0017:00. >> Can we all re recite our mission to together? 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. Um, Miss Windless, will you lead the pledge of allegiance? Republics, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all. >> Thank you. Roll call, please. >> Trusty Anderson, >> Trusty Beltowski, >> present. >> Trusty Dyrov. >> Trusty Sterlin, >> present. Trusty Stanovic, Trusty Wall, Trusty Wless present. >> Um, Trusty Steanovic and Trusty Wall um let me know that they would not be here this evening. Moving on to the adoption of the agenda. Be it so resolved that the board of education accepts the August 20 20th 2025 agenda as presented. A board member may request an item be
002moved from the consent agenda to superintendent recommendations. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterlin. >> Supported by Trusty Dyro. Questions, concerns, comments? >> I'm sorry. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. >> Trusty Dyro. >> Yes. >> Trusty Sterlin. >> Yes. >> Trusty Winless. Yes. Trusty Battowski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Thank you. Moving on to public comment on agenda items. Do we have any public comment on agenda items only? Seeing none at this time, we will move on to the superintendent reports. Mr. Klein, >> thank you. So, um I have four items, two my items, and then we're going to do two board reports, but because Mr. Walls out, we'll just do one board report and then put that on the next board agenda. >> That sounds
003okay. >> Okay. Very good. So, um just a quick construction update. Um we did have our annual construction uh meeting at Bedford. We normally do two a day. They did the HBAC for Pulk and Party. They put the construction meeting with a walkth through. So they did those yesterday and then today was the big one with Bedford. So an update on the HBAC projects there. Um most of the work is completed. They are waiting for DTE to come and cut over the power. Um the company that handles the electronics and is responsible for the startups and the balancing they have um brought in a generator so that it's at it's this week it's at party D. Next week it'll be at Pulk so that they can power up all the units, get them started and
004balance them. That's no cost to us. that's on them and um that's what they're doing to ensure that when the kids uh come to school that we'll have air conditioning in those classrooms. So they want to make sure that we're good to go there. So gener um the startups and balancing. So you'll see it's a huge generator if you go back by the football field back behind party. It's sitting there now and then it'll come over to Pulk. So if you see that that's what that is at the Bedford site. Um, today we were doing policy and they were talking about incapacitation of the superintendent. It's one of our policies that we're reviewing. I said, "Well, talk to me tomorrow after." No, I'm just kidding. So, um, substantial completion for the Bedford project was slated
005for Monday. Okay. If you've driven over there, you'll see we're nowhere near that. Part of the issue that they've been battling, and I think I told you guys that, is the large water retention system. um pipes. They're huge. Those were um delayed in construction and getting to us by three weeks. So, they're really scrambling to make up time. So, um they have told me today in the meeting that that the back of Bedford will be ready to go for the start of school. They have to work over the weekend, but they're getting closer right now. It still looks like there's no way in the world. And um the Dave, the lead construction guy, said, "Mark, that's what it'll look like until we're ready to put down um the pavement in the big parking lot." They've
006already done pave the loop off from Annapolis. And so that paving is slated to take place next Tuesday and Wednesday. So we're hoping that we have good weather, get the paving down, then right afterwards, the stripers come in and that piece will be done for the start of school. all of the uh like the landscaping, the grass seed, all of that kind of stuff probably won't be ready to go. And I said, "That's fine. I just got to make sure that parents can drop their kids off, that it's safe for um for the students and the staff to get in and out of the building." The second part of that is the playground. And I've been meeting with the playground people. I don't think the boss wants to take another one of my phone calls,
007but little concerned with the progress of the playground today. I got assurances that um that they'll be putting in the half of the playground that has the sin lawn. So, as soon as they get that done, then the sin lawn people come in, they put down the gravel, they put down the styrofoam, and they put the turf and then put the sand over top. And then they'll move to the second half which will be playscapes and that but that will be the wood chip part of it. So they assured me that that would be ready to go too. So I'm crossing my fingers. Okay. It's been a challenge but um today when I walked in the meeting it was really quiet and I don't know why. I don't know what they thought I was going
008to do but they could tell I wasn't happy. So, um, but I'm really hoping that things go well from here on out and that, um, we're good to go for the start of school, the party playground project. So, we've moved all the rocks out of the, uh, secret garden area. They are in the grass area where they're going to go. There's a couple more that we want to move out to the front because there's just too many rocks in one area. Tomorrow, the fence company is will be on site. That back area gets fenced off so that we can protect our students away from a grab and go or so someone can't come back there and go onto our playground. So the fencing goes up. Now with that project, if you recall, we're moving the
009gaga pit. I think that's what they call it right to the front and then we're putting in a new playscape and some swings and then that gets the sin lawn. So as soon as the crew gets done with Bedford, then they come over to party to start that work. there's a pretty good chance that they will not get to that for the start of school. So, we'll work with the building about maybe doing a Friday, Saturday, maybe having the kids go out on the football field or do something different on that day so that we can push that project ahead. So, that's where we're at with that. Um, the secret garden. So, we've been a little delayed. We had a infestation of bees of all things. So, um, the trees are out of there, the
010stones are out of there. The leveling has started, the plan is to once we get it all leveled to, uh, bring in, um, the landscape fabric to keep the weeds down and put, uh, put stone on top of that and then put picnic tables in there. But, um, we had to wait for the exterminator to come in because there was a huge bees nest in ground right underneath the where all those rocks were. So, literally they were buzzing there when I was there today. So, um we're hoping that um we'll get that leveled and get that ready to go. So, as you guys recall, basically that area was we couldn't use it, right? So, but when it's done, I think it will be a very nice outdoor place for um for the students at RD.
011>> Can I question about that? >> You bet. >> Um the bricks, the dedication bricks that were in there, what happened to those? They covered them all up when they were taking the um all the large stones out and they're still intact just like they were. They put um they put uh like 4 by8 sheets of plywood down. >> Oh, but they'll they'll be open again once that's worse. >> Yep. Yeah, they stay. I'm sorry. I should have been clear >> where the rocks were. >> We're covering the whole thing. It's where I should have been clear. Okay. >> Where we're where we took out the rocks and we've le cuz that was all Birmed up with the big trees and all. So where that's all coming out. So it'll be those bricks and then
012it will be covered with stuff. >> Thank you for the clarification. >> No, I'm glad you said. >> Sorry to interrupt you. >> No, you're good. You're good. Um, so we're rolling with that. The high school cafeteria, when you walk in there right now, you sunglasses. Literally, it's that bright. So excited about that. However, the tables which I wanted here for our professional development uh next two weeks may not be here and the delay on those has to do with um uh the So, they think they can have the square tables ready for the start of school, but they're not sure about the logo tables. So, they're having some issues getting the logo tables done and getting them here. I told them, I will take whatever you have. So, we're crossing our fingers on that.
