward and voicing having a voice. Do not punish our girls. Make them feel empowered. Let them maintain their practices and feel empowered to it's okay. You can come forward. You're not going to have repercussions on you
082for voicing when something is wrong. >> That's it. Please support our coaches. Support our girls. >> Thank you. Miss Morgan, we have somebody else approaching the podium. >> Hi. Please state your name. >> Barb. Thank you. Um, Barb. So, um, love the yonder bags. Um, let's Okay, so glad to be finally be back. Last year was just super hard for me. Was in two um car accidents, so that's why haven't been here. Um, that's why I was not able to do my role as the pack um rep for the district. Um, but I am back and ready. So, yeah. Um, went to the first the first meeting. wasn't a lot of information there because it was the first meeting and they said that it wasn't a lot of information to give it. So sec on
083the second meeting they said hopefully that they'll have a lot a lot more info. So I can't wait to go back to that meeting and then come back with a lot more information. So yeah um but I do want to let the district know that I am available for um to come to any like I meetings. Um I am I I love I going to meetings. I love being support. I love if you need me to go and just sit with you. I love being a bulldog in the meetings. Um just I I just love helping. So if if you want help, my um um email is barb young 93. You can contact me and I will I will come. Okay, please. I have no problem coming and sitting. I will I would have no
084problem um addressing I what the IP meeting is, what that even mean or or other um or the other um um horrible um letters that they give um in um um in the special need community. And what else do I have here? So, I hope that you do adopt the cursive curriculum because kids become adults that needs to know how to sign documents. It's very important. We've been teaching our kids how to um sign a cursive for years and they they actually love it. They think it's some kind of special ability because because a lot because a lot of kids and some adults don't know how to do it. I'm telling you is it's it's pretty awesome. Um teachers should be included on how they can fit into their schedule, but it shouldn't be optional.
085It they but they should be included, but yeah, they should definitely be doing it because kids should know how to do it. Um, and I suggest that the special needs community, um, that the kids have like a special time where they come in and and, um, like and and have time to walk around and get to their know how to get to their classes and work and learn how to work their lockers. >> That's okay. >> My boys had the hardest time learning how to go from class to class and then go and then getting work work in the lockers. They practice great great thing for ABA that they do ABA. So this summer that they work they they work com um combination locks. I I like I said I love ABA. So when you
086have a so when your kids have a ABA, those are things that that that they can work on before before entering that that next grade. So they worked on those things before coming in. But when you're in that setting, it's faster. It's a much much faster pace. So they have so so once they got in and you have all the kids around, it's loud. So it's much different. So trying to work those lockers and then some lockers don't work. That's a problem, too. Making sure the lockers work. We need to make sure that that that that that's a thing, too. Especially when you're once you get once your last name started with a Y or a Z, you start to get the crappy things. I'm It's It sucks. It It sucks. I'm telling you. Once
087your letter last name get there, you get the crap things. So, you get the lockers that stick. Let's Let's work on that, too, guys. Let's try to work on those things too. But making it making it where special social special social special social special social special social special needs community have have us have a set time where they can come in and learn how to get to those classrooms. My son went to the class wrong classroom and sat in that classroom the whole time and didn't didn't even know it until the next day. But th those kind things like they need help with and it should be somebody maybe checking in with them like hey >> did you get to that class this day? like it it should be something to where they have that
088help. They they they need a day or two to learn how to get to those classroom especially the elementary kiddos coming into the middle school. >> They need a little bit more time like to to to learn. So if that means that the pack rep has have to come in and help with that, I am more than willing. And if anybody wants to come on to be a pack, it could be too. So it's an awesome job. Not not a paying job, but a great job. Okay. So, rather than our lovely our lovely special kiddos in the district, but yeah. Um that's all for me, but I'm glad to be back. >> Yay. Um I have a question for you. >> Yes, Miss um do you have a date date for that second pack meeting?