013Technology-wise, as you guys know, you approved the uh the refresh of all of the um district's computers and screens. So, that process is ongoing. And this is to finish up the Windows uh 11 migration so that you know we're all on Windows 10 and after October none of that stuff is safe. So, um we're we're working through that. The computers came on Monday. So, we are they're really working to deploy. The screens are here in the buildings, but the computers that go on the back are not. So, the tech department's really working hard to get that ready to go. Then I want to talk about um the other project you guys approved. It seems like things just don't always happen the way they should. Um so, the project at Part D for the sewer line
014backup. Interesting story. So, I assume we had one we had a sewer line issue at at Bedford, right? They went out front of the building. They dug down and they fixed it and took care of it. Your lab. So, um, >> so the the party was the the the issue was right underneath the library. Literally underneath the library. So, they had to jackhammer. We had to move everything out, jackhammer a big square 10 by 10, go down deep. I mean, this hole is he I got pictures. This hole is deep. And then once they got down there, they had to tunnel underneath the building. They had to go back in to find where the where the issue was. They find it and they start cutting pipe to to get it taken care of. So they're
015thinking it's, you know, it's a broken pipe, whatever. So they get in there and inside the line is a chain. A chain that you use to pull a car out. >> Yes. Exactly. So, you know what I mean? A thick chain that you would hook with the big hooks was down in there. And so, they cut a little pipe, tried to get it out, couldn't dug farther. Cut a little more pipe, tried to get it out, couldn't dug farther. They had a tunnel underneath. They had to go like an extra, don't quote me exactly, but the guy said we went five, six feet deeper than what we thought. They finally got to this chain. They pulled it out. Was probably a six foot piece of chain with stuff all corroded to it. That was the
016issue. So, they got it out. Um, no idea how it got there. Probably when they were doing >> well, when they were doing when they constructed the building, if someone dropped something down there and somebody missed it, but that was the issue. So, that's fixed. They build it in. They've submitted the floor. The area is all cleaned up. I mean, they were literally driving equipment into that into that area. It was quite a project. So, um, we're waiting. The next step to get that up to speed is to put the carpet back down. We got to wait for the cement to cure and then uh put the the desk where the for check in check out put that back in place in that area. So >> we don't know yet though exactly. So >> we
017had to get it fixed though. Yeah. Kind of crazy. So that's kind of the construction update. We're crossing our fingers. We're hoping for good luck. I'm I'm pretty confident that um that that Al's construction will have what we need to open school with parking lots and um that kind of stuff. I'm a little more concerned about all of the playground equipment being ready to go. So, we'll just hope that they've said it will be. So, that's what we'll do. >> Well, they have three days to work in those afternoons. Don't say that out loud. >> That is a backup. >> I was just saying if they don't get it done, they better be working on those days. >> Yeah, that's what I said. >> Like the road construction. If you finish road construction early, you
018get a bonus. Yeah. >> Yeah. Those performance contracts, that's what they were called back in the day. You could do those and they they don't seem to do those now. And I think it has a lot to do with and I think really what what threw this project behind was these well I know it was because we couldn't get the underground water system and it was because of the production of the huge I mean those pipes are huge and so the way that that works is and even the bioail if you go by there that deep area right in front that bio swale so the water comes down into the bioail then it drains down and it it works its way through those pipes in pipes have holes in them and the idea is that
019when the water comes it just doesn't it slowly seeps back into the to the ground and so and then there's also on the surface there'll be grates that water can directly go down. So I was talking to a gentleman this morning at 6:30 because I haven't been able to sleep because I'm worried about this. So, I went over there first thing this morning. Um, and he's got lives in that neighborhood. And when I was talking about the the water issue and the work that the board has done in approving this and that was huge part of this project. Um, I told them that, you know, I don't think it that area floods. I don't think it will eliminate that issue because that may have to do with the creek. But I told them we're going
020to do our part to make sure that we're not adding to the problem. So, so that was so any other questions about construction? Yes. >> Can I make a comment about >> Yeah. >> Um, but our ordinance guy is actually a beekeeper. So, when there are issues, we needach to a lot of it. >> Oh, okay. >> Okay. Thank you. I'll need he's our ordinance guy. Do you have >> And he owns Honey beesbinator. >> Yeah. He lives in the district. >> Yeah. Don't kill. >> Yeah. He lives in the district. So >> Okay, cool. That's good to know. And um >> again, >> probably Yeah, probably for >> for years those be that beehive's been in there, but >> that's been so overgrown that no one >> ever plus we just disturb the ground.
021So, okay. So, moving on. Um, the next item that I want to talk about is the start of school. So, uh, everybody's gearing up and excited with the start of school. Um, we have already started from the administrative standpoint. We did our retreat, we separated our retreat this year. We did instead of three straight days, we narrowed it down to two and we put a day in between so that when the administrators get back, they're not inundated because this time of year, everyone wants to talk to them, right? So, um, but we did our our first day of our retreat. We spent a lot of time, uh, Mr. Armstrong did a a PowerPoint on equity. I passed out our equity policy and the work that this group's done on that. And then, um, as you
022guys may know or may not know, but this is part of Mr. Armstrong's thesis. So he's prepared he prepared a a PowerPoint kind of went over the what equity is, what it's about, what schools can do, and what we can do to push those initiatives forward. So we spent a lot of time on that. And we also spent a lot of time on we're having a title one on-site review this year. So we had our consultant from MDE zoom into our meeting. We probably spent a good hour plus on talking about um what they're really going to be focusing on which is the teaching and learning uh strand of our title. And the other piece that I thought was very interesting is that um she made it clear that any any thing that we spend
023title money on, we have to make sure that we assess its effectiveness. And so we spend a lot of time on that. And some of the things are difficult. Well, I mean, think about we spend a lot of money on Chromebooks, right? So, how do you, you know, it could be difficult to assess the effectiveness of buying 300 Chromebooks for students. And so, they did speak about um it that you can use a perception data with that. It doesn't always have to be, you know, 50 kids got Chromebooks and these 50 kids did A and now they're doing B. Uh we could use per perception data. So, we spent a lot of time talking about that. So, it was a good retreat. On tomorrow morning, we will start off the day if you guys approved
024the yonder with yonder folks coming in and they're going to spend a couple hours with us on the roll out of the yonder pouches. Um, and then so that'll take up most of the morning and then in the afternoon I always give time for updates from departments, from our maintenance, from technology of where we're at with everything. So, pretty excited about that. And of course, the teachers uh come back for their full day. PD will do that in here. um that morning it fills up rather quickly. We start off the morning by doing the service pins. If you guys recall, we reinstituted that last year and so we'll continue with that. So we have um that on policy or that on tap. We'll also talk about uh equity at that meeting as well and roll
025that policy out and then we'll spend obviously good portion time talking about that improve it and uh getting the staff up to speed on the yonder and then in the afternoons that's um staff meetings typically at the building levels and then the next three days are half days. Um probably one of the anticipated most anticipated PD that we'll be doing will be on that Wednesday and that will be AI in the classroom. We did this um couple years my first year we brought people in. We're bringing those same people back and we're doing they're doing an updated where we're at today with AI some of the new tools and what we're really going to try to focus on and we'll carry this into the PLC's is interventions. So, how can we use AI to develop
026interventions to help our children? So, that's going to be the theme of both the PD and then when they go into their PLC's. So, pretty excited for that. And then, um, again, I'm hoping that everything is good to go on the construction front. So, um, we'll be off to a good start. So, I just wanted to update everybody on what's been going on. Okay. >> Thank you. Moving on. Um, Mrs. Wless, do you have a um report for us? I don't have a formal report, but I brought all my notes so I can >> Would you like to give us an update, please? >> Yeah, I do that. >> So, I took uh four classes over the weekend. Um the first one was CBA 265 practical advocacy and this class I took with Trusty Wall
027and we were in the same group and so we got to practice advocacy and they did um assimilation of if it was if you were to go up to Lansston and speak before a hearing and and do a commission um you did it before. No, I think >> Oh, okay. I thought you did it before. I was like yeah it was pretty cool. We went through like the introduction of a a bill and we got to go and trusty wall was the speaker for our group and he got to speak and then they questioned us and we had to answer the question back and we had like maybe 40 minutes to prep before we went in front of this panel of people who like reeled us on it. So it was pretty cool. Um that
028was that whole class. I'm trying to see if there was anything. Oh, they um stressed the importance of inviting state legislators to our events and to our board meetings. Um I wasn't sure if that was something that we already do, so I I didn't I left that question um blank. I know we invite them to like reading month, >> but I'm not sure what else what else we invite them to. But they were stressing the fact that legislators can be influenced um for decision making by being able to visit our sites and being able to see some of the big things that we're doing in our um community. Um this was all preparing us for the role play. So, we did debates and this was that that entire class was just preparing us for the
029debate. I'm just making sure I didn't miss anything. No, that's what that class was about. It was good class. I would take it again because there was other topics that I wish I could have got to debate and I I got um >> What was the topic you picked? >> I was just about to think of what topic was that I got. Um I'm drawing a blank. I'll email it. if I remember what it was and I'll text Derek. I'm sure he knows he has elephant memory. The other class I took was uh strategic planning and goal setting. I took a lot of notes in this class. Um they were stressing the importance of having AI in our strategic plan. If we're using it in the classroom, they felt like it should be in the
030strategic plan as a goal. And I don't think we have AI in ours. Um, they stress the importance of the strategic plan being a living document that can be reviewed annually and updated. And I know we don't annually update, at least I don't remember the last time we updated the strategic plan, but they said it should be updated annually. Um, and that she pushed for more people to be involved so there's more ownership in the strategic planning process. Um, they spoke a lot about like um, for a lack of better word stay in your lane like create the board helps create the strategic plan, but the implementation process is all on management. I was like, "Oo, that's where I get in the weeds." I'm like, I'm always trying to make sure we're actually doing this
031or doing that. So, they were stressing the importance of knowing the governance cycle and knowing which parts are for us to do, which are the evaluation, the vision, and the alignment, and then which part is for the management to do, which is the implementation, the development, and the monitoring parts of the governance cycle. Oh, and one district um shared that they use their strategic plan and their agenda. So each agenda item is outlined under their strategic plan so that they know that everything that they're doing is aligned with their strategic plan. I thought that was pretty cool. I was like it was a lot a little more extra work on there. I thought that I thought that was pretty cool. Um, there was one or two districts that did that. Um, they stressed the importance
032of taking a board self assessment, which I know this, not this board, but I know a board previously did do a board assessment and I think I did one at the first year that I was here, but we should be doing self assessments annually and then going over the outcomes of our self assessments at the meeting. So, I took I took that down and that was important. Um she said to make sure our strategic plans have no more than five goals in them. Um between three and five. And then she said to make sure they are in line with our my kip goal. And she kept talking about my kip. So I was like I got to get with Mark because I don't know much about my kit but she said making sure that they
033were in line with my kid. >> So the my we spent some time talking about that just about. So that's kind of it's back in our day. It's the old school school buildings school improvement plans. >> Okay, now I heard school improvement plan. If she would have said that, I would have >> I knew what that is with the acronym. I didn't know what the acronym is. >> Okay. Um strategic planning. uh they were did a lot of discussion about um whether it should be done by a subcommittee or like a ad hoc committee of the board and she was very adamant that the strategic plan should be everybody on the board and we should not have meetings if like somebody can't make it. We should try to make it where everybody can be there
034to be a part of the strategic plan and she went back to the fact that if they're not there there's likely they're not going to have any ownership into it and want to push it push it forward. Then she stressed the importance of the four things that the board adopts which are the beliefs, the mission, the vision and the district goals. Um she talked about info sessions which I thought was interesting. We didn't do this um with the last strategic plan that we did but there are if you do it through MASB which they said they are available to come and help with strategic planning and goal setting. Um they do information sessions with each group so with the teachers with students um and they also do an online survey and then you take all
035of that data and then there's about 35 people that actually go into making the strategic plan. She said that it was easier than having it open to the whole community because they didn't get a lot of feedback that way. So, I thought that was interesting, too. It was like listening sessions before and then taking all of that data to the strategic planning team. Y'all can tell I'm excited about strategic planning. I can't wait till we get back to this. Um, then we did a wave and we talked about things that were on the horizon, things that were established, things that were emerging, and things that were disappearing. So, a lot of people said that the funding was disappearing, which I thought was funny. Um, it's not funny, but it was funny. Um, and then they
036said that handwriting was disappearing, like, uh, cursive and handwriting and the music and art programs they felt like were disappearing. I didn't feel I told them I didn't feel like that was the case in our district, but it seemed to be popular amongst everybody in the room that the music and arts were disappearing. Things that were emerging was AI, DEI, um, trauma informed care, cyber security, and life skills. They're saying that a lot of schools are going back to teaching life skills in the classroom. Um because they're noticing that the students when they come to college or when they go into the workforce, they're not ready with basic life skills. Uh she said that strategic plan should be broken down into a quarterly action plan, which I thought was pretty cool. And then they gave
037a template for it. So, I will email these to you so you can see, but there's um a template for how to do a quarterly action plan, and it breaks down who's responsible for which part, when they're responsible for it, and where. So, it's pretty cool. I think that was Oh, the last thing is the strategic planning website. So they said on your website you should have a page um dedicated to the strategic plan that has updates on where we are in the process of our strategic plan, the things we have finished and the things that we're still working on. And that was it for strategic planning and goal setting. >> Uh yes, superintendent. >> So quick question. So the person that did the presentation, do they assist or do they have someone at MASB
038that will assist? She was the person. >> She was the person. Okay. Yeah. So I I started the process because I know that's we've got to revisit ours and I um got information on a gentleman from Centrics and so I met with him over the summer and I asked that question if they do if they facilitate the MASB and it was interest or the the strategic plan process like MASB and um He indicated that they're the data hub >> for the Strat plan. So, so I thought I was I thought I had it. This guy was was really good. I liked him. And then once we got um talking about his product, that's what they do. So, so I think I think we can make use of that because um I mean they collect a
039ton of data and they help you break it down, but I'll need that contact person because of course that's one of the things that we have to do. We have to revisit our strategic plan and we have to get it >> up. S T A I >> and she says she's been with she had a whole lot of experience. So she's been there forever >> and um she says she wrote their strategic plan like back in the day. >> I met her in Atlanta. >> Yeah. The next class I took was uh CBA 363 leveraging feedback. One of the bigger things I took out of this class was um she talked about having a business card on you with on and on the back of it having the hierarchy of who to talk to for
040different issues so that if we're approached in the grocery store or I know this doesn't happen to anybody or at the football game or anywhere we have something tangible that we can hand to somebody and say here's the person you're supposed to contact for this thing for this thing. I know we developed a hierarchy and we had that already in place, but putting it on the back of a business card I thought was pretty unique and hopeful for um for those situations. Um she said that we should adopt when we're getting feedback from the community, we should adopt the golden retriever rule and that is to act like a golden retriever and be happy and just listen regardless of what the tone is. So, I thought that was cute. She said, "The art of listening
041is summarized in the acronym SET, SE, and that stands for support, empathize, and then truth." So, she said support them, empathize with them, then hit them with the truth. But she said she didn't think that um not responding was a good way to get the public's to keep the public's trust. But so she said support, empathize, and hit them with the truth. Um she recommended that we have uh town halls and when we do town halls to bring in experts and not have us be the people that they're talking to or make it like a listening tour with the board, but have experts talking about expert topics. um they also do surveys at MASBs and she was um letting us know that they do all type of surveys if we're looking for surveys and I
042know once upon a time the um citizens advisory committee was looking at doing a survey and she said that they have the data to yeah to do surveys at mass and to help us break down information too. That was it for that class. That was not my favorite class if y'all can't tell. And the last class I took was CBA 264, shaping shaping public opinion. And this was about um a five-step opinion process. So learning who and what influences opinion, identifying what builds trust and support. Um learning about how districts brand influences public opinion. Exploring um the limits of polls and tool making decision tools and decision- making and analyzing what boards can do. So they this class um there was a couple of districts that had uh therapy dogs in their district and they
043were talking about that they have trading cards like you know like the baseball cards with their dogs information on it and all the things they like and all the things they do around the district and they give that to the kids and to the families to pass out about the dogs. So I thought that was pretty cool. Um, and I was like, I'd like to see Ruby on the card. Ruby, >> we got Ruby on a blanket. We got >> Ruby on the blanket. We go put Ruby on the card. >> Um, they said that every district should have a communications person. I was like, where's the money for that? >> But they were like, every district should have a communications person and the person should be pitching positive stories to the media regularly. Um,
044and then making things as easy as possible for the media, doing things between 10:30 and 100 p.m. And um, knowing that Friday is a bad staff for media because they're short staff on Fridays. Um, and then they said within the press that we're trying to use to grab the attention of the media, we need to make sure that our story is catchy within the first 10 seconds because all the people that he knew um that were in media, they make their decision on whether they're going to take the story within the first 10 seconds of your email. They don't read the whole email. So, he said to make sure that you have a catchy title and that you get your point across within the first 10 seconds of you reading it, which I didn't know.