089>> Um no, it'll be it's next month, but I will I will get it I will get it to you. >> All right. And we're glad you're back also. Thank you. Um and yes, Vice President, >> your email address. You said Barb Young 93, but is it Gmail? >> Gmail. Yep. I'm sorry. Barb young 93 Gmail. >> Thank you very much. >> Yep. No problem. Thank you guys. >> Anybody else wishing to address the board at this time? >> Okay, you can come up for your second time. Thank you. So, as you've heard from parents and the other coach, um, we are a family. We want to stay together. We want to practice together. We feed off each other. Yes, there is bickering and fighting. All families do it. But at the same time, it's
090the competitive nature. All right? Guys against girls, girls against guys. Even in the relay, they compete against each other just to push each other to get better times. Last year, we had a couple people join that never swam before. We didn't give up on them. We didn't say no to anybody. By the end of the season, we were able to get the kid to do a 50 a 50s there and down. He was able to do that on his own. We told him if he could do that, we'll throw him in a meeting. He was this was the way his joy was just being able to do it. He's actually asked me if I was going to be coming back coaching this year and I said as what I've known is yes. And he's like
091well great because if you're coaching then I'm coming back. This is the type of kids we have in this district. They feed off each other. They want to learn and they want to compete against each other. We really appreciate it if you guys consider our what we're wanting and proposing. Um, one other thing is I know this is kind of it's on the swim team topic. I've noticed throughout the whole seasons, um, every sport gets their own little extra, you know, like uniforms, caps, bags, or anything. We never got anything. We never asked for anything. Um, if anything, is there a way we could possibly make something happen this year for our swim team? So, thank you. Thank you. >> Um, excuse me. Yes, go ahead. >> I know. I was looking in the photos.
092So, you guys don't even have Doesn't look like you guys have standard uniforms. >> No. So, that was the thing. We reached out to the parents. So, we use band app to communicate with with our parents. We reach out to them. We try to color coordinate. >> Okay. That's what I thought. Yeah. >> So, it's very hard. And we let the girls pick what they want to pick, what they feel comfortable with. And that same thing with the guys. We don't do speedos. That's not We're not there. We're not We're not We'd rather do the biker shorts >> and that. And then like the girls, if they want full sleeves, you fully covered up. We have no discrimination on anything they picked and that. We don't even have They ended up having to get their
093own swim caps, their own swim glasses, and whatnot. So yeah, as you've seen, thank you for looking up that and bringing that up, but that that is a thing that this year we were hoping to talk to Canon and seeing if there was something in the budget and trying to get a head start on it. So this way we'd have it before a swim meet and that same thing with like hoodies. You know, it'd be nice if we could come in as a team with OW best swim hoodies and sweatpants. You know, this way we're all unified. So, I mean, even like this year I we have coach and I haven't talked yet because she's doing the high school and I'm on football, high school football. So, it's really hard for us to communicate and
094we're trying we're actually planning on within the next two weeks trying to come up here just have a quick meeting try to recruit people and get more information on them. And this way we can know what our first practice is going to be and how many kids we're going to have and everything. And this way we'll know, we're hoping like if we talk to Canon and if you guys help us maybe at that meeting with the students, we can have something like, hey, this is what we're planning on. So once you're join the team, we'll send these out and you know, parents can order them off the website and whatnot. And that's what we're hoping for. >> So for me, if anybody doesn't know me from the board, I am a big proponent of school
095pride, school colors. the schools have to be the right colors. Like that's how I roll. Like you go to other schools and so I Yeah, I noticed that in the photos. I'm like that's just triggers, you know. >> Well, I mean, if you look at all the other sports, they all have their >> They're all unified. >> So, >> thank you. >> Question, Mayor Beth. >> Yes. >> Um, you mentioned that you made changes since the incident. Can you elaborate on what things you've changed? So before we'd have them all in the same lane >> and whatnot. After the incident, like coach Alexis said, we have half half the pool. So there's six lanes. If there's more girls, there's usually more girls than guys. So we give them three lanes and the boys would usually
096take one or two, but there's a separation in the in the pool because there's an open lane where there's no interacting. The only interacting there would be is if we did a relay, but all eyes are on deck. And the relay is where one person's in the pool at a time in the lane. So they go down back and then the other person jumps in. So there's no interaction at that point. And then like before practices, we have them like, "Okay, you guys are down by the boys locker room. Girls are down by the girls locker room." >> And then they I'm sorry. >> Well, I was just answering her question. So >> yeah, he's answering my question. So his time should be paused. >> Yeah, >> I'm going to have an objection to that.