045So, I thought that was cool to know. Um, then we talked about our district brands. We spent about an hour on this um just talking about what um what things are are built and maintained and what things we have lost. One thing we talked about was our public comment. I'm pretty proud of our public comment. You know, I think it's very generous and especially compared to other districts. And so that's one thing. um I shared and we talked about and um and then one thing we lost was like our last superintendent. So I talked about that because it was kind of brought up but we talked about that for a little bit. Um but we got you now Mark. >> We're keeping you >> good. And then uh the formula for shaping public opinion is
046uh in the acronym trust and the T stands for truth and transparency. The R I don't know it doesn't this have an R but it's called it's for stake oh there it is stakeholder relationships. So relationships U is for understanding through involvement. S is for shared vision through dialogue and T is for two-way communication continuously. And that was it for that class. >> Yeah, that was it for that class. Had a good time. >> Thank you, Secretary Wless. Does anybody have any questions or comments about that? >> Great job. Thank you. Good presentation. Okay, moving on to superintendent's recommendations. Letter A, certified staff appointments. Exhibit one in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education accepts the following certified staff appointments. Stephanie Clay, fifth grade teacher at Bedford. Effective date September 2nd,
0472025. Chelsea Hunter Flores, part-time speech language pathologist at the secondary schools. Effective date, September 2nd, 2025. Jennifer Lent, band teacher at OW Bests. Effective date, September 2nd, 2025. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterling. >> Support. Support by Trusty Windless. Questions or comments? Welcome to District 7, ladies. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Dyroof, >> yes. >> Trusty Sterlin, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Batausski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Now I can say welcome to the district, ladies. Sorry, dumped the gun on that one. I got excited. B. Non-certified staff appointments exhibit two in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education accepts the following non-certified staff appointments. Stephen Fletcher, excuse me, Stephen A. Fletcher, assistant football coach. We need
048a head coach. >> That might be a mistake. Just put football coach. How will that be? >> Okay. Football coach, Annapolis High School, fall 2526 season. Kobe Wilson, football coach, Annapolis High School, fall 2526 season. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterling. >> Supported by Trusty Winless. Uh, roll call, please. >> Trusty Sterling? >> Yes. >> Trusty Winless? Yes. Trusty Anderson? Yes. >> Trusty Dyra? Yes. >> Trusty Battowski? >> Yes. Motion carries. Welcome to the district, gentlemen. Certified staff resignation exhibit three in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education accepts the following certified staff resignation. This one's sad. Shelley Nichols, Madison, virtual teacher due to retirement. Effective date August 31st, 2025. May I have motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterling. >> Supported
049by Trustee Anderson. >> Questions or comments? >> Go ahead. Okay. So, um we certainly want to thank Shelley for her years of service here at D7. Um she's touched a lot of lives and a lot of students over the years. So, she she's going to be missed. So, >> I would just like to echo that. You know, she's just been a bright light on so many levels in the district and she will be missed. >> Yes, she will. But happy to >> uh roll call, please. >> Trusty Windless. Yes. Trusty Anderson. >> Yes. Trusty Dra. >> Yes. >> Trusty Cini. >> Yes. >> Trusty Bowski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Enjoy your retirement. >> Letter D, non-certified staff resignation exhibit 4 in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education accepts the following
050non-certified staff resignation. Da Khalil, excuse me, Da Ka Ali, special ed paraprofessional Pulk Elementary School. Effective date August 7th, 2025. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterlin. >> Supported by Trusty Winless. Questions or comments? Roll call, please. >> Trusty Windless. Yes. Trusty Anderson. Yes. >> Trusty Dyro. Yes. >> Trusty Sterlin. Yes. >> Trusty Batausski. >> Yes. Motion carries. Letter E. Ow. Best assistant principal contract exhibit five in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education appoints and approves the contract of Montgomery Shambllo assistant principal at OW Best School pending HR approval in accordance with the terms and conditions of the contract presented. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Winless. >> Supported by trustee Sterlin. Questions or comments? >> I have
051a question. >> Mr. Go ahead. >> Question please. >> Okay. >> Secretary Windless. Um, in the in the contract, um, the compensation says it's commencing August the 7th, but on page two, it says the start date is August the 1st. So, I just wanted to know the difference between the two dates. >> Um, date. >> Yeah, it's August 7th. >> August 7th. >> Yeah. Yep. >> Thank you. >> Good. We'll get that fixed. >> Okay. >> So, pretty excited to bring this to you guys. So, Montgomery or Monty as Monty as he likes to be known. We certainly are excited to bring Monty aboard. Um has a bachelor of science degree from Western Michigan University. And of course, all of us Chipoaz almost threw him right out of the committee. No, I'm just kidding. I'm
052just teasing. Um he has his master's of arts from Eastern. That's okay. Eastern's. Yeah. Very good. Uh professional teaching certificate in social sciences. Uh this is interesting because you don't come across this very often, but his admin admin is K12, so he could be an administrator anywhere. So good for he has experience a teacher, administrator, Northville Public Schools, taught um also at River Rouge. Um he was by far the number one candidate coming out of the committee and we had a committee of teachers and um administrators. It was really a good group. Um, he has experience and this is what really makes Monty stand out. He has experience in positive behavior support PB PBIS programs, multi-tered systems of support, MTSS, and social emotional learning programs, SEAL. and I believe the the multi-tered and the PBIS
053actually spearheaded implementation of those uh programs in his uh previous district. But um when you get to know Monty, you'll find out he's a very personable uh individual, very positive problem solver. Um I truly believe that he'll make a great addition to D7 to OW Best and have a very positive impact on our school district. So, um I asked Monty to if you would introduce um your wife and speak a little bit about your background, that would be great. >> Um first of all, I want to thank the board. Um thank Superintendent Klein's uh for this great opportunity. I'm excited um you know, I'm starting my I think 29th year in education and I'm as uh excited and energized as I ever have been to come work here at D7. Um, you know, as I
054mentioned through the interview, I grew up really close to here in Dearbornne, just down the street on Monroe Street. Um, I grew up there. Um, my cousins went through D7. Uh, they lived in the district, graduated from Annapolis High School. Um, so I'm very familiar with this area growing up here. I still live in Dearbornne. Um, I rode my bike to work on Monday, so that's how close I am. Um, so, so I'm really excited for this opportunity and I'd like to introduce my wife, my lovely wife, Christa. She is an early childhood consultant with Oakland schools. So, we're both educators. Um, we have three beautiful boys. Our oldest Brandon, Christa, just moved in to Wayne State today. So, um, he's a freshman at Wayne State. Um, so this was a busy week for us.
055And we have a ninth grader and a seventh grader who attend University of Detroit Jesuit. Um they had their first day this week too. Um so uh we're really excited to be here and um you know a few things about you know what I believe in as an educator through my years. Um I I believe wholeheartedly on on three things. The students need three things. Um the first they need to feel physically and emotionally. Um, they need to feel supported. What I mean by that is, you know, each student needs to believe that, you know, there's an adult in the building or a teacher or someone that truly cares about them, right? So, so they have someone that cares about them. And lastly, students need to believe that they can be successful, right? So, I
056think that's our job as teachers and administrators to make students feel, you know, safe, supported, and secure um and successful every day. So, um that's what I come to work to try to do every day. >> Excellent. Thank you. >> And welcome. Yes. >> Okay, we need to take a roll call. >> They better vote first. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Dyra, Trusty Sterling? Yes. And Trusty Belttowski? Yes. Motion carries. Welcome to District 7. We're lucky to have you. >> Moving on to letter F, second reading of proposed, new, revised, and reissued board policies. >> Can I Excuse me. >> I know you guys have little ones that you need to take care of. So, please don't if you have to go, we understand. Right. Yep.
057>> Okay. Let's try that again. Letter F, second reading of proposed new, revised, and reissued board policies. Exhibit six in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves the second reading and adoption of proposed new revised and reissued NEOLA board policies as presented. Bylaw 0152 officers bylaw 0154 motions bylaw 0164.4 hearing procedures bylaw 0166 agenda bylaw 0167.3 public comment at board meetings. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Sterlin. >> Supported by Trusty Winless. Questions or comments? Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Dyro, >> yes. >> Trusty Sterlin, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Battowski, >> yes. Motion carries. Letter G, first reading of proposed, revised, and reissued board policies. Exhibit seven. Be it so resolved that the board
058of education approves the first reading of proposed new revised and reissued NEOLA board policies as presented. Bylaw 0171.1 President bylaw 0175.1 school board conferences conventions and workshops. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by trusty supported by trustee Anderson. >> Yes. No dyro. I told you my left ear is not good. >> Didn't I do that to you guys last time? >> I did it to them when you were gone. I wasn't doing that. >> Okay. Questions or comments? >> Seeing none, roll call, please. >> Trusty Dro, >> yes. >> Trusty Derlini, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Anderson, yes. Trusty Batski, >> yes. Motion carries. Letter H. Yonder Education Package. Exhibit 8 in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves the purchase of Yonder education
059package. This program will allow the district to implement policy number 5136, personal communication devices through the purchase of yonder pouches and unlocking devices. The total cost is $55,500 and the monies will be derived from title 4 grant funds. May I have a motion? >> So moved. moved by trustee Dyro, supported by trustee Sterlin. >> Yes, Mr. Klein. >> So, uh, the Yonder Education package includes and what we're looking to purchase is 2, uh,,000 total standard pouches. That's the locking pouches. And the way they lock is the kids come into the building every day. And their ticket to get in is they put their cell phone, earbuds, any other smart watches in here and they lock it and they do this. They walk through the door. Okay? So that would be for our middle schoolers and
060high schoolers who have this on them. They take it to and from school. Okay? So at the end of the day, we roll out the unlocking bases. They touch this. They can either do that, put it on there, just push the button. Unlocks. Now, if by chance they forget that and they get in the car with mom and dad, then what do they do? They turn around and we are purchasing. You'll see the um lock boxes. There are eight of them. They'll be located throughout the district and so they'll be opened up so that if a student forgets, although there are some parents that probably will just tell the kid to keep it locked up, but there are some that will turn around, come back and they can unlock their pouches outside on the lock
061box with the um yonder um magnetic unlocker. So, 2,000 standard pouches and then we're getting 28 of the ADA and these are for u medical and um students that absolutely have to have access to their phone. So, they put it in here if they're using it to to check their um sugar levels or things of that nature. Then that's what these pouches are. Um the round t round round table mounting bounce uh bases, excuse me. There are 20 of those. And you can do this different different ways. I think what we're going to do, we'll talk about this tomorrow, is put them on um on carts so that we can roll them in the the office when school's going on and then at the end of the day roll them out and kids can unlock
062and uh take care of that. So, we're also it also includes I talked about um we get some extra handheld bases that come with the package, the lock boxes, and then the pouch racks. Those are in our fourth. They'll be used in our elementary for fourth and fifth grade primarily. However, if we have an elementary student that wants to carry a phone, they'll be assigned a pouch, but they do not take their pouch to and from. They put it in the right in the pouch. Um they pick up their pouch, put their phone in it, they can keep that on them, and then at the end of the day, they take their phone out, unlock it, and put the pouch back so it doesn't uh get lost in the shuffle with little ones. So, um,
063research is very clear and I included all of that information in here and I sent a lot of this information home to parents as well. Um, it has a positive the school districts that implemented Yonder and really I think that this is huge. seen an increase in grades upwards of 33 33% in some schools, a decrease in behavior incidents of 44% and another key component in this district and this board is truly committed to the mental health of the students and um the data shows that there's the students that the school culture is more positive and more conducive and the other piece is the teachers are not the cell phone police 247. So, a lot of positives with this. Um, as I had indicated earlier, we got the yonder people coming out um to go
064over the plan. There are many schools that are right where we're at that have gone through this process. Once it becomes natural, it's just like a part of school. It just becomes inate. It's part of what you do. Um, their theme is focus, connect, and thrive without distractions. Um, and so what we'll do is we have safety meetings at the start, we did this last year, at the start of the school year in all of the buildings and we talk to kids about the smart boot, talk to them about you see something, you can pull boot, we'll go through that whole process and we'll add the yonder bags to that and then we'll set up a distribution plan um, and get the program started. >> Questions? >> Trusty. So, not about the yonder bags, but
065has to do with all of this because the policy was a little bit broader. It included the headphones and um the earbuds and the iPads and that sort of thing. So, what >> can you hear me? >> So, um what is the process for the student that comes in with those types of things? >> Yeah. So, we will um have to we'll be discussing that tomorrow to talk about exceptions and how other schools um have handled those primarily. Okay. So, um the other piece of that though that that not even thinking about this, but there are some students that have to have um headphones as a result of their um IEPC or their 504. So, we're making arrangements to um purchase those. So, they'll be district um headphones that we can issue for those particular
066students. So, um, the big headphones have become an issue at the high school and talking to Mr. Mlette, that's going to be dealt with the the first week because those >> I was just curious if they come in with that would how you going to be taking those from the iPads, you know, because that >> the policy was pretty broad and we named everything under the sun. >> Yes, we did. Yep. Yeah. So, we'll be talking about that with the folks uh tomorrow. So, we've kind of adjusted as you guys know. Um, originally I was looking at buying these for every classroom. And um the Yonder folks said that they would steer away from that and they have another method of how we can have students access it without using these. Not that they wouldn't
067want to sell us these. Um but uh they say typical typically schools do not purchase all those for all the classrooms. They have other ways of unlocking in case there's a serious incident of having students have access to their phone because I'm committed to that part. Students need to have access. >> Knock on wood. Hopefully this will never happen, but if we did have a serious issue, some um classrooms, students and teachers could be in classrooms for a a lengthy amount of time and we need to have students be able to reach out um you know once the once the incident is resolved and they're just waiting to be released. So, um, that's a big part of, I think, what we need to do to make sure that, um, that, um, students will have access