097Time is time. We've declared that before. >> So I'm sorry. >> If you would like to if you would I have one. >> Yeah, he I mean she asked a question. >> Can Can Excuse me. Can I Can I speak please? I have no objection. I agree she did ask you a question. So, his time should have been paused when the question was asked. >> Time should have been paused when the question was asked, but you may go ahead and answer her question. >> So, those those are like the changes that we've made where they don't interact on the deck >> than that. So, then also like when we're going to sporting events, there's a lot more people there. There's a lot more eyes there. And then on top of that in the bus, as
098coach Lexa said, we started having guys on one side, girls on the other. We've also talked it about where like girls are up front, guys are in the back, and then also having coach up front and a coach in the middle type deal. >> Okay. Um I think that that was all established um when the other coach said that about >> I wasn't sure if those were the changes. She didn't say those were the changes. So, thank you for clarifying. >> Thank you very much. >> Thank you. Um, so I wanted to bring up one more thing um about the swim team, but not about the swim team specifically. Um it has far more farreaching impacts on the community because um the metrop parks also have been utilizing the swim team to help do swim
099training. Uh they were featured in a in a video from the metro parks and the girls did this on their own time. Um and they provide the swim lessons for free. Um even Ella would come home and say, "Oh, they were so excited to learn something new today." And I've got people that always want to be with me or be with Cat or, you know, be with one of the girls. And I mean, far more farreaching impacts than just the school district itself. And if you start breaking up the the middle school aspect of it and you don't have that feeding into the high school, then you lose that program, too. So, >> thank you. There anybody else wishing to address the board at this time? Okay. So, um, so speaking for my kiddos, they
100they like they want to get into they want to get into things. There aren't many things to get into like like different little programs and things available here at the middle school or at at the high school. Um, I hear that teachers don't want to stay after school to run the programs either. And I get it. So, there are parents and people who want to volunteer or or that you can hire to to run the programs. I get that people are crazy who and want to come in here and hurt the kids or whatever the case. If you do the extensive backgrounds and do whatever you're supposed to do or whatever, can we get the people in here to help the kids have fun, please? I really want my boys to enjoy the school year.
101I really want all the kiddos to enjoy the school year to get them more active. Like they really need to be doing something like please can can we do that? If we get more adults in here who say, "Hey, hey, yeah. I really want to step up and run this program. I really want to do I want really want to bring this in here. Can we actually get Can we actually make that happen? Like I would it would it would really be cool to make to make that happen this year because I really want my boys to be doing something like they really need to do something. >> I would really love my kids. If you work with kids with autism, my guy I would have I would have him here. >> Thank you. Because
102I'm looking for him to do something. He's looking to do something. So I I'm dead serious. I'm so dead serious. But yeah, >> Thank you so much that but yeah, this please >> question. Yes, >> I just want to know if you have specific examples of what you would like to see for after school programs >> like like you know you know Joey he wants to he wants to do some kind of acting or some kind of drama something. keep asking is there gonna be some kind of acting or drama? And when I asked Miss Brown, she was like, um, well, no, we don't have anything like that. And I'm like, h well, let me try to see if I can ask about it if we can get somebody in here or something for something
103like that. >> If we can get somebody in here, something like that. So, oh, my son loves to create stuff with clay. Like, oh my gosh, some kind of engineer. If we can start molding these kids' mind with what they really like to do, man, do you know what we're what we what we're starting to do? What what we're starting to build with these kids? Oh, ma man, it could be amazing. Okay. So, yeah, th those kinds of those kinds of things. >> Yes. Miss Young, could you maybe email us the board some of your ideas of what >> Yeah, that would be great. Thank you. Yes, I can. >> Thank you. There anybody else wishing to address the board at this time? >> Hi, my name is Victoria Wick and I'm an eighth grade
104student here at Best. I want to help address by doing it with the swim team. Um, I would love to have at least swim caps with OWS on it. Like how coach Dan said with sport unifi and like how coach Dan also said that we push each other at swim practice with the boys too. Um, we do push each other. We compete. We race each other during breaks during practice while the coaches offer with other kids. We dive in, see who gets the farthest, or we do pencil dives to see who can hold the breath the longest down at the bottom pool. Uh, we have tea parties at the bottom of the pool doing pencil dives. It's fun doing that with my guy friends and my cow friends. Um, and it's fun racing with them,
105even if I lose, but it's still fun. and I have unified with them. And that's really all I want to say. >> Very brave to come up and speak to us. Thank you. >> Is there any other public comment at this time? >> Okay. Oh, don't don't apologize. It's fine. >> One of the parents brought up a very valid point of it doesn't just reach our district, right? Again, we have students that come from outside of our district. It may help enrollment if they see that we have these awesome teams and this awesome sportsmanship and seeing how well everything's working as students. I wouldn't be surprised if we had more people trying to do our open enrollment with it. On top of that, for me personally, swim created who I am. I came to this