068and can make phone calls in those critical incident situations. So, um, but we'll we'll be discussing the headphones and all of those pieces tomorrow when the yonder folks come. So, >> thank you. I have a question. I know that you >> Okay, >> go ahead. You were saying that I if they left their bag, I mean, if they didn't unlock their bag, they can go back and unlock it. Are you going to have to keep people from destroying those um boxes? Are you going to have them No, the those Yes. >> to keep them from destroying it. Are you going to You said it was going to be in a lock box. Are they going to have a combination or something or >> So, what schools typically do is they have one of these at
069the outside of the building. They keep it locked during the day, right? So, this is mainly for after school, it's unlocked. So, um it's accessed all through the evening in case students forget and they come back a little bit later or let's say they have an athletic event that they're attending, then they can unlock their their um yonder pouch at that time. >> We have security cameras all over. >> Okay. The kid that comes with the smashes >> that could happen. That's what I was curious. >> I thought you were talking about because this issue came up as well. Apparently, you can go onto Amazon or onto >> it. I know, but you can. You might as well put it out there. >> They already know. >> Yeah, you can purchase these. >> However, what
070the Yonder folks have found is those ones that you can purchase because they're not focused will damage these. Huh? >> And they said once the word gets out that one or two kids bought these things and they damaged their whole phone, >> then they're going to find out very quickly that maybe we better not go on Amazon and buy a unlocking device. >> They even come on lanyards so kids can carry them around till you >> vice president Sterlin had question. >> Yep. So the ones that are being left outside, are they bolted to the wall? Okay. So nobody can walk away and steal it. Yeah, >> the other thing we keep talking about the students and all that, but we got to make to reiterate there is a policy also for the teachers and
071that that they shouldn't be on their phones during school hours because we've seen that and this is for them as well, not the yonder bags, but that that they need to be policing each other that they need to be staying off their phones too because they're there to be educating, not to be on their phones. So just wanted to put that out there that if we need to change policy or do something for that if there's an issue then we'll see about that going but but I want to reiterate it so that you know the students know and the parents know and the teachers know that they've should be educated too. >> And I think the statement we used is professionalism. >> Yes. Right. Um I would like to just ask um or maybe point
072out a few things um here at this table so it will be said that we've covered this because um some scuttle that's been out there as Mrs. Morgan likes to say. Um, you know, the the questions come up all the time of, "Oh, well, you know, my kid needs their cell phone in case of a school shooting or an emergency." Um, and I really like the way Yonder um presented this that cell phones cause harm during emergencies. They can distract students from listening to first responders. High call volumes can disrupt emergency coordination. Phone use might reveal a student's whereabouts. Um, you know, if you're someplace and your phone rings accidentally. Um, and asalants could use social media to find additional victims. We know as of late Instagram has made it so that you can check
073your your location unless you turn your map off on Instagram. So, if somebody is trying to find a victim in the school, they can easily find them if they have their phone on. So this is actually going to protect your students in case of an emergency. It like Mark said, if there was a emergency, we have a state-of-the-art security system in our schools that protect our students. And in that case, if they were stuck in a classroom, um safely secured in a classroom, they would be able to have access to their phones at that point in time. We need to know that instant communication isn't always safer. That parents will that when parents are more supportive of this policy. You understand the critical distinction, your students will. There are a number of ways to unlock
074the yonder pouches in emergencies. We've went over that. And we want to encourage our parents to speak to children about what to do during an emergency and explain how they will be able to call or text as soon as they are in a safe location or it is secure. Again, we spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a state-of-the-art security system in our buildings. Our students are some of the safest students in the area. These yonder bags are only going to help with their social emotional skill um social emotional skills, their communication skills. They're going to have to actually talk to their friends, talk to people. Um I had a student ask me, "Well, how am I supposed to, you know, talk to my friends?" I said, "You know what we used to do? We
075wrote notes on pieces of paper and stuck them in their lockers or passed them in the hallway. Hey, can you give this note to Mandy?" Um, I know it's silly, but um, you're going to have to talk to people and um, we're going to see a drastic drop in behavior issues and we're going to see um, grades improve and again, we're going to see um, mental health issues are going to diminish. At first, it's going to be tough. As I talked to a couple students who called me the other night, it's going to be tough, but let's not go in with a negative attitude. Let's try it. Let's see what happens. Um, and like Superintendent Kleinhan said, it's going to be a part of your school every day, you know. Um, as far as translation,
076we we we have a um fully staffed ELLL um staff. We have updated the Chromebooks. We've updated our technology. So students who rely on Google Translate will be able to do that with their Chromebooks. And so, um, I think we're covered all of the bases here. And so I think that, um, once parents look into the research, if we can get this information out to them somehow, um, I know you sent a letter out, but some of the wording was confusing to some of the parents. So, if we can get these statistics out there and why we do why we're choosing to do this, maybe we'll get, you know, more parents on board. I know there are parents that are on board with this. That seems to be the um the feel that I've gotten
077from this. So, I'm really excited and I'm proud that we are doing this if we if we approve this. Anybody else? >> Anything she said? >> Okay. Thank you. That was that was excellent. Thank you. >> Trusty Sterlin, >> yes. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Dyra, yes. >> Trusty Bowski, >> yes. Motion carries. Thank you. >> Letter I, Citizens Advisory Committee, exhibit 9. Be it so resolved that the board of education hereby disbands the Citizens Advisory Committee effective immediately, having determined that its duties and responsibilities have been fulfilled. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved by Trusty Wllet. support >> supported by trustee Sterling. >> Any questions or comments? >> Yeah. So, um yeah, thank you. Thank you. This group did a great great task. Uh the
078equity policy, the work that was done on that. Um a lot of research went into that. I think we looked all over the place to try to find equity policies. We got some samples. We spoke a lot about that and developed that policy. Took it to policy committee, got board approval. And then the other project that really was quite a project um and I thank Leslie for having this committee take this on. It's quite a document. The D7 community resource guide. It's on our website. It's a one-stop shop for anybody that needs help that's struggling all the way from food to medical to um mental health. It's it's all in there. So, I want to thank the com the folks on this committee. appreciate their work and um mission accomplished with this project. >> Anybody
079else have any questions or comments? >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Winless, yes. Trusty Anderson, yes. >> Trusty Dra, yes. >> Trusty Sterlin, yes. >> Trusty Battowski, >> yes. Motion carries. Letter J, renewal of counselor app, exhibit number 10 in your packet. Be it so resolved that the board of education approves the renewal quote for the continuation of a year two of two I believe this is a typo. The continuation of a 2year contract with counselor. Is it supposed to say of a year two of a two-year cont? >> Thank you. of year 2 contract with counselor which provides 247 access to mental health experts for students and staff via a mobile app. The co total cost is $38,10. The funding source is section 31A. May I have a motion? >> So moved. >> Moved
080by Trusty Sterling. >> Supported by trusty Dyro. >> Questions or comments? Fly. Mr. Fle. So, um, I just wanted to make sure when you look at the data, the report that you guys asked for, and I'm glad that we revisited this. Um, so if you look at the new users, the sessions and the the book sessions and the sessions, but if you go to the last piece, the sess session messages. So, if you recall, a lot of this work is done via text. So those were uh a combination of all of the texts that had transpired between um individuals using the app and uh the actual people that man the counselor folks. So um I wanted to make sure that you guys understood because I had a question about that and I wanted to be
081clear about that. >> And then we will revisit the contract because this is the second year of the two-year contract. We'll revisit it at the end of next year. Anybody else? Roll call, please. >> Trusty Winless, no. Trusty Anderson, >> yes. >> Trusty Dyro, >> yes. >> Trusty Sterling, >> no. >> Trusty Battowski, >> yes. Motion carries. >> No, it doesn't. >> Oh, I'm sorry. Motion fails. >> Thank you for correcting me on that. Moving on to unfinished business. Do we have any unfinished business to come before the board? I do think that we need to make sure that that motion failed um that it's um the majority of the board or is it the majority of the board that's present? Anybody know Robert's roles at the top of their head? >> Always been the
082majority of the board. It's always been the majority of the board, which is four, >> but I think there's something about when they're present. You I just want to make sure if that I I I wrote failed, you know, but I do think maybe just double check so that we're all in >> I will double check, but I think that um it has to be the majority of the board that you you have to have four. >> I I feel the same way, but I also feel like somewhere along the line there's been conversation about it before, so I just want to make sure. Okay. >> Okay. Thank you. >> Not a problem. Any unfinished business? >> One more question on that. >> Yeah. >> Sorry. >> No, that's fine. >> Um, what does that
083do for the contract? Do we have to still pay anything out? What >> the contract in terms of not >> Yep. So, I will >> finish in that year. >> Yep. I will um be reaching out to the company and letting them know that um that we need to eliminate that contract and get out of it and then we'll discuss the what it takes to do >> what that means. Okay. You'll bring that back to us. >> Yeah, I can. >> Okay, thank you. Yeah, I would want to know. >> Yes, I would like to know also. >> Okay, moving on to new business. I have some new business I would like to bring before the board. Um I had a um as I called it to Trusty Dra of Brainfarts the um last week
084I had my calendar mixed up. I thought that um there was supposed to be a forum tomorrow night, not next week. And that's why I felt the need to reach out to everybody and ask for a timely response to how did we feel about having a candidate forum at either our high school or here in the OW Best cafeteria. I honestly truly believed that it was happening tomorrow night and not a week from tomorrow. Hence the reason why I made it sound like we needed to um you know make a decision. Um Trusty Dyro called me out on it. I thank her for that because I we she and I were talking and she said that to me and I was I looked at my calendar and I said, "Whoa, I did not mean to
085send out a text for you to look at your email and answer me that quickly. I completely forgot we were having a board meeting that we can discuss this at the table and not just through an email situation. So we are here obviously we have two people who are not I know what their their their thoughts were on that due to their to their emails. So, um I just want to have an open discussion here and get everybody's viewpoint on um the south end civics >> civic association >> civic neighborhood south end neighborhood civic association is wants to host a forum a candidate forum um for the two candidates who are running for mayor for the city of Dearborn Heights and for all of those who are running for another one on another night for
086all of those who are running for city council. It would be in no way supported or sponsored by Dearborn Heights District 7. They would be only using our facilities. Um so with that being said, I would like to hear from everybody. Um we can start with Trusty Sterlin. >> Um first of all, you probably jumped on it quick because I think it was the wording of my email because I was in like rush mode because I said should we email or whatever. So, sorry. Yeah, that I think that's >> okay. I know I was seriously it was a calendar mistake on my part. >> So, I'm trying to find another venue. So, what we ran into last time we had it and there was not enough space. We have it typically at the board Westwood
087school board office. And um now I'm not one to like allowing like one candidate to come to the the school district and do their thing. I think that shows favoritism and it can look like the school is is you know >> it's also in our policy that we don't allow for a private function and I would consider that to be a private function. It's just one >> candidate. I gota gotcha. So this I didn't think it was too bad. Although I'm, you know, I'm still back and forth because we are doing it for all candidates. It's not just going to be one to your point. It's going to be everyone. My also concern is putting undue craziness and whatever on this school and Mark, we got school coming up. We got the yonder bag issue.
088So, I really don't want to put any undue work on him and the school. Um the other the other piece of it I thought well it might be kind of good like we were going to do August and then September. Originally it was going to be September October that if we did a mayoral thing and we had it in the auditorium or here maybe some of the kids would come and then they could see you know government in action kind of sort of thing and I think it's good for kids to be involved that way to see and hear. Um but I am trying the rec center. um I have to see if I can get permission um for them to wave their fee at the rec center. If they'll do that, then if I
089talk to the rest of the crew, then it would be the rec center versus here at the Richard A. Young Center for those who don't know versus in the school district. Um but again, it's also going to be on the craziness caused to the school and Mark and I I'm not doing that. If I have to cancel the event or we just have it in that little small venue, that's where it is because I I'm not going to put the school district through craziness. I just wanted it out there and asked if like the school is my last resort if I needed it. That's where I was going with it. So, >> okay, Trusty Wless. >> I'm in support of this. I've seen the forums held at Westwood um and has there been a conflict
090there, but I guess I'm just wondering why this is coming to the board. I guess I might be a little confused on why this is coming to the board because normally if people just want to use the facility, they just do the request through the principal and then it's approved at the principal level and this doesn't come to the board. So I guess why does it need to be publicly discussed and voted on? >> I guess. >> So I did that. I asked for it because >> it was part of my group coming in and it has to do with politics and I didn't want it I wanted everyone to have a weighin. I didn't want it to again I didn't want what happened with again it was one candidate like with the Crestwood issue
091it looked like they were endorsing the candidate and I just wanted to make sure and you know full transparency. I didn't want you guys getting hit with like oh China's here with this. I didn't want that. So, I wanted everyone to know, everyone to have a a say in it. Um, so that there wasn't any just make sure everybody had a say. So, that was me. >> So, you don't have a problem. >> Trusty Anderson, >> I do not have a problem. >> Okay. Trusty Dyro. >> Oh, I got a problem. Um, first of all, I think it's important that we reiterate um how we do our email. It's fine. So, there's two issues I want to discuss. The email first. It is fine that we um ask um send an email to the board
092to the full board, but when we cross that line and say, "Can you vote? Can you tell me a yes or a no to this?" That is crossing the line. That is not a forum to vote on anything, anytime, anywhere. It would have to be a dire emergency um in order for um any of us to be able to vote during an email. that's what the board table is for. And I'm not sure everyone, you know, I just think that that was something that needs to be reiterated. Um, I have a problem with having a a forum for candidates on on our school district. I mean, you can't even as a candidate cross a certain line to get into the voting precincts, you know, that are on the school property. I don't think you should
093be mixing city politics with school districts at all. and and um you know and now it's not just the the mayors, it's the coun the council and all of that. I just feel like let them have their forums on city property. That's I just feel pretty strongly about that and I understand that I'm a minority and if that's how it is, that's how it is. But I am not at all in favor of having that. Has nothing to do with anything other than I don't think we should be holding city candidate election forums in our buildings. Okay. Um, go. I was I was gonna I was going to give my two cents and then we can go back. Um, I don't have a problem with it. I see on television all the time politicians going
094into schools, visiting schools, reading, um, holding meetings in schools. Um, I think it's a way to get the potential mayors of the city of Dearborn Heights to get District 7 on their radar. All too often, we are left out of all kinds of city functions where we could highlight our students, our artists, our bands, our sports teams, you know. Um, we're kind >> doing it for a political reason. >> No, we're not doing it for a political reason. We're doing it for exposure. We were doing it for exposure. Why shouldn't we not be proud of our district and have our city politicians also be proud of our district and want to include us in Christmas tree lighting and um things like, you know, creek cleanups and everything else. Um let's show them the D7 difference.