106district in 8th grade knowing nobody. didn't I lived in the district my whole life and knew nobody in this district. I swam first year freshman swam varsity all four years. It has helped me in my workplace. It has helped me in my work ethic. Having the bond with the high school teams and the middle school teams, it's literally my boss told me today, you know, you have an awesome work ethic. And the first thing I do is applaud Karen. Between my parents and Karen, I they have taught me how to appreciate and work hard. having the boys and girls together, they're pushing each other and then we're pushing them because I want to push them to be the best they can. And if we separate their practices and we have them at separate times, I'm
107sure, this might sound silly, I'm sure that we're still going to feed the girls program fantastically. However, we're just getting the boys program started back up. I would fear that if we separated them at the middle school level and it declined our intake of boys wanting to swim that by the time they reach high school, they're going to have already chose another sport, which means that our swim program there would fail. I don't want to see that. I I just said in my interview that this district has not failed me in the 16 years that I've been part of this district. You're the only one that knows that and I want to continue saying that this district has not failed me and will not fail me. I speak pride on D7. I have my entire
108life. I went and worked with other schools. Well, I had friends in other schools. And the way that they would bash their community and I would be here like, "Yeah, D7, let's go D7 Pride." We have had coaches from other teams applaud us for how well we handle sportsmanship and how well we handle cheering up for other teams. I'm worried that if we separate it, not only will some of our events not hit as well as it should, but also that the sportsmanship level will change. The dynamic is going to change between everyone. I don't want that. If it comes to when we do our relay events practice-wise that we have a girl jump in one lane if she finishes her length and then in the next lane over we have the boys do it
109so that there's still separation during practice. So be it. That's something that I would love to do. I just don't want to see them torn apart. One of our swimmers is a travel baseball player. He has already openly told me that I don't know if I can commit to swim if practice is pushed later because I have other commitments. So, thank you. >> Thank you. >> Hi, I'm Katherine Warlick. I am the first female wrestler from Annapolis to qualify for states. As a multiport athlete, I do swim, wrestling, and track. I did that throughout middle school, too. If I did not have the boys to compete against, I would not be as good as I am today. Sportsmanship also has brought leadership qualities for me to compete throughout school and my individual life outside of
110school. So, I would like you to think about it and have the boys and girls still compete together in the sports that they are in because I was one of the only girls on the middle school wrestling team. If I did not have the boys compete against, there would be no girl wrestler today that I am. Thank you. Thank you, Cat. >> There any other comment at this time? Hi guys again. Hi. Um, so I started swim when I was in like sixth grade, right? And before this, I didn't think about swimming competitively at all. Sixth grade, like I was like, let's do all the sports. Let's just try them out. Swim really sucked me. like having all the people around me push me to do my like do my best. Like the boys next
111to me, if you're a girl, you want to beat the guys. You're like, "Oh, they're really fast. They're boys. We want to beat them." So like, so if you're swimming in a lane against them and you beat them, you're like, "Dang, I just really did good." And so like I started in sixth grade and obviously now I'm a sophomore and I'm still doing swimming. And all throughout those years I was like really excited every single year to go into swimming. And it really it's really like exciting to be on a team. It's exciting. It's excite exciting to be on a team especially with a bunch of people you don't know. You're meeting all these people so that you can have friends in school. Like if you're a new student, you come and you make this
112team and you're with them and you get to see them in school and you're like, "Oh, did you see what we did in practice? That was really rough." But like girls are always at each other's throats. It's just a big thing. So if you have guys with you, like you can just push yourself to be the very best and maybe make a career out of it. Okay. >> Thank you. There any other public comment at this time? Seeing none, we will move on to kudos. Do we have any kudos today? >> Yeah, I have one from Dr. Benjamin Anger from sixth grade teachers. Oh, it's to Dr. Benjamin from the sixth grade teachers. My apologies. The date is September 16, 2025. Thank you for creating the OW best staff portal. This portal is an excellent
113resource for the staff. It is a huge timesaver for us. We are beyond grateful for all the time you put all the time and effort you put into this. >> Great. Anybody you guys have any? Do you have any? >> No, but I just wanted to give >> Okay. Um yes, Trusty Serini. Um, so I just pro it's not really under kudos I guess but I would like to give guys kudos to you guys for coming here. I know you came for Ella but also for standing up and you know usually there's two people out in the audience so it's nice to have a audience and for you guys coming and the students going up there and speaking their minds. It's very difficult to go up and speak your mind. I get nervous. I'm nervous
114right now talking and I so I know how it feels. So I just appreciate you guys coming and uh thank you for you guys coming. Thank you. Seeing as there's no other comment, we will adjourn this meeting. Be it so resolved that the board of education adjourns the meeting at 8:36 p.m. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterling. >> Supported by Trusty Winless. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Wall, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trustee Sterling, >> yes. >> Trusty Stavanovic, >> yes. >> Trustee Belttowski, >> yes. Motion carries. Thank you all for coming. >> Right. Safe. >> Drive safe.