095This is welcome into our buildings. Look at how beautiful our building. Look at our beautiful auditorium. Look at our beautiful auditorium that we redid. Yes, you can come here and you can use this auditorium. We are in no way endorsing you. We are no way, you know, supporting any one candidate. We are welcoming you by bipartisan, nonpartisan, whatever you want to say. Um, so I have I have no no issues with it. And to Miss Windless's point, you know, anybody can ask to use a building. >> They don't need our permission. >> You know, we have we have all kinds of organizations that are using our facilities at no charge whatsoever. And, you know, I'm I I think that we're missing an opportunity in um that you know, maybe we should be charging people to
096use our facilities, you know, um, we have to turn the lights on, we have to pay the janitors, we have to >> we have to pay the janitors to clean up. We have to pay for security for some of these events. I mean, we're pay >> Dance Club is going to love you. >> Just saying. >> I'm just saying I'm I I didn't that that would be something that we would have to agree on. I mean, I'm just I'm putting it out there, but you know, there's there's other districts around that they they're they're charging money to use their facilities and things like that. So, to allow a civic association of our that's, you know, part of our district, part of the Westwood district also to use our facility, you know, it's being neighborly. I
097think that that's my my two cent Wendy. I just want people to remember when we had the mayor before the last mayor, he hosted a forum in the gym because he wanted to raise taxes or something to that nature and people were threatening that, you know, he wanted to he wanted to do something, but it was a political event because he was running and it was right in OBS. >> I think that was the rec center. No, it was in the gym. >> It was in the gym because I had just moved into the area. So, it was like 20 like it was whenever he was in office and I don't know if you remember, but he was if we didn't vote for this proposal, he was going to have to lay off some police
098officers. >> Yeah, I believe it was at the rec center gym area. >> I remember it being OW Best because I had never even been at OW Best. So, but it was in the bleachers. But I'm just saying we use schools and educational buildings for other things, even political things because and I went to the forum and it was uncomfortable. It was small and I feel like I learned a lot at that, you know, forum and I feel like a lot of people don't, you know, we vote because of lack of knowledge because we may not be able to get to different things, but this if this is in our area, it would only benefit the citizens. I feel like >> I agree. >> That's just my two cents. >> Trusty D, >> I don't
099dispute one iota that it would benefit the citizens. Um, but the the political event that she's referring to, they were already politicians. It was already the mayor. Um, I'm saying these are candidates that are running for a seat. And that is my problem. It's candidates that are running for a seat that you can say until you are blue in the face that we're not supporting anyone. And but there are going to be people that are like, oh, they're, you know, they're doing it because of this candidate or that candidate or whatever. And I just feel like as a school district, it would be in our best interest to stay out of it and let the city let the the let the forum be on city property with the candidates that are running for city offices.
100And when they're politicians, God, I hope you're right. I hope that they're willing to come to our school district afterwards >> and see the beautiful places that we have here. But anyway, that's my two cents. >> Okay. >> Thank you. I I get what everyone's saying. Trust I'm like beating myself up over this. >> Well, I don't want you to beat yourself up. >> I appreciate you bringing it forward to have the discussion at the table. >> Okay. >> Is there any other new business? >> No. All right. District points of pride. Mr. Klein. >> Um I've already talked a lot this evening. >> Okay. >> So, I'll back off. But I really am excited about um moving forward for the school year and um it's going to be a challenge with all of the
101changes, but um I think we're going to be good to go. And I truly believe that although construction's been a headache and it's going to go right down to the wire that when these projects are done, I I just think Bedford's going to be a showcase. I think the back of party is going to be phenomenal with the what we're doing back there. Um the air conditioning and pole can party, the new technology Um, it's just there's just it's going to be amazing and bringing on new staff members and people that are highly, you know, motivated to do what's right for kids and really help our students here. I'm just really excited. So, >> awesome. Thank you so much. Under other business, uh, we have no um commit, excuse me, I am misspoken. We have
102a policy committee update. Trusty Dyro. >> All righty. We met this evening um prior to the board meeting. A couple things um Niola has updated the policies that we voted on um at this for the second reading um at the June 11th and June 23rd board meetings. So th those have been updated in the board docs and on our website. Um MASB and have parted ways was the other information that we received tonight. Um we will still be using Eiola. Um, MASB is probably going to go with uh an attorney. So, that remains to be seen, but as of right now, we still have Niola and they will still be our partner in this. Um, we will be getting a new rep. They apparently are drawing um different lines of, you know, territory. So, um
103we'll see how that all plays out in the in the future. We um had one bylaw under the zeros that we still had had to um take a look at. We had the attorney give us some wording on it and we will be adding that for um let me make sure I got this right. It was under close session and we will be adding to that um that a board member will be required to um disclose any personal involvement or knowledge in a dis disciplinary matter. So, we're going to be adding that statement to the close session um uh bylaw. And then we went into um the 1000s of uh the policies now. And um we have board superintendent relationship that we u made a minor change to that'll be on the September 3rd agenda.
104The evaluation of the superintendent. We made a minor change to that. That will be on the September 3rd agenda. um job descriptions needs some further review from Mark and so we'll be um reviewing that again at our next meeting and then um school administrator evaluation that needs a complete redo so he's going to work with Niola on that and then we went through a ton of bylaws and made no changes to them and I'll do minutes and send those to Mary Beth to get to the board. Um our next meeting will be September 17th at 5:30 here at OW Best. We had no public comment and um >> thank you for that update. Um and please note I am back to work so um emails are going to come later in the day or evening.
105Thank you for understanding. Upcoming uh board committee meetings. There are none scheduled other than the policy committee meeting which will be September 17th at 5:30 here at OW Best. Is there any other business? No. Okay. Public comment number two. Do we have any comments from the public at this point in time? Seeing none, moving on to kudos. We have no kudos today. Um before we adjourn, um I'd like to take a moment of silence for a um former student. um of D7, Mr. Devin Shineir passed away last Monday. His funeral will be this Thursday at Veran Funeral Home in Taylor on Goddard Road. So, if we could please take a moment of silence. Thank you. At this time, I'd like to adjourn this meeting at 8:27. Be it so resolved that the board of education
106adjourns the meeting at 8:27 p.m. May I have a motion? >> Moved by Trustee Anderson. >> Supported by Trusty Winless. >> Roll call, please. >> Trusty Willis. Yes. Trusty Anderson. Trusty Dyro. Trusty Sterlin. Yes. Trusty >> Belowski. Yes. Motion carries. Thank you everyone. Have a great night. >> You too. I need to ask you something. You said where your boys went to school.